'welcome to the starlight room, nice to see you, nice to be seen by you, giggidy giggidy'
Is this a fair assumption though? Is it right to say that keyboards belong only in electronica and the light entertainment fields? Well, there has been some very good music that involves Keyboards and I am certainly not suggesting that the keyboardists are any less talented than the other musicians in a band. Honestly, take John Lord from Deep Purple and the masterpiece that is Child in Time
The intro alone is enough to warrant the keyboards in that song. Let alone the solo piece. But is that song metal? I guess that is really the question. Well it has all of the main criteria. Guitar riffs and solos, massively overblown and over the top. Virtuosity at extreme levels. mmm, but you can't simply define metal by a series of boxes to tick now can you. Would it be more metal if it didn't have the keyboards? If the solos were in fact played on a guitar? Do the Keyboards make it prog and not metal? In a word YES
Did you see what I did there . . . anyway, enough self aggrandisement. Yes are less guitar based that Deep Purple and yet they have to be looked at as the band that drove the keyboards from what was acceptable in metal and hard rock. Before Yes, it seems that it was a legitimate concept to have keyboards. After Yes, it wasn't . I think that Rick Wakeman , more than John Lords has to take responsibility for this. It is nothing to do with his playing, which by the way is amazing at times. It is much more the Cape, the silks,and the faerie tale whimsy. At a time when Sabbath, Priest and other such bands were plowing the way for mans heavy metal, Yes were going in a different direction and as such the defining public image of Yes, Wakeman and bloody King Arthur, seriously Rick wtf dude, were defining prog in such a way that meant that keyboards were never to really come back.
Think about it , before this you had bands like The Doors who forwent a bass player altogether and were still considered a rock band. After this, no chance. Could you imagine AC DC introducing their faithful to the new keyboardist? Actually I would like to see that, it would properly hilarious. Bands have tried to bring it back, take this gem by Van Halen.
That was from Eddie as well, the guitar hero of the early 80s to most Americans. But to be honest it has left Rock as we know it. It lives in it's true home. Prog. Bands with true virtuosity use the keyboards, sometimes so well that you are not even sure that they are there. But they are
That is were they belong.
Love to hear what you have to say about this, answer and arguments are all welcome . . .
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OK! I have to admit, really, that I often couldn't wait for Jon Lord's solo to end so we could get to the tasty guitar bits. "Flight Of The Rat" is a good example. But the keyboard is needed for both ends of "Child In Time" for extra texture. But it is a part of their sound. It was just his long solos that weighed heavy on my mind.
ReplyDeleteBut for hard rock and metal, keyboards are probably better for creating atmosphere rather than being a lead instrument. Look even at the Sabbath albums like "Sabbath Bloody sabbath" or "Technical Ecstasy" where there is mellotron and synth atmospheres. And Rick Wakeman guesting on "S.B.S.".
Led Zeppelin used keyboards from one end of their career to the other. But are they a hard rock band or a heavy metal band? They're not prog. But I think it worked for them because J.P. Jones was already a seasoned session musician and arranger and together with Page, as an already gooood producer, they made ALL the parts work for the good of the music
Van Halen - I preferred "Panama" over "Jump".
Rush used extensive keyboards on "Farewell To Kings", "Hemispheres", and "Permanent Waves" which were pretty hard rockin' albums but maybe they're more prog possibly?
I once made a straight faced joke to Rick Wakeman about "King Arthur" on ice and he didn't laugh so I didn't either. He was just talking about projects he wanted to do that wouldn't be a logistical nightmare at this point in his life and I suggested "King Arthur" on ice and he just started talking about that like it was a legitimate idea. Oh well.
A band like The Doors might be laughed at today.
Are Dream Theatre considered prog over metal? I think though that the synth solos sound a bit silly in their Hard Rock context
Ultimately though, I think that there should be keyboards here and there in ROCK music but only as a shading tool rather than a lead instrument.
Also, I love TOOL's cover of No Quarter!
Yu got meet Rick Wakeman? That is cool, very cool in fact. I have heard he has no sense of humour around King Arthur. OH well.
ReplyDeleteI think Dream Theatre are metal prog, same category as Opeth.
I tend to agree with your comments on Zeppelin, although I am not sure where i would classify them if I am honest. They are quite hard and heavy, but also very light at times. Am happy rto say though that they are the exception to the rule.
i like the copncept of a shading tool. it works best that way.
I saw Yes in '04 and got to meet the band. Rick was the only personable guy there. All the others were waiting and looking around for people they already knew.
ReplyDeleteI also got to remind him which Cat Stevens album "Morning has broken" is on. Yes I'm cool.
He also make sure that every e-mail to his web site gets some sort of reply.
He is humorous but I guess not with King Arthur
Seriously, Opeth, Children of Bodom, Dimmu Borgir, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Between the Buried and Me, to name but a few metal bands who use Keyboards and they belong in metal.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment anonymous. I do think however that all the bands you mention are prog. They are prog metal but that is my point, which i thought I made, but possibly not.
ReplyDelete