Harry Potter inspires new wizards of rock

The Harry Potter franchise, not wanting to leave any group of hopeless nerds uninspired, is now responsible for the advent of something called “wizard rock.” According to the linked article, “what wizard bands have in common is that each chooses a character from J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter stories and writes songs from that character’s perspective.” Fans believe no other book series has inspired a musical genre like this. Which means they haven’t read the Lord of the Rings trilogy. People have been singing about spellcasting at dragons, and orcs fighting elves, for decades, although at least wizard rock is a better name for it than epic/war/fantasy metal. Check out Blind Guardian, Iced Earth or even Black Sabbath (who wrote “The Wizard”) if you don’t believe me. But be warned: Prolonged exposure to six-minute homages to Tolkien’s master work can cause neckbeard growth and rapid Cheeto consumption. Also, girls will hate you.

—Posted by David Kiefaber

July 12, 2007 in Kiefaber | Permalink