Assignment 1-3-2

METAL MUSIC

            Metal music was introduced in America in the early 1970s, shortly after Black Sabbath’s debut album “Black Sabbath” in 1970 (Black Sabath: Discography, 2013). Some of the original founders of metal music, which have since became popular culture icons, are Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper, Slayer and Metallica. Many other popular culture icons emerged through the decades following Black Sabbath and Slayer as well. Musicians such as Marilyn Manson have brought on changes in fashion amongst metal listeners, especially in the younger populations of the fan base. Also, certain bands as well as metal music in general can be credited with changing sexual behavior and trends in both the metal and general community (Donze, 2010).

            As any other popular culture topic, Metal music has many myths surrounding the music brand as well. One very common myth associated with metal is that the music is gender-biased towards males and only targeted towards a male audience (Hill, 2011). While, at one time at its initial inception, metal did have a higher percentage of male listeners, an influx of various subgenres of metal fans, such as emo, have attracted just as many die-hard female fans to the metal scene as there are long-time faithful male fans. Yet another myth surrounding the metal genre is that the music itself promotes and evokes acts of violence or criminal behavior from the fan base. This has gone as far as lawsuits being filed against labels such as Cannibal Corpse, Deicide and Slayer in the 1990s for promotion of violence type suits (Phillipov, 2012). However, many studies have proved the music lyrics incite no direct acts of violence and “Controversies in which metal music is implicated as a contributor to violence are typically understood by scholars as being fabricated by conservative groups seeking to impose their own moral agendas on those with different values, tastes and cultural practices.” (Phillipov, 2012).

REFERENCES

Black sabbath: Discography. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.blacksabbath.com/discography.html

Donze, P. (2010). Heterosexuality Is Totally Metal: Ritualized Community and Separation at a Local Music Club. Journal Of Popular Music Studies, 22(3), 259-282. doi:10.1111/j.1533-1598.2010.01241.x

Hill, R. (2011). Is Emo Metal? Gendered Boundaries and New Horizons in the Metal Community. Journal For Cultural Research, 15(3), 297-313. doi:10.1080/14797585.2011.594586. Retrieved from EbscoHost

Phillipov, M. (2012). Extreme music for extreme people?. Popular Music History, 6(1/2), 150-163. doi:10.1558/pomh.v6i1/2.150. Retrieved from EbscoHost