Intertextuality, sampling and white angst in Dream Theater and Symphony X

• Imprimer

1990s and 00s progressive metal has an emphasis on virtuosity and classical borrowings that find their roots in early 'prog' styles from the 60s and 70s. In addition to this, the music also digitally samples dialogue and other material on recent tracks, an aspect in popular music often reserved for discussion in terms of hip-hop culture ('Honor Thy Father', 'A Change of Seasons'). Spoken word and rap styles are used as well (e.g. 'The Glass Prison' from Six Degrees of Inner Turbulance), and I would like to investigate aspects of study previously reserved for African-American musical cultures (sampling and spoken word) which are applied to this perceivably 'white' musical subgenre. Furthermore, the lyrical topics of such music deal with issues of white angst ('The Glass Prison', 'Misunderstood' and ''The Great Debate') which has had little investigation in academic literature.