Having a ball, wish you were here

Some bands just like to have FUN with the music they play.

Listening to Gamma Ray's album Powerplant a few minutes ago, one of my old favorites. The song playing was "Heavy Metal Universe". Listen to the lyrics:

In our sky there is no limits
And masters we have none
Heavy Metal is the only one
'Cause it's a Heavy Metal universe
With a Heavy Metal sound
Masters of the thunder
Shake you to the ground
It's a Heavy Metal bomber
And it's never going down
Flying 'cross the universe
We're Heavy Metal bound

There's more in the same vein, naturally, but every time I listen to this song I can't get over how much FUN the band seems to be having. This seems to be a common theme with a lot of heavy metal bands. Edguy plays a lot of silly music and Tobias Sammet, their lead vocalist, is like a rubber ball onstage. Running Wild plays pirate-themed music and dresses up in pirate costumes onstage. GWAR has elaborate costuming and stage shows and delights in spraying their audience with various, um, fluids. DragonForce plays at hypersonic speeds and the bandmembers spend the whole show running around like they were on crack. The Scorpions are famous for their stage antics and all the great rock cliches. HammerFall refers to themselves as the Templars of Heavy Metal and fill their songs with themes about knights and glory on the battlefield. Rhapsody of Fire (formerly just Rhapsody) writes elaborate fantasy-themed albums with over-the-top lyrics. I could go on, but you get the idea. What is it about heavy metal that lends itself so well to having fun?

I listen to lots and lots of music, as a cursory look at my last.fm profile will tell you. Classical, rock, jazz, swing, blues, new age, metal, prog-rock, rap, R&B, electronica, pop, and lots more. Sometimes I want to hear something emotionally stirring and I'll put on some Bach or Beethoven. If I want to feel calm and tranquil I'll play some Adiemus or Jonn Serrie. If I want something complex it's Vanden Plas or Threshold. Upbeat and poppy, let's play some 80s music. Freeform jazz, how about some Miles Davis. Folk music, Richard Shindell or Juliana Finch rule. And so on, and so on.

But sometimes I just want to have fun listening to the musicians having fun too. And then I put on some glam metal, or over-the-top heavy metal like the bands I mentioned above, or just find something loud and obnoxious, crank it to 11, and rock out with pride.

How about you? Who's your favorite band or artist that you can always tell is having a hell of a great time onstage or playing their music?

And on that note, today's shared file is DragonForce's second album Sonic Firestorm. Extreme power metal with lightspeed playing, intricate fretboard work, balls-to-the-wall attitude from the get-go, and songs about power, glory, soldiers of the wastelands and so on. You won't believe the talent these guys display. File is about 70MB in size, .ZIP file with 9 songs in iTunes .M4A format, also playable by Winamp or Windows Media Player.

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[[The Oracle would like to know your favorite snack food.]]