We were checking out Blake Shelton's new album Bringing Back The Sunshine (which topped the Billboard 200 last week) when we were struck by a humorous thought: "Man, 'Just South of Heaven' would sure make a great Slayer satire." It turns out that Shelton isn't alone in borrowing (or nearly borrowing) song titles from metal bands. We gathered a short list below, ranked from least similar in subject matter to most similar in subject matter.
"Burnin' It Down" versus "Burn It Down"
We're immediately confronted with two vocalists preaching totally opposite ideas while speaking almost the same words. In one corner is Jason Aldean with his current single, which has peaked in the Digital Downloads Top 10 during 2014. In the other corner is Zoltan Bathory and 5 Finger Death Punch. And we're not talking to current 5FDP who sings Bad Company covers and gets mainstream rock radio play. We mean a War Is The Answer-era metal band that's about as pissed off as ever and on the verge of burning your house down (although probably a metaphor, the band definitely intends for you to suffer violence). Poor old Aldean just wanted to drink and chill with his lady friend...he meant "fire" in the Hendrix/Hayes sense.
"Just South of Heaven" versus "South of Heaven"
This goes to show just how much impact adverbs can have (and how much fits under heaven). Shelton, like Aldean, knows he's not in heaven but when he's spending time with you it sure feels like it. Hence the title "just" barely under heaven. Slayer is more than just a little south of heaven. Maybe south of Earth as well. We can't be sure if Tom Araya is singing about hell on Earth or just hell in general, but it sure ain't a place where there's "kissing and sipping that seven and seven." We'd let you know what does exist in Slayer's imagination but it's not all that safe for work.
"This Love" versus "This Love"
Hopefully we're not the first person to break it to you that love is place where many ranges of emotions exist. Hence how two acts such as LeAnn Rimes and Pantera can both name songs "This Love" and come to such different conclusions. "Nothin' can come between us when we're following this love, this love," writes Pantera. "Never ending pain, quickly ending life," sings Rimes. No, wait, we got those two reversed. The point is that country is more open to seeing the good in love than metal is. Country music can certainly turn out its own tales of heartbreak however. George Jones and "He Stopped Loving Her Today" is one par excellence.
"Eyes Open" versus "Eyes Wide Open"
You wouldn't expect Taylor Swift to craft one of the more metal country songs on this list, would you? However her original track for The Hunger Games soundtrack deals with concepts of paranoia and 1984-esque surveillance fit well with the film's themes, themes that metal music is certainly open to incorporating. Melodic death metal band Naildown also wants you to keep your eyes open...but your consciousness closed. In other words they want you dead and for some reason will get more of a kick out of it if your eyes are still open. We dunno. Some people. Naildown is far from the most hardcore metal act you'll hear however, just like what some country fans might say about Swift.
"Redneck Crazy" versus "Redneck"
Believe it or not, of the two titles presented above, the metal one doesn't feature the word "crazy." Tyler Farr does display some rather metal tendencies during this single however, such as the inability to let go or the inability to stop from stalking his crush. If anything, Farr's "redneck" song actually comes across as scarier than Lamb of God's track of a similar title. Although Randy Blythe aggressively invites his enemy to more-or-less come-at-me-bro, Farr tells his beloved that he's going to park his truck in her driveway and shine his headlights through the windows so she and her preferred man know he's there. The creepiest redneck activity outside of Deliverance.
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