Megadeath Channel Bluegrass

[mandowilli]

Sounds more like Old Time to me.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/ne...miere-20130531

[JeffD]

Opening with the eerie pluck of a banjo (that's actually a six-string guitar mounted on a banjo body) and a pitter-patter snare, the metal heroes bring the heavy thrash quickly while retaining the track's initial bluegrass bent.

Huh?

[journeybear]

That's a guitjo, or is it banjitar? It gets better: Megadeth Bassist Wants to Be a Lutheran Pastor

Maybe they finally found religion, and have renounced their satanic ways (or whatever they've been accused of). Anywho, this cut doesn't work for me. BTW, the article is almost a year and a half old. Who knows what they're up to these days?

[JEStanek]

Banjitar. That was kinda cool, and I'm not even close to being a Megadeth fan.

Jamie

[journeybear]

The only person I know who plays one regularly and professionally - Kevin Hayes of Old Crow Medicine Show, calls it a guitjo. I know this "issue" had been bandied about before, and will surely be again. I generally prefer shorter names for instruments, and two-syllable names are preferable to three-syllable names. That's why I play a mand'lin. And why I live in the South, so I can get away with that.

[Alex Orr]

Maybe they finally found religion, and have renounced their satanic ways (or whatever they've been accused of).

In all fairness to Megadeath (I can't believe I just wrote that) most of their prime era stuff focused (lyrically) on the horrors of war, the threat of nuclear arsenals, inept political leaders, the tyranny of big government and the military industrial complex, environmental destruction,and drug addiction. Slayer made a career out of playing up the Satanism thing, but Megadeath were always a heavily political band.

[foldedpath]

I generally prefer shorter names for instruments, and two-syllable names are preferable to three-syllable names. That's why I play a mand'lin. And why I live in the South, so I can get away with that.

You live in the Keys, right? Naw, that ain't the South. And you can't get away with that drawl.

When I was growing up as a kid in Miami, we used to joke that the South started north of the Broward County line. Now I suppose it's somewhere up north of Orlando...

[JEStanek]

There was a big stink when Taylor Swift used a 6 string banjo/guitar a few years ago...

Jamie

[journeybear]

Thanks, Alex. I have paid precious little attention to music of this ilk, in its varied forms, so I would be quite ignorant of the lyrical content of any of it. I have managed to get by without this information so far, and will somehow continue as well. But thanks all the same.

fp - I get away with a drawl all the time. A month spent in Mis'sipp' a few years back really schooled me in this. I have always been a Southern boy - southern New England, to be sure - so I took to it naturally. Ain't no thang ...

And well, yes, Taylor's use of this instrument did stir up something around here, though I believe the fuss may have been more about the video depicting the band in quite the rustic setting, which the OP perceived as muscling in on bluegrass territory. ("Why Can't They Just Leave Us Alone?" was the thread title. It got to be quite the entertaining mess.) Someone in Shakira's band used one on one song too. These hybrid instruments enable guitarists to make the sound of another instrument without having to actually learn how to play it. The half-neck electric 12-string is another, which produces a mandolinny sound. For instance, Doug Pettibone used one on a song or two while touring in Lucinda Williams' band several years back.

[Tobin]

In all fairness to Megadeath (I can't believe I just wrote that) most of their prime era stuff focused (lyrically) on the horrors of war, the threat of nuclear arsenals, inept political leaders, the tyranny of big government and the military industrial complex, environmental destruction,and drug addiction. Slayer made a career out of playing up the Satanism thing, but Megadeath were always a heavily political band.

Absolutely. I was a Megadeth fan back in the late 80s/early 90s, and their music was all political. That's what I loved about it. Their lyrics had a uniquely anti-statist bent, and the music was just plain awesome.

Even their name is a play on an actual term used by nuclear war strategists. Megadeath means a million deaths by nuclear detonation. The character that appeared on their album covers, Vic Rattlehead, was full of political connotations. Their entire image was built around this image of politics; specifically, the dangers of the military-industrial complex.

Average folks who knew nothing of them other than their name just made assumptions that they must be Satanists... or whatever other ridiculous things they came up with. But you know what they say about assuming.

Anyway, I'm glad to see them taking a different approach musically. I haven't listened to their music in a long, long time and don't keep up with them any more. But it's interesting to see the direction that some of these older bands go.

[journeybear]

... But you know what they say about assuming.

I hope it's fair to assume you mean the old saw about making an "ass" of "u" and "me."

... it's interesting to see the direction that some of these older bands go.

I'm not sure this is really a new direction the band is taking rather than just something they wanted to do for the start of this one song. I haven't heard any other cuts from the album, but, basing my assumption on what little evidence I have encountered, I am guessing the latter is the case. All the same, it IS kind of cool that a metal band would incorporate a non-rock acoustic instrument in this way. The only other instance that comes to my mind is Spinal Tap's use of mandolin in "Stonehenge." But that's not really real, or so I assume.

[foldedpath]

I'm not sure this is really a new direction the band is taking rather than just something they wanted to do for the start of this one song. I haven't heard any other cuts from the album, but, basing my assumption on what little evidence I have encountered, I am guessing the latter is the case.

Based on the preview MP3 clips on Amazon, the rest of the album is all ear-bleeding metal. So, yeah; it's just a little contrast for that one song.

[JEStanek]

Snoop Dogg even did a Johnny Cash Themed song... Metallica has forays into acoustic sounds as well. Making that money!

Jamie

[journeybear]

Didn't Metallica do an unplugged album? I know Nirvana did, some other serious rockers too. A lot of times there is some decent music underneath the noise. The noise can be so much fun, though ...

[Bertram Henze]

...and even sent the cut to Miranda Lambert. "Although she declined, her manager was polite enough to reportedly say she didn't feel she could make the song better. I was very flattered," he says.

I'll have to remember that excuse in case I need it. No topic without something to learn.

[almeriastrings]

Definitely. I like it. Not the Megadeath noise pollution, but that great excuse next time someone sends you something truly awful and wants you to participate in it....