8 Comments

The church I used to go to actually had a good sense of humor but I realize this is rare. Thanks for sharing.

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I used "Church", capitalized, to refer to the Catholic church. And yes, they don't have a sense of humor. And they abuse children.

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Oct 30, 2023Liked by Charles in San Francisco

Fascinating groups. Heilung and Anna were favorites. Heilung sounded similar to Dead Can Dance in some ways although I prefer DCD. I'm not sure about the get-ups and intro - but the sound was gorgeous. I cannot understand why Anna was banned. Her voice and the instrumentals are beautiful and haunting. The slow, purposeful parts of Nothing Else Matters by Metallica was beautiful; the chords, determination, performance and the voice of the lead singer was so powerful. Indeed, a preference for me with this group I'm not inclined to listen to. Your choices are always impressive Charles - and I simply do not know how you have the time to dedicate to searching and writing about such interesting talents that sadly, for many of us, are never discovered. Thank you!

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Thanks KC. Anna was banned because they consider her art satanic. Beauty doesn't figure into it, and the Church it not known for having a sense of humor!

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Oct 22, 2023Liked by Charles in San Francisco

My mind as well as my ears tend to on a skipping playdate when types of genre of music are mentioned. I have listened to music for decades. But still end up confused. Operatic female singers singing metal. Love some but not all. Hated Screamo, growling rock singers. But heard one I liked and thought. Blast them. Genres of music are fun to label. But I still remember having to work out which friends belonged to which group. No good talking about Black Sabbath with fans of cross country music. Which always sounded an odd genre. Equally saying how moving Olivia Newton Johns new song was to a bunch of Ozzy fans would have been a problem.

Don't like Band Maid? Well then ok but you like Lovebites? But is one rock and one more metal? Or are Band Maid a musical genre to themselves? No sorry my mind is skipping away again. Wanting to play in the garden where music is just music you like or don't like as much. I am just a lazy music fan. Now off to look for screamo reggae and when it slaps me across the face I still want know what type of music to call it. But I will know if I like it.

Enjoyed the two parter guide even if I did fail the written test.

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Thanks Russell, always appreciate your commentaries. You anticipated one of my upcoming columns, which is already pretty much complete and ready for posting. It begins: "Musical genres have always struck me as a trap. If you try to define a particular genre based on things like what instruments they use, or what scales they play in, or how their vocalists are trained, or any other of a thousand possible technical categories, you will always miss something. " Interestingly, fans are much more hung up on genre definitions than the musicians are. One of the reasons the Japanese bands are so dynamic right now is that they largely ignore the boundaries we artificially impose on ourselves. At least that's my opinion.... Thanks again,

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Oct 23, 2023Liked by Charles in San Francisco

Oh, from your keys to the gods' ears! "Genre" has been nothing but a giant ache in my glutes for years now; it seems to exist primarily so other people can tell us where they think we don't belong, and then they get all the clout for doing so.

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Oh, don't get me started on the genre gatekeepers! They are such a killjoy.

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