Defending Heavy Metal Music

Note: This article was previously published by Helium.com under my name, of course. But I’ve made some modifications and revisions for highest quality possible for this blog. For whose rights this article belongs to is basically me.

It might not easy to defend a rebellious music like heavy metal, especially to the oldsters who despise it and discourage teenagers from listening to it.  But there are many factors and real issues that adults should know before prejudging this type of music.

What many adults don’t know is the real message that it conveys to the young generation. Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that produces loud, distorted guitar sounds combined with heart-pounding drums and screaming vocals. This music is mostly associated with drugs, alcohol, male chauvinism, and bad demeanor, but the songs simply deliver messages about love and peace.

What most people tend to forget are the real issues in the society, the malevolent diseases and the real evils of politics and religion. I’m not knocking religion here; it’s just that most of what we hear on the news are about crimes of powerful people in the name of religion and politics. You see religious and political leaders in CNN and BBC involved in war crimes, sexual and corruption controversies. As these things happen, they simply depict the real world into viewing adults.

The reasons why heavy metal music becomes popular to young people is that teenagers–including juveniles–make this type of music as an escape from alienation and sentiments about the real world, making this as an escape from the pressures of society.

Despite the image it projects to young people, heavy metal music has inspired them to exist in a world full of deceit. This culture allows them to exist in a world where truths seem to be cloaked away from their conscious minds. It never refuses them, it doesn’t restrict them; it creates a culture where they want to belong.

Heavy metal music isn’t just about screaming and spitting and doing obnoxious things.  As mentioned above, heavy metal music has lots of morals to convey when it comes to the lyrics. Songs like “Patience” by Guns n Roses, “Every Rose Has its Thorn” by Poison, “A Whole Lotta Love” by Led Zeppelin, among others, speak of virtues, of love, hope and peace. There are also songs that speak about the madness of life, and in doing so, find a way of delivering some moral messages in them. “One,” for instance, by Metallica speaks about the true atrocities of war. “A soldier’s point of view” in the lyrics simply tells about the nightmares of combat. The song goes:

“I can’t remember anything
can’t tell if this is true or dream
deep down inside I feel to scream
this terrible silence stops me”

The song expresses the ugly aftermaths of war, the horrible psychological and physical effects, physical in terms of being wounded and mutilated in the battle:

“Hold my breath as I wish for death

oh please God, wake me
now the world is gone I’m just one
oh God, help me hold my breath as I wish for death

darkness imprisoning me
all that I see
absolute horror
trapped in myself
body my holding cell

landmine has taken my sight
taken my speech
taken my hearing
taken my arms
taken my legs

taken my soul left me with life in hell”

“Hell” in this sense is the true “hell” that exists in the world, the“hell” heavy metal music is usually associated with, due to the images it influences like the hair, the evil 666 signs, the demonic make-up, and bad behavior, etc. But this hell or demonic image has obviously been misinterpreted by some journalists in order to regale the people out of their story.

This image is also misled by the people in the government who seem to want to block the truth about the necessary evils.  These people want to make people believe that heavy metal music is a cult wherein it praises the devil, which is not true at all.

The image that heavy metal music projects is merely a style or gimmick (if you allow it). It is an art. This image can also be one means of marketing to boost sales for recording companies and producers.

Even with this, the involvement of the younger generation to heavy metal music is just temporary. This music or style is just part of growing up. Heavy metal music, as a part of their teenage years, can make them learn how to behave themselves when they become adults. It transforms them from problematic delinquents into civilized human beings.

Just like any other music, heavy metal brings the moral message to the people. Aren’t all kinds of music food for the soul? Heavy metal music is one form of communication just like all other types of music. It simply tells the listener the beauty of life using brutal and realistic presentation and that, I believe, what art truly is.

“One” Lyrics Source: James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich

The Secret to Manny Pacquiao’s Success

Note: This article was previously published by Helium.com under my name, of course. But I’ve made some modifications and revisions for highest quality possible for this blog. For whose rights this article belongs to is basically me.

There has never been a boxer that shocked the whole world more than Manny Pacquiao. This little Filipino boxer, as many people would say, is larger than life. Due to his seven different weight division world title champions, many ask about the secret behind his success.

Most people expect the keys to Manny Pacquiao’s success are the things most successful people do to reach their goals. These include hard work, belief in oneself, and passion in what you do. But there is something about this Filipino boxer that is totally different from the rest of all successful people in the world, especially in the field of sports.

Probably the secret to Manny’s success has little to do with his dedication to the sport of boxing. It has something to do with his faith in God.  His success is already written on his palms. It is his fate. His talent in boxing has so much to tell about how he achieved his success. His God-given talent is too remarkable that no one could have ever imagined.

Manny’s hand speed is unthinkable; too incredible that they are like typebars of a typewriter printing perpetually on a paper by a fast typist; a kind of speed that had not seen before from any boxer in history. And most of all his power punch, a power that is beyond human comprehension.

Despite this natural genius in him, Manny has a lot to tell about how he have achieved success. First is his history. He was born to a poor family; the reason why he stopped going to school in fourth grade to support his mother and siblings. He became a doughnut vendor, a tricycle driver, and a worker in a fish port. These struggles made him decide to engage himself in the world of boxing not only because of the love of the sport and the love of his dream to become like his idol Mike Tyson, but mainly because to save his family from poverty. This decision first came to his mind after listening to a Douglas-Tyson fight from a portable radio. His determination is so strong that he would do anything to achieve his goal against all adversities.  This is how his faith in God became his source of strength. The rest was history.

Manny Pacquiao stepped every rung of ladder to success gradually but overwhelmingly. Every fist thrown to every opponent is heartily dedicated to his fellow Filipino citizens, who gave him more inspiration to win not just the game of boxing but the game of life.

Poverty had been a very big factor that made Manny Pacuqiao what he is right now. If it hadn’t been for poverty he wouldn’t be great as he is today. Probably his God-given talent has a purpose for him and had given to him to use it as an instrument for him to succeed and to show to all people in the world that anyone can succeed in life as long as he/she have faith in God.  As he would always say, “Every dream can be achieved if you only believe in Him.”

Most people expected him to say it differently, that his success has something to do with strong will and hardwork, but he just said it simply just as the simple person he is: faith in God.  If it hadn’t been for God he wouldn’t have that talent in him.

What are Your Favorite Movie Quotes of all Time?

Note: This article was previously published by Helium.com under my name, of course. But I’ve made some modifications and revisions for highest quality possible for this blog. For whose rights this article belongs to is basically me.

Movie quotes can oftentimes be considered as inspiration to an individual’s life. When you digest a certain line from your favorite movie, you always want to apply it in real life, or at least imitate the admirable quality of the character who said it.  It is amazing how a movie can influence a person’s life from a character’s point of view. Human acculturation in psychology is probably the reason for this.

Anyway, there are many movie quotes that greatly influence me as a person. I even was more involved with them when I began to get more absorbed with Literature and the movies. So here are among my favorite movie quotes of all time:

“A good lawyer with his brief case can steal more money than a thousand men with guns and masks.”

This might have not actually been said in the movie The Godfather, but it is my favorite quote from the novel of the same title by Mario Puzo. These are Don Corleone’s words speaking to his son Michael, whom he wants to “pull the strings,” to become a lawyer someday, words that come from a man who do business illegally through force and violence to its enemies.

It simply tells that human aptitude can be much more powerful than fear and violence if applied skillfully. As a man of violence, Don Corleone wants his son not to be like him when he grows up, and being a lawyer can make a big difference to the the fate of the family, despite the fact that a Sicilian blood is already running in his own son’s veins.

“I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse” is probably the most popular quote of The Godfather. It speaks of power that cannot be defied by a rational mind, as Don Corleone has been known for his rationality. An offer from a very powerful and reasonable Mafia man like Don Corleone is impossible to refuse.

But this is not my second most favorite quote from The Godfather. My second favorite quote from The Godfather is, “Every man has but one destiny.” This line means in the movie how a member of a mafia family cannot defy fate. Although in real life it can mean how the power of will can completely change a man’s life. As with Don Corleone, The Godfather, whom had led a life from his own strength of will, “A man has only but one destiny” pertains exactly to a choice you make in early life, and leads you to a fate that you can’t ever change.

“You can’t handle the truth!”

This is a famous line from the movie, “A Few Good Men,” which stars Jack Nicholson, Tom Cruise, and Demi Moore. These words are from Jack Nicholson, who plays the role of Colonel Nathan Jessep, after being cross-examined in a court marshal by a navy lawyer Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee (Tom Cruise). Colonel Jessep is put into a witness stand about the murder of one of his men in the marines named Santiago. A chance for Kaffee to find answers about the murder. The dialogue in the movie goes:

Jessep: You want answers?

Kaffee: I think I’m entitled.

Jessep:  You want answers?

Kaffee: I want the truth.

Jessep: You can’t handle the truth!

There you go. These words from Colonel Jessep are clear that he’s almost on the verge of admitting the crime.  As in real life, this line could mean an admission of mistake or crime but somehow wants to insist that no one can do anything about it because it’s been done and it cannot be undone. It could also mean a justification of a crime that has been done.

“He’s a good guy, a wise guy. He’s one of us.”

A common line, it is from a Martin Scorcese’s film, “Good Fellas.” It simply states something about the difference between mediocrity and exceptionality. In the movie, which stars Robert de Niro, Joe Pesci, and Ray Liotta, wherein three guys who stick together and share the same common ingenuity in getting away with crime, this quote in real life tells about loyalty, cleverness, and trust.  In the movie it speaks about these three qualities that a real gangster should have.

“If I were a man I was five years ago, I’ll take a flame thrower in this place!”

No one else could have ever said it but Al Pacino, one of the great actors of all time. These words are from the movie wherein he won an Oscar award for best actor: “Scent of a Woman.” This quote speaks about integrity and courage.

In Scent of a Woman, Al Pacino is a blind Lieutenant Colonel Slade whom a young Chris O’Donnell as Charlie Simms is assisting for quite some time. Simms, who also shares to Colonel Slade his experiences in school, has apparently been a witness to an offense in the school grounds. This is how Simms is put into an inquiry in front of students and members of the disciplinary committee.  

With Slade on Simm’s side, the inquiry is opened by the headmaster named Trask, who is then forcing Simms to blurt out the names of the offenders in exchange for his chances of graduation, a choice that puts his college education at stake, which seem to Slade a disgusting move for Trask to make to someone who doesn’t want to speak out and doesn’t want to, “sell anybody out to buy his future,” as Colonel Slade goes on to say.

These words that Slade expresses are so moving that it touches the marrows of my soul. These words are the outcome of his frustrations and sentiments about the tyrannical world. He simply goes on to say the importance of an institution to its students; an institution that should embrace the valuable future of students who will become the future leaders.

There are still many movie quotes that have great meaning to me such as the one from the movie Primal Fear which goes: “We’re a great team, Mr. Vail, you and me.” This tells about lies and deceit. Edward Norton as Aaron Stampler is the one who said it to his defense lawyer Mr. Vail (Richard Gere). Apparently these two characters share the same goal in the trial, to deceive and to use all their cleverness to win the case.

All movies quotes have all the moral lessons in it. Movies as an art present an exaggeration to what really happens in real life, and the dialogue quoted from them allows the viewers to easily understand the message of the story.

As Conrado De Quiros had once said, “A movie is a kind of fiction that tells the truth in a world where facts lie. It is a fiction which expresses fury that comforts in a world where reason afflicts. There lies its power. There lies its art.”

You can check this link for my articles at Helium: http://www.helium.com/users/593617/show_articles