Worldly Success and Liberation

Heads up because there's foul language in a lot of these songs.


Worldly Success:

1.) Zimmer's Hole, "We Rule The Fucking Land," Metal, 2008
2.) Fear Factory, "Fear Campaign," Metal, 2010
3.) Celtic Frost, "Ain Elohim," Metal, 2006
4.) Iron Maiden, "Powerslave," Metal, 1984
5.) Devin Townsend, "Planet Smasher," Metal/Progressive, 2007

Liberation:

1.) Devin Townsend, "Soul Driven," Metal/Prog, 1998
2.) Black Sabbath, "A National Acrobat," Rock/Metal, 1973
3.) KISS, "We Are One," Rock, 1998
4.) Fear Factory, "Resurrection," Metal, 1998
5.) Sigh, "Scarlet Dream," Metal, 2001


I wound up using primarily metal songs for this post because in truth that's primarily what I listen to. Because metal tends to be darker (and sillier) in its lyrical nature than other genres, the metal definition of worldly success doesn't include much in terms of material wealth, but rather focuses on having power over others. This is most easily demonstrated by the song I embedded, "We Rule The Fucking Land." Even if you didn't listen to it, the title tells you everything you need to know about the attitude of the song. Zimmer's Hole is kind of a tongue-in-cheek group, so their use of this title is an exaggeration of the attitude of a lot of other corny metal bands. A huge difference between the metal understanding of this aim is that these bands are expressing worldly success garnered decidedly without any help from any faith or religion, as demonstrated by Celtic Frost's "Ain Elohim," which means "Without God." On the flip side of this lust for power, there are several metal songs that critique such an aim. "Fear Campaign" criticizes the methods used to obtain and secure such power, while "Powerslave" and "Planet Smasher" both express an ideal in common with the Hindu understandings of this aim: that power is ultimately impermanent and fickle. Which brings us to the next aim.

When worldly success and the other earthly aims leave one unfulfilled, the last remaining aim is that of liberation. Since the lyrics of many metal bands are either secular or downright blasphemous, this aim is not really expressed in explicit religious terms, but it is still expressed in some form or another. For example, the Kiss song up there was most likely written to express a connection with the band's many fans, the lyrics are vague enough in their discussion of oneness and letting one's spirit fly that they can readily be interpreted as encouraging liberation and an escape from samsura. Other songs, such as "A National Acrobat," are sung from the point of view of some sort of entity that perhaps has already experienced liberation, expressing a knowledge of unknowable information ("I am the world that hides/the universal secret of all time"). Even though these songs differ from the Hindu tradition in that they are more secular, what they share in common with that tradition is the desire for knowledge over ignorance. "Scarlet Dream" and "Soul Driven" both show the speaker searching for answers that the apparent world cannot give.