Nietzsche meets the Mosh Pit

Here I am scowering the internet for music and thinking about Nietzsche Contra Wagner, a reading where Nietzsche brings together his outlook on German culture with familiar concepts like the dionysian and apollonian. On page 669 he claims art and philosophy presuppose suffering and categorizes sufferers between those characterized by  "over fullness" and on the other side "impoverishment." He writes that people in the impoverishment side will "demand of art and philosophy, calm, stillness, smooth seas, or on the other hand, frenzy, convulsion, and anesthesia. Revenge against life itself--the most voluptuous kind of frenzy for those so impoverished!"

In the next paragraph Nietzsche explains how Wagner and Schopenhauer represent  revenge against life itself, but I want to pause on this quotation and relate it to certain sub-genres of rock today. The song I chose is "You Wont Know" by a band originally from Long Isand, NY called Brand New. They've been around for about 15 years and play a breed of hard rock that gets branded commonly as metal, screamo, punk, emo, or pop punk, but also can be left to its basic element, rock, on many songs. This particular song falls on the much heavier side. I thought of this band after last class because of their tendency for morbid heartbbroke lyrics.

I most connected the song to the quotation because of Nietzsche's use of "frenzy" and "convulsion." When the band gets going their music is a huge blast of guitar sound. The live version is especially interesting because we get to see the band physically in a frenzy convulsing their bodies around the instruments. The crowd at Austin City Limits is a bit weak, but normally at shows like this the crowd could be full of people headbanging and moshing,  a timed convulsion with music. I was also struck by how when the band is playing quietly with just the guitar and the singer it sounds like it could be more of a "smooth sea." The way Nietzsche's description reflects in rock so literally interests me. I am not sure how much bands like these could be called a "revenge against life." I am struck that the lyrics are about a kind of suffering yet the performance looks like more of a celebration, so the band may get vengeance by turning suffering in to a pleasurable performance.


Great reflection.  Good theme to pursue in your next essay.