The Lexical Peculiarities of the Metallica’s Lyrics

Semantic meaning of the lyrics of Metallica. Thematic Diversity and Semantic Layers of Lyrics. The songs about love and feelings. Philosophical texts. Colloquialisms and Slang Words. The analysis of vocabulary layers used in the Metallica’s lyrics.
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The Lexical Peculiarities of the Metallica's Lyrics

Introduction

No language can be learned without learning words. What is the study of English vocabulary? It is a definite process of expanding one's vocabulary, which involves three stages: the introduction of new words, the practice of their use in similar situations, and, finally, the possibility of their use in all areas. By other words, it is necessary not just to get acquainted with new lexical units (words), but also to illustrate their meaning in as many usage situations as possible, so that later, if necessary, the word can rise in one's memory. So the question of learning the vocabulary of English has been actual since the ancient time till present.

Great attention has been paid to the problem of learning lexis. Many linguists and scientists have worked hard at this, and, as a result, a lot of important things of lexicology have been discovered by them.

Thus, for instance, lexicology was divided into branches each of which has its own object to study:

- general lexicology (studying vocabulary in general paying no attention to that what language the words belong to);

- semantics or semasiology (studying the lexical units meaning).

- phraseology (a branch of lexicology studying groups of words having stability of the structure and figurative meaning («to put down roots», «to keep abreast of the times», «the black sheep», «fight fire with fire», etc.). [28; 8]

Within lexicological studies vocabulary can be studied in the synchronic (at present stage of its development) or diachronic (in the context of the development process) aspects. [28; 8]

The main problems of lexicology are connected with word building, semantics, phraseology, studying vocabulary as one system. Many researches are linked with the problems of new words. [28; 9]

There are many ways of formal and informal learning vocabulary. It can be anything from reading raw words and trying to remember them to using different means such as literature, live communication, media and so on. One of quite effective ways to study the lexical content of a certain language is using of music of various genres of the country the language of which we learn.

It's interesting that using songs in the learning a language one can aim a few important targets at once, and not just to learn the words. The purpose of learning a foreign language is not only getting knowledge, skills and abilities, but also mastering different kinds of information connected with the country the language of which is learned. It includes ethnic, linguistic, cultural and aesthetic aspects. To improve the process of learning a foreign language not only consciousness of students must be influenced but also their emotional sphere. And what can influence the feelings and emotions of students more than music? Music can provide enormous help in studying a foreign language at any stage of training. Songs leads to vocabulary expansion as it helps to learn new words and phrases. In songs already known vocabulary is found in a new contextual environment and this promotes its activation. They contain proper, geographical, historical and cultural names, various events and realia of the country the language of which is studied, linguistic nuances, idioms, poetic words etc. Songs make students feel the language, help them to learn stylistic features, to digest and activate grammatical constructions, to improve their skills of comprehension, translation and pronunciation. Besides, they spirit students to compare the mother tongue translation of the songs with their foreign original texts making them think in English.

So it's up to this problem to be set in this work. The theme of the course paper is «The Lexical Peculiarities of the Metallica's Lyrics». The aim of the research is to find out the lexical peculiarities of the lyrics of Metallica. To achieve the aim the following tasks were put forward:

1) to analyse the songs of Metallica and their meaning;

2) to study the features of the Metallica's lyrics;

3) to compare the features of the Metallica's songs with those of other bands of the same genre;

4) to analyse the vocabulary of the band's lyrics;

4) to determine the peculiarities of the songs of Metallica.

The object of the research is the lyrics of Metallica and its phenomenon; the subject is the analysis of semantic meanings of the Metallica's song texts and vocabulary layers used in them. The following research methods were used:

1) bibliographical;

2) analytical;

3) descriptive;

4) comparative.

The scientific novelty of the research is that for the first time the lexis has been researched on the example of the metal band Metallica in this area. The work begins with an introduction presenting the topicality of the problem set in it and the main aspects of making the research. Then two parts of the main content subdivided to units follow. The first part deals with the themes and semantic meaning of the Metallica's songs. The second one is devoted to lexical analysis of the vocabulary layers used by the band. The work is ended with conclusions. Finally, the applications and bibliography were added.

1. Semantic meaning of the lyrics of Metallica

1.1 Brief Information of Metallica

Metallica is an American heavy metal band, performing music in the styles of thrash metal and heavy metal. It had a great influence on the development of metal and it belongs to the «big four thrash metal bands» along with such bands as Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax. More than 100 million copies of Metallica's albums have been sold worldwide, having made it one of the most commercially successful metal bands.

Creating their music Metallica got the inspiration from such bands as Motorhead and Diamond Head, and also Black Sabbath, Saxon, Thin Lizzy, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Merciful Fate, Venom and other British metal bands. Also, some punk rock bands such as Misfits, Zeroption, Discharge and The Ramones influenced the music of Metallica.

Metallica is the most innovative metal band of the late XX century. It was founded in California (USA) in 1981 by Lars Ulrich (drums), a native of Denmark, and James Alan Hetfield (vocals, guitar). They met thanks to an advertisement in a music magazine. In several months the musicians along with Ron Makgavni (bass) and Lloyd Grand (guitar) recorded their own first demo called «No Life Til 'Leather».

Their legendary debut album «Kill 'Em All» became the result of four years of existence of Metallica. In 1984, the band recorded «Ride The Lightning», and in 1986, the record «Master Of Puppets» which confirmed the serious intentions of Metallica and their quest for glory was released. Before releasing the third record they signed a contract with Elektra Records and reissued 2 previous albums.

After releasing the album «Garage Days Re-Revisited», the musicians signed a contract with Mike Blade, the producer of Guns N 'Roses. Long work in the studio finally began to bear success to the group. Great support for the popularity was brought by the touring of Metallica. A lot of awards showered onto the musicians, and this confirmed their bet on the professionalism and hard work.

In 1996 the next album «Load» was released and it debuted number one in charts of the United States. This CD was a turning point for the image of Metallica and redirected it to the audience of alternative rock fans. Spring 1998 began for the band with a world tour in support of their new album «Reload». It included the song «The Memory Remains», which they recorded along with the legend of the 60's Marianne Faithfull. The new album titled «Garage Inc.» was released in late autumn of 1998, it included new songs and some covers. A year later, Metallica's new live album «S & M» with the participation of the Symphonic Orchestra of San Francisco was recorded. The beginning of 2000 for the group was marked by birth of a song «I Disappear», which was recorded for the movie «Mission Impossible 2».

The process of recording new songs was very difficult and with constant quarrels and scandals. As a result of that the musicians hired a psychoanalyst and engaged in group therapy. At the end and the beginning of every day of recording the group collectively discussed the incidents. It was interesting that a camera crew worked in the studio all that time.

In summer 2003 «St. Anger» was completed and appeared in stores. Its music, according to the points of view of critics, was almost the most extreme and aggressive during all the career of Metallica. But opinions about the new album of the group split into two camps: some praised the musicians for such an uncompromising and courageous step, but others thought it was the end of Metallica. A year later, a documentary film titled «Some Kind of Monster» was released. It showed in details the agonizing process of creating the album. The film was viewed positively as it gave the opportunity to look deep into the process of music creating.

In March 12,...