Welcome back. This week, I'll be posting two excerpts from the "More Human Than Human" section - a portion of the book dealing with monsters and entities who deal in music too. Vampires, devils, muses, ghosts, and - among others - aliens and angels.  

BTW, I SERIOUSLY need your character and band ideas. So far, I have very few of them. If you haven't turned one in yet, please drop it in my message box. I can't give you your sponsor goodies if you don't tell me what you want! :)

Enjoy this week's dance between heaven and the void. 

See ya next week. 

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Aliens: Man or Astro-Man?

From the Purple People Eater to the childlike “greys” of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, extraterrestrials often get associated with musical prowess and performance. Depending on your saga’s overall tone and strangeness, alien entities can range from Bowie-esque star people to oddly-shaped or proportioned humanoids to bizarre critters or inhuman forces of space and time. 

Regardless of their physical or metaphysical form, these aliens have an innate connection to music. Perhaps they simply play instruments, like the Star Wars cantina band; or feel drawn to the orgasmic pleasures associated with musical subcultures, like the “visitor” from the movie Liquid Sky. Maybe they communicate through music, as the Mothership did in Close Encounters, sense their world through vibrations, or pulse in currents of musical notes that sound musical to human ears. However they use and manifest their musical essence, such alien characters should be well-defined beyond their interest in music. Avoid the old Star Trek syndrome of slapping a weird name and facial prosthetics on a bunch of extras and then calling them “aliens.”  

If you choose to place alien beings in your saga, ask yourself where they came from, why they’re here, how they deal with the earth and its creatures, and why they developed the strange abilities they possess. Have they been here all along, like the hidden creatures of The Abyss, or do your heroes encounter them off-world, like the infamous Alien series beasts? Maybe they pursue musical lifestyles to fit in on earth, like the Spiders From Mars, or wind up strangers in our strange land. In a futuristic or space opera saga, they may simply be part of the landscape, like the singer in The Fifth Element; in such stories, stardom can look pretty bizarre… even, as with Ruby Rod, really fucking annoying.

Roleplaying a Musical Alien

 How do you play an alien? Beyond the overall alien-creation questions and the Powerchords Top 10 list above, the answer depends on just how bizarre that alien is by human standards; how familiar he/ she/ it/ they is/ are with the human world; and how serious or comical you want your story to be. A silly or satirical adventure could feature fish-out-of-water aliens bumbling around earth’s obstacles, while a science fiction setting in which aliens are an established part of the world would simply have aliens acting according to their needs and natures. 

Whatever you do, avoid making your alien a walking stereotype or a hive-mind drone unless his/ her/ its/ their race is supposed to be hive-mind drones. (This idea has interesting possibilities if those drones form an orchestra in the background, but it’d be difficult to roleplay out the individual members.) Establish some “alien quirks” to set the character apart from everyone else, and keep most details close to your chest. Unless you’re running a Star Trek-type universe, alien characters work best when they’re mysterious creatures, darting through the fringes of the terrestrial world but never truly part of it. 

Game Traits

Depending on the nature of your aliens and their world, an extraterrestrial character could have whatever abilities seem appropriate. Generally, such entities have unusually physical features (weird heads, extra limbs, strange coloration and so on), superhuman abilities (great strength, immaterial form, wings, etc.), and puzzling thought processes. Aliens often have gadgets that grant them great powers on earth, too – illusion-cubes, blast weapons, war machines, time travel and so on. These advantages usually place alien character beyond the reach of players unless you’re running a high-fantasy space saga. In settings that resemble our own world, aliens should stay mysterious, appearing just long enough to drive a story through their presence before returning to the stars or going down in a blaze of glory. 

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The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars

By David Bowie

Close Encounters of the Third Kind
by Stephen Spielberg

“One-Eyed, One-Horned Flying Purple People-Eater”

By Sheb Wooly

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Angels: I’m With You

Hark! The herald angels sing/ Glory to the new-born King… Throughout history and culture, angelic beings have been close to the Divine Song. The word àngelos means “messenger of God,” and that message is often musical. In Jewish mysticism, such messengers are associated with names and powers that combine musical sounds with mystical intent; Christian tradition ranks angels into choirs and choruses, while the Apocalypse of St. John features trumpets blown by angels to signal the Last Judgment. Hindu devas master divine ragas and dance to the music of the gods. Across times and cultures, heaven is viewed as a realm of infinite harmony, with angels as embodiments of sublime musicality. 

Angelic beings have a tendency to show up when people feel lowest. Blues and country songs speak of guardian angels watching over the singer; rock, pop and R&B music teems with earth angels, crying angels, fallen angels, furious angels, angels on your shoulder, angels watching over you, angels at your side, angels with an attitude, and even an angel with a lariat. (Okay, that last one came from a country song, but I couldn’t resist…) Gospel, sacred choral music, and some forms of techo or New Age music strive to replicate the sound of celestial harmony. The most magnificent angels, though, show up in European Classical music, where pieces like Handel’s Messiah, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony and George Crumb’s Black Angels, in which music captures the uncanny force of divine jubilation and wrath. 

And yeah – as that last piece affirms, angels are not always nice folks. When you look at mythology, angels often fuck shit up. That messenger from on high may be the most terrifying thing you’ll ever meet… possibly the last thing you’ll meet, too. Angels, y’see, transcend mortal concerns. They exist amidst the Big Picture, and their eyes reflect eternity. An angel may be compassionate but yet implacable. Celestial beings have their own agendas, often drawn not from human desires but the whims and wishes of the eternal Presence. If they wish you to be saved, you will be Saved… and if not, your ass is history.  

Musically, angels are often portrayed using – sometimes even named after – musical instruments: harps, horns, flutes, drums, bells, chimes, pipe organs, occasionally guitars, and sometimes strange instruments that have no mortal counterpart. Angels might employ traditional instruments from a given culture: banjos, sitars, turntables, harmonicas and so forth.  In his wild paintings, Hieronymus Bosch often depicted angels and devils as musical instruments, which hints at a metaphysical truth: at their core, angels actually are living instruments, amplifying the Divine Song into incarnate forms. And as vessels of that Song, angels almost always possess sublime (and possibly devastating) singing voices. 

How do angels appear? Depending on your saga and its approach to heavenly powers, they could be white-clad apparitions, adorable cherubs, beautiful innocents, mysterious strangers, blue-skinned creatures with several sets of arms and eyes, winged androgynous avatars of heavenly grace, singing wheels of fire, mythical beasts with gorgeous voices, draconic dogs or serpents, sky-horses, or unusually striking humans (beautiful or ugly) whose eyes and voices betray incredible age and power. Regardless of their appearance, celestial beings can, when necessary, manifest mystical talents, elemental control, and an implacable charisma that drops mortals to their knees. No matter how humble it might seem to be, a true angel embodies Divine Will far beyond human understanding. 

---Despite the modern view of “cherubs” as adorable flying babies, the cherubim of the Old Testament and medieval theology are literally awesome entities. Ezekiel 1 describes them having four faces (a human in the front, an eagle on the back, a lion on the right side, and an ox on the left), four sets of wings, hoofed feet, and a radiance “that looked like burning clouds of fire.” --

Roleplaying a Musical Angel

However human they may appear, angels transcend humanity. Even the lowest orders of them understand Heavenly Truth-TM-comma-dammit, whatever that Truth may be. That said, angels may share human emotions, motivations, passions and sorrows – often with the vast scope of immortality thrown in for good measure. This depth extends to angelic music – it’s richer, more resonant than mortal frequencies. As with many other inhuman entities, the technical perfection of celestial music puts all but the greatest mortal music to shame. 

And yet, for all their magnificence, angels are too remote from humanity to grasp the infinite yearning that human music holds. Essentially immortal, angels don’t just know the Truth – they are the Truth. The agonizing uncertainty that galvanizes human art feels alien to angels, who are perhaps too distant to be great artists. Regardless of its technical perfection and spiritual intensity, there’s always a clinical note to angelic music, as if there’s nothing to strive for because everything has been achieved. 

This distance extends to angelic characters as a whole. They may be compassionate yet aloof, often cold by mortal standards. Their personalities radiate confidence – often arrogance – mixed with pity, scorn or impatience… rarely humor. As embodiments of Will, they’re often serious and determined; their kindness feels more intellectual than sincere. When playing an angelic being, take the long view and miss the details. Messengers are rarely good about hearing or seeing things that might not be part of the message. 

Traditionally, angels range in hierarchies: great and terrible archangels, magnificent seraphim, lesser hosts, various underlings, earth-bound guardians, ascended humans, and fallen angels who recall and mourn their former state. The details depend on your saga’s dominant theology – maybe all the ones we know about are wrong. Angels who spend lots of time in and around music scenes tend to be guardians, healers, and fallen celestines eager for redemption. Although “lesser angels” might move within the realm of potential player-characters, true Heavenly Hosts should be too mysterious and powerful to be anything except living story elements – forces of nature that show up just long enough to make their point and then depart. 

Game Traits

Angels manifest a phenomenal range of powers, generally based around command of traditional elements (earth, air, fire, water, wood, and sometimes metal), spirits, and mortal beings. Even the lowliest angels can focus enough godlike presence to impress almost anyone. As messengers, they can fly, speak and understand any form of language, radiate light, command darkness, live more or less forever, and heal (or heal other beings from) almost any form of harm. Traditionally, it takes powerful magic to harm an angel – a demon can hurt one, but a speeding bus won’t. Angelic music may charm, freeze or terrify mortal creatures… possibly inflicting damage on bodies or structures if the angels so wills it. Evil and infernal beings seem especially vulnerable to celestial music, and will probably flee unless they’re significantly more numerous or powerful than the angel.  

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“When the Man Comes Around”

By Johnny Cash

The Messiah (Hallelujah Chorus)

By  George Frideric Handel

City of Angels

By Brad Silberling and Dana Stevens

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Hi, folks. 

I've been on a total shamanic rock kick this past week, reading about Patti Smith, Jim Morrison, Ian Curtis and the making of Joy's Division's masterpiece Unknown Pleasures. (For the record, so to speak, the 33 1/3 series book about that album is superb.)

I've been a fan of Smith and the Doors for decades now; Dad raised me on the Doors and other psychedelic bands back in my '60s childhood, and I discovered Patti Smith's work - beyond her hit "Because the Night," which I'd heard and loved years earlier -  one day in the fall of 1983, my freshman year of college, when my friend Chris brought me over to a buddy's house to get stoned and listen to some tunes. In the haze of college-student weed, my mind was blown wide open by the sound of Smith's debut album Horses. (That was a big year for mind-blowing; among many other artists, I got turned on that year to Laurie Anderson, Kate Bush, Black Flag, Venom, Thomas Dolby, Klaus Nomi, Richmond ska stars The Good Guys, and punk goofballs Death Piggy - the band that would later give birth to Gwar.) I distinctly recall being so stoned that day that the sidewalk seemed to stretch on forever, so I later recorded Chris's own Patti Smith collection (Horses, Wave, and Easer) so I could hear how the music sounded when I WASN'T wrecked. It still blew my mind... and twenty-nine years later, it still does.  

(If you haven't heard Smith's work yet, check out Horses, Easter, Twelve, Gone Again, and Wave; Radio Ethiopia is more challenging - I love it, but it's not for everyone - and I can take or leave her other albums, but highly recommend those five. She's considered the Mother of Punk for a reason, and if you want to hear someone shatter musical preconceptions, the Patti Smith Band is essential... especially considering that their albums hit the shelves during the heyday of Debbie Boone, Fleetwood Mac, the Bee Gees and KISS.) 

So yeah... shamanic rock. It's been on my mind. Making music that's vast and dangerous, swinging both band and listeners between worlds with a wild mix of reverent cruelty. Reading about, and listening to, the tortured lives of Smith, Morrison, Curtis and their collaborators (with a side-trip to Fleetwood Mac's bitter classic Rumours, about which I watched a great documnetary last week), I was struck by just how much new artists have to live up to. When you're, as my singer friend Vixy puts it, "fishing downstream from Bob Dylan," it's hard to figure out where you go from there. I often wonder if music's Age of Heroes is over... and if so, where the next one will begin. 

Don't get me wrong - I like a lot of artists coming out these days. Still, it's been a decade or more since I last had my mind truly rearranged by a musical artist, and even the best of today's crop are walking in the footsteps of the giants they loved. What, then, does it mean to be a POWERCHORDS hero? That idea's guiding my current work on the book... including an insert I added to the book's Introduction, part of which I'm featuring below as this week's update. 

(PS: Jim morrison was a real dick. I love his magic, but yeah - what an asshole...)

Thanks to all the folks who've sent in your sponsor characters... and if you haven't done it yet, please do it soon. I need that stuff in order to write the promised section. 
See you next week! 

Thanks again, and enjoy...

It starts out faintly, then rises toward fulfillment. A beat. A shriek. A melody. Music starts as a mother’s heartbeat, then swells to the first cry of the first breath we take in and release. From there on, our world is filled with song – soft breeze, thunder, the rush of waves or the rustle of leaves. The symphony of life never stills entirely. Even as we die, the beat goes on. 

For we human beings, the art of music takes the natural songs of life and shapes them toward deliberate ends. Through voices, instruments, refined study and spontaneous jamming, we bend the vibrations of the world around us and make them our own. In the process, we make magic – sometimes deliberately, most often not. Changing the world through artistry and will, we tap into the essence of Creation. 

Supposedly, it all began with sound – an OM, a bang, a thunderbolt or chant of words from an unspeakable force. From there, the vibrations of those primal sounds echoed out as far as far can go. As mystics claim, they’re still vibrating even now, shaped and reshaped in eternal orchestrations. To play music, then, is to work with the essence of eternity. 

What more, really, could you ask for? 

In Powerchords, you’re one of them.

So yeah – let’s rock.

Bardic Voices

And no, you don’t have to play a bard. 

You don’t have to play a musician, either. Your character could be a bodyguard or businessman, an obsessive High Fidelity-style music store clerk or a deejay with a deep understanding of her mix. You might be a warrior with a soft spot for epic ballads, or a tech-head with three terabytes of MP3s. You don’t need charm spells, mandolins, or a penchant for breaking into song – just a place in your character’s life where music dominates the stage.

Save the music? What’s there to save? Music is everywhere, as close as your laptop or the nearest set of speakers. Anyone can make music these days. Stardom’s as close as a video game or reality TV. 

And that’s the problem. Because when something magical becomes commonplace, its magic goes away. Mystery becomes trivia, and glamour’s just another game. “Keeping it real” becomes a pose based more on appearances than talent. Rebellion’s just one more thing for the Establishment to sell. What, then, can an artist do to make music miraculous again? Has music’s Age of Heroes passed away, and is everyone in its shadow doomed to keep riffing on someone else’s tune? Or can you find the key – musical or otherwise – that opens the door to a fresh, exciting age? Will you become a sonic shaman or a disposable hero? In Powerchords, music matters. The trick, then, is to find out how to bring its power back... 

- Patti Smith, from Sean O’Hagan’s article “Patti Smith: Making Waves” 

Hi, folks! 

Last week, I finished the motifs section - 38 entries suggesting various types of musicians and non-musician characters. A list of those motifs can be found below. 
Now I'm working on characters... and as I've mentioned earlier, most of you who have bought the right to name characters haven't told me who you want to name. 

And so, I've furnished a list of characteristics below. If you want to have me create a character based on your ideas (perhaps inspired by a fantasy version of yourself, perhaps someone else entirely - your call), please tell me something about that character. If you want me to make it up whole-cloth, I can do that, but please let me know what you want me to do. I can't write this section without that information. 

Each character is set up in the following format. A sample character has been included below. If you want to co-create your character, please give me a sentence or two with information for each entry. Don't worry about writing it clean - I'll be authoring the actual entries. Just tell me, if you have ideas, what you'd like to incorporate into that character.

If you've sponsored Powerchords at the character-naming level, please send the information to my Messages box before next Wednesday: 

Thanks!  

Here's the format: 

[NAME]

Motif: 

Tell Me a Story: 

Tell Me Who You Are: 

Show Me: 

Passions: 

Obstacles: 

Secrets: 

Vocations: 

Powers: 

Weaknesses: 

Here are some questions from me to you: 

* What name do you want me to use – your own, or an invented one? If the latter, what do you want your character to be called? 

* What ideas do you have about your character’s background? Appearance? Preferred skills and pursuits? How old is s/he? Of what ethnicity? Is s/he a musician or a non-musician? Should I just make up all the details myself, or are there ideas you want me to employ? 

* What does your character want out of life? What stands in his/her way? How does s/he work around those obstacles to get what s/he wants? 
* What makes your character special? Any cool powers (within reason)? Skills? Contacts? What’s his/her motif? Is s/he in a band, a solo artist, support crew, or an aspiring person who just hasn’t had the breaks just yet? 
* How old? How young? 
* What does s/he look like? Sound like? Act like? 
* What instruments or gear does s/he employ? 
* Where’s the magic that makes him/ her a notable player in the Powerchords world? 

Here are the motif suggestions (you do not have to use the ones provided - they're just guidelines to work with): 

Musician Motifs

Angstmonger: delver of musical misery

Artiste: pursuer of Pure Art

Busker: hard-working street musician

Charisma Bomb: golden god or goddess

Devotee: channel for musical devotion

Diva: Queen of Sonic Majesty

Egotist: master of the herd

Enchanter: musical charmer

Freak: batshit loon on a rocking rampage

Hearth Hero: humble musician playing for love

Mad Poet: romantic hellion with a naked heart 

The Ox: steady hand holding things together

Powerhouse: maestro of musical force 

Prodigy: brilliant young talent

Professor: master of musical esoterica

Prophet: speaker of Truth to power

Riffmaster: crafter of memorable riffs

Thug: street-smart outlaw

TurboSlut: sex on wheels

Virtuoso: instrumental genius

Non-Musician Motifs

Agent: the devil with the details

Band Buddy: loyal friend and helper

Captain Knows-All: musical trivia god

Craftsman: maker of fine things that sing

Dancer: artist of physical music

Deejay: gatekeeper of The Sound

Dr. Feelgood: battlefield medic for musical war

Handler: Mr. Fixit

Groupie: sensual patron of the arts

Journalist: digger of dirt, scribe of scenes

Manager: grease and gears that run the Machine

Producer: partner in magic

Promoter: gig-provider and master of cash

Roadie: he are the road crew!

Security: handles trouble one limb at a time

Tech: the one who makes things work

Transporter: driver, pilot, lord of the road

Wannabe: puppy with great aspirations

...and finally, here's a sample character, to give you an idea about how it all comes together: 

Coyote Ash

Motif: Devotee Enchanter

Tell Me a Story: Born too soon for safety and too sensitive to a loud and ugly world, the girl who soon became Coyote Ash felt the pulse of a world few other folks could see. Its sounds and colors overwhelmed the mundane realm of classrooms and peers. To everyone else, she seemed crazy; Coyote herself understood the songs of spirits, and she’s been singing them ever since. 

Tell Me Who You Are: Growing up in rural Kentucky, Coyote learned early on how to sing, how to shoot, how to work a garden and kick ass if need be. Her beloved grandfather taught her Appalachian folk charms, and her mother inspired her to read the language of the earth. An only child, she sought refuge in the wilderness, bonding with animals and spirits when school or home life became too harsh to endure. Erratic health and habits marginalized her throughout childhood; by her late teens, though, Coyote had adopted her new name and embarked upon a shamanic musical path. 

Now in her late 20s, Lady Coyote Ash is a wife (to two men), a mother, a practicing Appalachian neotribal shaman, and a founding member of [[]]], a trance-rock band with Pagan Gospel overtones. Learning a variety of instruments (preferably drums, flutes and violin) and then bending their sounds into uncanny harmonies, Coyote has been trying to speak with the spirits in their own musical language; she’s had more luck with her singing voice, which slides from a raw croon to playful chirps, barks and howls in place of words. Though she can sing in conventional fashion, Lady Ash prefers to vocalize the ineffable cries and whispers of spirit-song, weaving those sounds between the play of instruments until both her band and their audience step beyond mere human boundaries to sing beside the spirits themselves. 

Show Me: Short, thin, and ferally attractive, Coyote Ash has waist-length hair that’s often dyed in vivid blues, pinks, violets or blacks. Coyote’s Anglo-Cherokee ancestry her given sharp cheekbones, broad shoulders, and a defiant set to her chin. She favors a layered and often-handmade fashion that she calls “urban cannibal chic”: leather-stitched jeans, tank tops and home-dyed hoodies, woven vests and handcrafted jewelry, hair-weaves, long coats, feathers and fur. She grins easily, and tends either to go barefoot or wear heavy combat boots on stage. Bright wristbands of elastic, fur and metal help her maintain focus in the human sphere; when distracted or upset, she often snaps them rapidly, using the pain to bring her back to center. 

Secrets: Coyote Ash isn’t just an artist: she’s a spirit-channel, frequently possessed by entities that speak through her, sing through her, and occasionally ride her around for a while. Thus, she manifests personalities (and occasionally, talents and powers) beyond her usual self; some of them are kind, others playful and a few are outright dangerous. Coyote strives to keep the more malicious spirits in check, but she doesn’t always succeed…

Vocations: Beyond startling musical gifts, spiritual understanding and a penetrating perceptiveness, Lady Coyote has a range of household skills: cooking, medicine, light carpentry and clothing-making talents. She bonds well with animals, and tends to understand them better than she often understands people. A patient parent and voracious lover, Coyote approaches her life with deep-seated affection, yet often gets frustrated with the stumbling blocks of human frailty… both her own limitations and the confusing ways of other people.  

Powers: Under normal circumstances, Coyote is a normal (if gifted) human being. At times, however, she manifests uncanny strength, flexibility, perception and endurance, senses things no “normal” mortal can see or hear, and invokes nature-spirits, ghosts, and odd technological entities. With her music or her touch, Lady Ash can extend her perceptions to other people, granting them glimpses of the spirit-world around them. For obvious reasons, this tends to freak folks out, and so Coyote remains hesitant to use that gift unless she’s sure her audience can handle the truth. 

Weaknesses: See “Obstacles” above. 

Thanks, y'all. 

See you next week... 

What Can I Do? Beyond his musical skills, this motif has a gift for looking at the dark side of the mirror and then sharing what he sees. Empathy is a common trait, although – as with many artists – that sense may be more academic than organic. Angstmongers tend to be extraordinarily self-focused, unusually sensitive to sensation, and mercurial even by artistic standards. Few musicians, though, evoke deeper loyalties among their fans, who hear kindred spirits wailing in this musician’s work. 

Where’s the Music? Bulldozer music tends to rumble up from furious passions and personal hells. Perhaps, as with Beethoven, this thunderous approach forms the only way the artist can connect with his creations. Certain artists, like Storm Large or Henry Rollins, channel such intensity with their bodies as instruments. Unless they’re unusually grounded, though, bulldozers often join the Keith Moon/ John Bonham ghost parade, burning themselves out in magnificent holocausts. Those who do survive – like Lemmy from Mötörhead – rank among the toughest bastards on earth. 

Who Am I? Music is sexy, and this artist puts S-E-X in the spotlight. She might be talented as hell, but her first line of assault is unapologetically carnal. Skimpy clothes, suggestive lyrics, and an image/ illusion of cartoonish hypersexuality take center stage for this motif. Pop culture tends to cast female artists in this role by default, even when – like Lady Gaga or Shakira – they have formidable musical chops to back them up. Indeed, many female artists wind up dissed and dismissed when they’re “not hot enough” for stardom. Frustrating as that is, this artist turns sexism to her best advantage… sometimes to conceal a lack of talent (Britney Spears), other times to blast down doors that might stay closed otherwise (Joan Jett). Madonna may be the patron saint of this approach, but most pop singers – male as well as female – are habitually packaged in turboslut garb.  

Hola, everyone! 

I just finished up the motif entries for Deejay, Dr. Feelgood, Groupie and The Handler this morning. Today's update, though, comes from last week's work, wherein I explored the idea that art in general (and music in particular) appeals to certain parts of the anatomy that roughly correspond to the energetic chakras... or, as I put it in POWERCHORDS, the...

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Head, Heart, Guts, Groin

It’s true of most (if not all) forms of art, but especially true of music: Some artists feed your heart, many go for your heart, a number of ‘em punch you in the gut, the dirty ones go for your groin, lots of them hit several spots at once, and a blessed-n-damned few manage to nail you in all four. 

Head-based artists appeal to intellect, imagination, philosophy, experimentation. Their work makes you think, challenges your preconceptions, rattles your cage, and occasionally drops your thinking process out the nearest window and make you enjoy the fall. Wrapped in arcane chord changes and enigmatic lyrics, “head”-centric music centers on ideas. Frank Zappa, King Crimson, Kate Bush and Miles Davis (among others) appeal most strongly to this region. 

Heart-based artists go for sentiment, emotion and passion beyond all else. Sure, any art worth that name makes some appeal for your heart; truly heart-centric artists, though, snatch it in both hands and, without apology, squeeze. Lots of folks dismiss this approach, but it’s still a valid (if often superficial) approach to art. Oh, and yeah – it tends to make a lot of money, too. Journey, Whitney Houston, Kenny Rogers and Celine Dion know this territory perhaps all too well. 

Guts-based artists grab and squeeze you where it hurts. Raw pain, fury, joy, and the impulse to throw devil-signs and bang your head come most strongly from this region. Guts-based artists might not get you to think, but they’ll sure as hell rock your world. The Sex Pistols, Janis Joplin, Public Enemy and Mötley Crüe are guts-based artists, irresistible on a primal level even when they hit other goals besides. 

Groin-based artists make you wanna fuck. Plain and simple lust drives their core appeal. Even with G-rated lyrics (or none at all), these folks just sound dirty. Luther Vandross, AC-DC, Madonna and the Rolling Stones all epitomize this pure animal sex-machine approach. 

Again, most artists hit two of these regions or more. Led Zeppelin managed to nail Guts, Groin and occasionally Head with most of the music they released, while Prince can make you fuck and think at the same time. Very few artists, though, manage to score all four regions consistently… and even fewer survive long enough to make it a habit. Like the Kundalini Serpent, such artists strike all chakras, riding from heaven to hell and back again while taking their audience with them. The majority, like Jimi Hendrix or the Doors, burn bright and fast, leaving legendary afterburns behind; a handful – Johnny Cash, Patti Smith – last long enough to become living gods, riding flames so bright and sacred that even they feel helpless in the blaze.