h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

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Hi.

Had a read through - enjoyed it! A few points:

Rock Music is such a big topic, it is difficult to fit everything in concisely.

I like the different genres you have included, and the listing of the instruments used.

Personally I'd like to see some dates (eg for the emergence of the different genres, etc).

Despite it probably being appropriate, the rude words will have to be removed, as h2g2 has to adhere to a 'family viewable' policy.

I have a suggestion for you, that you may or may not want to consider:
How about writing a project for the h2g2 University of Life about rock music - this way you have a lot more room to fit everything in. You can then have separate articles for each genre, etc, and you can enlist the help of other researchers as well. You get a natty little badge that goes on your User Space, and also 'nuff respect and kudos from everyone who reads it. Don't get me wrong - authoring a UoL project is no mean feat. It would probably take you a while, but it would be worth it in the end. [Look at how many edited guide entries there are, and compare it to the number of UoL projects...]


- Adam

PS: You forgot to mention Budgar in the annals of Rock greats

Your line about dropped tuning is slightly inaccurate. Many "Nu-Rock" guitarists (such as the ones for Korn and Limp Bizkit) dispense with detuning their strings that far and just play 7-stringed guitars, with the seventh string pitched to B, lower than the lowest E-string on standard guitars.

And the point of an Edited Guide entry is to inform. If people who don't play guitars don't understand what "dropped tuning" means, why not explain it in the article, instead of telling readers to find out themselves? Do encyclopedias say, "This country is located in the South Pacific somewhere. If you want to know where, pick up a map and look it up yourself..."?

Wampus

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I read your article, and although some of it was interesting and quite well informed I feel the need to pull you up on a few things.

First of all the page should really be called "Alternative" music rather than "Rock" Rock is generally (by the mainstream) linked to bands like U2, INXS and other similar bands that really have little to do with the kind of music you are trying to discribe.

Second 'Heavy Metal' music is, as you say, closely linked to satanism but only really by those at the other end of the spectrum, mainly Christian Extemists.

However if you dug a little deeper, or as one of my favorite bands Pantera says - "Drag the Waters" some more you would find that the underlying rule for around 90 to 95% of all Rock/Heavy metal is as an outlet for Emotion.

The other 5 to 10% is all about looking at a side of life that most people would NOT be intrested in. So to help along I have decided to give you a few examples.

First of all a band that most regard as one of the 'flagbearers' for heavy metal (and my namesake!) SLAYER.

Ask anyone who knows the name of the band but know nothing about them and you will be told with no room for doubt that they are a band of Satan worshiping thugs who cut their fans and sacrificing animals.

The reality is almost boring in comparison. The main lyricist for Slayer "Tom Araya" has always had a fascination for Serial killers and major disasters. When he writes his lyrics he tries to get into the mind of the person the song is about and write their side of the story.

So when writing a song about a serial killer Tom is in character as that person and he tries to capture the mood of the whole situation. It sounds pretty dark, but is it any diffrent to the hollywood moguls making films like SEVEN or BLAIR WITCH PROJECT?????

It is the same as singing about having sex with hundreds of women, same as singing about dancing for pleasure, it's just a diffrent subjet, Tom is not saying "Go and do this" what I think he's saying is "There are people like this out there, it's real life and people have to deal with it"

The fact that people instantly link heavy metal with satanism just because they don't understand it is one of the most annoying things I can think of. Sure there are bands out there that are "pro satan" but they are few and far between rather than the norm.

Heavy metal and it's many sub-genre's could better be discribed as anti establishment. You're more likely to hear a band singing about smashing a government, keeping united in the face of adversity or making yourself stronger rather than the glory of satan.

Let people go and dig up a few bands and have a listen by themselves.

If I could perhaps make some and try to 'describe' them as best as I can....

Incubus - A fairly easy to listen too 'nu-metal' band, they could be likened to Faith No More with a more electric edge. The songs and vocals deal with self apraisal, looking at the world from a small persons point of view and moving on.

Life of Agony - Keith Caputo - One of the most under rated Hardcore/Metal bands around, if you want to be depressed with someone else then this is the band to listen too.

Slayer - More like a horror movie than the event itself. Un movingly Anti Religious, that includes "ANTI SATAN" unless you're faced with a crowd of nasty christans trying to shut you down!

Pantera - The ultimate 'riff based' metal band, heavy un-distorted lyrics mixed up with powerful drumming and driving bass. If you want some togetherness and preaching against the weak then this is what you want.

Black Sabbath - The grand daddies of heavy metal, yes they had a bit of satanic symbolism in some of their music but hey, if you can't deal with it listen to slayer!

Oh and Speed metal was NOT invented by Metallica. I think you'll find that there were many bands before them from Venom to Saxxon and many others.

But to sum up, send people out there to get the experience themselves rather than making assumptions. That just turns people away from something that is, mostly, harmless and generally enjoyable.

Otherwise, nice article.

Using f**k with the stars is fine
I must say I like the way you have referenced lots of entries in the guide - it makes the guide so much easier to navigate!

- Adam

I have one comment to make, which is this:
Rock Music is a phenomenon with which about 90% of the researchers grew up, and having it researched by one person is in my opinion always going to be insufficient. Really, this should be made a
Uni-o-Life project. i like the effort, but it's just too vast a field to cover in one swoop.

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I think I may have been a bit quick with my remark that this will only work when done by more people.

You are doing a real good job here, it looks better and better.
I thought you'd need every reasonably famous rock band in there from '40 to now, but that'll never work, right? What you wanna do is make people understand what is rock, so they might label bands to come as in or out of the rock category. Yeah?
Well then I'd say you've come a long way.

My main point now is that the chronology of genres is still confusing.
You start with saying 'rock was when blues became electric', which is fine, and then you sum up a lot of genres. Maybe you could put the genres in a timeline, or so? I mean, wasn't glam rock (Gary Glitter- is glam rock even in there?) something of the eighties, and indie more of a seventies thing or what the hell? And then you could use the earlier remark about it all being 'alternative music', saying that alternative is what hard rock eventually developed and watered down into. Because the concept of alternative music wasn't developed until the nineties if u ask me.

Also, you could make it more clear that a lot of genres are 'parents' or 'offspring' of other genres. Because it's true, no?

Oh and Slayer should be in, as well as the Sex Pistols in the punk thing. Oh, and now that I mention it: why not give an example band in every genre?

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I know too little about indie to judge, but there are some genres that are really "children of their time", and it is important to realise as, say, a layman who never heard of rock music before(assuming that such a person would ever exist- no way, rock on!) that all the different styles didn't just THUDD land land on top of humanity, but that they evovled out of each other.

evovled? you know what I mean.

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well yes, only that'precise example is already IN the article

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... and what about metal itself? A fiercer form of hard rock?
Sounds like you got your work cut out for you man.

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I don't think they stretched the metaphor that far...

But anyway, EGBoy, where are you? The article really has come a long way, and I'm anxious to know whether you plan on any more improvements. It won't be in vain, I think.

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