Classic Metal Class Session 3 — Metaphysical Identity of Bands Through Changes
One of the issues at the intersection of philosophy and classic heavy metal music has to do with metaphysical identity. What makes a thing that thing, and if that thing changes over time, does it remain the same thing? Or is there a point at which it becomes something different? The application of these questions that suggests itself immediately in the present is to classic metal bands.
As bands change over time — most importantly in terms of their members, the musicians who compose that group — do they remain the same band? There is the famous “ship of Theseus” problem, which definitely applies to bands that remain in existence, but which eventually have all of the original members replaced by other musicians. I’ve written specifically about that here.
But there are a number of other live issues we might consider as well. If there is only only one original member left, does that band still remain that band? There isn’t a one single easy answer to that one. It depends on a number of factors. If it’s Lemmy and Motorhead, the answer is yes. If it’s someone less central to the band, its sound and songwriting, the answer might be no.
There’s also the issue raised by rival versions of the same band. These sometimes get decided in the courts — as was the case with Ratt and with Saxon. But there’s also cases where the bands are all right with sharing the name — Algy Ward’s Tank and the Evans/Tucker Tank are a prime example. And then you get cases that are in-between.
Scott Tarulli and I — along with our participants in that class session — explored a number of questions involved in the metaphysics of band identity in session 3. If you would like to watch the session recording, here’s the video:
We end up coming back to a lot of these issues in later class sessions — not surprising given how important and recurring these metaphysical issues turn out to be.
These questions about band identity arise more often in our own time, more than five decades into the origination of heavy metal as a new genre back in 1970, than they would have back in the classic metal era — the 1970s and 1980s. There are several reasons for that.
As bands continue on, their members age. This of course goes for all members of the bad, but it is particularly significant when it comes to the original members of a band, who are likely to be older than members who joined along the way. This means that they are also more liable to want or need to retire, and then be replaced by new non-original members. So more and more bands, if they remain in existence, will have fewer
We also do need to give some thought to who count as “original” members. Steve Harris is an original member of Iron Maiden. Adrian Smith and Dave Murray, technically speaking, are not — but practically speaking, they are the twin guitar core of the band. Bruce Dickenson joins on the third album, but at this point, if he’s not considered an “original member”, we can certainly count him as an essential member to the band. We need to be able to explain how someone becomes such a central part of the band, though something like a process of grafting, that they assume importance in terms of the band’s metaphysical identity.
There are a number of other thought-provoking or puzzling issues that spiral out of all of these considerations, but since we intend to explore these in further Classic Metal Class sessions, I’ll end the discussion here!
I’m Greg Sadler, the Heavy Metal Philosopher. You can join me and my co-host Scott Tarulli each month for a new session of Classic Metal Class).
I’m also the president of ReasonIO, a speaker, writer, and a producer of highly popular YouTube videos on classic and contemporary philosophy. I teach at Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, and offer classes to the wider public in my Study With Sadler online academy. I also produce the Sadler’s Lectures podcast and co-host the Wisdom for Life radio show
