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Heavy Metal History of the World Pt 1- Ancient GreeceOct 06 '04 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line 3 great, educational songs about Ancient Greece.
Introduction: Heavy Metal is often viewed as just mindlessly loud rock music. While some heavy metal is certainly mindless, and all of it is definitely loud, some heavy metal is also very educational. This series of essays that I will write is an attempt to help people learn more about the meanings of heavy metal songs. A lot of heavy metal is actually inspired by historical events past and future. So next time you hear your kid listening to insanely loud music, instead of worrying about the bad influences of it, take it in turn and realize it is almost like a free history lesson for your son. This is just the first in a (hopefully) long series of essays I will write on this subject. I hope to take human history from ancient times to present times and beyond! If you have any comments, suggestions or corrections, please drop a comment. If you would like to request a song that you think deserves to be in one of these, feel free to email me at craignmcdonald@yahoo.ca. Part 1: Greece 1) Led Zeppelin- Achilles Last Stand What Happened?- Achilles was a hero in ancient Greek mythology, and the hero of Homer’s Illiad. Legend had it, in an attempt to make Achilles immortal, he was dipped into the river Styx (everything that touched it be invulnerable), making his whole body, except for his heel (where he was held by), invulnerable. This is the reason behind the modern saying “Achilles heel” referring to one’s weakness. Achilles was eventually killed by getting an arrow in the heel. (For more information on legend of Achilles I would recommend reading the Illiad, which sadly I have not). Is the song any good- Of course, its Led Zeppelin fool! Actually this is probably my favorite Led Zeppelin song, mainly for the reason that is one of the only 10 minute plus songs that can keep my attention (I blame my low attention span on TV). The song has the occasional reference to Ancient Greece, but doesn’t really explain much of the story of Achilles. 2) Iron Maiden- Alexander the Great What Happened?- Alexander the Great was born in 356 BC and was king of Macedonia from 336 to his death in 323 BC. He desired to be a great king, even greater than his father, Philip, who was considered the greatest king in Macedonian history. As king Alexander the Great conquered almost the entire known world of his era. Alexander and his army traveled over 20,000 miles in ten years, a great feat during the time. He fought many enemies, his main being the Persians. I believe two movies are currently in production about Alexander’s life. Is the song any good?- Yes, this is another good song and clocking in at over 8 minutes long is actually pretty long. The great thing about this song is that it makes you feel like you are in the 4th century BC, and marching towards battle with Alexander’s army. It also has more historical references than the previous song. The first spoken line in the song is a quote by King Philip “My son ask for thyself another kingdom, for that which I leave is to small for thee.” This whole song is a good story of Alexander’s life, and would recommend it to anyone interested in his life, or just wanting to hear a good song. 3) Symphony X- The Odyssey What Happened- This song is based on another one of Homer’s stories, The Odyssey. While again, I have not read the story, through the information in this song and from a Simpson’s episode I have a vague idea of what is going on. The story is about Oddyseus, and his adventure trying to get home after the Trojan war. As can be guessed the journey home doesn’t go exactly as planned, and he ends up spending 20 years trying to get home. More information on this can be found by, of course, reading the book. Is the song any good?- While I am not a huge fan of the “symphonic metal” genre, I do actually find this song to be very good. Clocking in at over 20 minutes it is another epic song. I believe it was the Greeks who invented the epic, so it is no surprise that songs about them tend to be epic. This song is very good, with some good acoustic parts, and changes the tempo enough to keep the listener interested for the full 20 minutes. Some good guitar solos in it too. It also does a good job of telling the story of Oddyseus (I hope that is how you spell it). That’s it for Greece, I hope you learned a little and enjoyed yourself as much as I did.  |
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