Many Of Horror (Biffy Clyro, 2009)
The song title itself has a rather interesting background. Apart from being an unusual one, which sometimes can draw people to great pieces of music (because, come on!, who isn't curious about what hides behind any strange title?), it still remains at the head of a composition that touches serious (relationship) problems. To my mind, they couldn't have come up with a better title. It, somehow, fits the song like a glove and gives one a glimpse into its general mood and into the theme represented. Well, here comes the story: "There were no left turns on this, a huge arena-filling torch song. It may have been one of Biffy's most emotive songs, but it was typically undermined by the band's mischievous title. 'Sometimes we sit around and try coming up with band names for other bands,' said drummer Ben Johnston. 'Many Of Horror were an imaginary band that played really dark, country songs. The title just stuck.' " (Hopkin, 2010, p. 46)
I have to admit, Many Of Horror would be a very nice band name. Once you read it, you can't forget it. Still, it fits perfectly into the song:
"You said love was letting us go against what
Our future is for...
Many of horror
Our future's for many of horror"
This is it. A horrible future. A horrible future along his/ her loved one. This is what the protagonist should expect. Somehow, this is preferable to a "no future together" situation. So how exactly can something so dark turn into a wholeheartedly accepted state? Well, Biffy Clyro teaches us it's all about unconditional love:
"When we collide we come together
If we don't we'll always be apart
I'll take a bruise; I know you're worth it
When you hit me hit me hard"
The verb "collide" introduces this idea of a universal love, a love that transcends all boundaries. I honestly don't know if this was the idea the writer himself intended to introduce, but that's the first thing that comes to my mind when I hear this word - I always think of "stars collide", therefore I automatically make that connection with cosmic elements. And the chorus appears to go along with this, as the next line, even though it seems to convey the same idea as the first one, it actually comes as an emphasis to this whole idea of being together or not / black vs. white (no grey zone). Then it continues in the same note, that basically all the struggle and the "collision" are worth it, that it worths being with each other. Finally, it ends with my favourite line of the song, which I also chose to start this post, namely "When you hit me hit me hard". I find this line really powerful. And it can be understood in so many ways by so many people. For example, I took it as an emotional hit. As describing something so strong that could turn one's world upside down. It's the intensity of this feeling that appealed to me so much. And, in fact, made me interested in the song as a whole.
Overall, I could say there's a lot more to this piece than meets the eye. So I'm going to leave myself space to add to this commentary later.
- until next time -
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Hopkin, O. (2010). The X FM Top 1000 Songs of All Time.
London: Elliott & Thompson Limited.
The images were taken from (top to bottom):
Biffy Clyro - Many Of Horror. (n.d.). (Genius Media Group
Inc.) Retrieved January 9, 2018, from Genius:
https://genius.com/Biffy-clyro-many-of-horror-when-we-collide-lyrics
Lomax-Allen, R. (n.d.). Rebecca Lomax-Allen. Retrieved January 9, 2018, from Pictame: http://www.pictame.com/user/beclomax/25324677
