Stereotypes Of Heavy Metal Music

Kaelan Kindy
Siddons
English 10, Period 8
17 February 2015
Emotional Dysphoria and Heavy Metal Music It is difficult to imagine a world without heavy metal music. For many people, heavy metal has saved their life and for others, their view on it is evil, loud and pointless. There are many stereotypes of heavy metal music, a lot, which are negative. But how many of these stereotypes are actually true?
To begin, we first need to know the basics and background of heavy metal. Heavy metal is “a type of loud rock music that has a strong beat” as defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary. In the same way physicists can identify the enormous detonation as the inception for our universe to one moment in time, heavy metal music can also be recognized
to exactly one moment and place. That place is Birmingham in England’s west midlands in 1968 when Black Sabbath came about. They fashioned a new exceptional music path designated by Tony Iommi’s agonizing guitar riffs, Geezer Butler’s ingenious verses and cacophonous bass, Bill Ward’s roaring drums, and Ozzy Osbourne’s incredible vocals, which addressed culturally disapproved topics such as political corruption, recreational drugs, and social ostracization. Black Sabbath set a precedent for the first true heavy metal band. The second band to burst into the scene was Deep Purple. Deep Purple followed the precedent of Black Sabbath, only with more complex instrumental virtuosity. They fundamentally created and established heavy metal as a genre. The term heavy metal music refers to the genre as a whole and a sub-genre. With the foundation of heavy metal music set by Black Sabbath and Deep Purple, Judas Priest formed heavy metal into a complete and true philosophy. Later, when the 1980s arrived, metal was still primarily centered in England, when multiple bands came out. This started the “new wave of british heavy metal” said journalist Geoff Barton in his May 1979 issue of Sounds magazine. Iron Maiden and Mötorhead refined a new brand of heavy metal. This resulted in a faster and aggressively grandiloquent cadence. By the mid-1980s, heavy metal music evolved rapidly into the mainland of Europe, North America, and South America. This genre experienced a large acceptance and popularity off the west coast of North America. Especially in Los Angeles, San Francisco Bay Area. Bands like Poison, RATT, and Mötley Crüe led the movement for what is now known as “hair metal.” Expanding North, bands emerged, drawing their inspiration back from the NWOBHM. This resulted in a new sub-genre of Thrash Metal. Thrash Metal was directed by Metallica, Exodus, Megadeth, Slayer, and Testament. In the 2000s a wave of new sub-genres began to emerge, widening the heavy metal scene. Between 1970s and now heavy metal has turned into harder, louder music. This genre tends to be stereotyped negatively by those who do not know much about it. It is portrayed to “thrive on the dark side and attracts the misfits, unwanted miscreant, the crazies.” (Wise, Lauren. "Is Heavy Metal Really The Devil's Music?") To most people, “heavy metal fans tend to be stereotyped as angry, alienated, and rebellious.” (Jacobs, Tom. "Inside the Head of a Headbanger.") However, psychologist Viren Swami and his colleagues attempted a study on the psychological picture of its fans. This study took both men and women from Great Britain and had them fill out a questionnaire and then listened to 10 tracks of heavy metal music and rated them. Swami then paired the music reference with the “big five personality traits.” these traits include “extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness”(Cherry, Kendra “The Big Five Personality Dimensions”). He notes that “people who embrace new and different tend to be drawn to forms of music that are intense, engaging and challenging.” and that “people who tend to have a strong preference were also more likely to have lower self-esteem.” However, they also ruminate that the style of heavy metal music “allows for a purge of negative feelings” that generates a release that can increase self-worth (Swami, Viren “Metalheads: The Influence of Personality and Individual Differences on Preference for Heavy Metal”).
In conclusion to this study their results show that people are more likely to be drawn to heavy metal scored high in openness on the big five personality traits. These people generally tend to be drawn away from mainstream musical forms. They seek forms of music that are “intense, engaging, and challenging.” (Swami, Viren “Metalheads: The Influence of Personality and Individual Differences on Preference for Heavy Metal”). Although people who score highly in openness are not necessarily drawn to heavy metal. They are just more prone to be drawn towards an alternate form of music that is not mainstream. Swami also notes that fans of the music genre shows that they are more likely to have a negative attitude towards authority, higher need for uniqueness, and be religious at a significantly lower level. Another study by
Francois Aussaguel, Robin Recours, and Nick Trujillo focused on aspects of the culture rather than just suicide and violence. Their study took a large number of people from different backgrounds across the country of France. They then interviewed the participants and determined why they listen to metal and the feelings they get from it. Their conclusions found very few people who listen to the music feel violent. Instead, it shows that the genre can help to relax or energize the listener. Overall the study showed low levels of anxiety and depression. They state that “constant exposure to symbols of death helps fans of metal music to feel less anxiety and depression and, in some ways, to have better mental health than members of the general population, who do not confront death and mortality so openly.” (Recours, Robin, Aussaguel. Francois, Trujillo,Nick “Metal Music and Mental Health in France”). Although most studies have shown that there is little to no link between violence and heavy metal, there a few that have linked the two together. In the North American Journal of Psychology, researchers John F. Mast and Francis T. McAndrew did happen to show a link between violence and metal. Their evidence provided a perspicuous link to aggression and the lyrics within the genre of the music. Though their study led to this conclusion, there was no evidence that the lyrics themselves is the only agent used to cause violence in its listeners. A research professor in Clark University's psychology department states that “A lot of people think heavy metal inspires violence, because it’s violent music.” Professor Arnett also states “the surprising truth is that it doesn't make its fans violent, it doesn't even make them angry; it calms them down.
they listen to it especially when they're angry or sad, and it helps them empty out those feelings so that they feel better afterward.” (Matheson, Whitney “Metal Monday: When heavy metal becomes linked with crime”). This topic of whether heavy metal causes violent and suicidal thoughts or actions in its listeners have been disputed for many years. James Donkin, a journalist, interviewed several people that associate themselves with this type of music. An anthropologist, Sam Dunn makes a statement to why heavy metal is often associated with violence. He says “I think that it’s easy to target a heavy metal band for inciting violence or making kids turn to a cult rather than it is to actually look at real problems in the real world. Donkin, James “Heavy metal and violence: More than a myth?). Donkin notes how easy it is to label metal as such violent or aggressive music. To most people who do not listen to this type of music will often scan over the lyrics and focus on the violent
topic instead of taking what they are saying into context or analyzing it first. Now as some bands are really violent and do contain a lot of farcical gore, almost none of it is to be taken seriously. Take the movie The Purge for example, while it is about all crime being legal for 24 hours, it is not to be acted upon or taken seriously. Instead it is just a form of entertainment and fantasy. Some metal bands