Heavy Metal Culture

Heavy Metal Culture

Introduction to Heavy Metal

Heavy metal emerged from the proto-metal of bands like King Crimson,

Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. It solidified into a 1970s style of heavy metal.

Bands such as Iron Maiden represented this new music culture. Heavy metal rejected

mainstream culture, taking on a individuality. Heavy metal is said to be hybridized with

progressive rock, also being influenced by electric blues.

Those who wanted to immerse themselves in the hippie pop of the time went towards

metal culture as it embraced the wilderness and replaced a desire for moral certitude with

a desire for the lawless.

The music that metal musicians wrote about were based on ancient times relating to

battle and death. The counter culture appeared to be searching for an eternal meaning.

There was an exclusive focus on the dark side of like and spiritual figures that

mainstream society rejected such as Satan.

Heavy metal grew prodigiously from 1972, and was then replaced by newer styles such

as hardcore punk

.

Philosophy

Heavy metal bases around the fascination of death and suffering. It addressed the sublimated issue of Nietzsche's abyss in Western society: the awareness that life is finite and of functional, transactional maintenance; that we are both predator and prey, and that we have no control over our lives or death, and individual social and mystical values upon the ideas of good and evil. 8,000 years before Christ there was a religion in Northern India which believed that life is known to humans through sensual perception of a reality composed of ideas which are similar in structure to both nature and the process of thought itself. In this religion the Faustian spirit was clearly present, as while a heroic deed was more important than survival, personal mortality was clearly affirmed. Therefore there was both meaning and death, and no absolute God or Heaven to reconcile the two. This required the individual to declare values worthy of filling a life, and worth dying for, and from this origin the ancient heroic civilizations were spawned. Metal's belief system is closer to this than to any modern equivalent, thus it is sensible to posit a closure of the cycle and its renewal in the ideas gestured by heavy metal music.

The next generation of metal

The next generation of metal was confrontation with being an outcast in society and took political and socially critical angles. The Cold War present at this time caused the metal artists to believe themselves to be victims of the government.Hardcore metal began to die out

Different types of metal music

Speed Metal followed expanded heavy metal structures. Also used muffled strumming to turn ringing chords into short explosive bursts of bass-intensive sound making the music more aesthetically menacing. Tends to use metal riffs in metal song structures, up-tempo song writing, abrupt changes in melodic lines within each song.

Thrash metal less use of muffled chords. Takes on two forms: metal riffs and punk punk riffs. Songs usually a mixture of "political" songs and more direct, existential critiques of modern society

Death metal biologically distorted vocals, lyrics usually political, in a paranoid and anarchistic view of the world, but can be quite insightful. Songs are epic in structure, but often chromatic in harmony,

The Metal Heads

Metal heads are seen as a strong masculine community with shared values, norms and behaviours, like any other community. Metal heads have a disinterest in commercial appeal and the big hits. They separate themselves from mainstream society and are devoted to their music seeing it as a representation of themselves.

Metal heads are usually considered to be white, male, working class youths who follow a key fashion trend and behaviours associated with their subculture. Metal heads usually attend concerts and buy albums, unlike the conventional ideas of downloading in mainstream culture.

Fashion

The fashion of metal heads has changed over the years. In the 1970's tight blue jeans or drill pants were worn along with motorcycle boots and black t-shirts. Denim was also a key aspect of the fashion as well as leather coats.Jewellery and accessories were also worn, usually studded leather arm bands and bullet belts. Chains and rings with skulls on were a key accessory.Metal heads usually have long black hair or a mullet.In the 1990's metal heads became more diverse, goth fashion was implicated and black jeans were often worn with long sleeved shirts. Shorter hairstyles became fashionable, shaven heads a favourite. Facial hair became popular as well.In the late 1990's hip-hop culture was introduced into heavy metal culture. Dread locks and Afro-American slang was used and sportswear was often worn.As time progressed in the 2000's metal heads have retained the long hair look and wear black t-shirts, leather and denim. Skinny jeans have become more popular, occasionally with bright colours.