Understanding Enter Sandman
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ก.ย. 2024
- Enter Sandman is a dark, heavy, twisted take on a lullaby from one of the biggest bands in the history of metal, and it's served as many future metalheads' first exposure to the genre. It's big, it's powerful, and it's exciting, but at heart, it's kinda just one riff. Almost everything they play for the entire song can ultimately be traced back to a single two-bar pattern. So how did they take such a simple foundation and build one of the most famous metal songs ever recorded? By carefully building, transforming, and manipulating it in order to create different sections and feels, showing off every possible facet that one little idea had to offer. It's a masterclass in metal minimalism.
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Also, thanks to Jareth Arnold for proofreading the script to make sure this all makes sense hopefully!
"I went to school to become a metal singer."
Me: *nods understandingly* As one does.
I went to school and learned a lot of theory AND how to become an operatic metal singer AND composition AND audio engineering basics uwu
I probably need to stop dunking on my college education in retrospect so much cos it was pretty awesome tbh
I thought he said he went to music school to learn how to do video game music in another video?
@@endi3386 could've changed majors a couple times? It's not uncommon at all to cycle through a few over your college career.
Said no metal singer ever
I took choir in highschool to become a metal singer so i completely understand
People take that "devil's interval" thing a lot more seriously than it was intended. It was a mnemonic, which is important because it's kind of hard to sing a tritone out of nowhere.
Although... due to that same misunderstanding, it WAS associated with the devil for a while in the 19th century, so 12Tone's statement is still correct!
@@a52productions I don't think I said he was incorrect, I just meant it gets blown out of proportion
@@notoriouswhitemoth yeah, maybe the commonly-felt connotation of that interval sounding mean (in some contexts, let's not get carried away) used to be a kind of music-nerd in-joke, but by the time heavy metal came around its had been solidly memeified to the point where it could be put to good use as an excuse to make sinister cackles. seasonal observation: much like a halloween mask
Yeah, Adam Neely has a video on that. In it there's the guitarist of Cannibal Corpse who thinks the tritone was literally banned in medieval times.
@@Commanber Technically, it was, but not just the tritone. Literally just the entire system of rules of music in the day. And less _lawfully_ banned, but theologically.
It's an odd history piece all together.
When it comes to Metallica, it's not just the band that ignores the bass!
Lmfao
*cries in bassist*
@@cursedcliff7562 It’s not the instrument that people ignore - it’s the player
*cries in Cliff*
People care about cliff more than most other bassists
the funny thing about sandman is that whenever im playing it (on guitar) i can never remember when the main riff starts(without the drums the into feels like it should go on forever). thats why the drums are so necesary
"...the first metal song I ever heard." Dude, way to make me feel old!
i don't know my first metal song, been a metalhead my whole life
@@billrobertjoe Same but mine was most likely the DOOM soundtrack :D
@@Bozebo mine was probably something on the radio
Ride the lightning was mine
Mine was rockstar by nickelback 🤘🤘
Metal
Every
Tritones
Available
Lads
I first heard this song in high school in the school band and while we were warming up, a classmate plugged in his electric guitar when the teacher had left the room for a minute and he and a friend played the first minute or so. I instantly fell in love with the song and it's still on of my favorite metal songs ever.
"What are we bendictine monks?" My favorite line. As for teaching kids to prepare for dying in their sleep, I don't know how old this traditional prayer is but there were definitely times in human history when this was a real danger. But you're right that Metallica uses it to good effect in a 20th century where we don't have devastating plagues and we do have vaccinations and antibiotics.
We still have plagues
@@jumpydashgaming3625 Compared to the major plagues of centuries ago, COVID (and any other 21th century epidemic) is a total joke. The difference is huge, COVID isn't even a plague by those standards.
People didn't even know that microbes were a thing. Open surgeries were done with absolutely no attempt at disinfecting stuff. Post-surgery infections (and deaths from that) were of course extremely common, and people took for granted that that's just how it works. Cities were full of shit, and people had no idea that this transmitted disease.
We've traded out some tragedies for others. Things are overall more comfortable than they once were, but this has given way to inflexibility and neuroticism. Things like child abuse start to re-enter the picture due to society basically losing its mind collectively. Even for those children that do grow up in comfortable, kind circumstances, they find themselves unprepared for the tragedies of adult life all too often. They also frequently find themselves feeling judged as "privileged" by their envious peers.
To me a huge part of this song is about challenging the idea of innocence in childhood. All too often, even in the modern day, it gets interrupted tragically early.
omg i literally decided to give Metallica a try a few days a go and this was the first song i listened too and loved it!
Same way I began listening to them. Enter Sandman was the first.
Welcome to metal.
Welcome to the rabbit hole. Go to their 80's stuff if you want to get a glimpse of how deep the hole goes.
Since you like Tritones and Metal, how about analyzing YYZ? There is lots of cool trivia about the song, as well as an awkward time and chord structure which could give you plenty to talk about!
You have to do the recommendations via PAtreon but it is defintely past time for some Rush on this channel. Preferably something from that super colorful era from Farewell to Kings through Moving Pictures
I think the reason the song was such a hit was because it had thrash-sounding guitar and a more normal hard rock drum beat. "Ready for radio" in a way that earlier Metallica wasn't.
You're analyzing and dissecting metal so thoroughly that you could be a member of the Dillinger Escape Plan.
When you shifted the rift or drums they both made the song have that secret agent/spy sound. You could imagine syncopated jazz horns over it.
Still waiting for Rush.
if love a take on 2112, but since that won't ever happen I'll take any Rush song.
That would take hours man but it would be awesome. Like each section has three freaking parts! So that's what 15 sections to analyze. Not including the solo's.
@@elias9746 YYZ
passage to bankok tbh
"Took a single riff and manipulated it in several ways"
While drawing a finch. Clever man.
Hearing somebody explain chugs makes me laugh. Cheers
you need an online music school, it's crazy how fast i learn stuff from you despite how many slower and more complex videos ive watched. The visuals and delivery go a long way, you're a master of it
Been listening and playing it all my life, never noticed that it utilizes anticipation.
Before even starting to watch, I literally wondered whether you had done this one already! Stoked!
When you realigned the drums with the first riff it sounded so cursed to me. Love the analysis.
It's great to hear someone who gets so nerdy and academic about music theory professing their love for metal!
My mother is a classically trained soprano, my grandfather (her dad) a classically trained violinist who played with the BBC Scottish symphony orchestra.
I was taught singing and violin from age 7 and passed my ABRSM grade 5 music theory . . . I forget how old I was but it was somewhere between the ages of 9 and 12.
And ofcourse by 15 I'm playing the guitar (bought a Dave Mustaine signature VMNT) and listening to Slipknot, Lamb of God and Arch Enemy. :'D
If you like LoG and Arch Enemy, you should check out Revocation. Bit more death metal, but with a lot of jazz influence. It's super cool stuff. Gojira is super cool too.
Or if you really want to dive into crazy metal, go check out Animals as Leaders.
I love how you can do such a lovely breakdown of any genre !!
Is there any place I can ask a theory question and hear your take on the answer, slash, would you consider doing a Q&A series?
These videos are, seriously, just incredible. Fascinating. I'm not even a metal fan and I couldn't look away.
its beatiful how u can do analisis of every type of music and still use metaphors to describe the things that cant be described
good job bro, keep it goin
Love how these videos take what seems to be a relatively simple song and points out the complexity in them.
WAS THAT A REFERENCE TO GALAPAGOS FINCHES OH MAN YOU MADE THIS BIOLOGIST'S DAY
7:48
I’m fairly certain that that when they jump to High e they have a d Ghost note hammering onto e almost like they’re revving and engine.
Just a minor detail I thought was still crucial.
This video style is so cool :0
So will we be seeing some more obscure metal analyses coming up? Would love to hear your thoughts on, for example, Angra's "Spread Your Fire".
This was really good, never really looked at Enter Sandman this way.
Love it. Now it'd be something to see how you break down Meshuggah...
TBH it's not my sort of music, but the fact that they call themselves Meshuggah makes me kvell
Great analysis as always! I can fill in a bit as to how the riff came about. This was the album they started to use drop tunings. This is one of the first riffs that falls under your fingers when you tune this way.
I’m wondering if this is one of those last minute songs like Paranoid. “We need one more-whose got a riff?” “Anyone got any ideas?” “Well, I was putting my kid to sleep the other night.....”And it became their biggest hit.
"What are we, Benedictine Monks?" I actually LOL'd
Life lesson: "Context affects perception."
3:37
"With the possible exception of the minor 2nd"
*Proceeds to play Airbag by Radiohead*
7:40 Correction, in the studio, james played all rthythm parts, kirk only did the solos, and live james plays this.
I'm pretty sure they didn't think of any of this when they wrote the song...But it's a great explanation!
Thought this was going to be a lyric breakdown but turns out it wasn't and i was confused during about half of it but i liked it
Achilles Last Stand doesn't resolve does it? Is that a play on the legend, the title, and musical theory?
Man... I really enjoy these videos. One day maybe I'll understand the notations.
Cool idea on the notebooks
I didn’t realize how much Hammet’s opening riff build sounded like Sabbath’s “War Pigs” until you slowed it down
14:01 metallica got that form intro to Orion one of the masterpieces written by Cliff Burton
Finally, another metalhead who is fascinated by music theory!!🤘🤘🤘
I think you should absolutely do one of these videos on Orion
12tone: This is why this sounds this wayArtist: I play it kuz it sounds cool.
7:40 Hetfield plays all the rhythm guitars on the record, so no Hammett there. And even live Hammett plays the other part (The single drawn out E5 chord).
What I really need is a pianoroll notebook.
... This is completely f*cking amazing
Thank you so much!
It would be very interesting to see this guy analyze cemetery gates by pantera, I would love to see that
Great points: the drum beat 1:30, the anticipation in the riff 1:45, why shifting the drum beat would be a failure 2:17
Would you ever do a breakdown of Tornado of Souls by Megadeth?
Or Hangar 18
What about polaris
I knew you had to be a metalhead at heart
Can you break down the evolution of metal to 2008 metal core to what metal is today?
idk if that's the right channel for that, there are probably other videos on the topic
3:36
me: hey it's the start of airbag by radohead!
Barchel iN THE NEEEEEEXT WORLD WAAAAAAAAR
Good starter song for learning bass guitar. If you can somehow find that open E you're well on your way
I love being introduced into new ideas in theory that I haven’t learned yet! Gives me stuff to learn. Also would live way cool jr by Ratt
Orion by Metallica would be a great piece to see you do a breakdown of!
hmm, a lot of the riff really comes down to common guitar chords/positions especially with distortion/metal. e octaves and the 1/2 steps above the "main" tones like the 1 and 4. then the G is a "big g chord" that many composers try to put in as a full sounding chord using all 6 (maybe 5 without the 3rd) strings. i think the composition just fell into place with these common guitar things, and it works of course. it's interesting seeing this analyzed after the fact, when, as a guitarist, i have a guess at how easy it was to create without too much analytical theory or too much thought on harmonic content during creation.
yes, I was thinking the same, the riff is very idiomatic for guitar...
Another video I think my mom and brother would have liked.
The drawing of the ham with the top hat when you say "generically dissonant" is my favourite thing about the whole episode :D
THE DARWIN FINCHES AT 0:50
I have no fucking clue what tf is he talking about and I don't understant a single word but since it is about Enter Sandman I'm dropping like
Brilliant!
Awesome analysis! can you do one of these for more of their songs, like One or Spit out the Bone?
Would love to see a breakdown of the song Orion by Metallica. Lots of stuff going on in that one
love the ham bone with a top hat it's generically dissonant
"it's getting really hard to hold back the coming explosion" that's what she said xD
"You can't spell Metal without Tritones"
You're right.
M E T Tritones A L
Great video, guys! However, don’t you think it’s worth mentioning that Kirk’s countermelody over the chorus’s E chords imply an E minor there?
I've always said that if you switch this to major it's basically an ACDC song
I hear where you're coming from! The pounding and incessant rhythm and the long intro buildup are reminiscent of Hell's Bells, For Those About To Rock, and Thunderstruck - they take their time, but you know they're gonna explode when they get there. (See also Moonchild by Iron Maiden.) And I've always admired Malcolm's ability to put the major 3rd back into his often open chords and make it sound MORE rock. It's a huge part of that AC/DC sound.
You should absolutely do Korns freak on a leash.
Great video as usual 😁 an analysis of Homage by Mild high club next please?
14:03 and suddenly, Orion. :D
Though not until 14:09
Is it just me, or do the isolated note pairs in the discussion about the tag at around 4 minutes remind anyone of Tool's Parabola?
You talk about Hammett playing things in the intro, but I thought Hetfield recorded all guitars except solos, did he not?
Could you deconstruct the songs on Vol. 4 by Black Sabbath? I have it stuck in my head that they write a short riff, repeat it between 2 and 8 times, then write another that fits with the key of the previous, and repeat this process until the song is done. But all of the songs on this album seem to be done this way, I was hoping to see what you thought....
Does anyone know where I can start..learning the stuff that he's talking about?
9:45 No no November in a "nut"shell
Can we have an analysis on ignominious and pale by necrophagist??
Tool - 46 and 2 does a lot of this, too.
Is this video a reupload? I swear I've felt prompted to write a comment about my personal history with Metallica by a release from this channel before...
I still think its hilarious, that the last song from album before the Black Album includes the words "I've Outgrown that Fucking Lullaby", now, "Dyers Eve" other for its tempo, its pretty whatever, but it is very funny
@6:40 what do you mean by tag?
14:06 is he playing Orion or is that just me?
Hey 12 tone, this might be a bit of a *challenge* but theres this band... you may have heard of them... they're called deathgrips. if you could talk about one of their songs (preferably hacker) that one be so rad. thank you. If you need more theory to sink your teeth into, try birds, or on gp. I would prefer if you didn't do on gp, because it isn't a good introductory song.
You should totally do Leper Messiah.
The store link doesn't work for me 😢
can you PLS do a video on Meshuggah and rhythmic phasing!
I'd also be curious to see your take on songs by Rings of Saturn and Behold....The Arctopus but I realize none of these bands are as big as Metallica hahaha
14:02 isn't that orion in the background
one of the reasons lullabys ? lullabies ? often sound way too adult to be sung to children is because they originally weren't ment for children, or at least not for them specifically, in the middle ages, it was recomanded by the church itself to sing lullabies before giong to sleep, adults and children alike, to calm oneself before sleeping, having a more peaceful night and ward aways demons, temptation, sin, etc.
I find it kind of interesting that this song and King Nothing sound similar because of how their structure is similar.
Id love to see him try to break down dream theater
How about Day Tripper?
metallica should watch this. they probably had different kind of perspective / interpretation which make it interesting
Personally, I feel the black album should have opened on that big, massive heavy intro to sad but true, but that's just my opinion.
I wonder how many times you make retakes, or do you just nail the voiceover on the first time because you’ve gotten used to it?
Okay, so what is your take on The Warning version of Enter Sandman? ^^
WOW, you just made me feel really old...haha
15:54 fade to black?