Does it stain his work?

This story that came out today I find particularly provocative. I happen to think that some of Gary Glitter’s songs are classics of their era, definitive of glam rock and used very often in hockey games and the like as intro music. From that, that does not infer that I approve of what he has been convicted of. You’d need some very odd inferential scheme to infer that.

Does his criminal behaviour undermine this?

The examining board thinks so.

Antisophie

The ship of Stratovarius (on ideology and semantics)

Preamble

Anyone who is familiar with the metal scene of Finland knows about the recent spat between Timo Tolkki and the rest of the members of Stratovarius. In a previous post, I reported the news that Stratovarius broke up; but then came a whole barrage of replies from two parties; Timo Tolkki, and the rest of Stratovarius. These recent events are much like the whole open letter affair with Nightwish and their former singer. Has Finnish heavy metal become so big, that it has taken on the mechanics and suave of modern bands, of having official fan clubs, official merchandise, PAs, photoshoots and open letters? It seems long from the harked days of underground bands playing in California who were known by their audiences bootlegging their gigs, but that’s a whole other point at hand…

The heart of Stratovarius

I can engage in a suitably philosophical discussion about the semantics and modality of ‘Stratovarius’; but I want to address a more human point.

Stratovarius is a band that, for me, and a lot of people I know, represents a mindset. It is, I thought quite clearly, until recently, a band that was in tune with a lot of the heavy metal scene in Europe; trying to come to terms with the bleakness, superficiality, conformism and fostered attitude of normative-heterogeneity, by replying either by an expression of despair [such as EToS]; fantasy; or perseverence. Stratovarius represented the most noble of these responses: perseverence, the strength to keep fighting on in a world of superficiality. How ironic, and how disturbing I find it that Stratovarius engages in this kind of dispute. Not to take any sides on the issue, but when a band that for me, represents perseverence and a way of coping with the modern world, has infighting, one kind of loses hope in the message they once represented.

Now, for a rather odd analysis of ‘Stratovarius’….

The semantics of ‘Stratovarius’

Timo Tolkki, de re, was not the original founder of the band, contrast this to Tuomas’ role in Nightwish. It is Tuomas’ baptism of the band, that makes him the essential feature of the band; the necessary condition for ‘Nightwish’ to refer is that Tuomas is in it. Can we say the same for Timo and Strato? The short answer is yes (because he is the lyrical and musical direction of the whole band since 1984); but the long answer is no he fails to fulfill the de re necessity Kripke designator.

There have been many bands (my first thought on this is the Norweigian band Mayhem) which have none of the de re original members present in their current lineup, yet the name of the band still refers. This is obviously like the philosophical problem of identity, the Ship of Theseus; if you replace every plank, is it still the same ship?

In the case of Mayhem; some of the original members have left, and then returned; much like Ozzy Osbourne in Black Sabbath (replaced by Dio, Tony Martin, etc.); however, unlike Mayhem, Black Sabbath maintained the essential feature, the conponent of Tommy Iommi; who has, rather significantly, maintained throughout the whole career of Sabbath; being the creative force behind it, despite how most people associate it with Ozzy (or, as some of the fan discourses argue, Dio, but that very fact points out the finitude of the lead singer as being core to the band).

Is it possible, further, is it legitimate, semantically, for a band to have changed its whole membership and yet still refer by its original name? What of any organisation for that instance. Is the philosophy department of Cambridge still legitimate to claim heritage of Russell, Wittgenstein and Moore, even though they have long gone?

Michael

Beauty as a feeling (On Allison’s ‘chain of associations’)

In the year 1789 (I think), Archibald Allison published a work on aesthetics, on the same year as Immanuel Kant; it was a directly opposed theory with deeply empiricist flavourings. Kant’s aesthetic account, by contrast, is more nuanced of a rationalist account, but Allison assert what Kant denies, but in doing so, I think Allison hit the nail right on the head on some issues.

One particular conception that I considered prima facie true, and my mind really hasn’t changed on this, is the significant empirical component in our aesthetic behaviour. When I see an object, I associate it with past memories in which I have seen it, and with past times in which I saw it; and those past times evoke memories of the feeling I had when I saw it.

For me, a summer’s day reminds me of those days in the collegium with S*; it reminds me of a few other summers which were particularly bad, but it also, through the culmination of these memories, synthesises to a new experience: it is no longer the past, it is now; this year can be different. A chain of reasoning comes through the cognizance of our recollection, a determinate set of facts, and an indeterminate process of feeling.

Granted, there is a very complex and relative chain of thought to our associations, and it would be interesting to formalise the process we have in such cases; we could have a formal logic of aesthetics, or a formal logic of memory, or even a formal logic of emotional reasoning/emotional conditionalisation.

But what I think is the lasting platitude here, is the undeniable empirical aspect of aesthetics (aesthetics, after all, is experience)…

Michael, Sinistre

Fugue for electric guitar (Yngwie Malmsteen)

Brilliant, it is so over the top, just like Baroque music.

A

Protected: Reasons I like Stephen Fry…(On cultural archetypes)

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The Islander (Nightwish)

This was a very moving song when I saw it live. Nightwish certainly have changed of late; and here is one of the ways: Marco getting more creatively involved…just imagine, he’s in Tarot, too!

M

Black Tears

When I'm in this state of mind
I'm wishing I was blind. Sometimes life is
more than pain, to me
I feel the power of my grief. Death would be
such a relief. All the secrets that I hide
would die, with me.

Depression is my only friend. Will this
torture never end? Let me carry on to
the dreamers sky.

I keep crying in my dreams.
Can you hear my endless screams?
When I fade away I fade, away.

Chorus: THIS FLUID ON MY CHEEK, IT DRAINS ME
I GET WEAK. MY HEART IS COLD & BLEAK
BLACK BLOOD. BLACK TEARS.

Life is like a masquerade. In debt to myself,
but I can't pay. Soon I'll call it all a day, away.
I've never felt what you call guilt.
I still believe "Do what thou wilt"
My sorrow will destroy the world I've built.

(Chorus)

Edge of Sanity

Edge of Sanity’s original song is quite a statement; released in 1994; the album, Purgatory Afterglow was in the memory of Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain. I think there is a certain Gen X bleakness about it, the disillusionment of youth. This is really, what, I would deem, is at the heart of heavy metal, and the nature of good music itself; the introspective mindset, the exploration of one’s own inner states and feelings; and also, an evokation of our current times. How Romantic [or, should I say, Modern...)...

One thing I find particularly curious is the major key tonality!

Antisophie

[Editorial] I also want to add this appendum; it’s an Eternal Tears of Sorrow ‘cover’ version, because, I think they are a great band.

Michael

Lars Ulrich (interview): Ideology, authenticity, genre

Very interesting stuff. Shame about their two albums in 1996…but that’s another story!

M

While your lips are still red

I’m surprised that they would play this live!

Michael

Protected: NWOBHM Heavy Metal (two philosophical thoughts on aesthetic preference)

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