About the Book
Heavy metal is now over 40 years old. It emerged at the tail end of the 1960s in the work of bands including Iron Butterfly, Vanilla Fudge, Jimi Hendrix, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and - most importantly - Black Sabbath. In the 1970s and early 1980s, heavy metal crystallised as a genre as bands such as Judas Priest and Iron Maiden removed most of the blues influence on the genre, codifying a set of basic metal characteristics that endure to this day: distorted guitars, aggressive vocals, denim, leather and spikes. In broad terms, wherever it is found and however it is played, metal tends to be dominated by a distinctive commitment to 'transgressive' themes and musicality causing it to be frequently seen as controversial music. Controversies surrounding the alleged (and often documented) connection between heavy metal and, variously, sexual promiscuity, occultism and Satanism, subliminal messages, suicide and violence have all made heavy metal a target of moral panics over popular culture. Metal has variously embraced, rejected, played with and tried to ignore this controversy.
At times, the controversy dies down and the previously transgressive becomes relatively harmless - as in the transformation of Ozzy Osbourne from public enemy to loveable dad. Still, metal remains irrevocably marked by its controversial, transgressive tendencies. Indeed, the various moral panics that metal has been subjected to are not only constitutive, at least in part, of metal scenes, but are encoded in metal's transgression itself. As with hiphop's "ghetto" roots, metal's history of extreme sonic, lyrical and visual messages continue to give it credibility with new generations of fans today. The aim of this anthology is to analyse the relationship between heavy metal and society within a global context. It provides a thorough investigation of how and why metal becomes controversial, how metal 'scenes' are formed and examines the relationship between metal and society, including how fans, musicians and the media create the culture of heavy metal.
Table of Contents:
1. Introduction: Heavy Metal as Controversy and Counterculture Titus Hjelm, Keith Kahn-Harris & Mark LeVine Part I: Controversies 2. Suicide Solutions? Or how the Emo Class of 2008 were Able to Contest their Media Demonization, whereas the Headbangers, Burnouts or 'Children of ZoZo' Generation were not Andy R. Brown, Bath Spa University 3. 'How You Gonna See Me Now': Recontextualizing Metal Artists and Moral Panics Brad Klypchak, Texas A & M University - Commerce 4. Triumph of the Maggots? Valorization of Metal in the Rock Press Helene Laurin 5. Dworkin's Nightmare: Porn Grind as the Sound of Feminist Fears Lee Barron, Northumbria University 6. The 'Double Controversy' of Christian Metal Marcus Moberg, Abo Akademi University, Finland 7. Hellfest: The Thing that Should not be? Local Perceptions and Catholic Discourses on Metal Culture in France Gerome Guibert, University Paris III, and Jedediah Sklower, independent scholar Part II: Countercultures 8. Malang, Indonesia and Toledo, USA: A Theory of Metal Scene Formation Jeremy Wallach, Bowling Green State University, Ohio, and Alexandra Levine 9. Voice of Our Blood: National Socialist Discourses in Black Metal Benjamin Hedge Olson 10. Extreme Music for Extreme People? Norwegian Black Metal and Transcendent Violence Michelle Phillipov, University of Tasmania 11. The Extreme Metal 'Connoisseur' Nicola Allett, Louchborough University 12. Black Metal Soul Music: Stone Vengeance and the Aesthetics of Race in Heavy Metal Kevin Fellezs, Columbia University 13. (I) Hate Girls and Emo(tion)s: Negotiating Masculinity in Grindcore Music Rosemary Overell 14. Heavy Metal and the Deafening Threat of the Apolitical Niall Scott, University of Central Lancashire
About the Author :
Titus Hjelm is Lecturer in Finnish Society and Culture at University College London. His main areas of expertise are cultural sociology, sociology of religion, social problems, media and popular culture. He is currently working on a book on social constructionism (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011) and editing a volume titled Religion and Social Problems (Routledge, 2010). He is also a member of the internationally acclaimed metal band Thunderstone. Keith Kahn-Harris is an Honorary Research Fellow at the Centre for Religion and Contemporary Society at Birkbeck College. He is the author of Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge (Berg, 2006) and writes the blog Metal Jew (www.metaljew.org). Mark LeVine is Professor of modern Middle Eastern history, culture and Islamic studies at University of California Irvine and author and editor of several books, including Heavy Metal Islam: Rock, Resistance, and the Struggle for the Soul of Islam (Random House/Three Rivers Press, 2008 and Impossible Peace: Israel/Palestine Since 1989 (Zed Books, 2009).
Review :
'A powerful addition to the metal studies literature, this book is overflowing with insights into the cultural politics of heavy metal music. With lively writing, interdisciplinary approaches, and a global perspective, these chapters offer ideas that have broad implications for the study of popular music scenes and their dynamics, media scandals, the relationship between music and affect, and the role of culture in social life.' Professor Harris M. Berger, Texas A & M University 'From Christian metal to African American metal artists to the pleasures of feeling 'brutal,' Heavy Metal: Controversies and Countercultures explores a wide array of topics too often neglected in the critical study of the genre. The book is global in both the range of contributors and of its subject matter, and so joins the recent Metal Rules the Globe as proof that the field of global metal studies is in full bloom.' Steve Waksman, author of This Ain't the Summer of Love: Conflict and Crossover in Heavy Metal and Punk
