Metal: Chile’s favorite music genre? [7th Grade]

Why the Metro, micros and Santiago’s streets are filled with long hair, leather and Black Sabbath shirts. 

Metal, aside from being “a solid material that is typically hard, shiny, malleable, fusible and ductile, with good electrical and thermal conductivity,” is also a type of music, and one that is very popular in Chile. Metal music can range anywhere from simple music with heavy distortion, to incredibly technical and lyrical music — also heavily distorted — akin to classical music.

Created in the 1960’s and 70’s in the United States and Europe, metal music quickly branched off into sub-genres, spanning from thrash-metal to glam-metal, metalcore to death metal, even drone-metal and doom-metal.

In addition to the relatively abrasive style of music, the word metal is also used colloquially as an adjective, in phrases such as “that’s so metal.” The best example of this is Tony Iommi, guitarist for “Black Sabbath”, who, after losing the tips of two of his fingers in an accident at the factory where he was employed, had them replaced with metal finger tips with which he plays guitar. That, indeed, is so metal.

So why is metal so popular in Chile? Why are there so many long-haired people garbed in all black with the words “Metallica,” “Iron Maiden” or “Black Sabbath” on their shirts?

“It has something to do with our past,” says Ignacio Orellana, founder of ChileanMetal.net and original member of New York-based band Pirosaint. “Back in 1987... there was so much control by the police and everything, I think we are always retaining those things we couldn’t have for free.”

Many Chileans are introduced to metal music by their family members at a young age. Two such Chileans, Pablo Bentacour Flores and Nicolás Sánchez-Carvajal, became acquainted with metal music when their elder cousins introduced them to English heavy-metal band Iron Maiden.

“When metal came to Chile, the dictatorship censured it a lot,” says Flores. “The Chilean metal bands formed in the 1980s were completely underground. The style of music is strong and fast, and the mosh pit was a place where the tensions of the 80s could be released. Metal has always served as an escape from the repressive authorities.”

Moshing, the pseudo “dance” of metal music, involves a circle of people pushing and slamming into each other to the sounds of metal music.

According to Sánchez-Carvajal, “many of the most influential bands of the genre come very rarely, some not at all. I think metal is loved here because it was a style of music never heard before in the country, and because metal concerts liberate the individual from their daily routine.”

But, according to Orellana, that’s not the only reason metal music is big in Chile.

“Now [we] have another phenomenon: [those who] believe that 'old' means 'good' and 'new' means 'bad.' All the copycats are now trying to live a life that happened so many years ago, that a few people like myself got to live: going to concerts, being stopped by the police because of your long hair, spending the night at the police station. Now all the newbies have the internet and all the things we never had, plus the police can’t touch them. That is why I believe people today wear those black t-shirts so freely — nobody is judging.”

The most popular metal bands in Chile are, curiously enough, not Chilean. In fact, according to Orellana, aside from the bands Criminal and Dorso, most people here don’t know metal bands with members from their own country.

According to Orellana, there are many Chilean bands that can compete on a worldwide level from a songwriting/production standpoint. But the bands lack “the most important thing of all:” commitment from fans.

Due to the heavily distorted sound, shouted vocals and occasionally disturbing subject matter/band names — Cannibal Corpse, for example — metalheads and metal music as a whole frequently get a bad wrap. Many people think of metal music and its fans as satanic, amoral and just downright weird.

Although this may be true with bands such as Anal Cunt, most metalheads are some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. Even in the case of Anal Cunt, the incredibly insensitive and downright preposterous lyrics are written ironically, as can be clearly seen in the songs “Ha, Ha Your Wife Left You,” “Hitler was a Sensitive Man” and “The Guy who Shot His Kid up with AIDS is Awesome.”

This misconception about metalheads stems from the origin of metal music, Orellana said.

“[We were] fellas that were always doing the wrong things,” says Orellana. “We were just long haired guys that made noise and got drunk...or at least that was what they thought about us.”

“The thought that metalheads are bad people is an opinion based purely on unfounded prejudice,” says Flores. “The best example of this is the mosh pit. At first glance, mosh pits seem violent, but if you look closer you will find that every time somebody falls, hands appear to lift them back up. To me, that’s fellowship.”

“Most metalheads despise music we consider commercial or empty,” says Sánchez-Carvajal. “There are metalheads who are complete imbeciles, who want to fight everything they come across, but from those I know, they’re generally good people.”

“We can’t deny that there are groups of metalheads who practice satanism. In Norway they’ve burned churches, in Chile they’ve called [the spirits of] people and animals,” says Flores. “To me that is more representative of a mental disorder than a love for music.”

Despite noisy and relatively drunken beginnings, metal music can be as “complex and intriguing as classical music,” requiring metal musicians to be incredibly talented to perform it. Nowadays you can find many metal musicians who also play in orchestras, such as singer/guitar player of ‘Kintral”, Juan Quinteros S.

Musicologist Robert Walser stated in an article written for the ever-informative Grove Music Dictionary that many metal guitarists utilize “chord progressions and virtuosic practices from 18th century European models, especially Bach, Wagner and Vivaldi.” Among the guitarists mentioned by Walser were Eddie Van Halen of “Van Halen” and Marty Friedman of “Megadeth.”

“Heavy metal takes away my stress,” adds Flores. “Sitting down with some friends, having some beers and talking about life while listening to some metal — that’s as relaxing as it gets.”

By Charlie Actor (charlie@santiagotimes.cl)
Copyright 2013 - The Santiago Times

Deadline: July 31st, Wednesday