The song Psychosocial is by Slipknot, an successful American heavy metal band. The song is taken from the band's fourth album, All hope is gone. The band hail from Des Moines in Texas, and have made several line-up changes throughout the early years before settling for 9 members, which recently turned to eight following the death of bassist, Paul Gray. Since the inception of the band in 1995, they have gone on to great success being nominated for and winning numerous awards and going on to sell over 14,000,000 records worldwide. Some would say the success of the band has come from there genre defining music, with aggressive and energetic songs coupled with chaotic live shows. Their success could also of been helped by the unusual costumes the band wear, as they make them very identifiable from other bands. They wear jumpsuits, and each member has a different unique mask to which they wear at most band events (concerts, music video's). The masks all look quite frightening from the audiences point of view, similar to that seen at Halloween, which all fits in with the genre of music the band make, heavy metal.
Genre
The band are renowned for their heavy sound and frightening image, both characteristics that would be associated with the heavy metal genre. The music tends to focus on loud and fast drumming, with down tuned pacey guitar riffs and a range of vocal styles from screaming to singing. The topic of the lyrics also tend to be angry and aggressive with dark meanings. Heavy metal itself is a branch of rock music, in which is generally loud with guitar solo's and aggressive and masculine themes. When the genre first came to surface in the late sixties to early seventies, the music seemed to take great influence from blues music but as time progressed these roots have been forgotten and emphasis has been placed on speed and tempo, attracting a certain type of audience, of whom enjoy somewhat chaotic and energetic concerts. The video for Psychosocial is very in keeping with this genre as the edit keeps up with the music, cutting quickly from shot to shot in place with the fast tempo of the music. The mise en scene also fits with the genre, with lots of shots of fire, a feature associated with metal music, and a theme of destruction throughout, which is also associated with this genre
Codes and Conventions
This video is a performance clip, although it also has a very vague narrative of which is cut to quite infrequently throughout the clip. You can see that it is a performance clip as the band are playing their instruments together in the synch with the song. We can also see how the performance shown fits in with the genre of the song as the band members are shown in an energetic way, head banging like typical fans of heavy metal music. As opposed to the clear performance scenes in the clip, the narrative within the clip is much more vague as we see a theme of destruction throughout. At the start we can see the band members lining up large masks of which they then burn later on in the video. There is also a quick cut to a shot of a dead animal on a road. Then towards the end we see more destruction as a tv screen is smashed and finally a window is smashed. This form of narrative fits very well with the genre, as destruction and chaos are features often associated with heavy metal music.
Audience
A heavy metal audience is known for being a mostly masculine one, with a large male fan base although many females do also show an interest in this kind of music. Due to the rough and loud sound the music has been associated with a male fan base, and this type of music has introduced the 'mosh pit', in which crowds open up and throw themselves into each other in time to the music. Many fans of different music may see this as pointless and ridiculous but many metal fans see this as a way to enjoy the music. This tells us something about the audience in that they are prepared to get bruised and bashed in watching their favourite music. This type of fanbase may therefore want to see a chaotic video with lots of action, such as flames and destruction (as seen in this SlipKnot video).
Lyrics and Music
I did mytime, and i want out, so abusive
Fate, it doesn't cut, the soul is not so vibrant
The reckoning, the sickening
Back at you, subversion, pseudo-sacred, psycho virgin
Go tell your classes, go dig your graves
Then fill your mouth will all the money you will save
Sinking in, getting smaller again
Undone, it has begun, i'm not the only one
And the rain will kill us all
If we throw ourselves againsnt the wall
But noone else can see
The persevation of the martyr in me
Psychosocial, psychosocial, psychosocial
Psychosocial, psychosocial, psychococial
Oh, there are cracks in the road we lay
From when the devil fell, the secrets have gone mad
This is nothing new but would we kill it all
Fate was all we had
Who needs another mess, we could start over
Just look me in the eyes and say i'm wrong
Now there's only emptiness but i'm missing something
I think we're done, I'm not the only one
And the rain will kill us all
If we throw ourselves against the wall
But noone else can see
The perservation of the martyr in me
Psychosocial, psychosocial, psychosocial
Psychosocial, psychosocial, psychosocial
The limits of the dead!
The limits of the dead!
The limits of the dead!
The limits of the dead!
Fake and defenseless lie
(Psychosocial)
I tried to tell you first
(Psychosocial)
Your hurtful lies are giving out
(Psychosocial)
Can't stop the killing
(Psychosocial)
I can't help if it's hunting season
(Psychosocial)
Is this what you want
(Psychosocial)
I'm not the only one
And the rain will kill us all
If we throw ourselves against the wall
But noone else can see
The perservation of the martyr in me
And the rain will kill us all
If we throw ourselves against the wall
But noone else can see
The perservation of the martyr in me
The limits of the dead!
The limits of the dead!
When watching the video, you cannot see a clear link between these lyrics and the visuals being shown on screen, as there is only a vague narrative to go by with a mostly performance clip. You can however see a link between the theme of the lyrics and the visuals in the song with angry shouted lyrics, of which match up well with the dark and fast paced visuals, with destructive acts taking place on screen.
As well as this, it is clear from the start that the edit and camera shots match well with the genre of music, as the fast paced metal performance is well linked with a quick edit from each shot with a jerky camera. As the lead singer says 'Go dig your graves', the visual cuts to a dead animal on the road, linking to the image of death created from the phrase 'dig your graves'.
Representation
In the video I can only see one group represented, being the typical males of which listen to and perform this type of music. The group is depicted in this video as a frightening one, as there masks alienate them from society and present them as a scary group from the view of other social groups. It gives off the impression that they are not human and something to be feared, further pushing them away from fitting in with the conventions of everyday society. This is due to the masks and also the angry mood given from the music itself, the costumes and the mise en scene in the clip (e.g. flames and dead animals)
Institution - Record label
Since starting in 1995, it took the band just 3 years of hype to get signed by a successful record label. In 1998 they released a demo with 5 tracks specifically for record labels, and gained lots of interest off the back of these, which lead to the band signing a £500,000 record deal with Roadrunner Records. Their first album, self-titled 'Slipknot' went platinum, becoming a first for Roadrunner Records, and indicating a sign of things to come, with a band who went on to change the face of metal music. The band have since gone on to release 4 successful albums through Roadrunner. The label itself was founded in 1980, in which it began with the intent to import American metal music into the UK and Europe. This soon developed and the business began setting up offices in numerous countries across the world. They are now associated with many successful metal and similar genre bands, including Megadeth, Nickelback, Killswitch Engage and Slash. This list shows how the label seem to stick to a certain genre of music, being mostly heavy metal and thrash metal with other types of rock bands as well. This therefore shows an influence towards why the video is rather stereotypical for a metal video, with a frightening chaotic theme throughout.
Camera shot/edit/lighting
Right from the start of the video, we get a sense of the chaotic nature to follow through out the clip, as we see a visual of an abandoned door way. The camera is immediately very jerky and the edit cuts quickly to another part of this apparent abandoned house. When the music kicks in at around 0.05 seconds we see this jerky style of shooting increase to help represent the chaotic and reckless feeling the the music gives off. When the band are performing, the lighting is very low and the location is very dark, with only flames around the band illuminating what is happening. This fits well with the conventional image associated with heavy metal band's, as flames are very often linked with destruction and chaos. The edit also cuts to a bright day lit area for very short periods throughout the clip. I think this helps to promote the title of the album 'All hope is gone' as the majority of the visual is shown in the dark fiery location, indicating the the light of day is gone, as light is often associated with hope. As Corey Taylor is singing and the band and playing, we see how the camera shot frequently cuts from a mid shot to a close up, indicating the he is the focus point of the band. The camera cuts to an establishing shot of a Baha'i symbol which is a star in flames. This is a religious symbol of which represents the human body, and in being in flames further expresses the destructive theme in the video. As the tempo of the song changes towards the end of the video, and the edit of the video mirrors this as the transition between each shot is less frequent and slow motion is used.
Intertextuality
At around 2.20 in the clip, we see flames light up a star like symbol on the ground. This shows reference to a Bahai'i ennegram, of which is often used as the symbol for the Bahai'i faith. It is said that the 5 pointed star shows the human body as a head, two hands and two feet, and in burning this symbol on the ground it portrays the image of death and destruction once more, fitting with the conventions of a metal band and the frightening chaotic sense that this video expresses.
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