Report On Musical Elements

Styles analysis of Funk and Metal

Metal

Instrumentation

Generally, metal music consist of the use of two one or two electric guitars (using distortion) an electric bass guitarist, a drummer and a vocalist. Some funk music also incorporates piano/keyboard.

Structure

Basic verse, chorus, verse, bridge chorus, structure. Guitar solos are also often incorporated into the structure of metal songs. Some metal songs may have introductions and outros.

Rhythm

Emphatic beats with aggressive rhythm.

Melody

The melody of metal most metal music is similar to that of roots in blues rock and psychedelic rock but is often faster and more aggressive, with heavier distortion.

Lyrical Content

Many metal musicians have used their lyrics to challenge the media, especially for the large amount of censorship in it.

Metal lyrics, much like Funk lyrics, carry lots on anti-establishment themes.

Use of technology

Guitar distortion was discovered in the 1950's by blues musicians experimenting with broken amplifiers. This development of guitar distortion became part of Metal music, with almost all metal musicians ever using this technology in their music.

Rather than an upright double bass, metal musicians more often than not use the electric bass guitar, similarly to funk musicians who also opt for the electrified version of the bass rather than its acoustic counterpart.

Production

Many metal songs can be tricky to record and produce due to them involving extremely complicated guitar solos (For example see 2 minutes 23 seconds into the song ‘Psychosocial’ by Slipknot, up until 2 minutes 44 seconds) however this is not too much of an issue so long as the guitarist recording the solo can produce the solo multiple times in exactly the same way for multiple recordings/takes.

Lots of metal bands use 

Funk Music

Instrumentation

Drums, often just the one guitarist, prominent electric bass, vocals. Often funk artist will incorporate brass instruments such as trumpets into their songs, as well as choral backing vocals. In comparison to metal music, funk songs often incorporate more emphasis on the bass playing then in metal songs.

Structure

Often funk music uses repeated verses, with some choruses in between. In some cases middle eights are used in funk songs.

Funk music often has a polyphonic texture.

Rhythm

Strong rhythmic groove of a bass line played by an electric bassist and a drum part played by a drummer to the foreground.

Complex groove with rhythm instruments playing and interlocking.

Emphasized the first beat of every measure

Melody

Funk uses the same richly coloured extended chords found in bebop jazz, such as minor chords with added sevenths and elevenths, or dominant seventh chords with altered ninths.

Lyrical Content

Black Americans struggled for racial equality in the 1950's and 1960's and as a result, the civil rights movement came to be. Funk music is directly linked to this as it was created by the very black Americans that were being segregated. Funk soon became music of solidarity amongst the black Peoples.

Funk lyrics contain anti-establishment themes and represent black solidarity. Metal music also carries anti-establishment themes, like challenging ideas about religion and other societal norms.

Use of technology

Funk uses the technology of the electric bass guitar heavily. This sets the genre aside from slimier genres like early Blues music were an upright double bass is used instead.

This is slimier to metal music as the electric bass guitar is used in metal music as well.

Production