To All The Heavy Metal Lovers

Samarjit Kambam *

1st Imphal Metal Convention - Metal Age Reloaded - 2012 on 14 April 2012 :: Pix - Bunti Phurailatpam

You've to learn to crawl before you learn to walk. "Amazing"ly true. Ain't it? Some of us dudes crawled, walked and grew up alongwith Aerosmith and Steven Tyler was a fatherly figure to us. Then we were admitted to the Pink Floyd Academy where didn't need any education as our favourite teacher Roger Waters taught us the rhyme "We Don't Need No Education" for it would only add "Another Brick in the Wall" to our freedom. Reached Secondary level and our national anthem was "Sweet Child of Mine". Really nostalgic, don't you? If you are a Heavy Metal lover I sure hope you will.

As we proceeded on our life's journey we jumped into Reo Speed Wagon and took our ride towards love. As we became adolescents, hormones that trigger love rushed inside our bodies and we seeked for our loved ones as we "Cant Hide This Feeling Any Longer".

Then we met our loved ones, promised the moon to our beloved ones but someone always stood between and the chapter of our love closed down within a short span of time. Please ask Mr Big(Eric Martin) and you will be told to listen to "Promise Her the Moon" and you'll definitely get your answer. You'll also find out that love always comes at a price as Poison's "Every Rose has its Thorns" and White Snake's "Is This Love that I am Feeling" clearly depicts what love is.

But true love never dies and I am "Still Loving You" and yeah, the ground reality is cent percent true and I still do(hope YOU are reading this page composed of unchained lousy words of mine) as was preached by the Scorpions.

We couldn't always give monetary demands to Papa-bank as we were not kids anymore, so we walked along the "Streets of Dreams", tried to "Catch the Rainbow" and tried to become "Soldier of Fortune" but for most of us "Lady Starlight" who was supposed to give us luck was no longer by our side. So we were "Living on a Prayer" and waited for 'someday' but that "Someday Never Comes".

Frustated, we followed the footpaths of devil worshippers viz Iron Maiden, Led Zepellin, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple etc. During those times we believed in the "Number of the Beast", "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son" and we got "Fear of the Dark" and used to "Bark at the Moon" but deep in our hearts we yearned for a "Brave New World".

Meanwhile we clashed with Metallica and Megadeth on the way and got drowned in their sweet rhymes of metallic thunders. During those nostalgic years we played guitars and worshipped guitar icons viz, Steve Vai, Malcom Ygne Malsteem, Slash, Eric Clapton, Santana etc., and our favourite dreams were taking guitar lessons from guitar demi-gods like Joe Satriani, Jimmi Hendrix and Mark Knoffler even though we knew that our dreams would never materialise.

Meanwhile, Van Halen made us 'Jump' again and again whenever we watched recordings of his videos. And Oh! Van Halen, your made everyone go crazy with that awesome tappings on your guitar and you turned your back against the crowd for you were scared that others would imitate your tapping but we were so mad at your tapping that we anyhow managed to do the same on our guitars however infidel we were and however cacaphonic it sounded.

When it comes to outfit , Judas Priest's leathers and chains impressed us to a great extent. Maybe the movie "Ghost Rider"s outfit staring Hollywood's big shot Nicholas Cage was inspired by Judas Priests. Outfits of Kiss, Twisted Sisters, Cinderella, White Snake, Motley Crue etc., looked awkward but were unique in one way depicting their own glam attitude. Oh! How much we loved Heavy Metal songs.

Once, somebody asked me "What is Heavy Metal"? It was really hard to describe but as per my opinion Heavy Metal is a genre of rock where melodic power chords and pentatonic scales are used with guitars as main instruments resulting into heavy groove music whereby the vocal goes upto a high pitch but the result is the collective outcome of a melodic and sweet music thereby giving a pleasant sensation to the ears.

But unlike other genres of rock such as Alternative viz, REM, Stone Temple Pilots, Smashing Pumkins etcs, the peculiar fact about Heavy Metal is that a high pitched vocal with heavy guitar riffs can be composed even with only three simple melodic chords such as G, C and A minor provided some turbo effects are applied. Please listen to Sons of Angels' "Never Let You Go" and some songs from Winger and you will realise how simple melodic chords are used in such a high pitched and heavy music song.

On our way, in the world of music we also stumbled across some classic rock bands such as Lynrd Skynrd, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Rolling Stones, Smokie in tandem with the legendary Beatles and it is worth mentioning that their songs are really awesome and we really enjoyed and appreciate their highly talented works. After some "Quiet Riot" amongst ourselves we felt into Bad Company which we thought would be the easiest way to become a "Shooting Star", instead we landed into "Troubled Waters".

Then the time came when we "Want to Break Free" and Freddie Mercury guided us the way only to pass through hard rock heavyweights such as Pantera, Sepultera and the likes and progressive rock bands such as Green Day. Then the sudden shift to a new genre of Heavy Metal called "Grunge" was invented by Kurt Cobain who attained a phenomenal figure and changed the face of Heavy Metal.

After he attained "Nirvana" by shooting himself to death in the garage of his own home, Foo Fighters followed suit. Then came the beginning of the end of Heavy Metal and Pearl Jam gave us the "Last Kiss". After that "Thrash" genre followed suit and Boys bands, hip hop, rap, etc., changed the music industry even though Heavy Metal ruled the roost for almost more than a decade. To survive in the music market some Heavies viz Metallica almost went country since their 'Re-Load' album and Bon Jovi went sober from "These Days" whereby they lost their uniqueness which really disheartened die-hard fans Heavy Metal fans like us for we wanted them to retain their uniqueness.

Now the music industry is a mixed bag of Junk Rock, Pop-rock, Folk-rock, Rap, Soul, Industrial, Hard core Hip-Hop Rock etc., where a particular genre cannot hold long on the charts. Besides, the era of modern rock viz Creed, Cold Play, Nickelback, Alterbridge, Bullets for my Valentine, Keane, Good Charlotte, Killer, Owl City, Simple Plan, Sum 41 etc etc., has dawned.

Some of them have real talents and posses good vocals. Well, nothing last forever, the world of music will keep on changing with the change of time but no other genre of music lasted and influenced the youths like Heavy Metal did. For us dudes, we listen to every genres of music but no matter what Heavy Metal will always remain our Numero Uno.

Hoping for revival of Heavy Metal once more.