Hey, everyone.
Time for today's writing exercise. And today I will be using the non-fiction wheel. It doesn't have as many genres as the other two, but that shouldn't blunt the point of all this too badly. So let's crack on.
Wheel of Genres, turn, turn, turn! Tell me the genre I will discern!
Today's topic is... Opinion. Oh, balls. Why "oh, balls?" Sure, opinion is easy enough to write, but I am a very opinionated chap, and some of my opinions are not popular by any stretch of the imagination. Take my stance on Prohibition for example; I think we should bring it back and bring it back with a vengeance. Drugs, alcohol, tobacco; I want it all erased from the world. And some people are like, "but the health benefits." All the health benefits you can get from wine, beer, and even mary jane can be had from other things and without the negative of destroying brain cells. (I especially have no tolerance for people who use drugs.)
But getting back to today's exercise, how do I write an opinion piece well enough that it doesn't sound like I'm complaining and how do I use the 30 minutes well? Well, actually I think I know a topic. A topic that is quite near and dear to my heart, and that I feel quite passionate about. Also, because of this topic, and to change things up, I'm going to write to music today rather than in silence like I have been. So let's see this goes.
Thirty minutes on the clock: 30:00. And... go!
Many people don't know it by looking at me, but I am actually a huge metalhead, or headbanger if you prefer. For those who don't know, that means I listen to Heavy Metal and I listen to Heavy Metal a lot. As far as I can tell, it's the music closest to God's nature here on Earth. It is truly God's music despite the fact that many of Metal's proponents believe it to be the Devil's music. It isn't, and here's the proof: God is good, Metal is good, God only creates good things, ergo God created Metal. Flawless logic I know. True, some people do abuse Metal for dark doings, but you can use anything to glorify the Devil.
Anyway, as perfect as Metal is, there is a serious problem with it, or rather a serious problem with the headbanger culture, and I'm not referring to the fact that it's full of dudes and barely any chicks. No, the problem is what people label as a "power ballad." Back in the 80's power ballads were quite popular because they were softer pieces of music that helped to show that not all Metal Monsters (musicians) were psychos or hardcore. They showed off the softer side of Metal and it helped to broaden the audience of Metal and make it more mainstream, which isn't a problem I have--I think everyone should love the hell out of Metal. Metal going mainstream isn't a problem for me. But I take issue with power ballads because there's no Metal in them! They don't rock!
Now, that may sound a little confusing that I used Rock to help describe Metal, but Metal is descended from Rock. For a good chunk of my life, I always thought of Metal as a subgenre of Rock, but I guess when it became huge, people considered it its own genre, which is fine with me. I still think it a little weird, but not weird enough to argue with. But here's the thing though, you need to be able to rock in order to play Metal, and power ballads don't.
If you were to Google power ballads, the sort of songs that would come up would be like "Every Rose Has Its Thorn," "Silent Lucidity," or "High Enough." These songs are not Metal, and ergo I don't consider them power ballads. While I agree that a power ballad should be an evocation of tender emotion, perhaps even love, it still needs to be Metal. Songs I consider power ballads are like "Sweet Child of Mine" by Guns N' Roses, "Jet City Woman" by Queensryche, "This World Can't Tear Us Apart" by Trivium, "Tired" by Dream Evil, and "No One Like You" by the Scorpions. These are power ballads. They rock my socks off and melt my face, but they still touch the tenderness in my heart. They're fast, aggressive, and sometimes upright brutal, but they are the raw emotion that one feels when looking at a dearly beloved. They are soft and honest, but they are still Metal.
***
Okay, I'm going to end it there with eleven minutes left. Without music examples, it's kind of hard to make my point without delving deep in the dreaded music theory that gives us Heavy Metal, and if I don't do that, I'll just be essentially beating a dead horse, and you guys don't need that. So I'm ending it there. And writing to music wasn't so bad, but I was listening to Metal, so maybe that helped.
But anyway, that's it for today. If you want to use the wheel I made, you should be able to access it here. And if you have the time, please check out my books for sale on Amazon which you can find through my author page. The link is below. See you tomorrow.
Keep writing, my friends.
More About Bryan C. Laesch:
Amazon: My Author Page, My Influencer Page
Facebook: Bryan C. Laesch, Bawdy Scholar
Patreon: Bryan C. Laesch
Twitter: BryanofallTrade
Youtube: Bryan C. Laesch, Bawdy Scholar
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