Chuck Schuldiner

Chuck Schuldiner has been called the "godfather of death metal."

Charles Michael Schuldiner (May 13, 1967 – December 13, 2001) was an American musician, known as the guitarist, lead vocalist, primary composer and lyricist for the Florida death metal band Death.

Quotes

  • Did we set out to do something that was so unusual? No. [...] This was very much my concept, which may have helped. Apart from Chris, it was a one-man show. And when you’re virtually working on your own, it can sharpen the vision.
  • There were loads of people in the local area up for it, and I could have settled for someone who was OK, but not brilliant. That wasn’t what I wanted. To make Death as good as I believed we could be, I had to have a line-up that kicked ass on all fronts.
  • I got fed up with writing about crap monsters. What’s horrific about that sort of thing? The real evil in this world goes on in society. I’d just reached a time in my life as a person and as a musician when I felt angry enough to write about it.
  • I’m glad to see that a lot of these metal bands today are incorporating more traditional elements into their music because that’s where it all comes from. I never lost touch with that through the years, but I was very much crucified for it a while back. And I guess it’s good to know that I was doing the right thing.

Song lyrics

Symbolic (1995)

  • I don’t mean to dwell
    but I can’t help myself [...]
    Do you remember when
    Things seemed so eternal?
  • Won’t you join me on the perennial quest
    Reaching into the dark, retrieving light
    Search for answers on the perennial quest
    Where dreams are followed, and time is a test
  • Trapped Inside a life which is not yours
    Spirits within causing terror, fear and darkness.

Human (1991)

  • Sharing both pleasure and pain
    Two hearts, two minds, one soul
    Seperating mentally
    An illusion of privacy
    Together -- they absorb eachother's lies
    As one -- they will live and they will die
    A living hell has begun
    • "Together as One," as quoted from the album's liner notes

Leprosy (1988)

  • Bodies deformed way beyond belief
    Cast out from their concerned society
  • Pull the plug -- let me pass away
    Pull the plug -- don't want to live this way
    • "Pull the Plug," as quoted from the album's liner notes
  • You will not return alive -- left to die
    Suffering until the end -- left to die
    • "Left to Die," as quoted from the album's liner notes
  • Life will never be the same
    Death can never be explained
    It's their time to go beyond
    Empty feeling when they're gone
    • "Open Casket," as quoted from the album's liner notes
  • Cannibals practicing the art of butchery
    Emotions don't exist, pain you can't resist
    • "Primitive Ways," as quoted from the album's liner notes
  • Seizure now sets in
    Torture will begin
    Example made from those to see
    Your freedom turned to misery
    • "Chock On It," as quoted from the album's liner notes

Scream Bloody Gore (1987)

  • Ram an axe into your mound [...]
    Shit onto your guts [...]
    A stupid cunt we sacrifice
  • A hook right through your tits [...]
    Pathetic rancid cunt [...]
    Trying to escape
    They torture you by cutting off your cock

Quotes about Schuldiner

  • [Schuldiner] opened the door for many guitarists to rip open their aggression and put it all into this relentless and chaotic form of metal. Perhaps most impressive, Schuldiner essentially taught himself to play guitar.
  • Naming your band Death is either tongue-in-cheek insolence or a proclamation of utter sincerity, and Chuck Schuldiner was not given to flippancy where his music was concerned. Next to his family, music was most important to him, and this clarity drove him. To call his band Death was to equate his life’s purpose with the most unimaginable end to which we all will go: it was predestined and non-negotiable. With Death, Chuck affirmed his life.
  • Schuldiner’s guitar playing and ability as a song writer grew immensely since the band formed in the early 1980s in Florida. His stamina and precision in guitar playing was impeccable. But by the late ’80s/early ’90s the primitive, zombie, blood and gore obsessed death metal had evolved to a more progressive style with lyrics delving into the dark side of human nature and suffering. [...] Schuldiner is often included in lists of the best metal guitarists for his innovative and passionate approach to playing death metal music.
  • Chuck came to the studio knowing exactly what he wanted to do. His "vision" was fully formed and complete, as he intended to recreate the sound he had in mind for Death. The recording process required no experimenting or trying things out; Chuck's plan was to just get this sound he created on tape. Chuck was an eager and dedicated teenager of 19. Throughpout the project there was just Chuck and his drummer Chris in the studio. The two of them worked hard and were very well-prepared and efficient. My engineer Casey and I watched Chuck and Chris realize their vision. What I find incredible is that what Chuck and Chris accomplished with [Scream Bloody Gore] became the prototype for much of what followed in extreme metal for the next three decades.
    • Randy Burns in June 2015, as quoted from the liner notes of the deluxe reissue of Scream Bloody Gore, on producing the album
  • I think he was a perfectionist. He really had a high standard and maybe that made it harder for some people to work with him and meet those demands. And as the band went on, the music just got more complex. It was easy to play that kind of music poorly, but it was very hard to keep up with someone like Chuck.
  • Chuck Schuldiner’s legendary perfectionism elevated the genre from dumb-guy heavy metal to truly progressive and inventive art, and the legacy his all-too-early passing left solidified Death’s status among the absolute greats of the genre.
  • It blew my mind how Chuck was so talented a guitar player and also so talented at structuring a song. We had rehearsed the music to The Sound of Perseverance so much without vocals and I had no idea how to structure vocals around music that was so complex. When we did the demos and I finally heard Chuck's lyrics and the way he structured them within the music I was just blown away. It was so genius, so creative, and so catchy. He took words and just blended them perfectly with really complex crazy music. Then before we would go on tour he would have to learn to sing along with playing guitar, which was incredible because those guitar riffs are so crazy. Chuck never wrote riffs thinking 'I gotta make this so I can sing it and play it at the same time.' He would just do the lyrics and sing over the demos, and then later figure out how to do it all together at once. He always did it perfectly, it always belw my mind, it was always just like the record.
  • Frank and Chuck were very close. That closeness is surely why the devastation Chuck felt at the tragic death of his brother, and the consequences following it, were so great that he never really came to terms with it. He always missed Frank. The death of Frank brought this family very close together and that closeness has continued always. There is always fear involved when a child dies and I watched diligently, afraid it could happen again. Chuck’s father worked and had tennis and other hobbies, so I was more involved with Chuck and his interests, as I was with my other children. As Chuck grew older he would go with me antiquing and he would frequently call me to just go out for a cup of coffee, or to lunch, or the doorbell would ring and there he would be for a visit. He never forgot my birthday or any other special occasion. He was a wonderful son and friend and we were close, as were his sister and nephew. He took us to the beach on weekends when he was home and met his nephew at the bus stop after school to take him to the mall or to play basketball. His sister fought for his life for three years and he acknowledged that in an interview, saying that his sister was a warrior. They were really close friends as well as brother and sister. Is it any wonder that we infinitely love and miss him in so many ways?
  • After losing Frank, he worried so about what it would do to the three of us - Beth, Christopher and myself - to lose him. I promised him we would do the best we could if he were to lose that fight and that is what we are trying to do, keep that promise. Chuck was the one who never gave up, who instilled hope and love in those all around him and he never cursed fate. Chuck’s steadfast hope for the future and his family, friends, and the many fans who wrote to him sustained him.
  • It's difficult trying to articulate what it is about this instrumental Death song off Human — essentially arranged and written in the studio — that speaks to me. It doesn't have Chuck's voice in the literal sense, but it contains all the vital harmonic, melodic and rhythmic components that branded Death's sound. But it also has something else. It's reaching for truth, and it holds a majestic beauty that gave Death's songs their greatest potency. What I'm remembering is the beginner mind approach in which this song took shape in the studio. It was driven by instinct and spontaneous creative freedom. Our collective energies united and we swam into the 'Cosmic Sea,' trusting we wouldn't need a life raft. Chuck's story was liberated without words. 'Cosmic Sea' is a journey straight into the heart of Death and, for me, an auditory memory of what an old friend felt like at his best.
  • Extreme music, more specifically the death metal sub-genre, would cease to exist without the musical brilliance of Chuck Schuldiner. [...] Within metal, there are few musicians who’ve shown such a profound prowess for technical and melodic guitar playing, all while playing music as extreme as death metal. Chuck Schuldiner was the epitome of this.
  • Schuldiner broadened death metal’s horizons, dragging it out of the fetid gore and unworked thrash into something more sophisticated, programming intelligence into its necro physiology, and in the process recruiting some of the most technically gifted musicians the scene has had.
  • His music is timeless. It still sounds as fresh as it did when it came out. Plus, Chuck’s style on guitar is unmatched: it’s the perfect mix of melody, technicality and brutality. I’m extremely lucky to have been not just part of the band but also a close friend of Chuck’s. He inspired me, and he continues to inspire me, every day.

See also

References

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