Hella

All Music Guide:

Indie rockers Hella consist of guitarist Spencer Seim and drummer Zach Hill. The two first got together in the spring of 2001, developing a following around the Sacramento area that won them a record deal on 5 Rue Christine Records. Their debut LP, Hold Your Horse Is, appeared in 2002, and established Hella's chaotic approach to instrumental noise rock. The duo proved prolific, issuing the LP Total Bugs Bunny on Wild Bass on Narnack in 2003, The Devil Isn't Red for 5RC in 2004, and the double album Church Gone Wild/Chirpin' Hard on Suicide Squeeze in 2005. The CD/DVD combo Concentration Face/Homeboy followed from 5 Rue Christine in November of that year. After releasing the EP Acoustics in late 2006, Hella moved to Ipecac Records -- 5RC had folded after the departure of founder Slim Moon -- and regrouped with guitarist Josh Hill (cousin to Zach) and bassist Carson McWhirter, both of whom had been in a band with the duo before they had become Hella, as well as singer Aaron Ross (it was, in fact, the inability to find a vocalist that caused the initial breakup and formation of the duo Hella). Their first record as a quintet, There's No 666 in Outer Space, was released in January 2007. After the albums release, Hella's future seemed uncertain, but in 2009 it was announced the the band would return to it's original two man lineup of Seim and Hill. The duo returned to the studio shortly afterwards, and emerged in 2011 with their first new album in four years, Tripper, which was released on Sargent House.

Wikipedia:

Hella is a word associated with California, mainly the Bay Area. It is a contraction of the phrase "hell of a" or "hell of a lot [of]," in turn reduced to "hell of." Hella is also a common name in the Eastern Hemisphere. It often appears in place of the words "really," "a lot," "totally," "very" and in some cases "yes". Whereas hell of a is generally used with a noun, according to linguist Pamela Munro, hella is primarily used to modify an adjective such as "good."

According to lexicographer Allan A. Metcalf, the word is a marker of Northern California dialect. According to Colleen Cotter, "Southern Californians know the term ... but rarely use it." Sometimes the term grippa is used to mock "NorCal" dialect, with the actual meaning being the opposite of hella.

History [edit]

Earliest studies of the term [edit]

Hella has likely existed in NOVA English since at least the mid 1970s. By 1993, Mary Bucholtz, a linguist at the University of California, Santa Barbara collated materials from an urban high school (Mt. Eden High School) in the Bay Area, and found that hella was "used among Bay Area (and more specifically Hayward) youth of all racial, ethnic, and socio-economic backgrounds and both genders." "Hella" remains part of the dialect of Northern California, where it has grown in popularity. It is believed by most that the word originated in the eastern portion of the San Francisco Bay Area (Hayward). James Hetfield and the members of Metallica were one of the first celebrities to use the word in both music and interviews. Having come from the bay area around the time the word's popularity spread, it could be said that he was one of the first people to bring "Hella" to the mainstream. Other celebrities, mainly hip-hop artists, have also brought the term to the masses. Bay Area legends E-40, LiterACola, and Mac Dre have been heard using the phrase since 1986.

Nationwide spread [edit]

By 1997 the word had spread to hip hop culture, though it remained a primarily West Coast term. With the release of the 2001 No Doubt song "Hella Good," one Virginian transplant in California "fear[ed] the worst: nationwide acceptance of this wretched term." In recent years 'hella' has spread to the Pacific Northwest as a common slang term, particularly in Seattle. Popular area rappers Blue Scholars and Macklemore regularly use the term in their lyrics.

In the South Park episode "Spookyfish," which was the 1998 Halloween special, the character Cartman repeatedly used the term hella to the annoyance of the other characters, which contributed to its currency spreading nationally. "You guys are hella stupid" is one of the phrases spoken by a talking Cartman doll released in 2006. The Sacramento-based band Hella chose its name for the regional association; Zach Hill says "It's everywhere up here.... We thought it was funny, and everyone says it all the time."

Worldwide spread [edit]

Hella was recently included on the BBC's list of 20 words that sum up the 2000-2009 decade. Defining it as "An intensive in Youthspeak, generally substituting for the word "very," inclusion on the list marks its ascension into the international slang lexicon.

Usage [edit]

Intensifier [edit]

While intensifiers similar to hella exist in many colloquial varieties, hella is unique in its flexibility. It can be used to modify almost any part of speech, as shown below.

That pizza was hella good: hella modifies the adjective good, where Standard American English would use very.

I ate hella pizza: hella modifies the noun pizza, replacing a lot of.

I hella bought four pizzas: hella modifies the verb to buy, replacing really or totally.

I ran hella quick to the pizza joint: hella modifies the adverb quick, replacing very.

SI prefix [edit]

As of 2010, an online petition, created by Yreka's Austin Sendek, seeks to establish "hella-" as the SI prefix for 10. The prefix, which has since appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, Daily Telegraph, and Wired, was implemented by Google in May 2010. On May 31, 2011, Wolfram Alpha also implemented "hella-" as a supported prefix.