Rock Bands and Tolkien (Nightwish and more)

[Hakon]

Originally Posted by TheGreatElvenWarrior

Well you know that Led Zepplin already has a song called Misty Mountain Hop. There is also The Battle of Evermore which is just full of Tolkien references, that's one of the reasons why it's my second favourite song. My first is about some bloke who smashes people on the head with a silver hammer. . .

I think I will check both of those songs out. Also expect me to post or PM you a short story about a bloke with a silver hammer. You gave me the idea.

One thing I have noticed is that the majority of bands that make Tolkien references or references to mythology(usually Norse)are almost always heavy metal or death metal bands.

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by Hakon

One thing I have noticed is that the majority of bands that make Tolkien references or references to mythology(usually Norse)are almost always heavy metal or death metal bands.

There are a few bands with a slightly different style who reference Tolkien, such as Glass Hammer (not to be confused with that silver hammer) and Nickle Creek.

[The Sixth Wizard]

In the darkest depths of Morder, I met a girl so fair ... but Gollum, and the Evil One, crept up and ran away with herrrr ... herrr ... her, yeah.

Or do I digress?

[skip spence]

Bill Burroughs, James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, Rimbaud and Hunter S Thompson are rock'n'roll writers. Tolkien, as much as I adore him, should be kept well away from rock music and vice versa. Like oil and water they are.

Edit: What is up with metal bands and Tolkien references?

[Estelyn Telcontar]

skip, the heavy metal/Tolkien connection is one that puzzled me too. However, I have been working on a book, translating a chapter on that topic which contains very interesting insights. The epicentre of Black Metal is Norway, and musicians who talked to the author of the chapter spoke of the appeal that JRRT's bad guys had for them, especially since Morgoth, Sauron and Co. are associated with the heathen legends of their own Nordic history. Their rebellion against Christianity has moved them to look for those historical/legendary roots, and they found an echo of them in Tolkien's works.

There is also a connection with the role-playing games that many young men in Scandinavian countries enjoyed. Those are strongly Tolkien-inspired, and they provide a framework for fantasy that has found an outlet in the music that these groups make and perform.

I'll spread the word when the book is printed and can be ordered so that those who want to read more can do so.

[skip spence]

Originally Posted by Estelyn Telcontar

skip, the heavy metal/Tolkien connection is one that puzzled me too. However, I have been working on a book, translating a chapter on that topic which contains very interesting insights. The epicentre of Black Metal is Norway, and musicians who talked to the author of the chapter spoke of the appeal that JRRT's bad guys had for them, especially since Morgoth, Sauron and Co. are associated with the heathen legends of their own Nordic history. Their rebellion against Christianity has moved them to look for those historical/legendary roots, and they found an echo of them in Tolkien's works.

There is also a connection with the role-playing games that many young men in Scandinavian countries enjoyed. Those are strongly Tolkien-inspired, and they provide a framework for fantasy that has found an outlet in the music that these groups make and perform.

I'll spread the word when the book is printed and can be ordered so that those who want to read more can do so.

Oh yeah, the Norwegian black metal guys... In a way they deserve some respect bringing a bit of danger and controversy back into a genre that have become about as edgy as granny's bingo-sessions, but then again, I've heard some downright nasty stories about those cults and there are (or were) apparently some right sinister people involved in that scene, though the media probably blows it out of proportions as usual.

The whole thing is interesting nevertheless, and do let us know about this book. I've a recollection you worked on something similar before, didn't you? And does perhaps your involvement in this book go further than translation?

Morth, Okay Mordor perhaps is a good place for sleazy sex, uppers and downers, screamers and shouters, and that's rock'n'roll for you, but I doubt Tolkien cared for that sort of stuff, nor does his work in any way celebrate or even condone the rebellion, irreverence and reckless abandon rock seem to be about, which is why I think the two don't mix. But I guess if you're a bid Tolkien fan and work in music, references might pop up and that's fair enough. For me though, Tolkien references in rock isn't a plus.

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by skip spence

Morth, Okay Mordor perhaps is a good place for sleazy sex, uppers and downers, screamers and shouters, and that's rock'n'roll for you, but I doubt Tolkien cared for that sort of stuff, nor does his work in any way celebrate or even condone the rebellion, irreverence and reckless abandon rock seem to be about, which is why I think the two don't mix. But I guess if you're a bid Tolkien fan and work in music, references might pop up and that's fair enough. For me though, Tolkien references in rock isn't a plus.

I think it depends which book of Tolkien one takes as the quintessential Tolkien.

The Elves of The Silm are very different from the elves of LotR. There's plenty of rebellion, stiff-necked stubborn recklessness, even wild abandon amongst that lot. Ditto CoH. Galadriel might have been rehabilitated for LotR, but she was a rebellious bad girl way back when.

Certainly rock has been a mainstream expression for most youth; it isn't a mere leisure activity but a powerful and moving expression of many things which are important to its audience. In its centrality as meaningful voice it probably is closer to how the elves regard music than most sedate concert-going music experiences. And that centrality of aesthetic experience is what I think many of us appreciate in Tolkien: that art and music and literature can be profoundly important expressions of our human condition. The form and style can differ, but the significance of art, that's what binds Tolkien and the music of his fans.

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by skip spence

Bill Burroughs, James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, Rimbaud and Hunter S Thompson are rock'n'roll writers. Tolkien, as much as I adore him, should be kept well away from rock music and vice versa. Like oil and water they are.

Edit: What is up with metal bands and Tolkien references?

Estelyn is entirely correct regarding the Scandinavian connections found in Tolkien that mesh with metal. In addition, these rock folks grew up with Tolkien as a major influence (as did we all), and more than likely never read Joyce or Rimbaud (although earlier rock bands like The Doors were influenced by Aldous Huxley, and Dylan found a sympathetic cord in Rimbaud's work). So, like Zeppelin before them, heavy metal mashers mention Mordor. It's rather like Pink Floyd calling their first album 'Pipers at the Gates of Dawn', which is a chapter title in Kenneth Grahame's 'The Wind in the Willows'. We are very much what we read in our youth.