As many of you know from my previous writings, I’m a metal-head, and I especially like the stuff from the 80s, like early Metallica, Mercyful Fate, etc. And some of you might even know the singer from Mercyful Fate: his “name” is King Diamond. (He also has a solo career going where he has lots and lots of albums out.) His vocals could be described as being higher-pitched than Led Zeppelin, or they could also be described as something else. (I really like his singing, so don’t think I’m trying to insult him, please: this is just an observation by a fan.)
It has occurred to me that his high-pitched vocal style sounds like something really specific: a child nagging their parents. No, really; listen to it for yourself with this idea in mind and tell me with a straight face that I’m wrong. (And I really like it! So, really, I’m not making fun of him.) This gets to a theory about music aimed at young people I heard once that seemed to make so much sense I knew instantly it was correct. You may know what I’m talking about. Yes, I’m talking about George Clinton’s (George Clinton from Parliament/Funkadelic) comment where he said (I’m paraphrasing, since I don’t have the exact quote in front of me): “Whenever I hear parents saying: ‘I can’t stand that stuff!’, and old musicians saying: ‘That ain’t music’, that’s how I know what the next big thing is going to be.”
More intelligent words have rarely been spoken. This is a guy who has spent his whole life making and producing music aimed at young people, and he’s been very successful. Oh, right, and I almost forgot to mention that he’s still relevant after all these years! And not just for playing the old hits from yesteryear, either. No, this man knows of what he speaks! And when you really think about it, what he said can be reversed: kids will love it if it would annoy adults. And what would annoy adults more than the voice of a whiny child? (They sound like that for a reason: it’s “intelligent design”, if you like. It’s to get a parent to respond to a child’s needs, which makes the whining go away. {Snapping and killing them to stop the whining is cheating!}) So then it would fit that kids would love a singing voice like King Diamond’s whiny high register. (I love it! But I started loving it when I was a teen! The only reason I like it is obviously that I liked it when I was young.) Seriously; listen again, think about it, and you’ll know I’m onto something here.
