Help me out! I'm always open to requests - send me music to review, topics to write about, artists you want to learn more about (if I don't know, I'll do the research), even music gear to play with and review. Contact me by email here.

Friday, July 30, 2010

Scream of the Week

A day late, but worthwhile to get the series back on its feet.



Previous to this week, I've been trying to focus on genuine screaming. The goal has been to find real terror, real anger, real existential cries. This week I want to spend a moment focusing on more artificial, theatrical use of screaming, and I can't think of anyone better at that than Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson. On this clip, the proper scream doesn't happen until the very last note, but Dickinson's whole vocal style depends on the sense that he's at the very edge, ready to abandon pitch and technique at any moment and just let loose. There are probably better examples of Dickinson's screaming, and I'll revisit him, because time is short and I want to get into this a bit more. But this song is a classic, and now there's an excuse for you to listen to it again.
Posted by at

2 comments:

  1. Chris HamiltonJuly 30, 2010 at 2:03 PM

    You're really sucking up to me this week. Do you owe me money or something?

    ReplyDelete
  2. KCFAugust 4, 2010 at 3:21 PM

    I always like the way Frank Black, of Pixies fame, screamed. I am new to your blog, so I don't know if you've covered this already. Anyway, always a pleasure, Dr.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)