Led Zeppelin, Rush, King's X, and Tool

[kmaaj]

Maynard looks like he’s harboring some major bitterness (personal observation),

He is. “10,000 Days/Wings for Marie” he is voicing his love for his mother and acknowledging her devout faith, while expressing anger at God for her torment and admonishing her in her deceased state to DEMAND entrance into heaven, as if there should be absolutley no question of that from Maynard’s POV. Most may see it as harsh, I see it as the ultimate in lamentation, for which Maynard has a lifetime to work out, or not.

LZ to me seems pretty harmless (I avoid In My Time of Dying, a song I love but I feel it disrespects Jesus and is, I feel, at times a mockery of some Catholic elements) though Jimmy Page was an avid fan of Crowley and was an occultist, .

“In My Time of Dying” is not an LZ original, it is a classic folk song. Dylan has covered it. My favorite version is by Alvin Youngblood Hart. I see it, and “When the Levee Breaks” as a lament as well.

No denying Page is a Crowley aficianado, as is Danny Carey.

 

[mdrummer5]

He is. “10,000 Days/Wings for Marie” he is voicing his love for his mother and acknowledging her devout faith, while expressing anger at God for her torment and admonishing her in her deceased state to DEMAND entrance into heaven, as if there should be absolutley no question of that from Maynard’s POV. Most may see it as harsh, I see it as the ultimate in lamentation, for which Maynard has a lifetime to work out, or not.

Maynard did another song with A Perfect Circle called “Judith” that covers his feelings on it too. I wouldn’t advise anyone who is sensitive to such things listen to it but basically it’s written from the perspective of him basically asking her how she justified her faith and being angry with her (and God) for still having faith when she dealt with her illness for 10,000 days (hence the title of “Wings for Marie” and their last album) before passing away. I only bring it up for the relevance of explaining why he felt she had the right to demand entrance into heaven.

It’s blasphemous, but it conveys such an honest emotion that I think most people have felt at one time or another, being angry at God for allowing someone so devout to be so tortured. What’s interesting is that in “Wings for Marie” it’s almost like he’s come full circle and acknowledges his lack of faith due to a lack of proof of God when her and her unyeilding faith were his proof. It’s actually quite moving.

“Set as I am in my ways and my arrogance,
(With the) burden of proof tossed upon the believers.
You were my witness, my eyes, my evidence,
Judith Marie, unconditional one.”

Of course that could also be interpreted that she was his proof that God doesn’t exist… I don’t think anyone knows for sure but him.

 

[PassingThru]

Tool has a song, “StinkFist,” about FISTING.
(Sorry to be blunt, but that IS a song of theirs.)

There’s another Song, “Prison Sex,” which is about-------you guessed it.

I agree with you about the “Hooker” song and some other Tool songs (“Enema” is another example)----but you MUST admit “StinkFist” is about what it says it is about. One of Tool’s Band Members enjoys…that.
They even admit it. I see what you are saying, though.

They’re basically OK, (and their Videos are MINBLOWING—check them out). But I would be careful and discerning as to what you are listening to of theirs.

I have to jump in as Tool has been my personal #1 from there first EP.

You just brought up three songs: Aenima, Stinkfist and Prison Sex. Just as an FYI, these songs have nothing to do with colon health, fisting, or sex while incarcerated. At all. You mentioned being careful with discerning, but I think you missed some yourself. By most accounts and in no particular order, these songs deal with 1) Child Abuse 2) The decline of Western Society 3) Media sensationalism / Overstimulation. Ill leave it as a match-em up game to figure out which is which.

I am sure Tool members have agreed that they loved “fisting” in an interview. They have also admitted to being militant Christians, Mormans, Lacrimists (study of healing through crying, or something) and many other things. Basically, they love it when people approach them and take some literal interpretation of a song and try to pin them down. The more people don’t actually “get” them, the happier they are. They know that plenty of folks do understand them, and they are happy to lead everyone else astray.

Now, with that said, I would advise 95% or more of the readers of CAF to avoid them like the plague. They are a VERY difficult to pill to swallow. They are, however, not what they appear to be.

To answer the OPs question, it depends on you. As we just saw, one reader here thinks he is listening to music extolling awful sexual acts and colon cleansing. I hear the dangers of the media and corporate whitewashing. If you feel bad, don’t listen. If you feel inspired, listen.

(Look at it this way. If someone didnt know about Christianity, and looked at a Catholic service from the outside for a minute, they might accurately say “They worship torture and practice some form of cannibalism!” Interpretation is everything, eh?)

 

[mdrummer5]

I have to jump in as Tool has been my personal #1 from there first EP.

You just brought up three songs: Aenima, Stinkfist and Prison Sex. Just as an FYI, these songs have nothing to do with colon health, fisting, or sex while incarcerated. At all. You mentioned being careful with discerning, but I think you missed some yourself. By most accounts and in no particular order, these songs deal with 1) Child Abuse 2) The decline of Western Society 3) Media sensationalism / Overstimulation. Ill leave it as a match-em up game to figure out which is which.

Also a big fan.

What’s interesting about your point (which I agree with entirely) is that Jesus himself taught in parables which if taken literally make little sense but they are metaphors much like what Tool and a lot of other bands use. Yet people who are quick to judge them or some other bands as “bad” don’t consider that.

but you MUST admit “StinkFist” is about what it says it is about. One of Tool’s Band Members enjoys…that.
They even admit it. I see what you are saying, though.

Please show us where you got this information. In an interview regarding that song specifically here’s what Maynard had to say about it. (edited for language)

“I think that there’s many meanings that we really strive for within
the music. There’s layers of interpretation. If people want to think
it’s about fisting, that’s fine. That’s where they’re at. But if
they really look at it and really look at us and who we are, they’ll
understand that we go a little deeper than some write-off song about
fisting. Now they’ll dig a little deeper, trying to find out what’s
really going.”

Now I will agree with PassinThru that one of the members of Tool **may have **said “yea I love fisting” but having read every interview I can of theirs I’ve not seen or heard it and I would guarantee it was a joke. If someone constantly questions your intent behind something as an artist you have two options… defend it indefinitely or make a joke of it.

 

[ChadS]

I find little if anything in popular music to be profound or so worthy of analysis that if I met a musician that I enjoyed that my first thoughts would be drawn to asking them what the song means. Most of the time they give you musician BS answers about how they were in a difficult place in their life, they’re spiritual but not religious, I’m trying to deal with my childhood and on and on and on.

I remember reading a review of either a Staind or Limp Bizkit album years ago and the reviewer was talking about a song that was ostensibly about religion and being spiritual but not religious. The reviewer went on to say that the lyrics are the kind that sound deep until you’re a sophomore in high school, but then you realize the songs are being written by guys in their 20s (maybe 30s). So really do we want to go and try to get life lessons from them?

If I had the opportunity to meet Jimmy Page or Robert Plant I’m not going to ask them about “Stairway to Heaven”, or “Immigrant Song”, or even “Nobody’s Fault by Mine.” I would probably just blabber a little and tell them how much I enjoyed their music and leave it at that.

Could you imagine if all musicians got the same deferential tone in trying to figure out what their lyrics really mean, it could make for some funny moments:

“Excuse me Mr. Nugent, could you tell me what was going on in your life when you wrote ‘Cat Scratch Fever?’”

“Excuse me Mr. Young, but what is the deeper meaning behind ‘Big Balls’?”

So you can only imagine.

ChadS

 

[mdrummer5]

“Excuse me Mr. Young, but what is the deeper meaning behind ‘Big Balls’?”

What? It’s about dancing right?

 

[YankeeRC]

Quite simply, do I need to let them go?

Even though not my main bread and butter, I am a classically trained musician who has also been trained in the bars when it comes to electric music, so my tastes are very broad.

I am 50 years old, and these 4 bands have been a constant in my listening, though less so in recent times. I cannot nor will not gloss over the occultic intent with 3 of them, especially in the case of Tool.

I just really love the music, and lyrically, I can even appreciate and respect their POV, though I cannot adopt it myself.

How do I reconcile this with my approach to the Tiber? Or do I not even try, and just trash them?

I don’t think you have to actively block listening or watching anything out to please God, He just wants you to spend time with Him to please him.

Did you ever have a dying family member and just sit beside them and hold their hand? God is omnipotent but in some ways he desires that from us.

The more time you spend with God whether it be in prayer, spiritual reading, contemplation etc. before you know it the less time you have for other things. So things like listening to rock radio and talk radio get crowded out.

If you commute, try praying the rosary and pray for others with the radio off consistently. Before you know it you may not even find time to put the radio on

my 2 cents