Metal: Not as Heavy as it May Seem
Heavy metal music has been a tumultuous roller coaster ride of a genre since its still uncertain origins in the late 1960’s. Bringing with it anti-establishment, rough and tumble, blue collar ideals and values, metal music has incited numerous media frenzies, been blamed for corrupting youth, has been slapped with a number of civil law suits, and has provided an escape and sanctuary for the so inclined ‘everyman’. Heavy metal music has basically clashed with every established institution present in North America today, from religious groups to parents committees to legislators, you name it and heavy metal has probably somehow pissed them off. Riding on the coattails of violence and Satanism, metal bands through the years have pushed the envelope with regards to the representation and expression of various themes including but not limited to sexuality, the occult, religion (or lack there of), politics, and even Greek and Nordic lore. It is amazing actually how many different types of personas, themes and ideals fit under the heavy metal umbrella. The questions remain, what factors tie all of these bands together? What draws fans to these bands? Why metal fans are constantly labelled deviant and criminal and how legitimate are these labels? Deviance has almost become entrenched into the heavy metal music lifestyle, but how much of this union is based on fact, and how much is based on exaggeration and media overstatement? Deviance is relative, and heavy metal music represents the ideals of a distinctive sub-culture of people who struggle to conform to contemporary culture principles.
The need to be able to express oneself in a manner opposing a cultural norm has existed since the beginning of time, and metal music is a vessel available to do just that in the modern world. This ‘rebellion’ or rejection of norms seems to make up the basis of the heavy metal movement, and provides an endless stew of inspiration that metal...