The thin line between music and sound

Some days ago a friend told me about a band called Sunn0))) wich another friend of his was listening to. I found their name interesting so I checked them up. According to wikipedia.org, their music is classified as Drone Metal, or just Drone. The song I heard was like 15 minutes or something and contained only some guitars and bas guitars building up (an atmospheric?) feedback wich reached it's highest point in the middle of the song and then faded. The only other element were a few screams wich probably were ment to be evil.

After wasting my time listening to this sound I started to wonder - is this music? Or is it just sound? Where do you draw the line? Is there a line? Tell me you opinions!!  

Edited by BookAboutSalad

It sure is a total waste of time ^^ I mean, who sit's down with their headphones and a nice cup of tea and listens to feedback for an hour?

Edited by BookAboutSalad

There's probably a lot of music I listen to and am in awe by that many people would consider "just noise" or some other equivalent. I haven't heard Sunn0))) (aren't they pretty popular???), but I can say that as mithrandir stated in the previous post, "music has no limits."

Zac M wrote: There's probably a lot of music I listen to and am in awe by that many people would consider "just noise" or some other equivalent. I haven't heard Sunn0))) (aren't they pretty popular???), but I can say that as mithrandir stated in the previous post, "music has no limits."

Sunn0))) has a decent following among underground metal fans I believe, yes.

I do agree that music has no limits, but I personally see nothing in this group.

Music has limits and its called Merzbow

Sunn 0))) is a tribute to earth  (for thoose who didn't know)

Organized sound is music? Okay, so when I can sit in my room and scream "cheeeeeese", record it and call it music? Hey, that's a good idea :D

Okay, maybe it's up to oneself to decide what is music and what is sound, but I have problems to find the thing with Sunn 0))).  I know much more exciting bands that just build up atmospheres.

And why listen to music you don't like when you can listen to music you like? :D

Mithrandir wrote: Music has no limits, what is and isn't good music is determined by the ear of the listener, that said is it any different than listening to a long drawn out ambient piece of music by say Pauline Oliveros or Terry Riley or Merzbow or Lustmord or Anthony Braxton? all of which are applauded as pure genius in their fields of music?

Well said (welcome to our little Forum, BTW ), just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so music is in the ear of the listener; taste is completely subjective.

Is there really a pidgeon hole labeled "drone metal"?

BookAboutSalad wrote: I mean, who sit's down with their headphones and a nice cup of tea and listens to feedback for an hour?

Welcome, too!

About 15 years ago on his 'Ragged Glory' tour, Neil Young recorded what was to become the 'Arc-Weld' live album (now that was an angry album...); the third disc of the album was "Arc" a 45 minute collage of feedback from various live versions of "Like A Hurricane", which on first listening seemed, well, unlistenable, but if you stuck with it, you began to see the structure of the piece, and where Young was going with it.

Not for everyone, sure (my wife thought there was something wrong with our amplifier the first time she heard 'Arc'), but certainly not to be dismissed.

I still have to check out Sunn O)) and Earth. Are they similar to Khanate? because I cant bear  Khanate - they have songs of over 20minutes consisting only of feedback and tortured screaming.

I also intend to check out Boris and Mezbow - though id rather download some samples first since i dont know what to expect.

Their are many types of "organized sound" - drone metal (Earth, Khanate, Sunn O))), Sleep and Electric Wizard (to some extent), funeral doom like Skeptisicm and industrial (Einsturzde Neubauten or whathever they're called) and minimalistic ambient like Lustmord - thus they cannot all be lumped into the same group.