Friday 5: Leggo My Super-ego
Happy Friday, MetalSucks reader! Welcome to MetalSucks Friday 5, our awesome series that appears every Friday (duh) on MetalSucks (duhh) and involves the quantity of five (duhhh).
Here’s how it works: A list of best/worst/weirdest/whatever five somethings is posted by one of your beloved MetalSucks contributors or by one of our buds (like you?). Then you, our cherished reader, checks it out, has a chuckle, then chimes in with a list of the same. No sweat, just whatever springs to mind, k? (Just like that movie about those losers working at a Chicago record store!) After all, it’s Friday — the day dedicated by the gods to mindless, fun time-wasting.
Today let’s check out some metal for those of us who are plagued by an over-active conscience!
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THE FIVE
Five Metal Songs That Could Be About the Super-ego
THE LISTER
Axl Rosenberg, MetalSucks Co-Cappo
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https://youtu.be/xWTRDBDXE2c
1. “I Don’t Want to Change the World” by Ozzy Osbourne
from No More Tears | Epic
1991
Although Ozzy certainly seems pretty confident on this song, the fact that he’s doing nothing but responding to accusations (“Tell me I’m a sinner/I got news for you,” “I don’t need your pity for the shape I’m in,” etc.) suggests otherwise. Why would Ozzy even feel the need to respond to these claims unless, at least on some level, he felt guilty? Besides, the lyrics to the chorus — “I don’t want to change the world/I don’t want the world to change me” — suggest a man seeking solitude, presumably because, again, everyone keeps telling him how bad he sucks.
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2. “Hurt” by Nine Inch Nails
from The Downward Spiral | Nothing/Interscope
1994
I mean, the whole song is about a guy telling a loved one to stay away from them because he thinks he’ll hurt them. If that’s not the work of an overactive super-ego, nothing is.
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3. “Mama Said” by Metallica
from Load | Elektra
1996
I don’t love this song, but given that it’s all about James Hetfield struggling with mommy issues, its inclusion on this list seems mandatory.
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https://youtu.be/8mhB8Qku4jk
4. “Left for Dead” by Chimaira
from Chimaira | Roadrunner
2005
The harsh realities of capitalism, as they apply to the family unit. Surely, an issue with which all of our inner voices will struggle at some point or another.
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5. “Bad Apples” by Guns N’ Roses
from Use Your Illusion I | Geffen
1991
Despite his rampant paranoia and constant refusal to take responsibility for anything, it’s hard to think of a rock musician with a stronger super-ego than Axl Rose, and the Use Your Illusion albums just dripping with guilt: “But how can I protect you/ Or try not to neglect you/ When you won’t take the love I have to give?” Axl pleads on “Locomotive,” adding “What more could you ask from me?” on “Estranged.” I chose this song because, well… who got poor Axl to think he was a bad apple in the first place???
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Happy Friday! Your turn :)
