Defending the Faith (Blog 67)

Those acquainted with Judas Priest and indeed those acquainted with metal on the whole, will most likely be familiar with the phrase ‘defending the faith’. It’s certainly a vague phrase, as I’m not sure if anyone truly knows what ‘the faith’ is. Faith in deafening heavy metal annoying your neighbours? Faith in it providing some kind of afterlife, perhaps involving an ongoing, extra-loud concert with epic mosh pits where you can’t get hurt? (At least not in the long run - everyone likes to see a little blood every now and then). Who knows? I’ll tell you what I think it means, though: Belief in the genre standing the test of time and in the fans never getting tired of it. That’s kind of more level headed, as are most followers of the style. (According the a BBC poll). The first explanation whilst understandable, is a little insulting to the genre and the second is kind of out there. I’ve certainly never heard of a metal religion, but there might be a stoner-metal religion or an avant-garde metal one, as that stuff can be pretty trippy.

Let’s stick with my theory then, at least when concerning more typical metal. Do most people defend the faith? Yes. You often see 50 or even 60 year olds wearing Slayer t-shirts, or whatever. Furthermore, many elderly rockers can be found on Youtube, talking about all sorts of bands and albums. However… at the local charity shop recently, I saw something rather troubling. Someone had just GIVEN AWAY two Deftones CDs, potentially putting them in the hands of any old wannabe who doesn’t deserve them. You need to WORK to appreciate the group. You need to have heard hundreds, if not thousands of bands before hand, before you can appreciate the fact that Deftones are better than all of them. Simply throwing them away is NOT defending the faith, that’s giving up on the faith. The donator should be ashamed of himself. I know saying that wasn’t very charitable of me, but the faith must be defended! It must! It must! Oh my, I’m supposed to be level headed… What was the BBC on about? To be fair though, at least the company didn’t say metalheads are a bunch of psychos and criminals. Fallacy debunked! Time for a breather, then I’ll get back to writing.

I’ve just returned from the shops on my motorbike, after stabbing a couple of people in the face. (Joke! That was an ironic joke!) Do I have anything more to write about? God I’m sick of eating fruit. 4 or 5 portions a day? You wouldn’t eat the same meal every day, would you? I thought I could handle it at first, especially as I’m eating everything from bananas to the more esoteric blueberries. I guess I’ve lost the faith. Hang on… Does defending the faith have anything to do with eating fruit? Let’s research the lyrics to that Priest song we all know and love, simply but effectively titled ‘Defenders of the Faith’ - possibly the original source of the phrase… It just goes ‘We are defenders of the faith’, six times. Ok, no clues there. How about looking at the song’s prequel that is connected to it? Here we go… ‘We’re gonna rock ya till your metal hunger’s fed!’ I knew it! Judas Priest et al preach of eating healthily, so their audience’s joints are strong and they can attack each other effectively in the mosh pits. Very metal, hence the lyric ‘metal hunger’. Problem solved. Bye!