Great Balls of Fire: Difference between revisions

Line 13:

Hard rock bands, and especially "Hair Metal" bands, with their aura of "Greek gods walking the earth," sometimes have a rather unfortunate tendency to rely heavily upon special effects such as fog, lasers or, more commonly, [[Impressive Pyrotechnics]] in their videos and stage shows. It's as much about the visual '''<small>BANG</small>''' as it is the music, sometimes more so -- anything to perpetuate the notion that these beings are so far above and beyond us mere mortal music consumers that they actually [[The Power of Rock|alter the very nature of the universe]].

This attention to visual detail can be partly blamed on MTV, which transmogrified music from an audio medium to a visual one in the 1980s. Suddenly everything [[Spectacle|bright and flashy]] was in, anything [[Three Chords and ~~The~~ Truth|simple and straightforward]] was right out; and as MTV grew in influence, music video budgets rose accordingly, allowing bands to afford more spectacular effects. That meant [[Stuff Blowing Up|more explosions]]. Woo-hooo!!!

This attention to visual detail can be partly blamed on MTV, which transmogrified music from an audio medium to a visual one in the 1980s. Suddenly everything [[Spectacle|bright and flashy]] was in, anything [[Three Chords and the Truth|simple and straightforward]] was right out; and as MTV grew in influence, music video budgets rose accordingly, allowing bands to afford more spectacular effects. That meant [[Stuff Blowing Up|more explosions]]. Woo-hooo!!!

Of course, nowadays we look back on those days long gone, and remember only the [[Flanderization|teased]] [[Eighties Hair|hairdos]] and the [[Distracted By the Shiny|flashing lights and Roman candles]]. The music? [[Nothing but Hits|Not so much]].

Line 34:

== Christian Rock ==

* If you want to see this trope embodied [[Up to Eleven|to the fullest]] in music video form, watch the one for [[~~Skillet (Music)|~~Skillet]]'s "Hero". It consists of two things: random closeup shots of cops, firemen, marines and social workers ("heroes", you see) and the band playing in front of ''massive explosion after massive explosion''. Oh, and it's ''raining'' for over half the video as well, but that doesn't stop all those GBOFs from going off undoused. To top it off, after [[Stuff Blowing Up|cycling through every type of pyro in the rock and roll inventory]], the video ends with a ''fucking mushroom cloud''.

* If you want to see this trope embodied [[Up to Eleven|to the fullest]] in music video form, watch the one for [[Skillet]]'s "Hero". It consists of two things: random closeup shots of cops, firemen, marines and social workers ("heroes", you see) and the band playing in front of ''massive explosion after massive explosion''. Oh, and it's ''raining'' for over half the video as well, but that doesn't stop all those GBOFs from going off undoused. To top it off, after [[Stuff Blowing Up|cycling through every type of pyro in the rock and roll inventory]], the video ends with a ''fucking mushroom cloud''.

== Classical ==

Line 58:

** If anything, he's far more famous for the "swirly sparks" on his machine head.

** The [[Made for TV Movie]] ''KISS Meets The Phantom Of The Park'' actually did cast the band as [[The Power of Rock|hard rockin', god-like superheroes]].

* Pretty much anything by Quiet Riot and [[~~Iron Maiden (Music)|~~Iron Maiden]].

* Pretty much anything by Quiet Riot and [[Iron Maiden]].

* Poison videos utilized not only pyro, but also [[Everything's Better ~~With~~ Sparkles|glitter and confetti]].

* Poison videos utilized not only pyro, but also [[Everything's Better with Sparkles|glitter and confetti]].

* [[Bon Jovi]]'s video for "You Give Love a Bad Name" has GBOF all the way through.

* [[Queensryche]]'s "Building Empires" tour featured wall-sized twin projection screens on which relevant imagery could be displayed. These screens were a hold-over from the videos for their previous album, ''[[Operation Mindcrime]]'', and were utilized in a presentation of ''Mindcrime'' in its entirety (this formed the basis of the ''Operation:Livecrime'' video and album set).

* Most of [[~~Alice Cooper (Music)|~~Alice Cooper]]'s repertoire is more about theatrics than the music. Take it from [[Troper/Scooter 007|someone]] who has actually seen him in concert.

* Most of [[Alice Cooper]]'s repertoire is more about theatrics than the music. Take it from [[Troper/Scooter 007|someone]] who has actually seen him in concert.

** The main difference between an Alice Cooper gig and a Motorhead gig is that the blood your clothes get covered in at the former washes off in warm water...

** By the way, Alice invented this stuff. He's vaudeville. Which is why [[The Marx Brothers|Groucho]] was such a fan.

* [[~~Korn (Music)|~~Korn]]'s "Coming Undone" video comes to mind, in which they rock so hard the sky actually collapses.

* [[Korn]]'s "Coming Undone" video comes to mind, in which they rock so hard the sky actually collapses.

* Somewhere between the monster masks, blood/semen splatter and explosions, [[GWAR]] apparently plays music as well.

** From ''[[Questionable Content]]'':

Line 73:

* David Lee Roth's tour to support ''A Little Ain't Enough'' featured plastic moulded Pans (little half-man half-goats) on a Lazy Susan-type carousel; these Pans squirted booze out into the audience. I don't think I need to tell you ''where'' the booze squirted out from.

* And then there was [[Motley Crue]], with Tommy Lee's "flying drum solo."

* [[~~Rammstein (Music)|~~Rammstein]] (ab)uses this one so much that lead singer Till Lindemann is a licensed pyrotechnician. Fans of the band have coined the motto "Other bands play, Rammstein BURNS!" The band have also added that they also do it because almost all of their songs are in German, and they have to hold the attention of the non-German speaking fans.

* [[Rammstein]] (ab)uses this one so much that lead singer Till Lindemann is a licensed pyrotechnician. Fans of the band have coined the motto "Other bands play, Rammstein BURNS!" The band have also added that they also do it because almost all of their songs are in German, and they have to hold the attention of the non-German speaking fans.

* In one of the smaller tragedies to strike [[~~Metallica (Music)|~~Metallica]] on tour (i.e. no bandmates died) James Hetfield stepped too close to the pyro effects during a performance, and was burned on his arm and hand. He recovered eventually, but had to have a roadie sub in for his guitar playing for any remaining dates. The moral? According to the roadie, "Learn all the band's songs, because you never know!"

* In one of the smaller tragedies to strike [[Metallica]] on tour (i.e. no bandmates died) James Hetfield stepped too close to the pyro effects during a performance, and was burned on his arm and hand. He recovered eventually, but had to have a roadie sub in for his guitar playing for any remaining dates. The moral? According to the roadie, "Learn all the band's songs, because you never know!"

** During a later Metallica tour, they would stage a fake-catastrophe where the stage would collapse on itself and a stuntman would run across the stage ''on fire.'' Then they'd come out onto the "wreckage" of the stage and keep playing. It can be seen near the end of the "Cunning Stunts" DVD.

* In the mid-70s, there was a band called Thor, where the planned emphasis would be almost ENTIRELY on pyro and other stagecraft- to the point that the tour was to come before any album release. The touring company went bankrupt developing new special effects and stocking up on things like fireworks- the tour was scrapped and Thor disbanded without ever performing one of the shows, or releasing anything larger than an EP.

Line 89:

* In 2003, a band called Great White playing at a not particularly large nightclub called The Station decided to use a fair amount of pyrotechnics on the very first song. Soundproofing foam around the stage ignited. 100 people were killed and over 200 were injured. Kind of puts in perspective the comedic fictional use of people dying....

** We should be fair - the band were exonerated, their management and the venue management were at fault for the tragedy.

* [[~~Disturbed (Music)|~~Disturbed]]'s tour's tend to one-up the last in this trope. The 2005-2006 tour used pyrotechnics, the 2008-2009 had their singer being lowered onto the stage from a giant medallion in the shape of their ''Believe'' album's symbol and the 2010-2011 went with a wall of video screens depicting scenes and images in time with the music and often relevant to the lyrics. All of this with the usual smoke and lights.

* [[Disturbed]]'s tour's tend to one-up the last in this trope. The 2005-2006 tour used pyrotechnics, the 2008-2009 had their singer being lowered onto the stage from a giant medallion in the shape of their ''Believe'' album's symbol and the 2010-2011 went with a wall of video screens depicting scenes and images in time with the music and often relevant to the lyrics. All of this with the usual smoke and lights.

* J-rockers Guitar Wolf had a ''flaming microphone'' in their in-movie concert in ''[[Wild Zero]]''.

Line 102:

* Even [[Elvis Presley]] wasn't immune, and he died four years (almost to the day) before MTV.

* All live [[Paul McCartney]] versions of "Live and Let Die" include explosions. What sort depends on the show: the pyrotechnics have ranged from smoke pots to huge rocket firecrackers. On occasion, the huge rockets had been placed dangerously close to the piano Paul was using--though clearly nothing's gone wrong on that front yet.

* [[Muse (~~Music~~)|Muse]].

* [[Muse (band)|Muse]].

* Famous aversion: [[Dire Straits]] deliberately avoided on-stage theatrics during their shows. When they played small venues, they often turned the volume down so people could talk to each other.

* In an early example, a 1967 performance by [[The Who]] on ''The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour'' was capped off by Keith Moon igniting a pyrotechnic charge he'd smuggled inside his bass drum. The charge, which Moon had made himself, proved so powerful that it temporarily blacked out the studio cameras and singed Pete Townshend's hair, and the sudden explosion caused Bette Davis to faint backstage.

* [[OK Go]] '''[[Trope Maker|are]]''' the geeky subtrope. Pyrotechnics, no. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qybUFnY7Y8w Spectacular] setpieces, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTAAsCNK7RA oh yes].

* While [[~~U 2 (Music)|U 2~~]] have never used actual pyrotechnics, when your stages [http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iW5bCdxTvCw/Rvw7T868BmI/AAAAAAAAATA/yaaV2tZYY0g/s400/zootv_stage.jpg look] [http://www.willieworld.com/PopMart1.jpg like] [http://www.ziogiorgio.de/images/2009/barco/barco_u2_1.jpg THIS], you don't need 'em.

* While [[U2]] have never used actual pyrotechnics, when your stages [http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iW5bCdxTvCw/Rvw7T868BmI/AAAAAAAAATA/yaaV2tZYY0g/s400/zootv_stage.jpg look] [http://www.willieworld.com/PopMart1.jpg like] [http://www.ziogiorgio.de/images/2009/barco/barco_u2_1.jpg THIS], you don't need 'em.

* Just take one look at the "Famous Last Words" music video by [[My Chemical Romance]]. Wow.

== Fictional Examples ==

* Parodied rather fiercely in the [[Discworld]] novel ''[[Discworld ~~(Literature)~~/Soul Music|Soul Music]]'', where most of the bands that spring up in the wake of The Band With Rocks In are absolutely dreadful, because they think Music With Rocks In is about the image rather than actually being able to play music. This is especially true of a quartet of teenagers known as Crash, Jimbo, Scum, and Noddy, who can't even decide on a name for their band for more than a day or two at most and don't even have the talent to be [[So Bad It's Good]].

* Parodied rather fiercely in the [[Discworld]] novel ''[[Discworld/Soul Music|Soul Music]]'', where most of the bands that spring up in the wake of The Band With Rocks In are absolutely dreadful, because they think Music With Rocks In is about the image rather than actually being able to play music. This is especially true of a quartet of teenagers known as Crash, Jimbo, Scum, and Noddy, who can't even decide on a name for their band for more than a day or two at most and don't even have the talent to be [[So Bad It's Good]].

** Hell, they didn't even have the talent to rate as the other reaction. Horrible music would at least have ''been'' music.

* ''[[The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy (~~Literature~~)|The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy]]'' has Disaster Area, a plutonium rock band from the Gagrakacka Mind Zones, whose concerts are so loud and overblown that they typically end up killing everything within forty miles, especially anybody unfortunate enough to be aboard the ship that crashes into the sun. In at least one case, a concert of theirs even turns a desert planet into a lush paradise. The Guide notes that real fans prefer to listen to the concerts from inside nuclear proof bunkers, 50 km away, underground while wearing ear plugs.

* ''[[The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy (novel)|The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy]]'' has Disaster Area, a plutonium rock band from the Gagrakacka Mind Zones, whose concerts are so loud and overblown that they typically end up killing everything within forty miles, especially anybody unfortunate enough to be aboard the ship that crashes into the sun. In at least one case, a concert of theirs even turns a desert planet into a lush paradise. The Guide notes that real fans prefer to listen to the concerts from inside nuclear proof bunkers, 50 km away, underground while wearing ear plugs.

* All of this is parodied, of course, by the titular band in ''[[This Is Spinal Tap]]''.

* The video game ''[[Brutal Legend]]'' combines this with [[Magic Music]]: Guitar solos cause cataclysmic events, stage lights burn people and pyrotechnics do damage in combat.

Line 121:

* The Midnight Riders from [[Left 4 Dead 2]] are said to have the best pyrotechnics in the business. The survivors use the fireworks to signal a rescue chopper.

* In ''[[Alan Wake]]'', the band The Old Gods of Asgard were apparently quite fond of pyrotechnics, which turns out to come in handy for fighting creatures that are weak to light.

* Classical example: in [[Mr. ~~Hollands~~ Opus]], the school orchestra gives a concert with unusually many lighting effects (no pyrotechnics, but ''lots'' of flashing spotlights). Mr Holland is trying to help hearing impaired children, like his own son, to experience the music.

* Classical example: in [[Mr. Holland's Opus]], the school orchestra gives a concert with unusually many lighting effects (no pyrotechnics, but ''lots'' of flashing spotlights). Mr Holland is trying to help hearing impaired children, like his own son, to experience the music.