Rock and Horror - A match made in Heaven (or a pact made in Hell)

There has always been a strong co-habitation between Rock/Metal music and the horror genre. Some of my favorite bands are not what I would consider musically profound, but their themes, videos and stage performances are just so entertaining I can’t help but love it.

As a typical 00’s Grunger I would listening to anything with a heavy riff, but growing up, a lot of the music has stuck with me not just for nostalgia, but because it’s fun. Murderdolls, Rob Zombie, Slipknot etc. they all employ a dark, demonic, Halloween-y style that makes them an experience rather than just music. A lot of the music videos are far more interesting and well thought out than the latest horror film. The lyrics aren’t obsessed with how they want to get laid or that they “miss their ex” but are exploring strange ideas and gruesome tales.

I don’t think it’s worth going into how crap the current trend of popular music is compared to rock/alternative because as far as I’m concerned, I may not like it, but it doesn’t hurt me so live and let live.

As an avid festival goer, I was always at Sonisphere Festival and one particularly memorable show was Alice Cooper. I’ve never been a huge fan of the music but the stage show was so much fun it was close to being the best part of the weekend. However, Rammstein played the next day which having seen them a few times now, is definitely one of the best live shows out there. Again, I don’t think of their music as particularly ground-breaking but they played it without fault (good old German efficiency) and it was bloody cool. Fireworks, flamethrowers, penis cannons and a very odd story about boiling their keyboardist made it both funny and interesting.

It occurs to me that Horror is very much in the mainstream these days, with AHS, Bates Motel and lots of popular horror films coming out. I wonder if maybe this is an indication that Rock/Metal is going to be going the same way. A few years ago several of the more “regular” people I know would have gotten 5 seconds into a slipknot music video and turned it off calling it weird and creepy. These days I don’t think the reaction would be the same.