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Edited by
Colin A. McKinnon, Niall Scott and Kristen Sollee

Can I Play with Madness?
Critical Issues
Series Editors
Dr Robert Fisher
Dr Daniel Riha
Advisory Board
Dr Alejandro Cervantes-Carson Dr Peter Mario Kreuter

Professor Margaret Chatterjee Martin McGoldrick
Dr Wayne Cristaudo Revd Stephen Morris
Mira Crouch Professor John Parry
Dr Phil Fitzsimmons Paul Reynolds
Professor Asa Kasher Professor Peter Twohig
Owen Kelly Professor S Ram Vemuri
Revd Dr Kenneth Wilson, O.B.E
A Critical Issues research and publications project.

http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/critical-issues/
The Ethos Hub

‘Heavy Fundametalisms’
2011
Can I Play with Madness?
Metal, Dissonance, Madness and Alienation
Edited by
Inter-Disciplinary Press
Oxford, United Kingdom
© Inter-Disciplinary Press 2011
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Oxfordshire. OX29 8HR, United Kingdom.
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ISBN: 978-1-84888-057-3
First published in the United Kingdom in eBook format in 2011. First Edition.
Table of Contents
Introduction ix
PART 1 Analysing Insanity
Goethe vs. Rammstein: Who is Allowed to Play 3

with Madness? The Influence of Musical Taste
on Prejudice against Heavy Metal Lyrics
Julia Kneer, Diana Rieger, Lena Frischlich
and Daniel Munko
Death and Life: The Role of Music and Others 15

Rute Rodrigues and Abílio Oliveira
Textual Analysis of Song Lyrics Adopting a 25

Mental Health Diagnostic Standard as Method
Richard E. Wilson and Mike Thomas
PART 2 Disparate Disciplines: Theoretical Applications

of Madness in Heavy Metal
Two Steps past Insanity: The Expression of 35

Aggression in Death Metal Music
Daniel Frandsen
Can Progressive Metal’s Narrative Inform Social 41

Stigma Theory? Pain of Salvation’s The Perfect
Element Parts 1 and 2 as Examples
Nelson Varas-Diaz
Hysteric Desire: Sexual Positions, Sonic Subjectivity 51

and Gender Play in Glam Metal
Kristen Solee
PART 3 More Madness in the Metal Method: A Spectrum

Disorder of Theoretical and Applied Research
Approaches
No Method in the Madness? The Problem of the 63

Cultural Reading in Robert Walser’s Running with
the Devil: Power Madness and Gender in Heavy
Metal Music and Recent Metal Studies
Andy R. Brown
Qualitative Research in Understanding the 73
Metal Community
Igor Gafarov
Heavy Metal, Identity Work and Social Transitions: 79

Implications for Young People’s Well Being
in the Australian Context
Paula Rowe
PART 4 Ripping it Up: Metal as a Symptom of a Civilised

and Aggressive Disorder
Heavy Metal Rituals and the Civilising Process 93

Gary Sinclair
Cycles of Metal and Cycles of Male Aggression: 101

Ageing and the Changing Aggressive Impulse
Samir Puri
Metal Disorder, Metal Disturbance 111

Niall Scott
PART 5 Challenging Perceptions on Metal and Suicide
War inside My Head: Metal, Mental Illness 121

and Psychic Energy
Colin A. McKinnon
Suicide, Metal Music and Expectancy Theory 133

Alick Kay
Emo Saved My Life: Challenging the Mainstream 143

Discourse of Mental Illness around
My Chemical Romance
Rosemary Hill
Does Death and Suicide Sound Like the Music 155

You Hear?
Abílio Oliveira and Rute Rodrigues
PART 6 Positively Mad: Black Metal Health and the
Construction of Identity
Playing with Madness in the Forest of Shadows: 169

Dissonance, Deviance and Non-Comformity in the
Black Metal Scene
Karl Spracklen
Lord Satan’s Secret Rites and Satanism as Self- 177

Therapy: The Creation of a Masculinity Gender
Identity within Black Metal
Sanna Fridh
‘A Furore Normannorum, Libera Nos Domine!’ 185

A Short History of Going Berserk in Scandinavian
Literature and Heavy Metal
Imke von Helden
Introduction

Madness has been one of the prevailing themes in metal from the very outset,
not only in the lyrical and musical expressions of the artists and bands and the
genre’s fascination with insanity, but also as an important feature in how metal
itself is perceived by others, whether through the aggressive exuberance of musical
and fan expression, in its alienation, in the chaotic theatre of the pit, or the links in
the mainstream mind between metal and suicide or mental illness. This eBook
gathers together contributions presented at the 3rd Global Conference on Heavy
Fundametalisms: Music, Metal and Politics, held in Prague in November 2010. The
conference drew together scholars from around the world to discuss and present on
various topics of metal and madness, including representations of aggression in the
music and fans, concepts and portrayals of madness in sub-genres such as black
and death metal, gender roles and the subversion of those roles, perceptions and
prejudices, heavy metal as self-therapy, and depression and suicidality. The editors
are proud to present this collection of chapters; all of those included demonstrate
the sociological, philosophical and psychological depth of metal and raise
important questions and insights into the future of metal music studies.
We open this volume with an analysis of insanity. Two areas still rather under-
utilised in metal studies are empirical and psychological research. Traditionally,
both these areas have been difficult to approach when it comes to studies of
musical genres and fans, but recent evidence suggests that this is beginning to
change. A good example is the empirical study on perceptions and prejudices
concerning metal lyrics by Julia Kneer, Diana Rieger, Lena Frischlich and Daniel
Munko in, ‘Goethe versus Rammstein: Who is Allowed to Play with Madness?
The Influence of Musical Taste on Prejudice against Heavy Metal Lyrics’. They
examined how lyrical interpretation may be biased depending on the perception of
the fans or non-fans. They demonstrated this using excerpts from a song by
Rammstein and a poem by Goethe on which it was based. Their results showed
how perception influences interpretation, leading to biased judgement. Rute
Rodrigues and Abílio Oliveira show empirical research framed through social
representation theory from a study of 1226 adolescents. In their essay ‘Death and
Life: The Role of Music and the Others’ they show how social representations
differ according to musical preferences and the opinions of others. In particular,
they show the differences in the understanding and representation of death and
suicide between girls and boys, and between younger and older adolescents. In the
final chapter in this section Richard E. Wilson and Mike Thomas examine the
representation of mental illness in rock and metal using the DSM-IV manual as the
reference standard. Their research presented in: ‘Textual Analysis of Song Lyrics
Adopting a Mental Health Diagnostic Standard as Method’ focuses on lyrics from
x Introduction
__________________________________________________________________
artists who have had documented mental health issues or direct experience of
mental illness, on the basis that their portrayal may be more insightful and
accurate.
The chapters in the second section reveal just a few of the ways that madness
and metal music can be theoretically applied to elucidate a variety of complex
issues within disparate academic disciplines. In ‘Two Steps Past Insanity: The
Expression of Aggression in Death Metal Music’, Daniel Frandsen attempts to
uncover the ways in which both the lyrical and musical content of death metal
express madness and aggression. He counters formalist arguments within the
philosophy of music that say emotions cannot be expressed within purely
instrumental music and that lyrics are the only place in which meaning can be
found. Frandsen rejects such assumptions and outlines the ways in which the lyrics,
vocal delivery, and music of death metal each individually project and invoke
feelings of pain, anger, and aggression. Messages of hate toward the world and the
desire to harm oneself are delivered in growling vocals atop tremolo picking,
distortion, and furious drumming, which serve to create an overall aesthetic of
aggression and the emotive content Frandsen argues in essential to death metal.
Nelson Varas-Diaz takes a sociological approach in ‘Can Progressive Metal’s
Narrative inform Social Stigma Theory? Pain of Salvation’s The Perfect Element
Parts 1 and 2 as Examples’ to discuss progressive metal and the ways in which
specific albums can illustrate issues of social stigma surrounding health and illness.
He outlines a critique of social stigma theory, which can be seen as overly focused
on individual responsibility with not enough emphasis on socio-structural factors.
The lyrical content Varas-Diaz analyzes equally addresses the individual and social
structures that can lead to the stigmatization of people in various situations by
tackling issues such as sexual abuse, drug addiction, and the negative effects of
consumer culture. The balancing act between the micro and the macro levels in the
music Varas-Diaz cites provides a framework through which future social health
researchers and workers can integrate both perspectives, which is something that
has thus far been highly problematic.
Kristen Sollee’s ‘Hysteric Desire: Sexual Positions, Sonic Subjectivity and
Gender Play in Glam Metal’ combines a sociological and philosophical approach
with a psychological one to analyze the gender bending that is essential to glam
metal. She asserts that male musicians in the genre appropriate feminine aesthetics
and vocal timbres while simultaneously expressing their desire for women in their
lyrics. The fluidity of their identities as desiring sexual subjects mirrors the
framework of the mental illness hysteria, which is found in individuals who
paradoxically desire the opposite sex and want to desire as the opposite sex. Sollee
does not diagnose male glam metal musicians as hysterics, but by using the
psychological literature on the subject she is able to reveal their ambivalent
positions when it comes to gender, which consequently points to the performative
nature of gender itself. Thus, without necessarily intending to do so, male
Colin McKinnon, Niall Scott and Kristen Sollee xi
__________________________________________________________________
performers in glam metal publicly put into practice the rejection and restructuring
of rigid gender binaries that had been confined in theory to feminist academia.
As evidenced by chapters such as these, there is no limit to the frameworks of
inquiry that can be coupled with heavy metal. Whether in terms of the philosophy
of music, the sociology of health, or the psychology of gender, the possibilities for
heavy metal studies are revealed to be not only far-reaching but also potentially
groundbreaking.
Although this volume is littered and in no small measure devoted to research in
heavy metal and mental health, specific methods are both criticised promoted and
shown how to work in practice in this section of the book. Criticising research
method in heavy metal literature is the focus of Andy Brown’s piece ‘No Method
in the Madness/ The Problem of the Cultural Reading in Robert Walser’s Running
with the Devil: Power Madness and Gender in Heavy Metal Music and Recent
Metal Studies’. Here Brown warns the would be metal researcher of the pitfalls
open to the fan academic engaging and communicating as a researcher in a practice
that most fans do not participate in. In addition he calls for integrity, both in the use
and assessment of empirical evidence and respecting the heavy metal scene in the
difficult arena of testing theory in the dialogue between the fan-intellectual and
fan. Igor Gafarov complements Brown’s stress on the value of qualitative data by
outlining how a specific method can be used in heavy metal research, specifically
in the analysis artist interview. In ‘Qualitative Research in Understanding the
Metal Community’, Gafarov, like Brown recognises the limits of statistical
objectivity and displays a research path to follow that will be of value to future
researchers in the heavy metal community. The research question formulated in
Paula Rowe’s essay ‘Heavy Metal Identity and Social Transitions’ is an example of
the outworking of the Brown and Gafarov’s critiques. It is further a study on the
mismatch between the positive growth of young people’s identities through heavy
metal and policy-based normalisations in the educational setting that ignore
individual lifestyle choices. The research into the question that relates wellbeing,
metal identity and the social disapproval of the outsider to policy, requires a
narrative integrity with the scene for the fan-researcher and quantitative method of
the kind discussed above.
Moving to rip up preconceptions with a twist to perhaps common perception of
the crowd behaviour in the metal scene, opening chapter 4, Gary Sinclair argues
that the ritual theatre of violent moshing in the pit at heavy metal gigs is part of a
civilising process. Sinclair, in ‘Heavy Metal Rituals and the Civilising Process’,
identifies this as a controlled de-controlling of emotions, where apparent rejection
of the constraints of external standards and etiquette demands an increase in self
control. The calming and civilising effect of age on male aggression in the metal
scene conjures up images of head banging in cardigans and slippers. Samir Puri in
‘Cycles of Metal and Cycles of Male Aggression: Ageing and the Changing
Aggressive Impulse’ discusses and speculates on the causes of aggression in young
xii Introduction
__________________________________________________________________
men and the decline in such aggressive behaviour with age in line with male
aggressive behaviour in the heavy metal scene, looking at each phenomenon to
inform the other. The anger and disorder expressed in the music of System of a
Down leads Niall Scott in ‘Metal Disorder, Metal Disturbance’ to criticise the
normalising effect of some scientific, therapeutic and psychological approaches to
disordered behaviour. He argues for allowing narratives of madness to be
expressed, rather than contained and objectified in a scientific discourse, which
often misses the point being made in the total performance of disorder.
Part 5, entitled ‘Challenging Perceptions on Metal and Suicide’ examines the
popular perceived link between metal fans and suicidal behaviour, depression and
elements such as self-harm. Stories in various media concerning the harmful
effects of metal have abounded over the years, and some high-profile court cases
have unwittingly helped to cement this perceived link. This section therefore
examines the evidence for such a connection from the available literature, from
organisational behaviour theory, and from the fans themselves. Firstly, Colin A.
McKinnon in ‘War inside My Head: Metal, Mental Illness and Psychic Energy’
takes a look at the published evidence for links between metal fans and mental
illness or suicidal behaviour, especially studies that claim that metal may be a
contributory factor to adverse mental health. Although no such evidence has yet
been established, some psychological and neurophysiological research suggests
reasons why certain individuals with predispositions to some mental health issues
may be more attracted to metal. Alick Kay uses the expectancy theory developed
by Victor Vroom to explore the motivational force for suicide. His ‘Suicide, Metal
Music and Expectancy Theory’ assesses the motivating force to achieve something
that one desires. Using this theory, Kay shows that the motivation to commit
suicide on the basis of listening to music may in fact be very low. Rosemary Hill’s
‘Emo Saved My Life’: Challenging the Mainstream Discourse of Mental Illness
around My Chemical Romance’ examines the representation of fans of the band
My Chemical Romance in the mainstream press in the juxtaposing context of the
fans’ own self-perception. Far from being a ‘suicide cult’ followed by misguided
innocents, as portrayed in the mainstream press, the fans use the band’s music to
enable them to cope with pre-existing conditions and to get them through very
difficult times; the positive therapeutic effects of the music are therefore
demonstrated. Finally, Abílio Oliveira and Rute Rodrigues address the meanings,
roles and effects of music in adolescence, particularly with regard to beliefs and
imagery involving, life, death, suicide and parasuicidal (e.g. self-harming)
behaviour. They ask the question: ‘Does Death and Suicide Sound Like the Music
You Hear? In a large study of adolescents, they found that girls preferred pop and
softer music, while boys preferred ‘harder’ music such as grunge, rock and metal.
The musical preferences in this age group can give important clues to how they
think and feel about topics such as death and suicide.
Colin McKinnon, Niall Scott and Kristen Sollee xiii
__________________________________________________________________
We close the volume with an abyssal peering into the dark well of black metal.
Within the black metal scene, madness is a positive discourse crucial to shaping the
identities of both bands and fans. The chapters in this chapter all position madness
as a defining factor of black metal – one which functions to separate insiders from
outsiders, whether in terms of music or masculinity. In ‘Playing with Madness in
the Forest of Shadows: Dissonance, Deviance and Non-Comformity in the Black
Metal Scene,’ Karl Spracklen discusses bands that incorporate violence and self-
harm in their performances and personal lives, which literalizes madness as mental
illness. He reveals the contested space between original black metal and suicidal or
depressive black metal (which has musical antecedents in shoegaze), where bands
considered depressive black metal are often not deemed ‘true’ black metal because
they incorporate lighter sonic aspects infused with a message of self-loathing. This
stands in opposition to the aggressive self-destruction in word and deed that is
commonly associated with the heavier music of traditional black metal. Even
though both camps thematically deal with madness as a prized trope, it is the type
of madness and its specific musical expression that signifies a band’s status to fans
as being part of or separate from the black metal scene.
Sanna Fridh’s chapter, ‘Lord Satan’s Secret Rites and Satanism as Self-
Therapy: The Creation of a Masculinity Gender Identity within Black Metal’ looks
at black metal masculinity. Fridh points to a perceived ‘feminization of
masculinity’ pervasive in Western culture today and aligns it with Christianity.
Following that Satanism is in many ways Christianity inverted, the Satanism in the
black metal scene serves to bind men together in a kind of kinship, whilst
encouraging them to assert individual masculinities that reflect the anti-aesthetics
and the madness of ritual self-harm that have been historically pivotal to the black
metal scene. Such behaviors affirm stereotypically male attributes, which include
the ability to endure pain and to reject fashionable adornments associated with
women, gay men, and metrosexuals. She concludes that Satan stands for being true
to oneself, whilst Christ stands for allegiance to the status quo.
Imke von Helden touches on many of the same themes as Spracklen and Fridh
in ‘A Furore Normannorum, Libera Nos Domine!’ A Short History of Going
Berserk in Scandinavian Literature and Heavy Metal’. She traces the Norse literary
trope of the berserker, the elite, long-haired warriors known for fighting without
armor and being completely impervious to pain, and analyzes the motif in metal
lyrics. Von Helden also draws comparisons between headbanging and the
aggressive physical abandon at metal shows to the behaviors of the berserker, and
reveals the ways in which the metaphorical use of this figure allows for bands and
fans to feel empowered. von Helden implicitly affirms Fridh’s argument about how
men are able to create alternate (and violent) expressions of masculinity through
the black metal scene. Whether sonically or behaviourally, madness repeatedly
functions to separate what fans consider the authentic from the inauthentic, and
xiv Introduction
__________________________________________________________________
plays a vital role in identity formation in a space separate from the oppressive and
unappealing dictates of the world outside the metal scene.
A note to the reader: the range of voices represented in this work speaks to the
breadth of this interdisciplinary collection; authors are not only professional
academics, but students, independent freelance writers and fans. Some material
here is in the early stages of development, creative and darkly speculative, other
material flows from emerging and ongoing research. We have sought to preserve
this rich interaction by presenting the chapters close to what was delivered at the
conference. The editorial team would like to thank the participants for their hard
work and contributions, and those working hard behind and at the forefront of the
scenes at inter-disciplinary.net for continuing to place confidence in the project.
About the editors: Colin McKinnon has a background in biological science and
has been a proud metalhead for over 30 years, ever since having his brain rewired
by stumbling upon Judas Priest on ‘Top of the Pops’. He has served on the Steering
Committee for two of the ‘Heavy Fundametalisms: Music, Metal and Politics’
conferences and works in the science industry in Switzerland. Niall Scott is Senior
Lecturer in Ethics at the University of Central Lancashire, and is project leader for
I-D.Net’s Music Metal and Politics project and has written widely on heavy metal,
philosophy and politics. Niall never had his brain rewired. He was born metal.
Kristen Sollee has a B.A. from the New School in Musicology and an M.A. from
Columbia University in Gender Studies and Japanese Culture. She currently writes
for various arts publications and blogs about New York City music and nightlife at
www.ShadowtimeNYC.com. An unapologetic hair metal fan, Kristen’s first tattoo
was of course the word GLAM.
PART 1
Analysing Insanity
Goethe vs. Rammstein: Who is Allowed to Play with Madness?
The Influence of Musical Taste on Prejudice against Heavy
Metal Lyrics
Julia Kneer, Diana Rieger, Lena Frischlich and Daniel Munko

Abstract
For all of its short lifespan, heavy metal music has been regarded as aggressive,
depressive and dangerous. Especially people who do not like or listen to this kind
of music, seem to have prejudice against the themes of heavy metal songs. One
major example is the German rock band Rammstein whose lyrics are often judged
as brutal and even right-wing extremist. What is known very well from social
psychology is that prejudice influences further information-processing resulting in
biased judgements. Therefore, the question arises whether the interpretation of
lyrics might be biased, too, depending on the names of authors and subjective
musical taste but not on the actual song content. Our explorative study deals with
lyric interpretation. In particular, how heavy metal lyrics are perceived depending
on musical taste and author name. We chose two different excerpts from a Goethe
poem and a Rammstein song. These were presented to our participants who were
heavy metal fans and non-fans. They had to read one of the poems and interpret it
afterwards. Before reading, they were told that Goethe or Rammstein wrote the
following poem, respectively. As expected, fans and non-fans of heavy metal
music showed differences concerning their interpretation of lyrics according to the
name of the author while actual poem content was not taken into consideration.
Specific musical taste seems to influence participants’ perception of lyrics
according to author names, resulting in biased judgement. This bias in lyric
perception might be due to specific associations with heavy metal music due to
prejudice against this kind of music.
Key Words: Prejudice, heavy metal lyrics, Rammstein, Goethe, heavy metal
music, music preferences, lyrical texts.
*****
1. Sturm und Drang vs. Heavy Metal: Are We Going to Take Hostages?
Remember the film Hanna and Her Sisters written by Woody Allen? While
watching a group of punk rockers, the main character Mickey tells Holly that he is
afraid ‘they’re going to take hostages.’
Being a heavy metal fan and interacting with non-fans can often lead to
prejudice and sometimes to discrimination. Why is this? One of the most popular
German rock bands, Rammstein, is discussed very ambivalently between fans and
non-fans. In fact, the lyrics of Rammstein songs are often inspired by socially
relevant topics or even lyrical poems or texts written by poets or novelist such as
4 Goethe Versus Rammstein
__________________________________________________________________
Bertholt Brecht, Johann Wolfgang Goethe etc. Nevertheless, especially non-fans
are unaware of this lyrical content and form their own impression on the heavy
metal genre and its lyrics. While the band Rammstein is considered to be
aggressive and their music is often seen as bad influence, Goethe’s lyrics are seen
as intelligent, precious, and as a good influence. We, as media and social
psychologists were interested in whether heavy metal fans and non-fans might
differ concerning their lyric interpretation when confronted with Goethe versus
Rammstein as the pretended author of a given poem. What is know from framing
techniques is that the meaning of a sentence never stands alone but always depends
on the context it is presented in and on the expression itself.1 In an MTV-interview,
Richard Kruspe (guitarist) stated that Rammstein played with heavy metal and rock
themes to underline the meaning of their lyrics. What is almost forgotten is that
many German musicians and writers always wrote about ambiguous, aggressive,
and even pornographic themes. Even historically there has always been a distrust
of youth-oriented music. Twenty-five centuries ago, Plato said ‘Any musical
innovation is full of danger to the whole state and ought to be prohibited’.2
2. Personal Affection and Stereotypes: Is Goethe Allowed to Play with

Madness while Rammstein is Not?
Hamilton and Trolier define stereotype as ‘a cognitive structure that contains
the perceiver’s knowledge, beliefs, and expectations about a human group.’3 When
a stereotype becomes activated, one’s knowledge, beliefs, and expectations about a
group are brought to mind. Research in the field of social psychology has shown
that activation of stereotypes affects information processing.4 Stereotypes are
developed through experience with representative individuals of affiliated social
groups. Experience must not only be seen personally but can be mediated by e.g.
stories or media reports. More often than not, stories and reports about heavy metal
fans or heavy metal concerts include discussions about aggressive, violent
behaviour. Even school shootings are associated with this music genre. Therefore,
stereotypes about heavy metal fans may be associated with real aggressive
behaviour.
Popular music has been a target of media critics and scholars ever since its first
steps into mainstream media (radio and television), negative attention becoming
more prevalent with the popularisation of rock’n’roll and other emerging genres.5
In 1985, heavy metal music, for example, was singled out as the primary target of a
movement to regulate what was described as the overly violent and sexually
explicit segments of rock and roll music.6 Along with heavy metal music came a
new style of image and lyrics, characterised by features such as black leather
clothing, long hair, occult references, and darker topics than previously dealt with
in popular music (e.g., suicide, insanity and torture). Such images and lyrics serve
to guide a general heavy metal philosophy of non-conformity to the greater society,
often identified (by outsiders) as adolescent rebellion since a large portion of the
Julia Kneer, Diana Rieger, Lena Frischlich and Daniel Munko 5
__________________________________________________________________
fan base is composed of teenagers and young adults. This new (relative to music’s
overall history) and continually emerging genre of music brought with it a new
culture/subculture and consequently, increased general public and media attention,
often negative in nature.7,8,9 Indeed, Bryson statistically identifies heavy metal as
the most disliked genre of music using a sample from the 1993 General Social
Survey.10 Because of its surge in popularity and mainstream media exposure
through radio and especially MTV, extra focus on the music, its artists, and the
overall culture became common topics of popular media coverage. Consequently,
lawsuits were brought against heavy metal artists such as Ozzy Osbourne in 1986
and 1991 and Judas Priest in 1990. Heavy metal quickly became known to
America as the bastard child of the music industry, despised by parents, religious
groups, and politicians across the nation largely because of its public rejection and
prosecution by authority figures. Still today, heavy metal music and artists are
blamed for negative behaviours (cited as common to the culture) such as violence,
adolescent rebellion, drug use, and delinquency, despite the failure to document an
overwhelming statistically significant causal relationship between the consumption
of heavy metal music and aggressive feelings and/or violent behaviours.11,12
For example, Brunner investigated individuals’ own perceptions of lyrical
content. When asked what they thought of the stimulus, participants showed a
difference in perception of the heavy metal and non-heavy metal stimuli. Lyrics
labelled as ‘heavy metal’ were more often perceived negatively and less often
perceived positively than lyrics labelled as a genre other than ‘heavy metal’.
Additionally, heavy metal lyrics were more often described with extreme negative
descriptors such as ‘angry,’ ‘crazy,’ ‘harsh,’ ‘hate,’ ‘evil’, and ‘violent’, compared
to only 3 such references for non-heavy metal stimuli. One final point of interest is
that only 3 of 26 participants who received the lyrics of Dean Martin’s song ‘In the
Chapel in the Moonlight’ stated that its lyrics did not seem like they would be
heavy metal lyrics, demonstrating a common genre stereotype that it does not
include songs of love.13 Because media stories tend to link heavy metal, but not pop
or country music, with antisocial behaviour, the public may form an expectation
that heavy metal lyrics are more likely to cause listeners to engage in antisocial
behaviour despite the lack of empirical evidence to support such a belief.
Concerning specific stereotypes towards music, empirical results suggest that
individuals have robust and clearly defined stereotypes about fans of various music
genres.14,15 Specifically, in terms of characteristics of potential dating partners, it
could be shown that male participants perceived female targets who preferred
heavy metal music as rebellious and aggressive.16 What could be shown is that
musical preferences play an important role when talking about effects on arousal or
even aggressive tendencies. Gowensmith and Bloom investigated the effects of
heavy metal music on arousal and anger and found that heavy metal music aroused
all subjects, regardless if they were fans or non-fans. However, subjects who
identified themselves as heavy metal fans did not show higher effects on anger,
__________________________________________________________________
indicating that one should always take the musical preferences into account.17
Media reports and public debates may influence people who are experienced with
heavy metal music as well as, and perhaps more strongly, people who lack any
experience with this music genre, resulting in the development of stereotypic
knowledge about heavy metal fans. This stereotypic knowledge may be derived
from an assumed link between one’s personality and musical preference. Indeed,
research on social psychology of music suggests that: (a) individuals believe music
preferences reveal information about their personalities; (b) individuals
deliberately use music preferences to convey information about themselves; and,
(c) music preferences and personality are linked.18,19,20,21 As heavy metal fans are
personally concerned with these specific stereotype behaviours, they need
strategies to suppress arising negative associations.
Recent research on the success of stereotype suppression is ambiguous. Many
studies have shown, that attempting to suppress a stereotype results in what is
known as rebound effect.22 Just try not to think of a pink elephant - and there it is.
Yet, practice makes perfect. Internally motivated people are especially able to
suppress thoughts.23 Personal affection by a specific stereotype and related
negative associations seem to be a really good reason to learn how to suppress this
stereotype. Therefore, the ‘heavy metal music stereotype’ may exist for people
with heavy metal music experience, too, but may be suppressed due to negative
associations.
In the following study we wanted to explore whether prejudice against heavy
metal music and especially its lyrics are influenced by being a fan or non-fan,
respectively, of this specific music genre.
Our assumption was that fans and non-fans differed regarding their
interpretation of brutality and emotional affection of heavy metal lyrics. This was
varied by given author information (Goethe versus Rammstein) and associated
prejudice.
3. Study
3.1 Method
We chose two different excerpts of Goethe’s poem ‘Röslein auf der Heide’
(engl. Rose on the Heath) and Rammstein’s song ‘Rosenrot’. These excerpts were
selected due to their comparability concerning theme, and content. In fact,
Rammstein’s song is based on Goethe’s poem. Participants were heavy metal fans
and non-fans who had to read one of the excerpts and interpret it afterwards. The
separation of fans and non-fans was accounted for by recruiting at a festival where
Rammstein played and on the campus of the University of Cologne and by
additionally asking them about their music preferences. The second manipulation
was the actual lyrical content, either Goethe’s original poem or Rammstein’s song
lyrics. Before reading, they were told that the following poem was written by
__________________________________________________________________
Goethe or Rammstein, respectively; thus in the third manipulation the label
‘author’ for the text was given.
The study comprised four different conditions: 2 (Author: Rammstein versus
Goethe) x 2 (Text: Rammstein vs. Goethe). Participants had to write what they felt
reading the poem. Afterwards they were asked to judge the poem on the basis of
different reading 7-point-Likert-scales (1 = does not apply at all, 7 = totally
applies). We selected several representative items out of an instrument, developed
to depict reading experiences, differentiating between altogether 14 experiential
states during reading.24 We focussed on judgments regarding the poems’ brutality
and emotional affection.
3.2 Results
We analysed brutality and emotional affection using a 2 (Music Preference: fan
vs. non-fan) x 2 (Content: Rammstein lyrics vs. Goethe lyrics) x 2 (Information:
Rammstein information vs. Goethe information) ANOVA.
Graphic 1. Ratings for brutality as a function of musical taste, author

information, and actual lyrics.
__________________________________________________________________
Graphic 2. Ratings for emotional affection as a function of musical taste,

author information, and actual lyrics.
As expected, interaction effects for brutality and emotional affection were

significant. We found a two-way interaction between Music Preference and
Information for brutality,
F (1, 40) = 8.09, p < .001,  p = .17.

2
ANOVA did not reveal a significant three-way interaction for Music

Preference, Information, and Content,
F (1, 40) = 1.20, p > .28.
Non-fans judged the poem to be more brutal when they were told the respective
author was Rammstein (see Graphic 1). We found a three-way interaction for
emotional affection,
F (1, 40) = 14.54, p < .001, p = .27.

2
Non-fans differed from fans depending on the author information they had. If
the author was Rammstein the poem’s emotional affection was rated higher than in
any other case (see Graphic 2).
__________________________________________________________________
4. Discussion
As supposed, we found that non-fans experienced heavy metal music lyrics as
more brutal than fans did. What is striking about this finding is that the chosen
Goethe poem could be interpreted as much more brutal than the Rammstein song.
While the Heidenröslein content is about rape, Rammstein’s Rosenrot deals with a
young boy’s unrequited love. The label Goethe or Rammstein, respectively, seems
to be enough to influence the following interpretation of brutality concerning the
lyrics for both groups: fans and non-fans. Non-fans definitely showed thought-
suppression when confronted with information Rammstein while the actual poem
was about rape. The opposite happened for non-fans: the information Rammstein
lead to higher brutality ratings while content was irrelevant.
As mentioned before, heavy metal has been a recurring topic of negative media
coverage. Indeed, when violent incidents, especially those involving
impressionable adolescents occur; the musical preference of said offenders is
oftentimes investigated in relation to the violent behaviours. For example, Wright
notes that heavy metal is often a target for popular media, attracting general
accusations that it fosters socially deviant behaviours among its listeners.25 Such
claims often depend on tactics of anecdote and insinuation, using extreme
examples as the norm, which become influential through negative media
coverage.26 Two examples exemplify this negative coverage. The 1999 shooting at
Columbine High School quickly initiated an attack on the heavy metal genre when
media reports revealed that both shooters were used listening to groups like
KMFDM and Marilyn Manson, even though they later stated not to like Manson’s
music.27
In ‘Bowling for Columbine’, Moore documents examples of public debates
blaming Manson for the school shooting and then interviews Manson for his
perspective. In reply, Manson notes that when he was growing up, music was an
escape, a place to go where no judgments would be made on its listener. However,
he also acknowledges that his public persona and extreme images make for a
convenient target: ‘It’s easy to throw my face on a TV because I’m, in the end, a
poster boy for fear, because I represent what everyone is afraid of; because I do
and say what I want.’28 In this statement, Manson clearly espouses a central tenet
(non-conformity) of the heavy metal philosophy.
Yet, it remains questionable if in a first step heavy metal only contains brutal
and radical lyrics and melodies and, secondly, if a music genre is then able to lead
to aggressive, deviant behaviour. Apart from polemical media coverage, especially
the assumed causal link between the two has not yet been found. For example,
Arnett found cathartic rather than negative effects when listeners were asked for
their responses to the music.29 Additionally, Epstein, Pratto and Skipper found no
indication that listening to heavy metal had any effect on satanic identification or
delinquent behaviour.30
__________________________________________________________________
Our results show that non-fans still judge bands like Rammstein as being
aggressive and brutal and that their music might be a bad influence to young
people. This influence, however, occurs due to the existing stereotype towards this
music genre since fans did not report the same lyrical interpretation. Moreover,
Goethe’s poem which, in fact, should have given rise to more brutal thoughts was
free of negative interpretation, due to the positive public stereotype towards this
lyrical genre. It seems that Goethe is allowed to play with negative themes, even
with rape. Does this mean that heavy metal music will always be seen as satanic?
Not at all. Back then, even Goethe was denounced as being satanic and as a very
bad influence for young men due to his novel ‘Die Leiden des jungen Werthers’
(The sorrows of young Werther) which deals with lovesickness and ends with its
protagonist’s suicide. As a consequence of public debate, the consensus was that
young men might copy Werther’s behaviour; thus, this novel was discussed to be
banned.
As always, public acceptance needs patience and time. Or as Wacken’s current
Mayor Axel Kunkel (location of the ‘Wacken Open Air Festival’) stated last year:
‘… we never had any problems with aggression or destruction. Now, our citizens
are looking forward ….the atmosphere is terrific! And I am really looking forward
to Alice Cooper and Iron Maiden!’
Notes
1
R. Entman, ‘Framing: Toward Clarification of a Fractured Paradigm’, Journal of
Communication, Vol. 43(4), 1993, pp. 51-58.
2
Plato, quoted by E. Gavish, ‘Music has always been a tuneful force for political
change’, Daily News (October 11, 2009).
3
D.L. Hamilton and T.K. Trolier, ‘Stereotypes and Stereotyping: An Overview of
the Cognitive Approach’, Prejudice, Discrimination, and Racism, J.F. Dovidio and
S.L. Gaertner (eds), US Academic Press, San Diego, CA, 1986, pp. 127-163.
4
J. Sherman, ‘Development and Mental Representation of Stereotypes’, Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 70, 1996, pp. 1126-1141.
5
I. Brunner, ‘Taken to the Extreme: Heavy Metal Cover Songs: The Impact of
Genre’, 2006, Viewed on 13 September 2010, http://etd.ohiolink.edu/send-
pdf.cgi/Brunner%20Isaac.pdf?bgsu1155518980.
6
J. Lynxwiler, ‘Framing the Picture that Rock Paints: A Frame Analysis of the
Porn Rock Movement’, Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Southern
Sociological Society, Nashville, TN, 1988.
7
C.H. Hansen and R.D. Hansen, ‘Schematic Information Processing of Heavy
Metal Lyrics’, Communication Research, Vol. 18(3), 1991, pp. 1126-1141.
8
A. Binder, ‘Constructing Racial Rhetoric: Media Depictions of Harm in Heavy
Metal and Rap Music’, American Sociological Review, Vol. 58(6), 1993, pp. 753-
767.
__________________________________________________________________
9
M.E. Ballard and S. Coates, ‘The Immediate Effects of Homicidal, Suicidal, and
Nonviolent Heavy Metal and Rap Songs on the Moods of College Students’, Youth
& Society, Vol. 27(2), 1995, pp. 148-168.
10
B. Bryson, ‘Anything but Heavy Metal: Symbolic Exclusion and Musical
Dislikes’, American Sociological Review, Vol. 61(5), 1996, pp. 884-899.
11
J. Arnett, Metalheads: Heavy Metal Music and Adolescent Alienation, Westview
Press, Boulder, CO, 1996.
12
J.S. Epstein, D.J. Pratto and J.K. Skipper, Jr., ‘Teenagers, Behavioral Problems,
and Preferences for Heavy Metal and Rap Music: A Case Study of a Southern
Middle School’, Deviant Behavior, Vol. 11, 1990, pp. 381-394.
13
Brunner, op. cit.
14
P.J. Rentfrow and S.D. Gosling, ‘The Content and Validity of Music-Genre
Stereotypes among College Students’, Psychology of Music, Vol. 35(2), 2007, pp.
306-326.
15
P.J. Rentfrow and S.D. Gosling, ‘The Do-Re-Mi’s of Everyday Life: The
Structure and Personality Correlates of Music Preferences’, Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology, Vol. 84, 2003, pp. 1236-1256.
16
D. Zillmann and A. Bathia, ‘Effects of Associating with Musical Genres on
Heterosexual Attraction’, Communication Research, Vol. 16, 1989, pp. 263-288.
17
W.N. Gowensmith and L.J. Bloom, ‘The Effects of Heavy Metal Music on
Arousal and Anger’, Journal of Music Therapy, Vol. XXXIV(1), 1997, pp. 33-45.
18
Rentfrow and Gosling, 2007, op. cit.
19
Rentfrow and Gosling, 2003, op. cit.
20
P.J. Rentfrow and S.D. Gosling, ‘Message in a Ballad: The Role of Music
Preferences in Interpersonal Perception’, Psychological Science, Vol. 17, 2006, pp.
236-242.
21
P. Little and M. Zuckerman, ‘Sensation Seeking and Music Preferences’,
Personality and Individual Differences, Vol. 7, 1986, pp. 575-577.
22
C.N. Macrae, G.V. Bodenhausen, A.B. Milne and J. Jetten, ‘Out of Mind but
Back in Sight: Stereotypes on the Rebound’, Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, Vol. 67, 1994, pp. 808-817.
23
J.M. Monteith, C.V. Spicer and G.D. Tooman, ‘Consequences of Stereotype
Suppression: Stereotypes on and Not on the Rebound’, Journal of Experimental
Social Psychology, Vol. 34, 1998, pp. 355-377.
24
M. Appel, E. Koch, M. Schreier and N. Groeben, ‘Aspekte des Leseerlebens:
Skalenentwicklung’. Zeitschrift für Medienpsychologie, Vol. 14(4), 2002, pp. 149-
154.
25
R. Wright, ‘I’d Sell you Suicide: Pop Music and Moral Panic in the Age of
Marilyn Manson’, Popular Music, Vol. 19(3), 2000, pp. 365-385.
26
R. Walser, Running with the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy
Metal Music, Wesleyan University Press, Hanover, NH, 1993.
__________________________________________________________________
27
M. Manson, ‘Columbine: Whose Fault is It?’ Rolling Stone, Vol. 815, 1999, pp.
23-24.
28
M. Moore, (Producer/Writer/Director), Bowling for Columbine [Motion picture].
United States: United Artists and Alliance Atlantis, 2002.
29
Arnett, op. cit.
30
Epstein, Pratto and Skipper, op. cit.
Bibliography
Appel, M., Koch, E., Schreier, M. & Groeben, N., ‘Aspekte des Leseerlebens:
Skalenentwicklung’. Zeitschrift für Medienpsychologie. Vol. 14(4), 2002, pp. 149-
154.
Arnett, J., Metalheads: Heavy Metal Music and Adolescent Alienation. Westview
Press, Boulder, CO, 1996.
Ballard, M.E. & Coates, S., ‘The Immediate Effects of Homicidal, Suicidal and
Nonviolent Heavy Metal and Rap Songs on the Moods of College Students’. Youth
& Society. Vol. 27(2), 1995, pp. 148-168.
Binder, A., ‘Constructing Racial Rhetoric: Media Depictions of Harm in Heavy

Metal and Rap Music’. American Sociological Review. Vol. 58(6), 1993, pp. 753-
767.
Brunner, I., ‘Taken to the Extreme: Heavy Metal Cover Songs: The Impact of
Genre’. 2006, Viewed on 13 September 2010, http://etd.ohiolink.edu/send-
pdf.cgi/Brunner%20Isaac.pdf?bgsu1155518980.
Bryson, B., ‘Anything but Heavy Metal: Symbolic Exclusion and Musical
Dislikes’. American Sociological Review. Vol. 61(5), 1996, pp. 884-899.
Entman, R., ‘Framing: Toward Clarification of a Fractured Paradigm’. Journal of

Communication. Vol. 43(4), 1993, pp. 51-58.
Epstein, J.S., Pratto, D.J. & Skipper, J.K. Jr., ‘Teenagers, Behavioral Problems,
and Preferences for Heavy Metal and Rap Music: A Case Study of a Southern
Middle School’. Deviant Behavior. Vol. 11, 1990, pp. 381-394.
Gowensmith, W.N. & Bloom, L.J., ‘The Effects of Heavy Metal Music on Arousal
and Anger’. Journal of Music Therapy. Vol. XXXIV(1), 1997, pp. 33-45.
__________________________________________________________________
Hamilton, D.L. & Trolier, T.K., ‘Stereotypes and Stereotyping: An Ooverview of

the Cognitive Approach’. Prejudice, Discrimination, and Racism. Dovidio, J.F. &
Gaertner, S.L. (eds), US Academic Press, San Diego, CA, 1986.
Hansen, C.H. & Hansen, R.D., ‘Schematic Information Processing of Heavy Metal
Lyrics’. Communication Research. Vol. 18(3), 1991, pp. 373-411.
Little, P. & Zuckerman, M., ‘Sensation Seeking and Music Preferences’.

Personality and Individual Differences. Vol. 7, 1986, pp. 575-577.
Lynxwiler, J., ‘Framing the Picture that Rock Paints: A Frame Analysis of the Porn
Rock Movement’. Presented at the annual meeting of the Southern Sociological
Society, Nashville, TN, 1988.
Macrae, C.N., Bodenhausen, G.V., Milne, A.B. & Jetten, J., ‘Out of Mind but Back
in Sight: Stereotypes on the Rebound’. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology. Vol. 67, 1994, pp. 808-817.
Manson, M., ‘Columbine: Whose Fault is It?’ Rolling Stone. Vol. 815, 1999, pp.
23-24.
Monteith, J.M., Spicer, C.V. & Tooman, G.D., ‘Consequences of Stereotype

Suppression: Stereotypes on and Not on the Rebound’. Journal of Experimental
Social Psychology. Vol. 34, 1998, pp. 355-377.
Moore, M., (Producer/Writer/Director). Bowling for Columbine [Motion picture].

United States: United Artists and Alliance Atlantis, 2002.
Rentfrow, P.J. & Gosling, S.D., ‘The Do-Re-Mi’s of Everyday Life: The Structure
and Personality Correlates of Music Preferences’. Journal of Personality and
Social Psychology. Vol. 84, 2003, pp. 1236-1256.
–––, Message in a Ballad: ‘The Role of Music Preferences in Interpersonal

Perception’. Psychological Science. Vol. 17, 2006, pp. 236-242.
–––, ‘The Content and Validity of Music-Genre Stereotypes among College

Students’. Psychology of Music. Vol. 35(2), 2007, pp. 306-326.
Sherman, J., ‘Development and Mental Representation of Stereotypes’. Journal of

Personality and Social Psychology. Vol. 70, 1996, pp. 1126-1141.
__________________________________________________________________
Walser, R., Running with the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal
Music. Wesleyan University Press, Hanover, NH, 1993.
Wright, R., ‘I’d Sell you Suicide: Pop Music and Moral Panic in the Age of
Marilyn Manson’. Popular Music. Vol. 19(3), 2000, pp. 365-385.
Zillmann, D. & Bathia, A., ‘Effects of Associating with Musical Genres on

Heterosexual Attraction’. Communication Research. Vol. 16, 1989, pp. 263-288.
Julia Kneer is currently working as a post doc at the University of Cologne. Her
field of interest lies within Social Psychology and Media Psychology research
concerning social cognition, applied social psychology, and media psychology, e.g.
digital video games, advertisement, person perception, and influence of emotions.
Diana Rieger is currently working as research assistant at the University of

Cologne. Her field of interest lies within Social Psychology and Media Psychology
research concerning (political) media effects, cognitive psychology, and emotions.
Lena Frischlich is currently working as a student assistant at the University of

Cologne and finishing her studies in Psychology. Her field of interest lies within
Social Psychology, Media Psychology, and Clinical Psychology, e.g. Terror
Management Theory.
Daniel Munko is currently working as a student assistant at the University of

Cologne and finishing his studies in Psychology. His field of interest lies within
Media Psychology and Cinical Psychology, especially effects of violent digital
video games.
Death and Life: The Role of Music and the Others
Rute Rodrigues and Abílio Oliveira

Abstract
The main purpose of this empirical research, framed on the theory of social
representations, was to understand how life and death are represented among an
adolescent population (boys and girls, from 15 to 19 years old). It was our goal, as
well, to examine how these social representations may differ according to the
adolescents’ musical preferences and the opinions of significant others (such as
parents, friends, colleagues, etc). The findings indicate that boys particularly tend
to listen to rock/metal while girls show a special predilection for pop and (soft)
rock music. Girls, more than boys, are most likely to represent life as the proximity
to other people (like friends) but also as a certain uneasiness; and they anchor
death, in particular, in feelings of malaise, in its ritualistic dimension and in the
departure of significant others. Younger adolescents (15-16 years old) seem to
understand life as a personal accomplishment. As greater is the preference for
rock/metal, the less significant is the tendency to represent death as a ritual;
fondness for classic rock is positively associated with the perception of death as a
theme suggesting questioning and transcendence. The opinions of others proved to
be relevant not only regarding musical preferences, but also in understanding life
and death.
Key Words: Adolescence, death, life, music, social representations.
*****
1. Introduction
Music plays a major role amongst the most significant activities throughout
adolescence. Given its relevant part in identity’s structuring,1 and because music is,
for itself, a pertinent agent of socialization, it can2 definitely influence thoughts,
and behaviours.3
Rock music serves a bounding purpose, providing relief from boredom, filling
in the silence and facilitating expression of feelings and identification towards a
particular sound or lyrics.4
Heavy metal has been associated with a tendency for suicidal and aggressive
behaviour and with a sense of worthlessness and depression5 particularly in
adolescent girls.6 Nonetheless, according to Arnett, metal7 music has a purgative
effect, acting as an anger releaser. Furthermore, adolescents who favour heavy
metal pay great attention to the musical talent and skill of performers, to the lyrics
and the content of the music, and reveal an attraction for social consciousness.8
And what lies beneath those lyrics? Whether they talk about love, violence,
drugs, or even satanism, what most of them reveal is a great concern about the
16 Death and Life
__________________________________________________________________
meaning of life and the purpose of it all. Adolescence is a fertile ground for the
development of major reflections around life and death, which may be thought of
as two paired and complementary concepts, keys with which we are able to
perceive, interpret and acknowledge our entire existence.9
Although aware of human mortality, adolescents often do not accept their own
finitude as factual. Death frequently appears, then, quite stylized and dangerously
glamorised.10 It is due to their natural tendency and need to experiment, feel and
live everything as intensely as possible, that adolescents sometimes find
themselves so close to death.11
Crossing limits frequently implies incurring in some risk behaviours such as
alcohol or drug abuse, reckless driving, unprotected sexuality;12 self-harm
behaviour13 and even suicide attempts.14 To think such complex phenomenon’s as
life and death is only possible through social representations (SR).15
When we study social representations, what we are studying are

human beings asking questions and looking for answers, human
beings who think, not just handle information or act in a certain
way.16
Moscovici’s theory postulates representations as social constructions17 through

which it is possible to modulate our perceptions and conceptions of an object and
reality itself.
The present study aims to: 1) apprehend and analyse the social representations
(SR) of life and death amongst an adolescent population; 2) to apprehend and
analyse their musical preferences; 3) to understand how SR vary according to
gender and age; 4) to verify how SR of life and death may be associated with
musical preferences and with the opinion of others.
2. Method and Materials
A. Participants
A population of 262 adolescents, 54% male, 46% female; 61% between the
ages of 15 and 16 years old and 39% between 17 and 19 years old.
B. Variables
We considered gender and age as independent variables and the dimensions for
musical preferences, the opinion of others, as well as SR of life and death, as
dependent variables.
C. Instruments and Procedure

We developed a questionnaire with six groups of items on closed questions,
followed of ordinal scales (1 to 5), based on the results collected on another
Rute Rodrigues and Abílio Oliveira 17
__________________________________________________________________
research18 and on a previous focus-group – involving talking to adolescents about
life, death and music. The data was collected in a class context, having each
student answered it anonymously, in an individual protocol.
3. Results
The data was analysed using Factor Analysis (FA) with the items considered
for each theme - in order to reduce and reveal the internal structure of the data -
and Variance Analysis on the factors obtained.
Regarding SR of life, a five dimension solution was found: well-being; will to
live; personal fulfilment; attachment to others and feelings of malaise. The opinion
of others in SR of life was aggregated in two factors: family and friends and
acquaintances. In what SR of death are concerned, factor analysis offered us a
four-dimension solution: feelings of malaise; ritualism/causes of death; closeness
to death; questioning/transcendence. Finally, the FA for the opinion of others on
SR of death, revealed a two-dimension solution: friends and family and
acquaintances.
Given the acknowledged complexity in classifying music by style, largely due
to the permeable boundaries between different types and sub-types of music, we
chose to classify it according to our participant answers. Hence, FA revealed an
eight factor solution in which the first dimension (rock/metal) aggregates bands
such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Guns n’ Roses or Metallica; and the second (North-
American Rock) has bands as Marilyn Manson, The Doors, REM, Led Zeppelin,
Smashing Pumpkins and System of a Down. In the third factor (English
Metal/Indie) we find Cradle of Filth and Arctic Monkeys and in the fourth (Hip-
Hop/New Metal) Eminem and Linkin Park. The fifth (Reggae/Pop) concerns Bob
Marley, Ben Harper and Bob Sinclair, the sixth (Classical Rock) is constituted by
Queen, Coldplay, Beethoven and U2. The seventh (Emotional Rock) dimension
aggregates Jonas Brother, Tokio Hotel, Rhianna and Green Day, and, finally, the
last one (Feminine Pop) concerns only Amy Winehouse and Alanis Morissette.
The opinion of others in musical preferences was aggregated in three
dimensions: friends and colleagues; family members and acquaintances. Through
multivariate analysis of variance we have found some significant effects for the
several representations.
Concerning musical preferences, boys reveal a greater preference for
rock/metal music and hip-hop while girls demonstrate predilection for emotional
rock as well as for feminine pop. For boys between ages of 15 and 16 years old,
North-American rock seems to be of large importance.
18 Death and Life
__________________________________________________________________
For girls, more than for boys, life anchors in the attachment to others but it is
also understood as an uneasiness and malaise. To those adolescents between 15
and 16 years old, life is strongly associated to the desire and will to live as well as
to a clear sense of personal fulfilment or achievement. On the other hand, death is
represented, in particular for the girls, as restlessness or feelings of malaise. They
also related death to its rituals and to the loss of others.
When we correlate the musical preferences with what these adolescents think
and feel about life and death, results show that those who have preference for
reggae, emotional-rock and feminine pop, life is understood as personal fulfilment.
A predilection for emotional rock also seems to be associated with representation
of life as malaise. The more they listen to rock/metal, the lower the tendency to
represent death as malaise and to anchor it in its rituals. For the adolescents who
enjoy classic music, death strongly suggests questioning and transcendence.
Results also support that for the individuals who enjoy emotional-rock, the
preferences of companions is important in their own choices; for those who like
North-American rock, hip-hop and classic, so do the preferences of acquaintances.
For girls, more than for boys, life anchors in the attachment to others but it is
also understood as an uneasiness and malaise. To those adolescents between 15
and 16 years old, life is strongly associated to the desire and will to live as well as
to a clear sense of personal fulfilment or achievement. On the other hand, death is
represented, in particular for the girls, as restlessness or feelings of malaise. They
also related death to its rituals.
__________________________________________________________________
Representations of life as well-being, will to live and, personal fulfilment and
relationships with others, are strongly influenced by the opinions, thoughts and
images of family and friends, although acquaintances also play an important role.
Representations of life as well-being, will to live and, mainly, as personal
fulfilment and relation with others are strongly influenced by the opinion, thoughts
and images of family and friends, although acquaintances also play an important
role.
Regarding social representations of death, once again, adolescents reveal the
importance of others in their own conceptions. When death is regarded as malaise,
and separation (departure) of loved ones, the opinion of family and friends is of
great meaning. When it is anchored in ritualism and questioning, the opinion of
acquaintances seems to be more substantial. It is noteworthy that in social
representations of life and death, with exception of malaise (in life) and
relationship with others, the opinion, thoughts and feelings of others proved to be
of hefty value to the way these adolescents think and feel life and death.
4. Conclusions
Rock, metal and pop were amongst the most relevant musical preferences of
these adolescents and that poses as a valuable tool to scrutinize their social and
emotional functioning.19
Death was strongly connected to its ritualistic sense (e.g., cemetery, black,
burial, coffin, skull, etc) which may play an important therapeutic role, acting as a
social construction that signs the end, the farewell.20
Family and friends proved to be a vital reference in the thoughts and feelings of
these young people. They can influence the development of adolescent’s attitudes,
values and interests, by acting as role models or ‘yardsticks’ from which
adolescents assess their own thoughts, attitudes and behaviours.21 This influence is,
undoubtedly, a reciprocate experience, given that the adolescent influences and is
influenced himself by those who surround him. And this is a central aspect in the
social representations theory, since we are all agents, active and passive, in the
creation, manipulation and conveying of social representations.22
Notes
1
C. Barros, Música e Juventude, Lisboa, Vulgata, 2000; A. Rodrigues, Valores e
Representações Corporais em Culturas Juvenis Escolares, Tese de Mestrado,
Faculdade de Motricidade Humana UTL, Lisboa, 1997; D. Sampaio, Vozes e
Ruídos, Caminho, Lisboa, 1993; A. Vallejo-Nágera, Os Adolescentes e os Pais,
Presença, Lisboa, 2003.
2
P. Abreu, ‘Práticas e consumos de música(s): ilustrações sobre alguns novos
contextos da prática cultural’, Revista crítica de ciências sociais, Vol. 56, 2000, pp.
123-147; C. Borralho, Música, Preferências Musicais e a Ideação Suicida na
20 Death and Life
__________________________________________________________________
Adolescência, Monografia - ISPA, Lisboa, 2002; M. Cabral & J. Pais, Condutas de

Risco, Práticas Culturais, e Atitudes Perante o Corpo: Resultados de um Inquérito
aos Jovens Portugueses em 2000, Celta/IPJ, Oeiras, 2003; A. Oliveira, Ilusões na
Idade das Emoções - Representações Sociais da Morte, do Suicídio e da Música na
Adolescência, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisboa, 2008a.
3
C. Gard, ‘Music’n’Moods’, Current Health, Vol. 2, 1997, pp. 24-26; B. Mills,
‘Effects of Music on Assertive Behaviour during Exercise on Middle-School-Age
Students’, Perceptual and Motor Skills, Vol. 83, 1996, pp. 423-426; P. Nunes, A
Música no Universo Juvenil: Práticas e Representações, Tese de Mestrado,
Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas – UNL, Lisboa, 1997.
4
V. Strasburger, Adolescents and the Media – Medical and Psychological Impact,
Sage Publications Inc, CA, 1995.
5
L. Martin & K. Segrave, The Opposition to Rock and Roll, Archon, New York,
1988; K. Scheel & J. Westefeld, ‘Heavy Metal Music and Adolescent Suicidality:
An Empirical Investigation’, Adolescence, 1999, Vol. 134, pp. 253-273.
6
D. Miranda & M. Claes, ‘Musical Preferences and Depression in Adolescence’,
International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 2007, Vol. 13, pp. 285-309.
7
J. Arnett, ‘Adolescents and Heavy Metal Music: From the Mouths of
Metalheads’, Youth & Society, Vol. 23, 1991, pp. 76-98.
8
Ibid.
9
R. Kastenbaum, Death, Society and Human Experience, (7ª ed.), Allyn & Bacon,
Boston, 2001; E. Morin, O Homem e a Morte, Publicações Europa-América,
Lisboa, 1988; A Oliveira, O Desafio da Morte (2ª ed.), Âncora Editora, Lisboa,
2008b; L-V. Thomas, Mort et Pouvoir, Payot, Paris, 1978.
10
R. Frankel, The Adolescent Psyche, Routledge, London, 1999; Oliveira, 2008a,
op. cit.; I. Orbach, P. Kedem, O. Gorchover, A. Apter & S. Tyano, ‘Fears of Death
in Suicidal and Nonsuicidal Adolescents’, Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1993,
Vol. 102, pp. 553-558; P. Patros & T. Shamoo, Depression and Suicide in Children
and Adolescents: Prevention, Intervention and Postvention, Allyn and Bacon, Inc,
Massachusetts, 1989.
11
M. Hanus, Estudes sur la Mort: L’Adolescent et la Mort, L’Esprit du Temps,
Paris, 1998, A. Oliveira, L. Amâncio & D. Sampaio, ‘Arriscar morrer para
Sobreviver’, 2001, Análise Psicológica, Vol. XIX, pp. 509-521.
12
A. Braconnier & D. Marcelli, As mil Faces da Adolescência, Climepsi, Lisboa,
2000; P. Crepet, A Dimensão do Vazio, Âmbar, Porto, 2002; K.R. Jamison, Night
Falls Fast - Understanding Suicide, Picador, London, 2001; M. Laufer, O
Adolescente Suicida, Climepsi, Lisboa, 2000.
13
J. Hende, Preventing Suicide, John Wiley and Sons, Lda, Chichester, 2008;
Oliveira, 2008a, op. cit.; C. Saraiva, Para-Suicídio, Quarteto, Coimbra, 1999.
14
A. Oliveira, L. Amâncio & D. Sampaio, ‘Da desesperança ao desafio da morte…
e à conquista da vida: Olhar sobre o adolescente suicida’, Psychologica, 2004, Vol.
__________________________________________________________________
35, pp. 69-83; G. Trainor, ‘Adolescents and Developmental Group Psychotherapy’,

New Approaches to Preventing Suicide, D. Dufy & T. Ryan (eds.), Jessica
Kingsley Publishers, Philadelphia, 2004, pp. 178-193.
15
M. Bradbury, Representations of Death, Routledge, London, 1999.
16
S. Moscovici, ‘On Social Representations’, Social Cognition-Perspectives on
Everyday Understanding, J.P. Fargas (ed), Academic Press, London, 1981, p. 182.
17
S. Moscovici, La Psychanalyse, son Image et son Public, Presses Universitaires
de France, Paris, 1961/1976.
18
Oliveira, op. cit., 2008a.
19
Scheel & Westefeld, op. cit., 1999.
20
T. Walter, The Revival of Death, Routledge, New York, 1994.
21
J. Nurmi, ‘Socialization and Self-Development: Channelling, Selection,
Adjustment and Reflection’, Handbook of Adolescence Psychology (2ªed.), R.
Lerner & L. Steinberg (eds), John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, 2004, pp. 85-
124; A. Ryan, ‘The Peer Group as a Context for the Development of Young
Adolescent Motivation and Achievement’, Child Development, 2001, Vol. 72, pp.
1135-1150.
22
Oliveira, 2008a, op. cit.
Bibliography
Abreu, P., ‘Práticas e consumos de música(s): ilustrações sobre alguns novos
contextos da prática cultural’. Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais. Vol. 56, 2000,
pp. 123-147.
Arnett, J. ‘Adolescents and Heavy Metal Music: From the Mouths of Metalheads’.
Youth & Society. Vol. 23, 1991, pp. 76-98.
Barros, C., Música e Juventude. Vulgata, Lisboa, 2000.
Borralho, C., Música, Preferências Musicais e a Ideação Suicida na Adolescência.

Monografia, ISPA, Lisboa, 2002.
Braconnier, A. & Marcelli, D. As mil aces da Adolescência. Climepsi, Lisboa,

2000.
Bradbury, M., Representations of Death. Routledge, London, 1999.
Cabral, M. & Pais, J. (eds), Condutas de Risco, Práticas Culturais, e Atitudes

Perante o Corpo: Resultados de um Inquérito aos Jovens Portugueses em 2000.
Celta/IPJ, Oeiras, 2003.
22 Death and Life
__________________________________________________________________
Castro, P., Natureza, iência e Retórica na Construção Social da Ideia de Ambiente.

Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisboa, 2002.
Crepet, P., A Dimensão do Vazio. Âmbar, Porto, 2002.
Frankel, R., The Adolescent Psyche. Routledge, London, 1999.
Gard, C., ‘Music’n’Moods’. Current Health. Vol. 2, 1997, pp. 24-26.
Hanus, M., Estudes sur la Mort: L’Adolescent et la Mort. L’Esprit du Temps,

Paris, 1998.
Hende, J., Preventing Suicide. John Wiley and Sons, Chichester, Lda, 2008.
Jamison, K.R., Night Falls Fast – Understanding Suicide. Picador, London, 2001.
Kastenbaum, R., Death, Society and Human Experience (7ª ed). Allyn & Bacon,
Boston, 2001.
Laufer, M., O Adolescente Suicida. Climepsi, Lisboa, 2000.
Lifton, J., The Broken Connection. Simon and Schuster, New York, 1979.
Martin, L. & Segrave, K., The Opposition to Rock and Roll. Archon, New York,
1988.
Mills, B., ‘Effects of Music on Assertive Behaviour during Exercise on Middle-

School-Age Students’. Perceptual and Motor Skills. Vol. 83, 1996, pp. 423-426.
Miranda. D. & Claes, M., ‘Musical Preferences and Depression in Adolescence’.

International Journal of Adolescence and Youth. Vol. 13, 2007, pp. 285-309.
Morin, E., O Homem e a Morte. Publicações Europa-América, Lisboa, 1988.
Moscovici, S., La Psychanalyse, son Image et son Public. Presses Universitaires de

France, Paris, 1961/1976.
Moscovici, S., ‘On Social Representations’. Social Cognition-Perspectives on

Everyday Understanding. Fargas, J.P. (ed), Academic Press, London, 1981.
__________________________________________________________________
Nunes, P., A Música no Universo Juvenil: Práticas e Representações. Tese de

Mestrado, Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas – UNL, Lisboa, 1997.
Nurmi, J., ‘Socialization and Self-Development: Channelling, Selection,

Adjustment and Reflection’. Handbook of Adolescence Psychology (2ªed.). Lerner,
R. & Steinberg, L. (eds), John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, 2004.
Oliveira, A., Ilusões na Idade das Emoções – Representações Sociais da Morte, do

Suicídio e da Música na Adolescência. Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisboa,
2008a.
—, O Desafio da Morte (2ª ed). Âncora Editora, Lisboa; 2008b.
—,‘Da desesperança ao desafio da morte… e à conquista da vida: Olhar sobre o

adolescente suicida’. Psychologica. 2004, Vol. 35, pp. 69-83.
—, Amâncio, L., & Sampaio, D., ‘Arriscar morrer para Sobreviver’. Análise
Psicológica. Vol. XIX, 2001, pp. 509-521.
Orbach, I., Kedem, P., Gorchover, O., Apter, A. & Tyano, S., ‘Fears of Death in
Suicidal and Non-Suicidal Adolescents’. Journal of Abnormal Psychology. Vol.
102, 1993, pp. 553-558.
Patros, P. & Shamoo, T., Depression and Suicide in Children and Adolescents:
Prevention, Intervention and Postvention. Allyn and Bacon, Inc., Massachusetts,
1989.
Reanney, D., After Death: A New Future for Human Consciousness. Avon Science,
New York, 1991.
Rodrigues, A., Valores e Representações Corporais em Culturas Juvenis

Escolares. Tese de Mestrado, Faculdade de Motricidade Humana UTL, Lisboa,
1997.
Ryan, A., ‘The Peer Group as a Context for the Development of Young Adolescent
Motivation and Achievement’. Child Development. Vol. 72, 2001, pp. 1135–1150.
Sampaio, D., Vozes e Ruídos. Caminho, Lisboa, 1993.
Saraiva, C., Para-Suicídio. Quarteto, Coimbra, 1999.

24 Death and Life
__________________________________________________________________
Scheel, K. & Westfeld, J., ‘Heavy Metal Music and Adolescent Suicidality: An
Empirical Investigation’. Adolescence. Vol. 134, 1999, pp. 253-273.
Strasburger, V., Adolescents and the Media - Medical and Psychological Impact.
Sage Publications Inc., CA, 1995.
Thomas, L-V., Mort et Pouvoir. Payot, Paris, 1978.
Trainor, G., ‘Adolescents and Developmental Group Psychotherapy’. New

Approaches to Preventing Suicide. Dufy, D. & Ryan, T. (eds), Jessica Kingsley
Publishers, Philadelphia, 2004.
Vallejo-Nágera, A., Os Adolescentes e os Pais. Presença, Lisboa, 2003.
Walter, T., The Revival of Death. Routledge, New York, 1994.
Rute Rodrigues is a Social Psychologist currently working on Suicide

Symbolisms and Representations as a Research Assistant at CIES-IUL Centre for
Research and Studies in Sociology (Lisbon). rute.rodrigues.pso@gmail.com.
Abílio Oliveira is an Assistant Professor at ISCTE-Lisbon University Institute and

a Researcher at CIES-IUL Centre for Research and Studies in Sociology (Lisbon).
He is the author of several books, namely ‘Ilusões na Idade das Emoções -
Representações Sociais da morte, do suicídio e da música na adolescência’.
olivirtual@gmail.com.
Textual Analysis of Song Lyrics Adopting a Mental Health
Diagnostic Standard as Method
Richard E. Wilson and Mike Thomas

Abstract
We are interested in the way that mental illness is represented in rock music lyrics
because we believe that it is important that music fans are not misled about mental
illness and that prejudice is not supported through misunderstanding the true nature
of conditions such as depression and mania. Our idea is that it is those musicians
who have had documented mental health issues that are more likely to write about
these issues with real insight and greater accuracy. We have used The Diagnostic
and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM IV-TR, 2000) as the clinical
reference to assess the extent to which the depictions cited here are accurate. At
this stage we have only cited examples of musicians known to have had mental
illness. We hope to extend the research to include a comparison group of artists
who use imagery of mental illness for effect and in doing so, only serve to
perpetuate damaging social stereotypes and myths about people who are mentally
ill.
Key Words: Music, lyrics, musicians, mental health, depression, depiction,

accuracy, Nirvana, Ozzy, stigma.
*****
In the late 1960s, the French philosopher, Roland Barthes, shook up the world
of literary criticism in his now renowned work The Death of the Author. Barthes
separated the idea of an ‘author’ – a god-like creator, a unified psyche from whom
authoritative utterances come – from that of a ‘scriptor’ – a writer whose
achievement can only ever be to rework ideas and concepts which already exist.
The ‘scriptor’ must forever fail in attempting to create something truly original.
In an important sense, the musicians we’re going to be talking about today are
‘scriptors’: their music problematises identity in a way that would have delighted
Barthes. In writing about mental illness, the lyricists we are going to examine
reconfigure their own experiences by referring in startling ways to medical
discourses, cultural mythologies and popular misunderstandings. The lyricist-
scriptors articulate ideas about psychosis – even about their own psychoses – in
terms that borrow heavily from the cultures they inhabit. That is, even in the
confessional-autobiographical mode of writing, the terms and metaphors the
musicians employ are informed by popularly circulating conceptions of mental
illness.
English critic, broadcaster, and novelist, Howard Jacobson, 2010 winner of the
prestigious Man Booker prize for literature recently addressed the widespread
26 Textual Analysis of Song Lyrics
__________________________________________________________________
inaccurate use of mental health terminology in society. In his 2006 novel, Kalooki
Nights, Jacobson writes about a repressed character who unexpectedly cries in the
presence of the narrator, Max. When Max discusses these tears with a third
character, Francine, the following exchange occurs. ‘I was struck by his tears,’ says
Max,
‘So far he hasn’t shown anything you could really call emotion,
unless catatonic schizophrenia is an emotion - .’
‘You think he’s schizophrenic?’ She looked worried […]
‘I don’t know. I just use these terms irresponsibly. They’re all
poetically interchangeable to me. Scientifically I’ve no idea what
he is.’1
We are interested in the idea that those artists who have actually suffered from
mental illness are better able to represent it with some measure of accuracy in their
lyrics. Even when we may expect a confessional mode to lend an authenticity to
the lyrics being produced, we meet instead only scriptors, not authors: the very
language writers and musicians use inescapably distorts the pre-linguistic (perhaps,
more properly, a-linguistic?) states of mind that they are struggling to describe. In
a state of psychosis, the ego is inhabited to the point where the ‘I’ can only feel,
not articulate, what ails it.
The source for defining the clinical aspects of mental health is The Diagnostic
and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.2 However, this manual is itself
dynamic and culturally contingent. It has grown hugely in size in the last 50 years:
for example, until 1974 it classified homosexuality as a mental health problem.
Clearly, in a 20-minute chapter, we can only pick a few songs to illustrate our
idea. For every one we select another 10 might be found. We will consider
examples by Nick Drake, Ozzy Osbourne, Robbie Williams, Nirvana and Type O
Negative. These songs are by artists who have documented mental health issues
and who use these as a way of connecting with the sense of alienation common
among the target audience of much of rock music: the adolescent male.3
There is nothing to be inferred from the fact that the examples examined here
today are all by men. We considered Karen Carpenter, Janis Joplin, Amy
Winehouse, Nina Simone, Courtney Love and Catatonia among others, but made
our final choices based on giving us a focus on references to depression and
schizophrenia.
Even if lyricists are ‘scriptors’ in the Barthesian sense, their song lyrics often
reflect an autobiographical insight into the thoughts and emotional state of the
writer, or provide insight into the wider human condition. In the rock/pop category
there are lyrics, which attempt to convey the inner mental health condition of the
writer, the anxieties of existence, the emotional ups and downs of relationships,
alienation or the internal disintegration of the self. These lyrics are sometimes
Richard E. Wilson & Mike Thomas 27
__________________________________________________________________
written from the perspective of mental illness, using the analogies of anxiety,
depression and schizophrenia, or psychosis and mania.
In this chapter, then, a selection of song lyrics, which have mental states as key
themes, are analysed using mental health diagnostic criteria and biographical
details. This analysis will ascertain the extent to which the lyrics accurately reflect
mental health conditions and whether this knowledge and insight are more
accurately depicted according to the medical diagnostic criteria as a result of the
writer’s personal experience of mental illness.
Our first case study is Nick Drake, the English singer/songwriter who suffered
from depression for much of his adult life and died of an overdose of the anti-
depressant amitriptyline in November 1974 at the age of just 26. Whether his death
was intended as suicide or was accidental is unclear. Statistics from the DSM 4
indicate that around 12% of men in the US may experience major depression
disorder5 and the condition is unrelated to ethnicity, education, income or material
status. Drake came from a prosperous, middle-class family and was educated at
private school and Cambridge University. Depression may occur at any age, but
symptoms typically come to the attention of care services when the individual is in
their mid-twenties. Drake’s death at the age of 26 is the same as Randy Rhoads, a
year older than Tommy Bolin, and very close to Robert Johnson, Brian Jones, Janis
Joplin, Jim Morrison, and Kurt Cobain, all 27, and Jimi Hendrix who was 28.
According to the DSM 6, the criteria for a major depressive episode are firstly
that symptoms are not the result of a stressor event such as bereavement, of a
medical condition such as hypothyroidism or the result of substance abuse. They
include self-reported feelings of emptiness or sadness for most of the day and for
most days, insomnia, loss of energy, feelings of worthlessness or excessive and
inappropriate guilt, diminished ability to think, and recurrent thoughts of death, not
just fear of dying. That combination of symptoms causes distress or impairment in
normal functioning.
We have chosen a track called Day is Done from his first album, Five Leaves
Left, which was released in 1969. The lyrics combine the images of dusk and end
of day, but also convey the emotions felt about the end of life itself. Drake captures
the symptoms of depression in his lyrics, with every verse conveying a feeling of
sadness. The 3rd verse alludes to the insomnia common in depression with the
words, ‘when the night is cold some get by, but some get old just to show life’s not
made up of gold’, whilst worthlessness is evidenced in verse 5 with the words,
‘when the game’s been fought...but much sooner than you would have thought’.
Drake also talks, in verse 6, about the regret of life events missed as ‘the party’s
through...didn’t do the things you want to do, now there’s no time to start anew’.
This theme of depression continues in the 1991 Nirvana song Lithium.7 The
title of the song refers to the drug used in the treatment of bipolar disorder. The
sense of unworthiness is conveyed in verse 1: ‘I’m so ugly, but that’s okay cause
so are you’, and this feeling is compounded by irritability and anger, ‘We’ve
__________________________________________________________________
broken our mirrors, Sunday morning is every day for all I care...’. The song evokes
the time when Cobain was living with the born-again Christian parents of one of
his friends after the collapse of his relationship with his parents following their
divorce and formation of new family units in which Cobain felt he did not belong.
Nirvana biographer, Michael Azerrad claimed the song was an allusion to Karl
Marx’s concept of religion as the opium of the masses. In a 1992 interview, Cobain
said, ‘I did infuse some of my personal experiences, like breaking up with
girlfriends and having bad relationships, feeling that death void that the person in
the song is feeling - very lonely, sick’.
Treatment of depression is usually psychopharmacologically combined with
talking therapies and the title of the song Lithium is used to acknowledge its role in
the treatment of severe and enduring depression. Just as Nick Drake appears to
have personal insights and experiences of depression, Cobain conveys an inside
knowledge of Lithium as a form of treatment in this song. The drug can be used for
3-5 years or longer but has a number of toxic side effects due to disturbances in
serum-lithium concentration and blood tests are required usually every three
months to measure safe therapeutic levels.
The song appears to acknowledge its therapeutic effects: ‘I’m so happy today’
and its negative effects: ‘light my candle in a daze’. Indecision is another symptom
of depression and can be seen in verse 2: ‘But I’m not sure’ and ‘I miss you... I
love you... I killed you’ which suggests both unclear thinking and anger.
A closely associated condition to depression is mania, which although in its
euphoric state looks very different to the retarded emotions in depression; it is
often viewed as stemming from the same roots. However, there is in the
presentation of mania, a persistent, elevated or irritable mood lasting for four days
at least, sometimes even for several months and symptoms such as inflated self-
esteem or superiority, speed of speech, decreased need for sleep, being easily
distracted and an excessive involvement in pleasurable activities that have a high
potential for painful consequences. In mania, the behaviour may be observed as
such by others but not be severe enough to warrant hospitalisation and may even be
tolerated in certain situations such as public performances or media events.
Robbie Williams’ song Me and My Monkey8 captures this sense of mania and
its undercurrents of depression in the story of an individual partnered by a
‘monkey’ who engages in a frenetic lifestyle. The monkey is most likely a
metaphor for Williams’ cocaine habit. The first verse tells how the subject goes to
Las Vegas on a whim and the Monkey then proceeds to gamble, buy cocaine and
arrange for prostitutes to come to his room. Interestingly the lyrics in verse 2 also
contain the line, ‘Was diggin’ old Kurt Cobain singing about lithium’, which
suggests that Williams was aware that lithium can also be used to treat mania. The
whole song illustrates with a great deal of humour and emotion, the criteria for
mania with all its cognitive speed, thrills and potentially dangerous outcomes in a
__________________________________________________________________
way that does more than hint at Williams having insight and experience of the
condition.
Whilst depression and its sister condition, mania, are not uncommon, the
mental health conditions centring on psychosis are less prevalent. Schizophrenia,
for instance, is thought to be prevalent in up to 5.0% per 10,000 amongst adults in
all cultures.9 The condition is found worldwide and usually becomes evidently
symptomatic in a person’s mid-twenties. Males tend to have an earlier age of onset
and have a worse outcome than females in terms of severity and treatment
responses. Complete remission is thought not to occur but an individual can
recover many positive social and cognitive processes, which can allow a high
degree of stability. It appears to be an inherited condition, and where both parents
have the condition, children have a ten times greater risk of acquiring
schizophrenia. Many of the symptoms can also be along a spectrum and are not
always clear-cut so there is a general view that ‘severe and enduring psychosis’
may be more accurate terminology than schizophrenia. For example, some
individuals may present with symptoms which appear to meet some of the
schizophrenia criteria but are caused by excessive drug use causing permanent
alterations to brain processes. Symptoms include delusional thoughts, that is fixed
false beliefs out of synch with a person’s normal cultural or social situation;
hallucinations (false sensory perceptions which can be in any of the five senses but
are usually found in aural or visual fields); disorganised speech; disorganised
behaviour; restrictions in the range of emotional expressions; and a decrease in
goal-directed behaviour.
We have illustrated this condition with Ozzy Osbourne’s, Can You Hear
Them?.10 Osbourne’s lyrics in particular appear to focus on a drug-induced
psychosis with the mention of the erroneous, but widely held, social myth that
people with schizophrenia have split personalities. The chorus of ‘Can you hear
them, all the voices in my head? ... They won’t be happy ‘til I’m dead’ captures the
depression and distress that auditory hallucinations may cause to the individual.
The allusion to his drug use can be heard in verse 2: ‘Ten thousand million
nightmares, temptation by the score, I used to get so high and still I wanted more’.
Ozzy appears to demonstrate knowledge of severe psychosis in his lyrics and,
although using a more drug-induced psychotic imagery, sings about paranoid
schizophrenia with good insight.
Pete Steele, the front man of Type O Negative referred to his music as ‘sonic
therapy’ – he had a bipolar condition11 and received in-patient treatment for
depression in 2006 after severe drug and alcohol dependence problems. In the
Type O Negative song, Anesthesia,12 Steele describes the diagnostic criteria for
severe depression and encapsulates the despair and anger of this condition. In the
final verse of the song, there is the lyric, ‘world-renowned failure at both death and
life / given nothingness…’ which demonstrates the helplessness and lack of
meaning within the narrator of the song.
__________________________________________________________________
Mental illness is democratic; it affects someone and pays no respect to class,
wealth, gender, culture, creed or race. Inevitably therefore, some musicians will
have some type of diagnosable mental illness. Some appear to deal with the
negative impact of the condition via their music and lyrics, which add insight and
candour to the narrative. The question is whether that produces therapeutic relief or
merely demonstrates their anguish. Our argument then, is there are two categories
of lyrics. The one we have illustrated in this chapter comes from experience of
mental illness itself, either directly or through drugs/substances or knowing a
family member/friend and the words portray a realism and knowledge. The other,
much larger category is those lyrics, which attempt to use mental health/illness
imagery as metaphor or analogy but the knowledge base and experience are
lacking and the result tends to be cliché. It is our belief that the accuracy of the
representation, especially in an art form like rock music consumed by so many
teenagers, is crucial as it is only in this way that the myths and misrepresentations
of the mentally ill can be challenged within wider society.
At this stage of our research we have focused on artists who have documented
mental health issues and we need more time to pursue the extent to which the
experience of the writer(s) influences the accuracy of the depiction in the lyrics,
according to DSM IV-TR.13 We welcome any suggestions regarding other artists
and/or additions to our list of songs for consideration.
Notes
1
H. Jacobson, Kalooki Nights, Vintage, London, 2006, p. 311.
2
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM IV-TR) (IVth
edn. text Revision), American Psychological Association, Washington DC, 2000.
3
C. Stewart, ‘Magazine Journalism: Kerrang!’, Magazine World at the University
of Winchester, website, May 2, 2010, http://journalism.winchester.ac.uk/?page
=257.
4
DSM IV-TR, 2000, op. cit.
5
Up to 25% for women, according to the DSM.
6
DSM IV-TR, 2000, op. cit.
7
K. Cobain, Lithium, from the album Nevermind, Geffen Records, 1991.
8
R. Williams & G. Chambers, Me and My Monkey, from the album Escapology,
EMI Records, 2002.
9
DSM-IV-TR, 2000, op. cit.
10
O. Osbourne, M. Frederiksen, J. Holmes & R. Trujillo, Can You Hear Them?,
from the album Down to Earth, Epic Records, 2001.
11
According to the definitions in the DSM IV-TR, 2000.
12
P. Steele, Anesthesia, from the album Life is Killing Me, Roadrunner Records,
2003.
__________________________________________________________________
13
DSM-IV-TR, 2000, op. cit. and the WHO International Classification of
Diseases, known as ICD-10.
Bibliography
Azerrad, M., Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana. Doubleday, New York,
1994.
Barthes, R., ‘The Death of the Author’. Image-Music-Text. trans. S. Heath, Hill and
Wang, New York, 1968.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (IVth edn, Text
Revision). American Psychological Association, Washington DC, 2000.
Jacobson, H., Kalooki Nights. Vintage, London, 2006.
Jourdain, R., Music, the Brain, and Ecstasy: How Music Captures Our
Imagination. William Morrow and Company, New York, 1997.
Knight, I., ‘Back for Good’ (Interview with Robbie Williams). The Sunday Times
Style Magazine. 03 October 2010.
Lewis, D., ‘Five Leaves Left’. Record Collector Magazine. Issue 370 - Christmas
2009, Diamond Publishing Ltd, London, 2009.
Morris, C., ‘The Year’s Hottest New Band Can’t Stand Still’ (interview).
Musician. January 1992. Available online at http://www.nirvanaclub.com/info/
articles/01.00.92-musician.html.
O’Donnell, L., Music and the Brain. Available online at, http://www.cerebromente.
org.br/n15/mente/musica.html.
Osbourne, O. (with Ayres, C.). I am Ozzy. Sphere, London, 2009.
Porter, R., Madness: A Brief History. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2002.
Sanca, F., ‘Music and the Brain: Processing and Responding (A General
Overview)’. Available online at, http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro99/
web1/Sancar.html.
__________________________________________________________________
Stewart, C., ‘Magazine Journalism: Kerrang!’. Magazine World at the University

of Winchester. May 2, 2010, http://journalism.winchester.ac.uk/?page=257.
Weinberger, N., ‘Music and the Brain’. Scientific American. November 2004,
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=music-and-the-brain.
Richard E. Wilson is a Lecturer in English for Academic Purposes and a Study

Skills Tutor for students with dyslexia and other learning difficulties at the
University of Chester, UK. He has been a rock music fan and record collector for
30 years and is now enjoying researching and writing about music, and had his first
published chapter in Led Zeppelin & Philosophy in 2009.
Mike Thomas is an ex-submariner who is now a Professor and Dean of the

Department of Health & Social Studies at the University of Chester, where he
works as a psychotherapist specialising in the treatment of people with eating
disorders. He is a musician and music fan, particularly of Bob Dylan, and he has
enjoyed his venture into the world of metal.
PART 2
Disparate Disciplines:
Theoretical Applications of Madness in Heavy Metal
Two Steps past Insanity: The Expression of Aggression in
Death Metal Music
Daniel Frandsen
Abstract
The Death Metal genre is commonly associated with madness and aggression.
Among the reasons for this association are the lyrical themes such as violence and
murder, the specific style of music both regarding the instrumentation and the
specific vocal types normally used within the genre (i.e. growling and screaming),
and the gestures normally seen in most live performances by Death Metal bands.
While the connection between Death Metal and the expression of aggression may
seem obvious, it can nevertheless be problematic for philosophers of music to
explain a connection, if any, between music and the expression of emotions.
According to Aaron Ridley, part of this problem is grounded in the formalist
assumption that philosophy of music should be concerned with ‘purely’
instrumental music and that emotions cannot be expressed in that kind of music. In
order to be able to treat contemporary music – in this case Death Metal – in which
lyrics and vocals are present and of aesthetic importance, the formalist view will
need to be rejected. By rejecting formalism it will be possible to claim both the
reality of expressive content in music and its significance as a genre-defining
property. The aim of this chapter will be an attempt to show the following: Firstly,
how the lyrics can be viewed as a musical element closely connected to the type of
vocals used in a song; secondly, how to explain the connection between Death
Metal and the expression of aggression; and finally, why this connection is of
aesthetic significance to the Death Metal genre. This will be done by reference to
songs particularly from the Finnish metal band Children of Bodom and theories
from Eduard Hanslick, Aaron Ridley, Jerrold Levinson, Malcolm Budd and Peter
Kivy among others.
Key Words: Aggression, expression, music, Death Metal genre.
*****
1. Introduction
Most literature within philosophy of music is concerned with instrumental
music. Partly this is due to the academic tradition of being mainly concerned with
classical western music, which traditionally is instrumental ensemble music – that
is, music without vocals and lyrics. An unwritten assumption that can be found in
literature is that instrumental music is ‘pure’ music and that nothing can be said
about vocal music that cannot be said about instrumental music. Vocal music is
viewed as being a hybrid between music and poetry. This view is based on false
premises.
36 Two Steps past Insanity
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According to Aaron Ridley, we need to reject this hybrid view, since lyrics of
vocal music do have some musical elements and therefore has significance for the
musical work as music.1 The most obvious place to find a musical feature in lyrics
(or poetry) is rhythm. Certain sentences cannot be sung in certain rhythms, because
the combination of words in those cases will not keep to the rhythm of the music.
The words in lyrics are not chosen strictly based on linguistic meaning, but also for
musical reasons.2
2. Expressive Content in Music

One of the big issues within philosophy of music is the question of musical
meaning. How can music ‘mean’ anything? More specifically, how can music
express emotions? According to Hanslick, no such thing would make sense since
music has no content except for the musical properties (tones and rhythm).3 The
reason why people associate specific musical works with certain emotions (or other
kinds of meaningful content) cannot be due to anything in the music, as such. This
view is not only counter-intuitive, it also presupposes that only words can be said
to have meaning as such. Think of a person crying. When perceiving a crying
person, we assume that the person is very sad (or extremely happy). In such cases
we ascribe meaning to bodily expression. But this will not do to prove that music
can have meaningful content of any kind. When we say that a piece of music is
sad, we can mean one (or more) of four things: 1) that the composer at some point
experienced that emotion, and composed the music in such a way that it would
‘capture’ that state of mind; 2) that a performer would experience that emotion
while performing that piece of music; 3) that listeners get an (imaginary)
experience of that emotion, when listening to that piece of music; or 4) that the
emotion is (somehow) in the music. It seems unlikely that emotions could be
‘located’ anywhere else as it relates to music. If the composer, performer or
listener would never be able to experience (in one sense or another) a specific
emotion through a piece of music, it seems implausible to claim that the piece of
music is expressive of that emotion. This is not to say that ‘emotional content’ in
music is a strictly subjective matter. I strongly believe that there can be both true
and false claims about which emotions are expressed in a given piece of music.
Imagine a person claiming Children of Bodom’s Hatebreeder to be expressive of
happiness. Such a claim would (at least at the surface) seem to be a clear case of
the person having misunderstood the song. This is quite straightforward, especially
due to the type of vocals used in the song (that sound mad and aggressive and not
happy at all).
The way we ‘normally’ identify other people’s emotions are through their
behaviour, such as facial expressions, other bodily movement, what they say and
their tone of voice. When dealing with vocal music it can seem rather easy to
identify the emotions since there is a voice present, but if we try to deal with
instrumental music, things look more difficult – but not impossible. The main
Daniel Frandsen 37
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reason why it can be difficult is because of some tendencies in philosophy in
general. Firstly, our language seems to be fixated on the visual. When describing
some phenomenon in the world, most of our terms refer to visual impressions, or
sensations. An obvious example will be terms like ‘high’ and ‘low’ notes, when it
relates to music. It can seem that the problem of ascribing expressive content to
something non-sentient, in this case music, can be due to lack of visual sensations.
Another problem can be to insist that if one piece of music is expressive in virtue
of some feature, another piece of music can only be expressive in virtue of having
that very same feature. Why would there only be one way for a piece of music to
be expressive, when we as human beings can express our emotions in different
ways, and many very different works of music are described as aggressive?
Hearing what we would normally call aggressive music, such as Children of
Bodom’s Towards Dead End or Kalmah’s Time Takes Us All, does not necessarily
make us aggressive. If we think of the feeling of sadness, and how that would be
expressed through a piece of music, it is likely to have certain features, like being
in a slow pace, played ‘softly’. If there is no truth at all to this claim, then it is hard
to find a reason why it seems rather clear that Sentenced’s Karu will be described
as sad, while Where Water Falls Frozen will be associated with aggression (both
instrumental pieces from The Funeral Album).
3. Death Metal and the Expression of Aggression

In the remaining sections of the present chapter, the issue will be more
specifically about Death Metal and how certain emotions, mainly aggression, are
expressed in this genre. Whether it is due to intentions from the composers, or
because of association (or both, which seems the most likely), there are a number
of features that will need to be examined, in order to understand the nature of the
relation between the genre and the expression of aggression. These features include
the specific type of vocals, instrumentation, lyrics and performance means – in this
case, gestures.
One of the most striking differences between Death Metal and other music
genres is the vocal type. Non-metal fan listeners normally claim that Death Metal
vocalists are not singing, but screaming or roaring. This is partly true. The only
thing wrong with that statement is that it is singing, since there are musical features
in that type of vocals, just like in other vocal types. However, this is not the issue
here – it is just important to note that we should be careful not to disqualify the use
of ‘growling’ (as it is called) as real vocals, since it would have unjustified
consequences when we make aesthetic evaluations about that specific type of
music. What the issue here is therefore not an attempt to prove that growling is a
type of singing, but rather to specify the expressive features of this vocal type.
So what are the expressive features of growling? When listening to songs from
Cradle of Filth or Illnath, for example, the vocals sound like something out of a
horror movie. As vocals obviously seem to be the musical element that resemble
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human behaviour the most, speech in this case, the expressive character of
growling will be closely related to that of ‘normal’ screaming and roaring. The
obvious associations we have with screaming and roaring are pain, anger,
aggression etc. So as far as the vocals are concerned the connection between Death
Metal and aggression is relatively straightforward. What about the lyrics?
Typically, the lyrics in Death Metal are about death, violence or other similar
themes. One example I will focus on here is Children of Bodoms Towards Dead
End. The overall theme of this song is, at the face of it, about feeling alone and not
caring about the rest of the world. More specifically, there are phrases that indicate
anger towards the world, and about getting closer to committing suicide. The only
element that could seem positive (from a certain point of view) is the indirect
indication that no matter how ‘bad’ the world is, a person is still in charge of his or
her own life. However, this ‘power’ is utilised throughout the song, in a manner
that can hardly be considered positive. Now, what does this amount to, regarding
the aesthetic significance of the relation between vocals and lyrics? As noted
earlier, one thing that would be considered aesthetically positive (all else being
equal), is similarity or appropriateness of one element to the others in the whole.
So, this means that music will ‘work’ if the emotions expressed in the lyrics are
similar to the emotions expressed through the vocals. A similar relation can be
found in normal speech, when considering voice and words. Think of a person
saying ‘I am angry’. These words can be uttered in many different ways. However,
the way to make the words believable is to utter the words in an angry fashion. If a
person says ‘I am angry’ while laughing, it will not seem trustworthy. But if the
person would shout or scream the words out, then it will be believable.
So for vocals and lyrics, the expression of emotion seems to be quite clear.
With instrumentation the matter becomes a bit more difficult, if we are to fully
explain how and why we normally associate (most) Death Metal with aggression.
If we can arrive at a solid explanation, we should be able to point to specific
musical features of Towards Dead End and remove all possible doubt about which
emotions are expressed. But I am not so optimistic. One thing is experiencing the
expression of aggression through music, quite another to explain it. However, a
few points can be made that will make the (perhaps necessary) connection between
Death Metal and aggression probable. The first thing to remember is that most
metal music – and Death Metal in particular – is intended to be played at a
relatively high volume. Sounds at high volumes are part of what can be categorized
as noise, partly because it will be ‘demanding’ the attention of the listener. In short,
it will be a type of disturbance. Here one association seems rather clear. When we
think of noise, as it relates to human behaviour, one thing we will not associate it
with is being calm. When people behave in a fashion that is noisy, they are
normally very happy, mad etc. Aggression will normally be perceived as active,
and rarely (if ever) as a passive emotion. So why do we associate the ‘noise’ of
Death Metal with people being mad, rather than people being happy? The answer
Daniel Frandsen 39
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to this question will most likely be clear from an analysis of the musical elements
that are specific for the Death Metal genre, such as rhythm, melody, timbre etc.
Features that can play a major role in the relation is the use of ‘tremolo picking’ on
the guitars, distortion, the hectic drums (especially bass drums and the use of ‘blast
beats’) and the (at times) unexpected changes in riffs. These features make Death
Metal music sound ‘fast’ (without necessarily having a high tempo, in musical
terms), with changes that prevent it from appearing as ‘regular’ noise.
This is still not enough to prove any necessary connection between Death Metal
and aggression, but we have gotten a few steps closer to an explanation of the
relation. What we need now, in order to make the argument complete, is a reason
why those specific musical features are associated with aggression, and not some
other emotion. What we know is that we do associate Death Metal with aggression,
and the reasons we can give normally will in most cases refer to the mentioned
musical features. Musicians use those features intentionally to get an aggressive
‘feel’ to their music.
Carroll Pratt made the remark that ‘music sounds the way moods feel’ and it
seems to be correct in some way. The sound of Death Metal feels more destructive
than for example Power Metal, and one intuitive thought is that aggression is
connected with the desire to destroy something.
4. Death Metal Aesthetics

One question that has been lurking in the background so far is that of the
aesthetic significance of the expression of aggression in Death Metal. When
making value-judgements about music we always relate the work in question to
another (perhaps fictional) work. Also value-judgements will always be depending
on the context in which the judgement is made. It is my firm belief that when
making a value-judgement about a Death Metal song, we evaluate it as Death
Metal. In different genres, different features can have different aesthetic qualities.
However, one thing that to me (all else being equal) seems to be the case, no matter
which musical context we consider, is that coherence in an artwork is aesthetically
positive. So what do I mean by coherence here? Consider, again, Children of
Bodom’s Towards Dead End. For this song to be coherent, it must be ‘believable’
within its own context. If we try to separate the different elements (vocals,
instruments and lyrics) each of them have, as noted above, some sort of aggressive
feel to it (growling, the specific instrumentation, and the combination of words). If
we try to think away the aggressive mood in any of these elements, the song would
be very different. Perhaps it would not even be Death Metal anymore. I will not
make any attempt at determining what is good (and bad) Death Metal. The only
thing I want to claim here is that in order to evaluate music (and we indeed do) we
need to be aware that a work is not judged on the basis of another context but the
one it is in (in this case the specific genre). And as we have seen, many things
point towards that Death Metal and the expression of aggression are inseparable.
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5. Closing Remarks
It is obvious that there is still something missing before we have provided a
solid argument for the aesthetic significance of aggression in Death Metal. One
thing that is needed is a determination of the genre, and a notion of genre in
general that will be useful, without essentialist implications. I am, however,
confident that a determination of the genre will involve something about
expressive content.
Another problem is that of justifying talk of musical expressions of emotion as
meaningful.
Notes
1
A. Ridley, The Philosophy of Music: Themes and Variations, Edinburgh, 2004, p.
83.
2
Ibid., p. 83.
3
E. Hanslick, On the Musically Beautiful: A Contribution towards the Revision of
the Aesthetics of Music, trans. G. Payzant, Hackett, Indianapolis, IN, 1986, p. 29.
Bibliography
Budd, M., Music and the Emotions: The Philosophical Theories. Routledge,
London, 1985.
Hanslick, E., On the Musically Beautiful: A Contribution towards the Revision of

the Aesthetics of Music. trans. Payzant, G., Hackett, Indianapolis, IN, 1986.
Kivy, P., Introduction to a Philosophy of Music. Oxford, 2002.
Ridley, A., The Philosophy of Music: Themes and Variations. Edinburgh, 2004.
Daniel Frandsen, Institute of Philosophy, Education and Study of Religion,

University of Southern Denmark, Denmark.
Can Progressive Metal’s Narrative Inform Social Stigma
Theory? Pain of Salvation’s The Perfect Element
Parts 1 and 2 as Examples
Nelson Varas-Díaz
Abstract
Social stigma theory has re-emerged from the sixties as an important contribution
to the understanding of how individuals relate to each other in social settings. From
Erving Goffman’s symbolic interactionist approaches, to its more Foucauldian and
Social Constructionist interpretations, the underlying shift in the field is the need to
focus on the social structures that foster stigmatisation, without losing sight of its
consequences on the daily lives of individuals. This balancing act between the
micro (individual) and macro (socio-structural) levels of analysis has not come
without its difficulties for theorists, researchers and policy makers. Interestingly,
this same balancing act has been effortlessly navigated by some progressive metal
artists through the use of story telling as part of concept albums that concentrate on
individual’s interpretations of their circumstances and detailed explanations of the
social world that creates them. One such example is the work of Sweden’s Pain of
Salvation entitled The Perfect Element. After eight albums, this band continues to
emerge as one of the most varied and constantly changing ensembles in the
progressive metal arena. The Perfect Element Part 1, released in 2000, focuses on
the individual experience of trauma of two characters throughout their lives. The
Perfect Element Part 2, entitled Scarsick and released in 2007, shifts its focus to the
socio structural issues that contribute to the experiences of individuals described in
the first instalment of the project. Together, they address both the individual and
social structures that can foster stigmatisation of individuals (both personal and
societal), and therefore provide a valuable framework of how social health related
stigma research can move forward with the integration of both perspectives.
Key Words: Stigma, health, illness, progressive metal, Pain of Salvation.
*****
1. Social Stigma Theory

Probably one of the most important tasks undertaken by the Social Sciences in
contemporary thought is explaining how we relate to one another in light of
changing times and contexts. After all, it is in this process of human relations that
co-existence and conflict, two polarities of everyday life, are manifested. Social
stigmatisation is an integral part of these polarities and has become one of the most
addressed subjects for applied areas of science, such as those related to health and
illness.
42 Can Progressive Metal’s Narrative Inform Social Stigma Theory?
__________________________________________________________________
Ervin Goffman is the most influential figure in the social stigma literature. He
defined stigma as a negative mark (could be physical or symbolic) that makes the
bearer be considered almost inhuman.1 The stigmatised is socially devalued and is
though of as one with lesser value by other members of the social collective. He
proposed three sources of social stigma, including: body abominations, blemishes
of individual character, and tribal stigmas. These categories aim to explain why
individuals are identified as different and subsequently devalued. The implications
of Goffman’s work have resonated in the academic community for decades,
impacting not only the way we conceptualise stigma, but the importance of the
meanings we attribute to each other in social interactions.2
One of the areas in which social stigma theory has contributed widely is human
health. Research has documented how individuals who are stigmatised face dire
consequences with regards to access to treatment in hospital settings.3 Even more
concerning, individuals that feel stigmatised due to their health situations have
negative consequences at a biological level, with faster negative outcomes.4
Although the implications of Goffman’s work have been valuable, it has not gone
unchallenged in the past decade. One of the most common critical assessments
highlight the overtly individualistic perspective proposed in his work. It would
seem that social stigma is a situation faced and perpetrated by individuals, or small
groups, as part of identifying something or someone that is different. Other authors
argue that stigma needs to be understood from a perspective that focuses on the
social and structural factors that foster it as a power wielding strategy.5,6
The tension between focusing on individuals and/or socio-structural factors in
the stigma debate can be seen in the areas of health and illness. This is not
surprising, as social stigma theory has informed health/illness related literature by
focusing on the individual feelings of the sick, social interaction with other
‘healthy’ subjects, and the consequences of social stigmatisation for areas of
importance such as health delivery systems. In these instances of social interaction,
individuals who become ill due to a particular condition can be the focus of
negative social judgement and therefore primed for social stigmatisation. Little
attention is paid to the socio-structural factors that foster such stigmatisation (i.e.
policies, hospitals, professional training of physicians). Let us examine two
instances in which the tension between individual focus perspectives can clash
with socio-structural explanations in the health field.
Obesity is one of the most common health conditions in the western
hemisphere. It has severe consequences such as early diabetes, high blood pressure,
and a plethora of complications. This phenomenon could be understood from an
individual level perspective by attributing the situation to the personal
responsibility of individuals (i.e. has little self-control). A socio-structural
perspective will focus on the social factors that promote this situation such as lack
of access to healthy foods, the low costs of fast foods, lack of education on health
related issues, among other socially focused explanations.7 Although both types of
Nelson Varas-Díaz 43
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causal explanations will come into play to develop this problem, individual level
factors cannot be understood or explained in full without taking into consideration
the socio structural dimensions that shape individuals possibilities for actions.
Another example in which individual and socio-structural factors come into
play to explain illness is sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV.8 Women come
to mind as a particularly worthy of note example. Their infection can be described
from an individual level perspective by focusing on the things they did, or did not
do, to become infected. Some explanations will include personal decision to use
condoms. On the other hand, research has documented how social
conceptualisations of female sexuality tend to foster passive roles for women in
which they have little control of these protection factors. Male dominated societies
foster their submission to male expectations, which can include risk behaviours for
infection.9 Even if females wanted to protect themselves (i.e. individual level), they
have a difficult time doing it due to social constraints (i.e. socio structural factor).
These two examples evidence what authors within critical social theory have
coined as the ‘new public health’ perspective.10 That is, health models that focus on
individual responsibility to explain behaviours that make people sick without
focusing on the socio-structural level factors that enable such practices to happen.
Social stigma theory is a key role in this process, as individuals will be held
responsible for situations that they cannot control, and when illness becomes
present, it is manifested as personal failure.
This tension between individual and socio-structural level factors has been
difficult for researchers to include in their studies and it is only recently that is has
come to the forefront of the stigma discussion. As in many other aspects in social
life, art tends to be ahead of its time, move at a quicker pace, and challenge
existing notions. Progressive metal is not exempt from this process and an intimate
look at Sweden’s Pain of Salvation as a case study evidences a clear understanding
of the individual/social dynamic in health related issues.
2. The Perfect Element: Individuals at the Forefront

The Perfect Element is the first part of the concept proposed by the band and it
was officially released in 2000.11 The overall narrative of this concept album
addresses how individuals cope with events in their early lives that contribute to
shape their worldviews. The story brings forth the lives of two individuals who
remain nameless throughout the story, being identified as ‘He’ and ‘She’. Their
lives have been tragically touched by subject matters that can be described as
traumatic such as abuse (physical and sexual) and drug addiction. These subjects
are explored both as part of their individual existence and encounters where ‘He’
and ‘She’ interact as part of the narrative. That interaction is plagued with an
overall sense of despair, guilt, and loss.
Musically, The Perfect Element encompasses all the traditional characteristics
of a stellar progressive metal album. A complex yet unified narrative; distorted
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guitars, synthesizers and unusual rhythmic patterns are part of the musical
landscape. Yet Pain of Salvation do not stop there, and allow the listener to engage
in a story filled with human emotions. For example, after the opening songs (Used
and In the Flesh), which include crushing metal guitar riffs, Ashes starts with a
chilling piano melody that echoes what seems to be a music-box, which has
provided the background to many childhoods. This focus on human emotion serves
as a stark reminder that although social problems have plagued the characters in
the story, the narrator wants us to focus on the subjective and personal experience
of pain and trauma. It is not enough to explain through a coherent and rational
narrative; the storyline needs to be emotionally experienced, just like the individual
characters would experience it.
The stories presented in The Perfect Element are examples of the multiple
meanings that the concept of ‘health’ can encompass. Such a concept is usually
tied to a biomedical discourse in which the body is the sole site of illness. More
critical explorations of the concept can open up multiple fields of analysis in order
to highlight other areas that are also related to health. These can include mental
health, the role of the physical environment on disease, violence, and abuse. It is
not surprising then that a story of abuse based on the experiences of ‘He’ starts the
album with the track entitled Used, by describing a relation of power and abuse.
I am the unclean
The black drop at the bottom of your cup
You’d better drink or throw me up
‘Cause I am on your lip and tongue
God
I’m not yours as much as you are mine
So let me in to be your lung
Just breathe me deep and take another sip
So still
A taste so sweet but so bitter the kill
Still on your lip
You are so close
I’ll let you come
Between my legs you are closer death than sun
And I’m not your daughter as much as you’re my son
I’ll let you come
In my mouth on your lip
So ready and thirsty for the next sip
You let me in, I let you come
I’d never let you down
You let me win, I let you drown!
Getting used to pain
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The narrative points to the interaction between two individuals embedded in a
power dynamic characterised by abuse. It is stressed by the repetitive use of the
concept ‘getting used to pain’ throughout the song. What is most important is the
use of biological metaphors such as lungs, breathing, consumption, and throwing
up. The biological metaphor, based on concepts of illness, is used to explain an
abusive behaviour. But what is most important is that actions are only explained
within a relation of two individuals, in which other people and context are
particularly absent. The same happens with the story of sexual abuse experiences
by ‘She’ in the song entitled In the Flesh. In this scenario the individual is
presented as feeling responsible for an experience of sexual abuse, and again,
context is not present or used to explain her experience.
Some wear their bruises on their skin

Others hide their scars deep within
She has a wound close to her womb
Blames herself for letting it in
Once these characters meet and social interaction entails (in the song entitled
Ashes), the use of metaphors related to illness and health becomes complete. The
Perfect Element is manifested as a story of individuals who have been stricken by
traumatic events, and in the absence of a social context to serve as an explicative
source for their situation, only individual responsibility and guilt prevail. The
Perfect Element seems to provide no escape for the suffering of its characters. All
that is left is to walk through the ashes together.
As we walk through the ashes

I whisper your name
A taste of pain to cling to
As we walk through the ashes
You whisper my name
Who's the one with the sickest mind... now?
This pain will never end

Our scars will never mend
3. Scarsick: The Role of Social Context

Scarsick is the second instalment of The Perfect Element and was released in
2007.12 Even while the sound and song structure is quite different, it is powerful in
its intent to bring to the forefront social issues that contribute to being, as the title
suggests, sick of being scarred. In contrast with its predecessor, this album will
serve to highlight the socio-structural aspects of being sick. Unregulated
capitalism, ideological oppression, religious fanaticism, and consumer culture are
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just some of the themes addressed. In this album, the detailed description of the
individual interpretation of trauma is almost absent. In contrast, the individual is
placed in confrontation, as if taking a critical stand, against the social factors that
foster his unfortunate social condition.
‘Sick!’ A scream opens the lyrical component of the album as if to state beyond
doubt that a health related analysis needs to be carried out. The subject in Scarsick
has transitioned from a confused individual to one filled with anger about what he
sees around. More specifically, the possibility of losing oneself in a context that
stresses the need to conform to social forces that, in the end, don’t have one’s best
interest at heart. They will simply make you sick.
SICK!!!
It’s all sick, I feel sick
I'll be sick, then it’s fine
I'm conform to your norm
With a bucket full for me
I’ll be free, finally
I will see what you mean with your freedom
The concern over health is not only metaphorical; in Kingdom of Loss the
lyrical content seems to stress the contradictions between health behaviours and
following social norms. This contradictory comparison is not lost on the social
literature on stigma and health. Researchers have documented how health
campaigns focus on what individuals ‘should do’ to be healthy (i.e exercise, diet)
and yet the social context does not allow for it (i.e. cost of food, extended work
hours). In the end, the individual is stigmatised for not being able to meet the
proposed goals, with little consideration to the context. It is in instances such as
this one where progressive metal and social stigma theory collide, even if they
don’t even know it.
Could someone please just tell me what happened?

I mean, first we pay for fast-food that will make us all fat and
tired.
So then we pay for elevators, so we won’t have to climb the three
stairs up to our apartments.
Then we buy freaking Stairmaster machines, so we can burn
away while watching someone make real food on TV.
Now, if that doesn’t make us winners I don’t know what will.
Some of the contradictions posed in the previous segment of the song do not
remain without potential causal explanations throughout the album’s narrative. For
example, fanatical nationalism is proposed as a potential contributor. Such
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nationalism if fuelled by patterns of consumption, specific body sustenance
regimens, all of which can make individuals feel as part of the group… even if it
kills them. These political dimensions are described in the song America where
Pain of Salvation criticize the monopolistic views of the United States and its role
in war throughout the world. The criticism continues in songs such as Cribcaged
where consumer culture is scrutinized. Both situations point to the political
dimensions that influence individuals’ situations, and in fact, bring to the front
issues related to illness and death as its culmination. Yet the most interesting
phenomena addressed in Scarsick is related to the role of religion and scars.
In the song Mrs. Modern Mary, Pain of Salvation addresses the role of religion
in generating suffering. This is particularly interesting as religion is one of the most
neglected social subjects with regards to its negative effects on social health. Most
social research on health and religion has focused on its positive implications (i.e.
social support). Still, other research continues to identify how religious practices
foster social stigmatisation of individuals that do not confirm to established norms.
It has implications for health as research has shown that professionals that self-
identify as religious hold more stigmatising attitudes towards the homosexual
community, drug users, and people with HIV, among others. Religion has the
tendency to provide individuals with alleged access to ‘the truth’ and evaluate
others through that position of privilege. This stigmatisation process is described in
the song from the perspective of the religious person, who now holds a higher
moral ground having found God.
Life will never be the same

I have a better view now
There’s always someone else to blame
I’m on the winning team now
Death will never be the same
I’m in the faster lane now
No more am I the one to blame
I have a juster cause now
When interpreted as a whole, Scarsick is very effective in presenting the

audience with a plethora of examples in which socio-structural factors influence
our daily lives in potentially negative ways. It almost echoes the political
dimensions of Megadeth’s Peace Sells, or Pink Floyd’s Animals. Unfortunately, it
has taken stigma research and theory more than forty years to come to the similar
conclusions. Heavy metal, and later its progressive offspring, has always been
ahead of its time.
__________________________________________________________________
4. Progressive Metal and Critical Agency
Art is an important field of human inquiry into its existence and has historically
had a critical role in questioning normalcy as society’s standard.13,14 Paintings,
poetry, and music have helped to advance critical stances on subject areas related
to the social. Human relations, and the potentially stigmatising process that are
embedded in them, have been present in these mediums of inquiry. Heavy metal
music has not neglected these subjects and has, lyrically and stylistically,
challenged social norms of its context.15,16 Pain of Salvation’s The Perfect Element
continues in this tradition by challenging the listener to understand the role of
individuals and social structure on human health, and other social endeavours.
Notes
1
E. Goffman, Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity, Prentice-Hall,
Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1963, p. 147.
2
N. Varas-Diaz, I. Serrano-Garcia & J. Toro-Alfonso, ‘AIDS-Related Stigma and
Social Interaction: Puerto Ricans Living with HIV/AIDS’, Quality Health
Resolutions, Vol. 15 (2), 2005, pp. 169-187.
3
L. Nyblade et al., ‘Combating HIV Stigma in Health Care Settings: What
Works?’, J Int AIDS Soc, Vol. 12 (1), 2009, p. 15.
4
C. Logie & T.M. Gadalla, ‘Meta-Analysis of Health and Demographic Correlates
of Stigma towards People Living with HIV’, AIDS Care, Vol. 21 (6), 2009, pp.
742-753.
5
B.G. Link & J.C. Phelan, ‘Stigma and its Public Health Implications’, Lancet,
Vol. 367 (9509), 2006, pp. 528-529.
6
R. Parker & P. Aggleton, ‘HIV and AIDS-Related Stigma and Discrimination: A
Conceptual Framework and Implications for Action’, Soc Sci Med, Vol. 57 (1),
2003, pp. 13-24.
7
R.M. Puhl & C.A. Heuer, ‘Obesity Stigma: Important Considerations for Public
Health’, Am J Public Health, Vol. 100 (6), 2010, pp. 1019-1028.
8
M.B. Padilla et al., ‘Gender, Sexuality, Health and Human Rights in Latin
America and the Caribbean’, Glob Public Health, 2010, pp. 1-8.
9
B. Ortiz-Torres, I. Serrano-Garcia & N. Torres-Burgos, ‘Subverting Culture:
Promoting HIV/AIDS Prevention among Puerto Rican and Dominican Women’,
Am J Community Psychol, Vol. 28 (6), 2000, pp. 859-881.
10
A.R. Petersen & D. Lupton, The New Public Health: Health and Self in the Age
of Risk, Sage Publications, London & Thousand Oaks, Calif., 1996, p. 208.
11
Pain of Salvation, The Perfect Element (CD), 2000, Inside Out Music.
12
Pain of Salvation, Scarsick (CD), 2007, Inside Out Music.
__________________________________________________________________
13
W. Irwin, Metallica and Philosophy: A Crash Course in Brain Surgery, The
Blackwell Philosophy and Popculture Series, Blackwell Pub., Malden, MA,
Oxford, 2007, p. 260.
14
G.A. Reisch, Pink Floyd and Philosophy: Careful with that Axiom, Eugene!,
Popular Culture and Philosophy, Open Court, Chicago, 2007, p. 298.
15
S. Alvi & E. Moretti, Heavy Metal in Baghdad (Collector’s edn), Arts Alliance
America, New York, NY, 2008, 1 videodisc (88 min.).
16
I. Christe, Sound of the Beast : The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy
Metal, Allison & Busby, London, 2004, p. 399.
Bibliography
Alvi, S. & Moretti, E., Heavy Metal in Baghdad (Collector’s edn). Arts Alliance
America, New York, NY, 2008, 1 videodisc (88 min.).
Christe, I., Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy
Metal. Allison & Busby, London, 2004.
Goffman, E., Stigma; Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity. Prentice-Hall,

Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1963.
Irwin, W., Metallica and Philosophy: A Crash Course in Brain Surgery. The
Blackwell Philosophy and Popculture Series, Blackwell Publications, Malden, MA,
Oxford, 2007.
Logie, C. & Gadalla, T.M., ‘Meta-Analysis of Health and Demographic Correlates

of Stigma towards People Living with HIV’. AIDS Care. Vol. 21 (6), 2009, pp.
742-753.
Nyblade, L., et al., ‘Combating HIV Stigma in Health Care Settings: What
Works?’. J Int AIDS Soc. Vol. 12 (1), 2009, p. 15.
Ortiz-Torres, B., Serrano-Garcia, I. & Torres-Burgos, N., ‘Subverting Culture:

Promoting HIV/AIDS Prevention among Puerto Rican and Dominican Women’.
Am J Community Psychol. Vol. 28 (6), 2000, pp. 859-81.
Padilla, M.B., et al., ‘Gender, Sexuality, Health and Human Rights in Latin
America and the Caribbean’. Glob Public Health. 2010, pp. 1-8.
Pain of Salvation, The Perfect Element (CD), Inside Out Music, 2000.
__________________________________________________________________
Pain of Salvation, Scarsick (CD), Inside Out Music, 2007.
Parker, R. & Aggleton, P., ‘HIV and AIDS-Related Stigma and Discrimination: A
Conceptual Framework and Implications for Action’. Soc Sci Med. Vol. 57 (1),
2003, pp. 13-24.
Petersen, A.R. & Lupton, D., The New Public Health: Health and Self in the Age of
Risk. Sage Publications, London & Thousand Oaks, CA, 1996, p. 208.
Puhl, R.M. & Heuer, C.A., ‘Obesity Stigma: Important Considerations for Public
Health’. Am J Public Health. Vol. 100 (6), 2010, pp. 1019-1028.
Reisch, G.A., Pink Floyd and Philosophy: Careful with that Axiom, Eugene! Open
Court, Chicago, 2007, p. 298.
Varas-Diaz, N., Serrano-Garcia, I. & Toro-Alfonso, J., ‘AIDS-Related Stigma and

Social Interaction: Puerto Ricans Living with HIV/AIDS’. Qual Health Res. Vol.
15 (2), 2005, pp. 169-187.
Nelson Varas-Díaz is an Associate Professor at the University of Puerto Rico. He

is a Social Psychologist by training and heavy metal fan since childhood. He
realised early on in his formal training that most of the important theoretical issues
raised in his academic training were already addressed in the albums that were the
background for his youth, and are still present in his adulthood. He can be
contacted at nvaras@mac.com.
Hysteric Desire: Sexual Positions, Sonic Subjectivity and
Gender Play in Glam Metal
Kristen Sollee
Abstract
From its inception, the genre of glam metal has been defined by gender-bending
imagery paradoxically paired with lyrics soaked in sex-obsessed misogyny.
Jacques Lacan’s 1955-56 Seminar posits hysteria as a neurosis that reveals the
structure of desire and concerns the question of the subject’s sexual position, which
he poses as ‘Am I a man or am I a woman?’ While stereotypically feminine
signifiers are more glaringly incorporated into the visual aspects of the genre,
shifting gender identifications are also audible through sonic means via vocal
timbre. Thus, glam metal provides a stage upon which the disorienting effects of
gender dysphoric and euphoric behaviour can be performed by male musicians,
particularly through the fusion of feminine vocal timbres, heteronormative sexual
aggression and the fashionable appropriation of a feminine aesthetic. Working with
musical material and critical theory texts such as Julia Kristeva’s Revolution in
Poetic Language and Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble: Feminism and the
Subversion of Identity, the intersection of ‘the male’, ‘the female’, madness and
desire in the genre of glam metal will be analysed from a Lacanian perspective.
Key Words: Hysteria, neurosis, psychological androgyny, intertextuality.
*****
1. Intro
From its florid infancy in the early 1980’s, the genre of glam metal has been
defined by gender bending aesthetics and vocals juxtaposed with an often-
misogynistic message. These performances, maddeningly paradoxical at times, call
into question the sexual subjectivity of the male personas involved. In analysing
the major types of neuroses in his 1955-56 Seminar, Jacques Lacan proposes that
the central question to hysteria is, ‘Am I a man, or am I a woman?’1 The
schematics of hysteric desire can thus be used to analyse and unpack the dysphoric
and euphoric types of gender behaviour performed by men in the glam metal genre.
But while the stylised appropriation of stereotypically feminine signs is more
glaringly incorporated into the visual aspects of the genre, shifting gender
identifications are also audible through sonic means via vocal timbre. Julia
Kristeva’s assertions regarding subversive aspects of the feminine within music
and poetic language in Revolution in Poetic Language further reveal the ‘multiple
identifications’2 that define hysteria as disorienting gender role-play. While
performers slide between the two signifying poles of male and female, symptoms
52 Hysteric Desire
__________________________________________________________________
of unconscious sexual fantasies that mirror the makeup and thrust of Freudian and
Lacanian hysterical neuroses are made manifest.
2. Terms & Conditions

From its insertion into the popular pantheon, the glam genre has been defined
more by aesthetics than by aurality, making definitive labels difficult. In this
chapter, I will use both the terms ‘glam metal’ and ‘hair metal’ interchangeably, as
hair metal refers to the coiffures of the musicians and is as entrenched in imagery
as the word glam is, thereby serving the same denotative purpose. While my
characterizations may be contested, the bands I call glam metal have been
categorized as such by a majority of fans and critics.
In terms of definition, genre and gender are so hard to handle because they are
constructed discursively. ‘Genre boundaries are not solid or clear; they are
conceptual sites of struggles over the meanings and prestige of social signs’3
Robert Walser writes, echoing Judith Butler’s point that ‘genders can be neither
true nor false, but are only produced as the truth effects of a discourse of primary
and stable identity’.4 Genre and gender both function as highly contested illusions
that serve as focal points for interpersonal interaction and identity formation, and
the apparent volatility within each reflects both the glam metal musician and the
hysterical subject’s tenuous sexual position.
3. Neurosis & Sexual Subjectivity

‘If rock ‘n’ roll means sex, the Hair bands rang as the ultimate manifestation’5
Steve Blush proclaims in the introductory pages of his slick pictorial homage to the
‘80s glam scene. With a desiring subject as the focal point of the genre and excess
celebrated as a virtue, hair metal performers displayed an indefatigable need for
sexual satiation in both their music and their onstage and offstage antics. The
primacy of physical desire is also what defines Lacanian neurosis. Lacan describes
it is as a ‘predominance of the genital zone over the other erogenous zones’6 with
hysteria specifically characterized by ‘an unsatisfied desire’.7 Thus, analysing the
makeup of the hysterical neurotic can illuminate the seemingly contradictory
(p)layers in the glam metal scene.
Although the term has been used to refer to various psychological ailments
associated with women since Hippocrates coined it in 4th Century B.C., hysteria
gained widespread clinical recognition in the 20th Century with Sigmund Freud’s
documented case of Dora. Freud’s famous findings, published in 1905 nearly 10
years after his initial treatment of the teenage girl, set the tone for much later work
on the subject, particularly Lacan’s groundbreaking seminars in the mid-1950’s.
Freud believed that Dora’s repressed homosexual urges were to blame for much
of her suffering, and her simultaneous drives to be desired as a woman and to
experience desire as a man manifested themselves in her body in deleterious ways.
Furthering his point that hysteria’s foundation lies in displaced sexual desire, Freud
Kristen Sollee 53
__________________________________________________________________
noted that a hysterical symptom is actually ‘the expression of both a masculine and
a feminine unconscious sexual phantasy’.8 This realization deepened the gendered
dimension of hysteria, which was picked up by Lacan in his 1955-56 Seminar.
Following Freud, Lacan defines the neurosis as follows:
What characterizes the hysterical position is a question that refers

precisely to the two signifying poles of male and female. The
hysteric addresses it with all his being - how can one be either
male or female?9
While hysteria has historically been associated with women, Bruce Fink, who is
arguably the foremost English language scholar of Lacan as well as a practicing
analyst, confirms the existence of the male hysteric.
They often confound modern psychiatry, he explains. The

complications that can arise in this kind of crossing over of
typical categories are further compounded by Lacan’s distinction
between masculine structure and feminine structure, which,
according to him, correspond neither to biology nor directly
to…hysteria.10
Although it is not my intent to diagnose men in glam metal with any kind of
psychological illness, manipulating the makeup of a predominately female neurosis
to analyse a genre almost exclusively populated by men will thus mirror the
bending of gender by male hair metal musicians. The playful way in which they
exploited signifiers could partially be explained by Sandra Bem’s theory of
‘psychological androgyny’, which is ‘essentially the notion that an individual is
able to combine both elements of feminine and masculine characteristics in order
to achieve optimal functioning’.11
As Blush asserts,
The focal point of the scene was alpha males – assertive, athletic,
attractive guys who got the girls. They had animal magnetism,
not just because they looked great, but because they actually
seemed like colourfully plumed birds. Contrary to some of the
originators of 70’s glam rock, men in glam metal of the 1980’s
were not intellectuals or sophisticates and they were definitely
not transvestites; they were simply blue-collar uber-heteros who
dressed sorta like chicks because that's what got them laid.12
54 Hysteric Desire
__________________________________________________________________
Thus, their performance of the masculine and the feminine would collide and
contract in concert with desire, as they chose which sexual position was most
optimal for fulfilling their needs.
4. Gender Play & The Male Gaze

Male glam metal musicians donned their gender as an aesthetic mantle of many
colours, manipulating masculinity to the hilt. Although perhaps unwittingly, they
performed gender the way Butler describes it, as ‘a fantasy instituted and inscribed
on the surface of bodies’,13 and in the process constructed their own unique gender
performance through ‘a stylised repetition of acts’.14
The aesthetic of hair metal ran the gamut from risqué styles, fabrics and colours
generally associated with female sex workers and exotic dancers (spandex, leather,
lace, animal prints, and neon) to long hair and makeup matched with more
masculine rocker attire. Wherever bands found themselves on the spectrum,
however, there was a calculated positioning that occurred in which they
aggressively put themselves on display in ways that were both objectifying and
feminising. This conceit is illustrated by Vince Neil on the back cover image of
what is considered to be Motley Crue’s definitive glam album, Theatre of Pain.
In the picture, three pairs of manicured, feminine hands clutch at the body of
the blonde lead singer, who is dressed in a diamond collar, hot pink spandex pants,
white gauzy tank top and white gloves. His accessories allude to the lacy
accoutrements of a virginal bride, right down to the white garter belt that
flirtatiously dangles below his waist. The composition of the photograph draws
your eyes immediately to him; he is positioned as a desirable woman would have
been to capture the male gaze in the Renaissance paintings John Berger discusses
in Ways of Seeing in which ‘men act and women appear’.15 Next to Neil, his three
bandmates are dressed in more sombre and masculine black and white, acting out
the see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil tableau.
This blurring of gender binaries is further accomplished by the contents of the
record itself, which include lyrics bursting with misogynistic froth such as ‘The
taste of love, it might be yours/Slide down my knees taste my sword’ or ‘Pleasure
victim, who’s next to fall/The question is will you please us all tonight?’ from
‘Tonight (We Need A Lover’).
Neil forcefully sings about wanting women to do his bidding and thus takes up
the sexual position of the heterosexual male while simultaneously being dolled up
on display, objectifying himself to an audience of women, which is simulated by
the hands that grab at his flesh. Paradoxically, he is also subjecting himself to be
viewed in a feminine position, possibly as a receiver of the male gaze as he poses
seductively whilst wearing the sexualised sartorial signifiers of ‘the female’.
This constant deviation of the subject’s position is also one of the defining
characteristics of the hysteric. Freud describes a case where the female patient
would play a man, savagely ripping off her own dress, while simultaneously
Kristen Sollee 55
__________________________________________________________________
playing a woman protectively clutching it to herself.16 The hysteric both desires
his/her partner and desires as if he/she were his/her partner.17 Regardless of
intention, Neil’s presentation embodies this perspectival duality, and the
omnivorous sexual subjectivity as seen here and in glam metal in general reflects
the infinite excesses with which the genre is associated.
5. Vocal Timbre and the Intertextual Tease

In Revolution in Poetic Language, Kristeva explores the radical possibilities
within poetic language, which are synonymous with those of music.18 Her purpose
is to reveal ways in which to transgress the all encompassing and patriarchal
Symbolic Order, which is the confining result of structured language. Reworking
terms that Lacan initially created, Kristeva defines ‘the semiotic’ as the dimension
of language that ‘expresses that original libidinal multiplicity within the very terms
of culture’ because within it, ‘multiple meanings and semantic non-closure
prevail.’ As it momentarily allows for destruction of the denotative function, poetic
language ‘is the recovery of the maternal body within the terms of language, in that
it has the potential to disrupt, subvert, and displace the paternal law.’19 Music, she
says, is constructed ‘exclusively on the basis of the semiotic.’20
Following Kristeva, the music created by men in glam metal is not only
inherently gendered female, but also has the potential to access and activate the site
of struggle between male hegemony and the original bodily drives associated with
both the female and the Lacanian concept of ‘the Real’. These glimpses outside the
Symbolic Order into pre-linguistic Reality are not definitive, but have multiple
meanings, similar to the hysteric’s multiple identifications, where modulating sonic
subjectivity leads to slippery sexual subjectivity and puts a multi-valence spin on
gender.
Inspired by Mikhail Bakhtin’s heteroglossia and Ferdinand de Saussure’s initial
work in semiotics, Kristeva defines ‘intertextuality’ as a transposition of one
system of signs onto another, a process which creates new meanings and reveals
links within and between texts.21 My own application of the theoretical literature
on hysteria to the visual culture of glam metal is itself an instance of
intertextuality. When extended to the music, this instance of intertextual
transposition can expose the clash of message and meaning that occurs when
music, i.e. vocals, combine with lyrics.
To further complicate matters, this clash of message and meaning is usually
delivered in tones that are more naturally suited to the female voice. Although John
Shepherd asserts in ‘Music and Male Hegemony’ that there is an ‘exclusion of
typically female timbres,’ within ‘cock rock’ (of which he includes Motley Crue as
an example),22 most hair metal songs contain the message of desiring a woman in
strains that mimic a stereotypical female voice, which is further emphasized by
intense, non-verbal ululations.
56 Hysteric Desire
__________________________________________________________________
Three songs in particular elucidate the conflict between timbre and topic in
glam metal: Mad About You by Slaughter, Long Way to Love by Britny Fox and I
Want Action by Poison. Lyrically, each track expresses different types of desire for
‘the female’, which is punctuated by exasperated, high pitched, non-verbal
outbursts of frustrated ecstasy. Mad About You properly begins with the smash of
broken glass and a woman’s scream before Mark Slaughter opines: ‘I’m mad about
you/I go crazy with all of the things that you do/I’m so angry inside and it’s all
over you…I keep this brewing inside/I can’t take anymore/Oh girl!’ At the final
repetition of this lyric around the 3:38 mark he crescendos into a cascade of oohs,
releasing the untamed tension of the track as it comes to a close.
Britny Fox’s Long Way to Love voices a similar frustrated need. ‘Long way,
long way to love’ Dean ‘Dizzy’ Davidson repeats, ending in a punchy, high-
pitched scream-as-sigh beginning around 2:42. In Poison’s I Want Action, Bret
Michaels sings less of ‘love’ and more directly about sex. He generally keeps a
more stereotypically male timbre in Poison songs, but injects a particularly
unhinged soprano scream of ‘whah whah whah’ right after he supposedly finishes
what he starts in the backseat of his car. However, Michaels’ spoken words right
before the outburst starting at 2:10 are ‘Oh come on honey, I wasn’t that bad…Oh
well!’ perhaps alluding to the woman’s lack of satisfaction which may have
consequently prevented his.
Walser chides the musicological establishment for not analysing or
experiencing music ‘beyond the vocals’ in Running with the Devil.23 However, he
barely mentions vocal timbre in his discussion of gender and glam metal at all. The
semiological interaction between a singer’s vocal form and a lyric’s content is a
space rife with conflict and ripe for analysis, and it would be a glaring oversight to
ignore its relevance. Men in glam metal exacerbate the madness of sexual desire
that they sing about as they desire the feminine while vocally and aesthetically
embodying the feminine, thereby engaging in the fluid subjectivity and shifting
sexual positions of the hysteric.
6. Outro
The contrast between the visual and sonic signifiers of the feminine and the
lyrical, masculinist narratives of glam metal calls into question the demarcations
between the male and the female and reveals an uneasy peace between the poles.
The tension within genre and gender, and the pull between the semiotic and the
symbolic mirrors the instability of the hysterical neurosis, where identification and
subjectivity are constantly in flux. The impetus behind the flirtatious gender
bending behaviour apparent in glam metal has more dimensions than a single
chapter can address, but its impact has greater complexity and cultural significance
than is often represented in academic or popular discourse.
Hair metal was forged from excess: of artifice, aurality, and sexuality. To
reconfigure Fink’s definition of hysteria: ‘the hysteric makes the [wo]man, and the
Kristen Sollee 57
__________________________________________________________________
hysteric plays the part of the [wo]man. [He] makes [her] what [s]he is, bringing out
[her] lack/desire; at the same time [he] usurps [her] place or plays [her] role for
her.’24
One might argue that the way men in glam metal use female ornamentation for
their own devices is far more misogynistic than the exscription of the female
altogether. By taking up all possible positions for themselves, they leave no room
for women to exist as subjects at all. However, a queer reading of the situation
might reveal that their channelling of the feminine is in itself an intimate inclusion
of women into their lives. Whatever the case may be, in the process of
appropriating the aesthetic and sonic signifiers of women, these male performers
reveal gender to be a mere costume that one can wear at will. The result was
explosively fecund; through the playfully flamboyant, over-the-top collision of
masculine and feminine in the genre of glam metal, gender was ‘rendered
thoroughly and radically incredible.’25
Notes
1
B. Fink, A Clinical Introduction To Lacanian Pyschological Theory and
Technique, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1997, p. 122.
2
S. Freud, Dora: An Analysis of a Case of Hysteria, Simon & Schuster, New York,
1963, p. 121.
3
R. Walser, Running with the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal
Music, Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, Connecticut, 1993, p. 4.
4
J. Butler, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, Routledge,
New York, 1999, p. 174.
5
S. Blush, American Hair Metal, Feral House, Port Townsend, Washington, 2006.
6
Fink, p. 112.
7
Fink, p. 123.
8
Freud, p. 118.
9
J. Lacan, The Seminar of Jacques Lacan: Book III The Psychoses 1955-1956, J.A.
Miller (ed) W.W. Norton & Company, New York, 1993, p. 249.
10
Fink, p. 134.
11
Doolin, p. 103.
12
Blush, pp. 14 & 55
13
Butler, p. 174.
14
Butler, p. 179.
15
Berger, p. 47.
16
Freud, p. 121.
17
Fink, p. 125.
18
J. Kristeva, Revolution in Poetic Language, Columbia University Press, New
York, 1984, p. 80.
19
Butler, p. 102.
58 Hysteric Desire
__________________________________________________________________
20
Kristeva, p. 24.
21
Kristeva, pp. 59-60.
22
J. Shepherd, ‘Music and Male Hegemony’, Music and Society, Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge, 1987, p. 167.
23
Walser, p. 56.
24
Fink, p. 126.
25
Butler, p. 180.
Bibliography
Auslander, P., Performing Glam Rock: Gender & Theatricality in Popular Music.
University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, 2006.
Berger, J., Ways of Seeing. Penguin, London, 1972.
Blush, S., American Hair Metal. Feral House, Port Townsend, Washington, 2006.
Butler, J., Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. Routledge,
New York, 1999.
Doolin, S.A., We may Look like Chicks but We can Still Kick Your Ass: Metal
Glam as a Reflection of Masculinity in Transition. Seth A. Doolin, Salem,
Massachusetts, 2003.
Fink, B., A Clinical Introduction to Lacanian Psychological Theory and

Technique. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1997.
Freud, S., Dora: An Analysis of a Case of Hysteria. Simon & Schuster, New York,
1963.
Kristeva, J., Revolution in Poetic Language. Columbia University Press, New

York, 1984.
Lacan, J., The Seminar of Jacques Lacan: Book III The Psychoses 1955-1956.
Miller, J.A. (ed), W.W. Norton & Company, New York, 1993.
Shepherd, J., ‘Music and Male Hegemony’. Music and Society. Leppert, R. &
McClary, S. (eds), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1987.
Walser, R., Running with the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal
Music. Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, Connecticut, 1993.
Kristen Sollee 59
__________________________________________________________________
Kristen Sollee has a B.A. from the New School in Musicology and an M.A. from
Columbia University in Gender Studies and Japanese Culture. She currently writes
for various arts publications and blogs about New York City music and nightlife at
www.ShadowtimeNYC.com.
PART 3
More Madness in the Metal Method:

A Spectrum Disorder of Theoretical and Applied
Research Approaches
No Method in the Madness? The Problem of the Cultural
Reading in Robert Walser’s Running with the Devil: Power,
Madness and Gender in Heavy Metal Music and
Recent Metal Studies
Andy R. Brown
Abstract
This chapter offers a critical analysis of Walser’s celebrated text, particularly the
role of method in offering a dialogue with heavy metal fandom. It suggests that
theory building and methodology in conventional academic research are strategies
that maintain symbolic boundaries between researchers and research subjects, in
the name of critical autonomy. This is a problem when such subjects constitute a
class without symbolic power or voice. Walser’s pioneer work recognizes this
imbalance and seeks to redress it, offering a defence of heavy metal music and its
fandom. However, Walser’s method, combining a virtuoso musicology and cultural
criticism of value hierarchies, ends up speaking on-behalf of metal fans rather than
to them. This is clearly apparent in his argument that the themes of horror, madness
and mysticism in the music of bands such as Iron Maiden and Megadeth, offer a
critique of the ‘madness’ of late-capitalism that fans understand. Yet the evidence
of dialogue between Walser and his fan-respondents is somewhat sparse. I go on to
suggest that the work that follows Walser exaggerates this tendency to offer a
‘cultural-reading’ that rests on no obvious evidence-base beyond that of the
authority of the theorist-researcher. In this respect, the emergence of ‘metal
studies’ in the wake of Walser resembles that of fan studies, in particular the
transition from academic-fan to fan-academic. Fan-academics seek to contest the
value-hierarchies that have previously held their tastes in low esteem. But in so
doing they end up legitimating their own identities as fan-intellectuals rather than
the majority of ordinary metal fans who cannot participate in this critique. I
conclude by suggesting that this tendency may be acceptable if it can be shown that
the class-profile of heavy metal’s fan-base has dramatically changed, from working
to middle-class. Current research, characterized as it is by a focus on
geographically dispersed scene-based studies and/or the theoretical-textualism of
literary theory and cultural philosophy, is not best placed to reveal the
demographics of this process of embourgeoisement; although it may exemplify it.
Key Words: Methodology, objectivity, critical authority, symbolic strategy,

virtuosity, cultural reading, fan studies, academic-fan, fan-academic, critical
madness, class, critique.
*****
64 No Method in the Madness?
__________________________________________________________________
1. Introduction
This chapter critically engages with Walser’s celebrated text, particularly his
treatment of power, gender and madness in the performance and reception of metal
music, by focusing on the issue of methodology or the politics and philosophy of
method in academic research. In the opening paragraph of the book, Walser
acknowledges ‘nearly two hundred heavy metal fans from Minnesota, California,
Michigan and Illinois who discussed their music and their lives with me’.1 Yet only
three pages, out of a total of 222, are given over to examining the thoughts and
opinions of such fans. Despite this, in the climax of the book, Walser mounts an
impassioned left-critique of the dominant and dominating discourses of power,
gender and madness to be found reflected in metal music and in its critical
vilification, offering a sympathetic reading which validates the popular reception
aesthetics of ordinary metal fans and the claims of the music to critically
interrogate the contradictions of late-capitalist modernity.
Walser’s authority to speak ‘on behalf’ of metal fans, is no more pointedly
apparent than in the critical tour de force mounted against the madness and
madness-inducing logic of capitalist rationality and progress (nuclear war, techno-
statism and ecological devastation), which he asserts is culturally negotiated in the
music of bands such as Iron Maiden, Metallica, Megadeth and fan reception. But
the problem remains of how such a reading can be said to articulate the actual
politics and perspectives of heavy metal fans themselves?
I will argue that the politics of methodology in metal studies crucially revolves
around the question of: from where does the cultural theorist speak and on what
authority? An obvious answer would be that the cultural theorist speaks
authoritatively by virtue of possession and display of the credentials bestowed by
the academy. But this answer does not exhaust the implications of the question, it
simply confirms the fact that the measure of the level of authority of academic
knowledge is largely determined by its symbolic positioning within the academy
but also, crucially, its critical autonomy from that which it speaks about. Such
autonomy or critical distance is realized in two ways. First, by the autonomy
achieved through theoretical work: the practice of building models, defining
concepts, developing frameworks and abstractions that seek internal coherence and
conceptual rigor.
The second symbolic strategy employed to achieve critical autonomy centres
around attaining a measure or guarantee of ‘objectivity’ via the methods employed
to gather evidence from the research subjects or object-world and the extent to
which such techniques are contaminated by that world. Academic disciplines may
be defined as more or less ‘scientific’ to the extent to which they can demonstrate
distance from and a procedural guarantee of a lack of contamination – of various
kinds of leaks or spillage, of values, opinions, feelings and emotions – produced by
the object-world and the practices of subjects within it.
Andy R. Brown 65
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But what of the authority possessed by the research subjects themselves? Here
the measure of academic authority might be judged by the degree of alignment
with or possession of authentic knowledge of the object of research, even
validation or approval given by the research subjects themselves. Here we might
suggest that the measure of authority is determined by the degree of recognition or
via notions of authenticity in terms of fan experience and knowledge. However,
this reception or ‘feedback’ is largely circumscribed by the extent to which the
methods employed allow or recognize particular kinds of ‘voice’.
In posing the issue in this way I do not want to re-rehearse well-worn debates
about the gap between the theoretical and the empirical, qualitative vs. quantitative
method or the epistemological vs. ontological status of truth-to-experience claims.
Rather, what I intend to highlight is the dilemma of method: or the processes of
‘testing’ theory in providing a means of connection - to communities, to practices,
to people - and how such links can act as a means of correction, contestation,
critique; however difficult that dialogue might be in practice.
2. Clearing a Space for a Different Sort of Account of Heavy Metal: The Fan-
Intellectual and the Defence of Ordinary Metal Fans
Robert Walser’s Running with the Devil,2 along with Weinstein’s Heavy Metal:
A Cultural Sociology,3 represent a watershed in the study of heavy metal music and
culture because they offer a research perspective that is sympathetic to the values
and/or experiences of heavy metal fans themselves. They do so in the knowledge
that previous academic work had been unsympathetic or highly condemnatory of
heavy metal fandom, linking it to a number of social problems, types of deviance,
‘risk taking’ and forms of harmful behaviour (both self and other-directed). Such
books were also acts of public intervention into a moral panic occurring in the
1983-1990 period, where the figure or ‘folk devil’ of the heavy metal fan was
subject to a concerted campaign - given privileged access and secondary definition
by national press and media - resulting in an unprecedented ‘signification spiral’
that achieved both real and symbolic outcomes.4
In this context, such interventions were acts of strategic alliance, of intellectual
defence and cultural representation, on behalf of ordinary heavy metal fans, who
lacked the social status and cultural clout to defend themselves; or the means of
access to public media to speak in their own voices. It is also clear that the
potential culpability of academics in rubber-stamping elite-engineered campaigns
to stigmatise and scapegoat socially marginalized groups - such as the metalheads,
burnouts or stoners in this period - had a decisive impact on the mode of
scholarship and, in particular, the methodological claims of these studies. Thus,
both authors claim to conduct ethnographies, based on attending concerts, listening
to multiple recordings, participating in fan clubs and in fan conversation in various
locations; conducting interviews and compiling field notes. At the same time, they
__________________________________________________________________
disagree with each other’s approach, particularly the role of ‘objectivity’ in
researching heavy metal music and fandom.5
Focusing on the conception of objectivity developed in Walser’s book, I
suggest it represents a decisive shift away from the understanding of it to be found
in previous work (broadly psychology and sociology) towards a conception defined
by its degree of partisanship or sense of authentic connection to heavy metal fans
themselves. Weinstein’s study claims to offer an ‘objective’ defence of heavy
metal culture against powerful detractors of the music, from both left and right of
the political spectrum, who fail to appreciate the genre ‘for what it is’,6 a complex
and long-lived subculture that celebrates the vitality of a blue-collar masculinity.
For Walser, objectivity in social science describes an ‘obliviousness to power
relationships’ obtaining between researchers and researched.7 He describes a study
by Hansen and Hansen as ‘producing an astonishing array of tables and data’ but
this apparent statistical objectivity ‘tells us nothing about heavy metal because
their premises produced their results’.8 This is a methodological critique, to the
effect that ‘most sociological studies offer no integration of ethnographic and
textual analytic strategies’.9 Thus he observes ‘Straw gives no evidence of ever
having read a fan magazine, talked with a fan, attended a concert, or even listened
to a record’.10 Breen’s analysis is ‘unhampered by musical analysis and
ethnography’.11 The implication being therefore that they lack validity.
Turning to Weinstein: ‘Though her book is nothing if not an impassioned
defence of heavy metal, Weinstein, as a sociologist, must aspire to ‘objectivity’,
and she even disingenuously claims not to be joining in debates over whether metal
is good or bad’.12 This aspiration to objectivity means she must try ‘to efface her
own participation in heavy metal’ as a fan. It therefore results in a lack of analysis
of ‘women’s responses to heavy metal’ but also a ‘peculiar sort of arrogance: she
brags of having browbeaten one fan in admitting that his understanding of some
metal lyrics was inadequate’.13 Here objectivity prevents access to genuine fan-
experience but also places itself in a superior position to fandom.
Walser wants to ‘clear a space for a different sort of account of heavy metal’, 14
‘my method is to examine carefully the sounds and images of heavy metal, take
seriously fans’ statements and activities, and situate metal as an integral part of a
social context that is complex, conflicted and inequitable’.15 I will shortly explore
what sort of methodology this actually is. But first I want to suggest – and this is
my wider concern – that Walser’s study represents a point of transition – perhaps a
rubicon - after which a more self-consciously defined ‘metal studies’ arises; but
also a type of scholarship (most notably exemplified by cultural and literary
theory) which abandon any recourse to methodology whatsoever in favour of a
theoretical-textualism; or what I will define as a ‘cultural reading’. Such a reading
seeks validation in either its theoretical virtuosity (where validity is measured by
the scale or rhetorical power of the performance); or in the increasing tendency to
seek validation for the authenticity of a ‘reading’ of heavy metal culture within the
Andy R. Brown 67
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personhood of the academic-as-fan or the fan-academic. I will argue that both these
tendencies can be traced, at least in part, to Walser’s pivotal study.
3. Eruption: The Cultural Theorist as Virtuoso

Walser announces his arrival with the virtuoso piece, ‘Eruptions: Heavy Metal
Appropriations of Classical Virtuosity,16 which offers an exposition of the new
musicology, transcribing music not just as scored on the page but as performed.
This partly text-analytical and partly interpretive analysis constitutes the majority
method employed in Running With the Devil. Although musicology is technical,
relying on a shared employment and understanding of terms (such as key, tonic,
major and minor modes, chords, measure, modality, sequence, etc), it is also, as
Walser’s account of the virtuosity of Edward Van Halen makes clear, descriptive:
In ‘Eruption’, an initial power chord establishes A as a tonal

point of departure. Van Halen moves the first section from blues-
based pentatonic licks in A, through a couple of flashy patterns
of less clear provenance, to collapse finally back to a low A,
which he ‘wows’ with the whammy bar.17
While this analysis provides a sense of the compositional structure of a piece of

performed music, its narrative resolution requires an interpretive move that offers a
cultural reading of what it means, what it can be said to articulate. We can see this
combination of musicology and the textual interpretive claim of how music
articulates social and cultural ‘tensions’, in the following striking formulation:
metal guitar solos typically take the form of rhetorical outbursts,

characterized by fast licks and soaring, amazing virtuosity that
can create a sense of perfect freedom and omnipotence; they
model escape from social constraints, extravagant individuality.18
Here, the textual interpretive move follows from and is cued by the
descriptive/analytical treatment, which seeks to extend and resolve the sequence. It
is nevertheless a claim abut the ‘reception-aesthetics’ of metal fandom; what the
musical performance means to the ideal-typical listener, suggesting coherence and
significance in how the text is ‘heard’.
However, in the climax of the book, in the chapter that deals with madness,
mysticism and horror, musicology is noticeably reduced and the interpretive given
greater prominence. Here Walser is offering a more ambitious cultural analysis,
which offers a particular thematic ‘reading’ within its cultural context. What is
carried over is the concern with cultural hierarchy; a feature that is definitive of the
then emergent cultural studies, particularly that pioneered by Fiske,19 where the
cultural form is able to articulate power relations through its capacity to challenge
__________________________________________________________________
high\low categorization as hierarchy. Such analysis involves an interpretive effort
to show how the popular cultural text can be a radical text, even within a
commercially circumscribed context, reflective of ‘relations of domination’. For
the new cultural studies, this means that one cannot read-off reception positions in
terms of the class, gender or ethnicity of popular music audiences, since such
category locations offer a potential for a discursive appeal or articulation, rather
than a simple ‘reading-off’ of economic position to cultural reading. What this
means is that the play of positions within a discursive performance is not
guaranteed but an effect of the articulatory potential of a form to recruit supporters.
Therefore a radical text, that which possesses articulatory power, is able to recruit a
broad constituency within the terms of a radical project, one that challenges the
possession of definitional power or represents the cultural politics of ‘the people’
against the ‘power bloc’.20
‘Class background correlates, to some extent, with preferences for different
kinds of heavy metal, but heavy metal in the 1980s claimed a huge audience that
overruns these categories’.21 This quote indicates that, unlike Fiske, Walser wants
to retain some sense of heavy metal fandom and its reception aesthetics as
grounded in shared community experience, such as class and gender.
Surprisingly, in the opening chapter of RWTD, Walser describes the use of a
questionnaire, conducted with 136 people by saying,
their occupations ranged from car wash attendant to law school

student, from computer programmer to construction worker. Their
parent’s occupations covered the whole gamut of working and
middle-class jobs, with the exception of one sample, collected in
bar in Detroit, which was entirely industrial working class.22
Because of the size and administration of this questionnaire (opportunity

sampling), it cannot provide a demographic profile of metal fans. Walser
acknowledges the sample has no ‘statistical precision’ yet he chooses to
‘summarize the responses I found clear and useful’.23 Why adopt the conceit of
employing a quantitative method if you are going to treat it qualitatively? The
answer to this question (like the imprecise reference to interviews and focus groups
that are also mentioned) is the need to demonstrate a knowledge and sympathetic
understanding of ‘nearly two hundred metal fans […] who discussed their music
and their lives with me’.24 But the test of this researcher-fan relationship, of how
balanced and equal it is, is how this evidence is employed. Only rarely does such
evidence find its way into the text. Mostly it is offered as a reference or footnote
support for Walser points. For example, ‘one fan told me he respected heavy metal
guitar more than any other kinds of music because it has the most ‘advanced’
guitar playing’.25 Of these (n-5), almost all occur as footnotes for the climactic
chapter of the book, Can I Play With Madness?
Andy R. Brown 69
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4. Critical-Madness and Capitalist Lunacy: Reading Heavy Metal Fandom
as Cultural Critique
In this chapter, Walser offers a cultural reading of how the post-modernist play
with the forces of madness, mysticism and horror to be found in the ‘pastiche’-like
compositions of bands like Iron Maiden and Megadeth, offer a type of ‘critical
madness’ or ‘madness as trope for unconventional thought’26 to their fans. Thus,
despite the ways in which the eclectic juxtaposition of literary references and
dramatis personae (culled from a plethora of classical and contemporary texts) and
the formal complexity and discordant tonal drama of the playing, articulate the
dislocated, decentred, discomforting experience of living in late capitalism. The
‘success’ of the music - its ‘formidable ensemble precision’ - offers the listener an
experience of ‘coping and control’; an enactment of ‘collective survival’:
In their free appropriation of symbols of power, and in their

material enactment of control, of hanging on in the face of
frightening complexity [..] heavy metal bands suggest to many
that survival in the modern world is possible, that disruptions, no
matter how unsettling, can be ridden out and endured.27
There is one dissenting voice to Walser’s view. In a footnote, he refers to a

fan’s ‘nihilistic’ response to the topic of nuclear war: ‘Just get it over with’. But the
other fans in the discussion group, ‘disagreed emphatically’.28 What we never here
is whether such fans were asked to respond directly to Walser’s interpretation of
Iron Maiden and Megadeth songs. This, recall, was the point of strategic criticism
of Weinstein’s objectivity: that it brow-beat fans by demonstrating they had
misinterpreted Rush’s concept album, 2112. Walser does not want to replicate this
type of elitist ‘objectivism’. But what is his alternative? To offer a reading that is
never directly authenticated by evidence of fan responses, mainly because fans are
never afforded the opportunity to engage with it.29
The argument that metal music might allow fans to live with the contradictions
of capitalism is surely laudable. But it needs to be squared with the narratives of
fans themselves. This can only be achieved through types of research that attempt
to narrow the divide between academics and ordinary fans. Walser’s methodology
operates largely as a rhetorical device that provides a sense of authentic connection
to metal fans, without actually achieving this. Academic-fan readings cannot stand
in for such evidence but rather serve as a privileged validation of the identity
projects of intellectuals.
Notes
1
R. Walser, Running With the Devil: Power, Gender and Madness in Heavy Metal
Music, Wesleyan University Press, Hanover, 1993, p. vii.
__________________________________________________________________
2
Ibid.
3
D. Weinstein, Heavy Metal: The Music and its Culture, De Capo Press, New
York, 2000.
4
This successful moral panic episode not only demonized a section of blue-collar,
white youth as ‘folk devils’ it also had real consequences for many of them, from
having to live with negative stereotypes of themselves (‘burnouts’, ‘dirtbags’, etc),
to some being sectioned in psychiatric units and/or processed as delinquents via
‘de-metalling’ programmes (see Brown forthcoming). In addition, the Parental
Advisory label on heavy metal recordings initiated by the Recording Industry
Association of America (RIAA) in response to the panic, also meant that heavy
metal music was harder to obtain, since national chains refused to stock
‘controversial’ material.
5
To-date this disagreement has been somewhat one-sided, consisting of the
criticisms raised by Walser on Weinstein’s 1991 publication; the 2nd revised edition
of Weinstein’s book did not offer the anticipated response to these criticisms.
Given that my principal focus here is Walser this not necessarily a problem.
6
Weinstein, op cit, 2000, p. 239.
7
Walser, op cit, p. 21.
8
Ibid., p. 22.
9
Ibid., p. 21.
10
Ibid., p. 23.
11
Ibid.
12
Ibid.
13
Ibid., pp. 23 & 24.
14
Ibid., p. 24.
15
Ibid., p. 25.
16
Published in the journal Popular Music Walser, 1992; this article is reprinted as
ch. 3 of Running with the Devil.
17
R. Walser, Running with the Devil, 1993, p. 69. Italics mine.
18
Ibid., p. 53.
19
See, for example, J. Fiske, Popular Culture, 1993; Understanding Popular
Culture, 1993; see also, M. Hills, Fan Cultures, 2003.
20
J. Fiske, ‘Telelvision: Polesemy and Popularity’, Critical Studies in Mass
Communication, Vol. 3(4), 1986, pp. 391-408.
21
Walser, 1993, p. 17.
22
Ibid., pp. 17-18.
23
Ibid., p. 18.
24
Ibid., p. vii.
25
Ibid., p. 192, n.49.
26
Ibid., p. 155.
27
Ibid., p. 159.
Andy R. Brown 71
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28
Ibid., p. 202, n. 75.
29
Surely the alternative to a top-down reading is to build up a deeper
understanding of what fans do and don’t believe, however messy that might be and
then seek to square this with a theoretical reading? Just how uncomfortable this can
become is demonstrated by Harris Berger’s ethnomusicological ‘dialogic’
encounters with the white, working class, death metal musician, Dann Saladin. H.
M. Berger, Metal, Rock and Jazz: Perception and the Phenomenology of Musical
Experience, Wesleyan University Press, Hanover, 1999, ch. 11.
Bibliography
Berger, H.M., Metal, Rock and Jazz: Perception and the Phenomenology of
Musical Experience. Wesleyan University Press, Hanover, 1999.
Brown, A.R. ‘Suicide Solutions? Or How the Emo Class of 2008 were Able to
Contest their Media Demonization, Whereas the Headbangers, Burnouts or
‘Children of ZoSo’ Teneration were Not…’. Heavy Metal: Controversies and
Countercultures. Equinox, London, forthcoming.
Fiske, J., ‘Television: Polesemy and Popularity’. Critical Studies in Mass

Communication. Vol. 3(4), 1986, pp. 391-408.
Fiske, J., Popular Culture. Routledge, London, 1989a.
Fiske, J. Understanding Popular Culture. Routledge, London, 1989b.
Hills, M., Fan Cultures. Routledge, London, 2003.
Jenkins, H., Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture.

Routledge, New York, 1992.
Kahn-Harris, K., Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge. Berg, Oxford,
2007.
Walser, R., Running With the Devil: Power, Gender and Madness in Heavy Metal
Music. Wesleyan University Press, Hanover, 1993.
Weinstein, D., Heavy Metal: A Cultural Sociology. Lexington Books, New York,
1991.
__________________________________________________________________
Weinstein, D., Heavy Metal: The Music and its Culture. De Capo Press, New
York, 2000.
Andy R. Brown, PhD., is Senior Lecturer in Media Communications, Department

of Media and Film Production, School of Humanities and Cultural Industries, Bath
Spa University, UK.
Qualitative Research in Understanding the Metal Community
Igor Gafarov
Abstract
The main idea of the chapter is to demonstrate the way the methods of qualitative
research used in sociology and anthropology can be applied to the metal
community. In my opinion, qualitative methods are much more adequate for
studying the metal community than quantitative ones. In the first place, they are
more productive when used to uncover or formulate a social problem, as opposed
to giving practical advice in problematic situations. Despite growing research,
metal is not understood well as a social phenomenon. There is not enough
information and understanding from which any long-perspective conclusions based
on previous research can be drawn, nor analogies from other spheres. The
contemporary social situation is one of almost constant change, described variously
in different social theories, giving even more arguments for considering any
contemporary social phenomenon as something unique and distinctive, a product
of peculiar interaction of meanings. In this light it seems to me that qualitative
analysis in the area of the metal community is a worthwhile undertaking. The first
phase of my research includes the analysis of interviews of a number of prominent
metal bands. Working through an ample selection of interviews it is possible to add
qualitative methods to quantitative ones and give a representative picture of
meanings permeating the scene. Selecting such material is, in my opinion, more
sensible than beginning the work with song lyrics, for example, and more fitting
for the initial stage of the research than working with a selection of fan interviews.
This is not in the least because band interviews are more easily accessed and would
be much more helpful in formulating the initial hypothesis on ‘how’s and why’s’ in
the metal scene.
Key Words: Qualitative analysis, methodology of social research, textual analysis,

identity, metal scene, metal artists.
*****
1. Qualitative Research in Understanding of Social Processes

The main purpose of this chapter is methodological rather than empirical. It
aims to demonstrate the way the methods of qualitative research used in sociology
and anthropology can be applied to studying metal community. One of the biggest
problems of any sort of sociological analysis of the metal community is the sheer
scope of this global phenomenon. Any quantitative research would by definition be
aimed at a particular local scene. Qualitative research as such is used to get the
understanding of the how’s and why’s of human behavior, not centering on the
74 Qualitative Research in Understanding Metal Community
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aspects, which could be measured with quantitative methods – who, where and
when.
Qualitative analysis (QA) as a method of research is characterized by the fact
that the researcher does not develop a fixed scheme of hypothetical judgments and
does not try to make the data statistically persuasive. Instead s/he searches for a
deeper understanding of social phenomena. In my opinion QA has much bigger
perspectives in formulating high-scope hypotheses that could be used, for example,
by social philosophy.
Unlike quantitative methods, which are optimal for evaluating different variants
of practical action and programs, qualitative methods are more productive when it
comes to formulating social or cultural problems. They are especially relevant in
the current situation, when societies are characterized by social instability, the
fundamental break-up of stereotypes, guidelines and behavior. In this situation the
research problem cannot be clarified by familiarization with literature, probing or
other quantitative methods, because the starting point of the research is not quite
clear yet. The subject of research is a completely unknown phenomenon.
Identity in the metal community could be certainly defined as one of the social
and cultural problems of current society, one of the broader scope of problems
arising new identities in general. Our primary assumption is, that collective entities
that subordinate the individual will are not now predominant, but new
individualized constellations that are not united by common norms, hierarchies and
forms, rather are determined by disintegration, or ‘risky freedom’. Based on this
assumption, we assume that the monopoly of dominant culture is replaced by the
diversity of cultural expression and the increased importance of small groups and
alternative movements, usually dubbed ‘subcultures’. These groups of people with
common interests slowly become the main environment of any contemporary
human being and serve as a primary source of identity. One such contemporary
identity is the identity of a group with common musical preferences, such as heavy
metal. Despite the development of such identities and their respective values, they
are rarely researched in modern Cultural theory and thus, it is not possible to
analyse them using quantitative methods.
In quantitative research, on the one hand, the problem is determined by putting
out hypotheses that are empirically provable in extensive statistical selections.
Such a course is difficult in the case of the metal community, as it is a global one:
its members are both globally widespread, numerous and comparatively distant
from each other and locally rare. On the other hand, when using qualitative
methods, the main hypothesis can be formed based on small pool of statistical
information. Especially important for us is the fact that qualitative research
underlines the importance of the position of research subjects. The popularity of
qualitative research went up in the second half of the 20th century, when the
majority of social scientists became disillusioned with the possibility of explaining
a ‘human essence’ and social occurrences using macro theories. Such theories are
Igor Gafarov 75
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based on the image of society as an organized whole. The life of individuals is seen
as a manifestation of objective social laws, and the individual is a representative of
a social type. There is almost no way to turn to his/her particular understanding of
his/her own activity. Qualitative research, in comparison, is oriented on working
with the complex representation of social reality from the position of active
individual.
The representativity in qualitative analysis is based not on statistical selection,
but on the idea of ‘social field’. It is understood as a fragment of social reality,
generated by direct or indirect interaction of people. It has its own resources,
cultural programmes, language and borders. On an individual level, every member
could be viewed as a legitimate representative of his/her cultural group. Thus, the
program, language, borders and ideals of a community can be studied based on a
limited sample of either ‘marginal cases’, ‘ideal cases’ or ‘good’ informants.
2. Methods of Qualitative Research

Donald Ratcliff ,1 a Canadian researcher, had proposed a classification of the
methods of qualitative research. It can be briefly summarized in the following 15
points:
(A) Typology – building a system of classifications based on

patterns, topics or other groups of data. Ideally these categories
should be mutually exclusive and exhaustive;
(B) Taxonomy – complex typology with several levels of concepts,
incorporating each other;
(C) Constants Comparison – a method that is based on the idea of
‘Grounded Theory’ by Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss, who
insisted that theory is supposed to be based on proving the
qualitative data received in particular circumstances, for example
interviewing.2 Constants comparison includes eight steps 1)
turning to the text, 2) selecting indicators of categories and
marking them in texts, 3) comparison of codes with the purpose
of finding the concordance and differences, 4) adjustment of
codes to demonstrate the categories, 5) partitioning the text in
accordance with categories, 6) fixation of the occurrence of
categories, 7) determining the saturation of categories, 8)
selection of the basic categories;
(D) Analytical Induction – the methods including the following steps
1) selecting a particular phenomena and proposing an
explanatory hypothesis, 2) hypothesis verification on different
phenomenon, 3) hypothesis falsification, 4) correction of
hypothesis;
(E) Logical Matrix Analysis – graphical analysis of causality;
__________________________________________________________________
(F) Quasi-Statistics – statistics of the usage of categories in analysed
text;
(G) Microanalysis – a temporal analysis of particular event with the
marking of it’s beginning and end;
(H) Metaphoric Analysis – analysis of the possibility of application
of different metaphors;
(I) Domain Analysis – analysis of language in cultural context, is
based on dividing the terminology in different domain and
analysing the cultural patterns in the description of the situation;
(J) Hermeneutic Analysis – an attempt to understand the actor’s
meaning, not the ‘objective’ one;
(K) Discourse Analysis – linguistic analysis of communication,
based on discovering regularities;
(L) Semiotic Analysis – analysis of the sign and symbol meaning
construction and searching the implied meaning in the system of
meanings of a particular culture;
(M) Content Analysis – selecting the most important implicit topics
in the text, is based on fixing a certain number of mutually
exclusive categories and counting mentionings in a text;
(N) Phenomenologic (heuristic) Analysis – based on the individual
life-world perspective of both the researcher and the research
subject;
(O) Narrative Analysis – the analysis of the ‘plot’ of the ‘tale’ the
subject is telling.
The main ways of information gathering in qualitative analysis include

observation, participant observation, visual observation with the use of photo and
video technology, informal interview, group discussion (focus groups).
The methods that can be used are primarily participant observation, group
discussion and informal interviewing. Visual observation has only limited use in
the case of big group activities within the community or scene and gives little
material to the analysis of identity problems. The methods applicable to studying
identity in metal community include analytical induction and metaphoric analysis
as the main ways of proposing the research hypotheses; hermeneutic and
phenomenological analysis as the primarily attitudes of participant observation and
interviewing, where the subjects are permitted to their own interpretations of the
events; the creation of typology, constant analysis and quasi-statistics as the main
formalized methods of interpreting the texts of interviews; domain analysis in the
cases where the comparison of the terminology used inside the scene and one used
by the outside researchers is necessary; hermeneutic and phenomenological
analysis, content analysis and narrative analysis as the primarily strategies of
interpretations of the texts (in this case the texts of the interviews).
Igor Gafarov 77
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3. An Example of a Practical Application
I have decided to illustrate the possibility of qualitative analysis of identity in
heavy metal with the example of the identity of the metal artist. For the purpose of
this analysis I had selected a set of interviews of different bands from extreme
metal styles, namely: 1349, Akercocke, Bathory, Behemoth, Bolt Thrower,
Endstille, Meshuggah, Morbid Angel, Nevermore, Nile, Therion and Vader.
Selecting such material is, in my opinion, more sensible then beginning the work
with the song lyrics, for example, and more fitting for the initial stage of the
research then working with the selection of the fan interviews. Not in the least
because band interviews are more easily accessed and would be much more helpful
in formulating the initial hypothesis on ‘how’s and why’s’ in the metal scene.
The selection was based primarily on the personal preferences and on the
evaluation of the artists of these bands as representative subjects, who can give
extensive answers on the questions from the following topics: (1) the ‘mission’ of a
metal artist, (2) the criteria of selection of lyrical topics, (3) the comparative
importance of music and lyrics, (4) the message behind the music.
The qualitative methods I have used for analyzing the interviews are as follows:
 Typology – system of classification of patterns or topics;

 Analytical Induction –the process of formulating the hypothesis
going from the occurrence itself;
 Metaphorical Analysis;
 Hermeneutic Analysis – searching not for ‘objective’ meaning,
but trying to interpret the implied one;
 Content Analysis;
 Narrative Analysis.
By analysing the interviews we can identify several distinct narratives that speak of
the relationship of an artist and his music:
 Lyrical message of social criticism;

 Direct connection between the music as such and values and
views of an artist;
 Honesty and devotion as most important virtues of an artist;
 Artist’s own preferences as privileged over the desires of the
listeners.
Curiously, such approach to art echoes the aesthetic theory of romanticism.

Even more interesting is, that in romantic art sound was commonly understood as a
primary artistic medium. Drawing parallels between romantic aesthetics and metal
aesthetics can give a solution to one of the most important delusion in
__________________________________________________________________
contemporary small group studies. Leaning heavily on Hebdige’s analysis of the
punk movement, most modern ‘subcultural’ theories try to discern the political
message behind the movement. Although such post-Marxist analysis is viable, we
should not yield to the temptation to reduce all interests to the political, or even
worse, economic interests.
Thus, qualitative analysis helps us to understand the meaning behind the music
and the core of identity in the metal community – not through the statistical
analysis, but through the selective reading of chosen texts. It is especially
applicable to studying the metal community as a global phenomenon because of
the methodological orientation on the analysis of the individual cases and viewing
each case as a representative one. The objectivity is reached thus not through the
proper or sizable enough selection, but through proper techniques of analysis.
Future research could be oriented towards applying these strategies to collecting
and analyzing the interviews of metal fans and band members in particular scenes.
Notes
1
D. Ratcliff 15 Methods of Data Analysis in Qualitative Research, Date of access
08.03.2010. http://qualitativeresearch.ratcliffs.net/15methods.pdf
2
B.G. Glaser & A.L. Strauss, The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for
Qualitative Research. Aldine, Chicago, 1967.
Bibliography
Glaser, B.G., Strauss, A.L. The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for
Qualitative Research. Aldine, Chicago, 1967.
Ratcliff, D., 15 Methods of Data Analysis in Qualitative Research. Date of access,

08.03.2010. http://qualitativeresearch.ratcliffs.net/15methods.pdf.
Igor Gafarov is a Master of Philosophy of European Humanities University, and a

Ph.D. student at the Belarusian University of Culture. His main research area is the
metal community as a social and cultural fact.
Heavy Metal, Identity Work and Social Transitions: Implications
for Young People’s Well Being in the Australian Context
Paula Rowe
Abstract
Australia brands itself as a multi-cultural society that embraces social and cultural
diversity, yet this rhetoric appears somewhat limited to ethnic and religious
diversity and less likely to extend to embracing youth cultures and lifestyles on the
periphery. This chapter previews forthcoming doctoral research that will
investigate the significance of heavy metal music and its culture for young people’s
‘identity work’ in Australia. Specifically, the research aims to investigate how and
why young people use heavy metal music and lifestyles to forge ‘chosen’ social
identities; and how the process of forging chosen metal identities affects young
people’s social transitions through various social contexts, particularly schooling
and school to work transitions. The emphasis on transitions through education and
employment stems from current Australian policy prescriptions that demand young
people to be engaged in either ‘earning or learning’. The focus of these policies is
to responsibilise young people towards linear developmental pathways, largely
neglecting and/or negating other structural and cultural factors or lifestyle options.
In Sam Dunne’s 2006 documentary Metal, A Headbanger’s Journey, Rob Zombie
(referring to metalheads)1 suggests that nobody wants to be the ‘weird’ kid, but
inevitably there are young people who end up as loners, or outsiders, and are thus
drawn to the outsider elements of heavy metal music and its culture. Despite the
enduring social disapproval of ‘metal’ as an identity, a core of young metalheads
exist in schools across western nations which leads this chapter to preview the
following research questions. What do young people perceive to gain from forging
metal identities against a backdrop of ‘normalising’ policy regimes; and what are
the implications of these experiences for young people’s social transitions and
personal wellbeing?
Key Words: Youth, social transitions, identity work, heavy metal, wellbeing.
*****
1. The State of Play for Young People’s Social Transitions

In western societies, it is widely acknowledged that young people face
protracted and problematic transitions through a variety of domestic and social
contexts.2 Fractured social institutions and structures combine with dubious
educational and employment pathways to create social milieus and contexts that
are not conducive for ‘empowered transitions’.3 Adding further complexity is the
social dynamics of late modernity which are increasingly characterised by risk and
individualisation, a process which thrusts upon the individual the opportunity (or
80 Heavy Metal, Identity Work and Social Transitions
__________________________________________________________________
burden) of writing one’s own biography.4 Young people in general are
experiencing less certainty about their futures than previous generations; moreover,
these changes are felt acutely by young people living in conditions of social and
economic marginalisation.5
The breadth of change that has occurred across the Australian political and
social landscape over the last three decades has been underscored by fundamental
economic and social reforms; moreover, these changes have been fostered by a
global resurgence in neoliberal ideology.6 In Australia, neoliberalism has
refashioned social and economic policy, especially in relation to rights and
responsibilities. Within welfare state reforms, the neoliberal influence has given
rise to ‘workfare’ policies, which now focus on full employability rather than full
employment. Workfare policies target the most vulnerable recipients of income
support (particularly young people) with punitive and coercive programs based on
obligations to take up employment or training, regardless of the suitability of these
programs for individuals and their circumstances.7 Secure employment for young
people has diminished due to changes in the economy and labour market
deregulations, yet neoliberal ideology has deflected responsibility for social
‘problems’ away from the state and onto individuals. Concomitant with this is a
strong underclass discourse which views social problems as a result of the personal
failings of individuals with ‘flawed moral characters’.8
As a consequence of the tremendous social, economic and policy changes over
the last three decades in Australia and abroad, much research attention has been
focused on the social transitions of young people. Indeed, a major preoccupying
theme in youth literature concerns the social transitions of young people living in
marginalised communities and the potential negative consequences of social
exclusion.9 Whereas the body of social transitions literature is extensive, it has
largely focused on the structural determinants of young people’s transitions and
has neglected to capture the ways in which young people as social actors exercise
agency over their circumstances by constructing and claiming ‘chosen’ social
identities.
2. ‘Chosen’ and ‘Unchosen’ Identity Work

In navigating one’s way through uncertain social conditions and individualised
transitions, young people must increasingly plan their own life course in relation to
values, beliefs, affiliations and preferences, which are essentially identity tasks (or
identity work). Yet Côté posits that young people’s identity work is shaped and
constrained by the social, structural and economic obstacles they encounter.10 In
support, Lawler argues that identities are socially produced and that one’s social
milieu provides resources to draw on when constructing narratives that tell the
story of who we are and how we want others to view us.11 Young people growing
up in conditions of social and economic disadvantage are vulnerable to having
‘unchosen’ identities ascribed to them which are positioned in the context of
Paula Rowe 81
__________________________________________________________________
marginalisation.12 For these young people, it is not uncommon to grow up with
unchosen identity labels such as ‘at-risk’, ‘povs’, ‘ferals’ and ‘lazy dole-bludgers’.
Breaking out of the social and economic constraints of marginalisation is difficult
enough, yet these young people must also contend with the psychological
constraints of unchosen and disparaging social identities.
Despite conditions of hardship and disadvantage, young people still manage to
find a space in which to express their identity and live a ‘life of one’s own’, often
by constructing ‘chosen’ identities as a means of resistance against ‘unchosen’
identities.13 Lemert14 asserts that a shift in focus from established social systems to
the question of identity is warranted given that in a destabilised world, identity has
become just as unstable. For young people growing up in social conditions
underscored by deindustrialisation and globalisation, the fragmentation of
collective sources of (traditional) group identities and declining social norms mean
that young people’s identity work is increasingly a process of intersection,
combination and conflict with other identities.15 In late modernity, there is less
conception of what the future holds for young people. In terms of identity work,
the life experiences of parents are of less use to young people now. Instead, young
people are more frequently looking to peers, celebrities, sporting identities and
popular culture icons when searching for components of their identities.16
Giddens describes this process as becoming the primary architect of one’s own
identity.17 For Beck and Beck-Gernsheim, it is a matter of writing one’s own
biography; furthermore they caution that ‘do-it-yourself biographies’ are ‘risk’
biographies as it is easier to make poor choices against a backdrop of uncertainty.18
In negotiating risks and uncertainties while writing one’s own biography, young
people are in effect engaging with a process of reflexive modernisation. That is,
young people are reflexively managing their identity work in a non-linear fashion
by engaging, disengaging and re-engaging with a variety of lifestyle choices and
cultural affiliations based on their availability and ongoing assessments of the
risks, rewards and responsibilities they carry.19
3. Metal Identities, Chosen Identities?

In searching for answers to identity questions such as ‘who am I?’, ‘what are
my values and goals?’ and ‘what is my life’s purpose?’ young people have
regularly aligned with various group affiliations and sought membership within a
diverse range of cultural cleavages. Since the mid twentieth century, musical styles
have had a profound influence on youth cultures. Contemporary music continues to
provide a dominant medium through which young people can develop and express
‘distinct sets of sensibilities, meanings, symbols and practices’.20
Youth cultures based on musical preferences may be profound and enduring,
however young people who align with group memberships based on musical
genres are socially tolerated in varying degrees. Since its emergence over three
decades ago, heavy metal music has been much maligned by dominant and
__________________________________________________________________
normative social discourse due to mainstream perceptions of heavy metal music as
violent, dangerous, anti-social and even ‘satanic’ in nature and content.21
Moreover, the genre has been strongly associated with cultural practices and
symbolic expressions of membership (such as body modifications, tattooing, and
dress styles) that have been perceived as confronting, deviant, and socially
undesirable.22
To date, heavy metal scholarship has produced a modest body of literature from
various disciplines and perspectives.23 During the 1980s-90s, heavy metal literature
reflected the media driven moral panics of the era following high school shootings
in the United States and the highly publicised trials of heavy metal musicians
charged with facilitating youth suicides via the lyrical content of their music.24
Arnett25 argued that youth involvement with heavy metal was a result of the failure
of US society to ‘properly’ socialise its young citizens and in 1985, the Parents’
Music Resource Centre testified their moral objections to heavy metal before the
US Senate in a bid to ban the sale of heavy metal music to young people. The
academic gaze became firmly fixed on the possible effects of heavy metal lyrics on
youth deviancy while psychologists voiced their concerns about potential links
between heavy metal music, substance misuse, and youth suicide.26 The
‘intelligence’ of metalheads has since been researched, as has their mental health.27
Whilst it is unlikely that academia, or society at large, will ever lose their
fascination for pathologising heavy metal music, scholarship in the twenty first
century has become increasingly interested in the possibility that heavy metal
musical preferences may facilitate a range of positive outcomes for its followers. A
sense of belonging, community participation, catharsis, empowerment, resilience
and agency are all themes that have emerged strongly in contemporary metal
studies.28 Notably, Purcell suggests that the metal ‘scene’ is an example of yet
another group that young people join to express their individuality and further
suggests that metal permits a greater degree of individualism and freedom than
other typically restrictive adolescent social cliques.
By entering the metal scene, one can gain an identity and join a
group without sacrificing a great deal of individuality. Moreover,
entrance into the Death Metal scene, or any subculture, which is
not deemed socially acceptable, automatically guarantees that the
standards and judgements of the outside world will not come into
play. For the socially awkward, for those who are not beautiful,
for those who could never succeed at sports, the metal scene
provides a community that will not judge based on those
factors... By its very nature, metal permits individualism by
discouraging judgement and declaring acceptance of the socially
unacceptable. Metal may thus be a haven for the unique.29
Paula Rowe 83
__________________________________________________________________
4. Metal Identities and Social Transitions
If Purcell is correct and metal is indeed a haven for the unique (or socially
unacceptable), then what are the experiences of these young people in other
spheres of domestic and social life? What influence do social and economic
circumstances have on young people’s levels of engagement with metal? How are
young people reconciling their metal identities with other social identities and to
what end do metal identities impact on social transitions? Whereas the new wave
of metal scholarship provides rich and interesting inter-disciplinary insights into
the culture and practices of heavy metal, there remains a paucity of literature that
specifically addresses the foregoing questions. It would seem critical to investigate
how young people manage their ‘metal identities’ in a society that seemingly has
little tolerance for heavy metal music and its culture and how this affects their
social transitions through school, social networks, community connectedness and
employment opportunities. Understanding youth identities and social transitions
(especially those on the periphery) is critical at all levels of policy development
and service delivery in the areas of family support, education and training for
young people as well as policies that target young people’s health and wellbeing.
An understanding of the interplay between youth identities and social transitions is
particularly important given current Australian policy prescriptions which require
young people to be engaged in either ‘earning or learning’. Education policies
emphasise school retention as a facilitator of strong pathways into further
education, training and employment, however these policies assume relatively
uniform social circumstances and do not adequately recognise the tremendous
significance of social and cultural factors which may facilitate or impede young
people’s educational and employment pathways.30
Bottrell31 suggests that young people’s transgressions of dominant norms and
their attempts to counter negative social stereotypes by forging chosen identities
necessitates a reframing of these acts of resistance as acts of resilience and self-
empowerment. If the process of forging chosen identities is an empowering one for
young people, how does it play out against a backdrop of normative policy
prescriptions? Are these self-empowering processes negated by dominant social
expectations placed on young people? Can ‘being metal’ thus act as a conduit for
disempowerment within normative policy frameworks?
In Australia, the social policy arena at large is embedded with mixed messages
for young people. Australian education policies are particularly rife with policy
contradictions in terms of influencing young people’s identity work. On one hand,
young people are encouraged to pursue their dreams and be all that they desire to
be. Empowerment, recognition, individualism and valued strengths are all concepts
that commonly appear throughout strategic direction statements and school mission
statements. Yet schools do not typically manage ‘difference’ well. Instead,
individualism is paradoxically accepted within normalising parameters. School
uniform policies dictate acceptable appearance from clothing through to
__________________________________________________________________
permissible hair styles/cuts, jewellery and allowable slogans or affiliations that can
appear on school bags. ‘Be whatever you want, as long as we like it’ seems to be
the tone of contemporary school policies that impact on identity work.
Young metalheads bear the obvious brunt of such policies. Choice of t-shirt
and/or band logos is anything but arbitrary among metalheads, rather, they are
powerful symbols of identity and belonging. Yet these important identity tasks are
outlawed in educational settings. On the one hand, young metalheads may feel
excluded and isolated by these processes - or - they may feel justified in their
affiliation with ‘outsider’ music and forge stronger emotional connections with
their ‘outsider’ community. Clearly, research is needed to explore these push-pull
factors in order to investigate how ‘being metal’ affects school life - and vice
versa. This is particularly important given the growing evidence that identity
resources are key determinants of young people’s ability to engage with education
and vocational opportunities.32 A strong sense of self-identity (incorporating a
sense of purpose, a sense of belonging and self-esteem) is a key factor for young
people’s ability to develop long term goals and see the relevance of education and
training in their lives.33 A deeper understanding of young people’s identity work
and their identity resources thus appears critical for developing robust supports that
enhance young people’s ability to remain engaged with schooling and develop long
term aspirations.
5. Implications for Well Being

The concept of wellbeing has gained prominence in Australian policy mantra,
particularly over the last ten years, perhaps due to its more palatable reception than
the more socially stigmatised concept of mental health. The World Health
Organisation34 defines health and wellbeing as a ‘state of complete physical,
mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’.
Despite the clarity of this definition, wellbeing remains a highly subjective
concept. For instance, mental and social wellbeing for metalheads could be
prioritised (by policymakers) in terms of educational attainment as an insulating
factor against the fragility of the youth labour market. It has been widely argued in
both Australian and international contexts that education is the key to secure
employment and increased earning potential; moreover, secure attachments to the
labour market and financial security are arguably the doorway to optimal life
chances and a sense of wellbeing for young people.35
Well being, on the other hand, may be prioritised by young metalheads as
having its roots embedded in the concepts of community, belonging and
acceptance. For young people, respect is first and foremost to be attained where
they are known and accepted for who they are; that is, the sense of belonging
through claiming and ‘being owned’ by one’s people fosters self-esteem, status and
solidarity– all of which are argued to be critical factors for supporting and
sustaining optimal wellbeing.36 The concepts of self-determination and
Paula Rowe 85
__________________________________________________________________
empowerment are central to the literature around wellbeing. If in fact young
metalheads are reclaiming power through powerful music, if metal is giving them a
voice, or if metal provides an opportunity to perform resistance as a means of
resilience, then it can be argued that forging metal identities is indeed an
empowering process that supports the development of protective factors for mental
and social wellbeing. In contrast, if ‘being metal’ excludes young people from
education and training opportunities, or if it further positions young people in the
margins and isolates them from other lifestyle and developmental opportunities,
then it could be counter-argued that ‘being metal’ poses risks to young people’s
well being in terms of economic participation, social development and substantive
citizenship.
Clearly, robust empirical research is needed to investigate these arguments.
Further, it is imperative that the forthcoming research introduced in this chapter
adheres to its critical orientation and seeks to not only describe the experiences of
young Australian metalheads, but also investigates ways in which social and
education policy makers might usefully align with the interests of young people
and initiate more inclusive policy directions that support, rather than impede, the
development of empowered social transitions for young people positioned in the
social and/or cultural margins.
Notes
1
The term ‘metalheads’ is used to describe young people with strong preferences
for heavy metal music and/or lifestyles.
2
A. France, Understanding Youth in Late Modernity, Open University Press,
Berkshire, 2007; A. Furlong & F. Cartmel, Young People and Social Change: New
Perspectives, 2nd edn, Open University Press, Berkshire, 2007; R. MacDonald & J.
Marsh, Disconnected Youth?: Growing Up in Britain’s Poor Neighbourhoods,
Palgrave MacMillan, Hampshire, 2005; R. White & J. Wyn, Youth and Society:
Exploring the Social Dynamic of Youth Experience, 2nd edn, Oxford University
Press, South Melbourne, 2008.
3
‘Empowered transitions’ are defined as pathways that maximise young people’s
opportunities to engage with a relevant education, develop secure attachments to
the labour market, equitably access resources and services, and participate fully in
all aspects of social life that they choose to.
4
U. Beck & E. Beck-Gernsheim, Individualization, Sage Publications, London,
2002.
5
McDonald & Marsh 2005; France 2007.
6
A. Jamrozik, Social Policy in the Post-Welfare State: Australian Society in A
Changing World, 3rd edn, Pearson Education Australia, NSW, 2009; C. McDonald
& M. Reisch, ‘Social Work in the Workfare Regime: A Comparison of the U.S &
__________________________________________________________________
Australia’, Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, Vol. XXXV, No. 1, 2008, pp.
43-74.
7
S. Shaver, ‘Australian Welfare Reform: From Citizenship to Supervision’, Social
Policy and Administration, Vol. 36, No. 4, 2002, pp. 331-345.
8
Jamrozik 2009, p. 44.
9
MacDonald & Marsh 2005; Furlong & Cartmel 2007; France 2007.
10
J. Côté, ‘Youth and the Provision of Resources’, Youth and Social Capital,
Tufnell Press, London, 2007.
11
S. Lawler, Identity: Sociological Perspectives, Polity Press, Cambridge, 2008.
12
D. Bottrell, ‘Resistance, Resilience and Social Identities: Reframing ‘Problem
Youth’ and the Problem of Schooling’, Journal of Youth Studies, Vol. 10, No. 5,
2007, pp. 597-616.
13
Bottrell, 2007.
14
Lemert cited in G. Jones, Youth, Polity Press, Cambridge, 2009, pp. 66-67.
15
Beck & Beck-Gernsheim 2002; Côté, 2007.
16
Côté, 2000; S. Miles, Youth Lifestyles in a Changing World, Open University
Press, Philadelphia, 2000.
17
A. Giddens, Modernity and Self-Identity, Polity, Cambridge, 1991.
18
Beck and Beck-Gernsheim, 2002.
19
Jones, 2009; Beck & Beck-Gernsheim, 2002.
20
White & Wyn, 2008, p. 204-205.
21
D. Weinstein, Heavy Metal: The Music and its Culture, Da Capo Press, USA,
2000.
22
J. Arnett, Metalheads: Heavy Metal Music and Adolescent Alienation, Westview
Press, Colorado, 1996; R. Recours, F. Assaguel & N. Trujillo, ‘Metal Music and
Mental Health in France’, Culture, Medicine, Psychiatry, 2009, pp. 473-488.
23
K. Kahn-Harris, Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge, Berg, Oxford,
2007.
24
Kahn-Harris, 2007.
25
Arnett, 1996.
26
D. Snell & D. Hodgetts, ‘Heavy Metal, Identity and the Social Negotiation of a
Community of Practice’, Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology,
17, 2007, pp. 430-445; Recours, et al., 2009.
27
Recours, et al., 2009.
28
See Kahn-Harris, 2007; N. Purcell, Death Metal Music: The Passion and Politics
of a Subculture, McFarland & Company Inc., North Carolina, 2003; Snell &
Hodgetts, 2007.
29
Purcell, 2003.
30
J. Wyn, ‘The Changing Context of Australian Youth and its Implications for
Social Inclusion’, Youth Studies Australia, Vol. 28, No. 1, 2009, pp. 46-50.
31
Bottrell, 2007.
Paula Rowe 87
__________________________________________________________________
32
Côté, 2007; J. Smyth & R. Hattam, ‘Dropping Out’, Drifting Off, Being
Excluded, Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York, 2004.
33
Côté, 2007; R. MacDonald & J, Marsh, ‘Missing School: Educational
Engagement, Youth Transitions, and Social Exclusion’, Youth and Society, Vol.
36, No. 2, 2004, pp. 143-162.
34
http://www.who.int/features/factfiles/mental_health/en/index.html, Viewed on
July 20, 2010.
35
White & Wyn, 2008; MacDonald & Marsh, 2005.
36
Bottrell, 2007, p. 608.
Bibliography
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Press, Colorado, 1996.
Beck, U. & Beck-Gernsheim, E., Individualization. Sage Publications, London,

2002.
Bottrell, D., ‘Resistance, Resilience and Social Identities: Reframing ‘Problem

Youth’ and the Problem of Schooling’, Journal of Youth Studies, Vol.10, No.5,
2007, pp. 597-616.
Brown, A., ‘Popular Music Cultures, Media and Youth Consumption: Towards an
Integration of Structure, Culture and Agency’. Sociology Compass. 2008.
Cadwallader, S., ‘The Darker Side of Bright Students: Gifted and Talented Heavy
Metal Fans’. Occasional Paper No.19. National Academy of Gifted and Talented
Youth, United Kingdom, 2007.
Côté, J., ‘Youth and the Provision of Resources’. Youth and Social Capital. Tufnell
Press, London, 2007.
France, A., Understanding Youth in Late Modernity. Open University Press,

Berkshire, 2007.
Furlong, A. & Cartmel, F., Young People and Social Change: New Perspectives.
2nd edn, Open University Press, Berkshire, 2007.
Giddens, A., Modernity and Self-identity. Polity, Cambridge, 1991.

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Henry, P. & Caldwell, M., ‘Headbanging as Resistance or Refuge: A Cathartic

Account’. Consumption, Markets & Culture. Vol. 10, No. 2, 2007, pp. 159-174.
Jamrozik, A., Social Policy in the Post-Welfare State: Australian Society in A

Changing World. 3rd edn, Pearson Education Australia, NSW, 2009.
Jones, G., Youth. Polity Press, Cambridge, 2009.
Kahn-Harris, K., Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge. Berg, Oxford,
2007.
Lawler, S., Identity: Sociological Perspectives. Polity Press, Cambridge, 2008.
MacDonald, R. & Marsh, J., ‘Missing School: Educational Engagement, Youth

Transitions, and Social Exclusion’. Youth and Society. Vol. 36, No. 2, 2004, pp.
143-162.
MacDonald, R. & Marsh, J., Disconnected Youth?: Growing Up in Britain’s Poor

Neighbourhoods. Palgrave MacMillan, Hampshire, 2005.
McDonald, C. & Reisch, M., ‘Social Work in the Workfare Regime: A

Comparison of the U.S & Australia’. Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare.
Vol. XXXV, No. 1, 2008, pp. 43-74.
Miles, S., Youth Lifestyles in a Changing World. Open University Press,

Philadelphia, 2000.
Purcell, N., Death Metal Music: The Passion and Politics of a Subculture.
McFarland & Company Inc., North Carolina, 2003.
Recours, R., Assaguel, F. & Trujillo, N., ‘Metal Music and Mental Health in
France’. Culture, Medicine, Psychiatry. 2009.
Schwartz, S., ‘The Evolution of Eriksonian and Neo-Eriksonian Identity Theory

and Research: A Review and Integration’. Identity: An International Journal of
Theory and Research. Vol. 1, No. 1, 2001, pp. 7-58.
Shaver, S., ‘Australian Welfare Reform: From Citizenship to Supervision’. Social

Policy and Administration. Vol. 36, No. 4, 2002, pp. 331-345.
Paula Rowe 89
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Shildrick, T., ‘Youth Culture, Subculture and the Importance of Neighbourhood’.

Young. Vol. 14, No. 1, 2006, pp. 61-74.
Smyth, J. & Hattam, R., ‘Dropping Out’, Drifting Off, Being Excluded, Peter Lang
Publishing, Inc., New York, 2004.
Snell, D. & Hodgetts, D., ‘Heavy Metal, Identity and the Social Negotiation of a
Community of Practice’. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology.
17, 2007, pp. 430-445.
Walser, R., Running With the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal
Music. Wesleyan University Press, Connecticut, 1993.
Weinstein, D., Heavy Metal: The Music and its Culture. Da Capo Press, USA,
2000.
White, R. & Wyn, J., Youth and Society: Exploring the Social Dynamic of Youth
Experience. 2nd edn, Oxford University Press, South Melbourne, 2008.
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en/index.html, Viewed July 20, 2010.
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Paula Rowe is a PhD candidate in the School of Psychology, Social Work &
Social Policy at the University of South Australia.
PART 4
Ripping it Up: Metal as a Symptom of a Civilised

and Aggressive Disorder
Heavy Metal Rituals and the Civilising Process
Gary Sinclair
Abstract
This research posits that heavy metal music is part of what Elias refers to as a
‘civilising process’. He argues that as society becomes increasingly integrated we
are faced with an increasing web of interdependencies and relationships where a
growing intricacy is needed in order to manage one’s emotions. Elias and Dunning
argue that a result of increasing restraints and the routinisation of social
relationships, sport and leisure have attained a greater importance in society,
allowing for the generation and release of emotion and the experience of mimetic
excitement. Following an empirical qualitative study, which incorporated semi-
structured in-depth interviews and participant observation, it was found that heavy
metal fans in Ireland use heavy metal music in a similar fashion. Initial data
suggests that the heavy metal fans are drawn to the excitement of the music
because of their anger towards the repetitiveness and routinisation of popular
music and their own everyday lives and social relationships. The music provides a
cathartic release for the fans. The live event is a unique structure where fighting
and violence can occur in what is seen as a ‘controlled de-controlling of emotions’.
This is subject to external controls such as the pace of the music, security, and
internal controls with the unwritten codes of behaviour facilitating the survival of
the mosh pit. It is argued that the distinctive configuration of the heavy metal ritual
does not represent an example of a de-civilising process but is indicative of a more
complex progression, which Wouters refers to as ‘informalisation’. This research is
unique in that no previous study has examined the consumption of heavy metal
music from a figurational perspective and it opens up a new framework for
examining music subcultures.
Key Words: Figurational sociology, heavy metal rituals, Norbert Elias, sociology
of sport, live music.
*****
1. Informalisation: The Civilising Process and Heavy Metal

Elias1 examines the historicity of western society’s habitus and the
development of social processes and attitudes in the formation of a theory, which
led to the development of figurational sociology. His central contention is that in
post medieval times individuals developed an inner restraint where changes in
standards of etiquette and the advancement of ‘shame’ were symptoms of
emerging complex networks of social interdependencies and the influence of social
processes such as state formation. As we become embroiled in increasingly
complex webs of relationships and interdependencies we must learn how to control
94 Heavy Metal Rituals and the Civilising Process
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our emotions and behaviour in order to survive. In such circumstances, Elias
argues that society is engaged in what he refers to as a civilising process. This
happens at both a sociohistorical and an individual level. This could suggest that it
is a linear theory. This is not the case as it is possible that people become less
interdependent over time.
How then does a subculture such as heavy metal fit in Elias’s theory of the
civilising process? Arnett2 and Weinstein3 have discussed the moral panic that
surrounds heavy metal in American society. Kong observes how heavy metal
music has been classified in the media as ‘uncivilized and savage, reinforced by the
performativity of slam dancing, characterized as violent.’ 4 It would seem that the
violence and aggression that is synonymous with heavy metal would represent an
example of a de-civilising process. It will however be argued throughout this
chapter that this is not the case.
Heavy metal culture does not represent a ‘de-civilising process’ but is
symptomatic of what Wouters refers to as informalisation.5 This aspect of the
civilising process was introduced in an effort to understand the relaxing of
restraints in twentieth century society. Wouters argues that the growing influence
of the lower classes led to their looser and more informal manners being
incorporated throughout society. What heavy metal fans are experiencing is an
emancipation of emotions, as there becomes a growing tolerance for foul language
and public displays of emotion within modern society. Kilminister examines
counter culture behaviour and argues that ‘outsider’ groups feel the need to
differentiate themselves as the interdependencies between groups and social
classes become increasingly integrated. These groups subsequently separate
themselves by engaging in alternative music and experimenting with sex and drugs
or in the case of heavy metal violent religious imagery.6
Although diminishing standards in etiquette and manners appear to contradict
one of the central arguments of the civilising process this is not the case. The
relaxation of standards that we see in heavy metal in fact calls for an increase in
one’s self control. According to Wouters, the growing influence of the lower
classes led to their looser and more informal manners being incorporated
throughout society.7 He observes that the conventions of human relations become
increasingly flexible and less routinised as power relations transform. As a result
we are bound to deal with an increasingly shifting network of social relationships
through developing a more complex method of regulating one’s self. This can be
witnessed in the heavy metal scene where the participants have to possess a
number of additional social skills to deal with the new and complex situations the
metal scene provides with its idiosyncratic unwritten codes of behaviour. This is
particularly evident in the heavy metal ritual of ‘moshing’, which will be discussed
in more detail later in the chapter.
The alternative behaviour of participants in heavy metal culture does not
represent the loss of self-control, but in fact calls for individuals to develop a
Gary Sinclair 95
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greater level of self-restraint in an environment that is situated in a complex web of
social situations and relationships. This process of informalisation is reflective of
what Elias and Wouters maintain is the increasing integration of society. Through
this integration we are subject to an increasing inner and social restraint. In the
following section it will be examined how individuals and groups express
themselves as a result in modern society. This will involve a discussion concerning
the figurational sociology of sport and how heavy metal subculture fits into this
framework.
2. Figurational Sociology of Sport and the Quest for Excitement

Elias analyses the social trends that led to the emergence of rule based sport
and links the British eighteenth century process of ‘parliamentization’ to
‘sportization’.8 At the same time Elias and Dunning argue that the greater need for
leisure and the emergence of rule-based sports is a reflection of an emotional need
within western society.9 It has been discussed how with the increasing web of
relationships and interdependencies there has been a greater than ever intricacy to
how one manages their emotions and their behaviour. Elias and Dunning10 insist
that it is important that we find ways in which to express such emotions. Dunning
writes that
the high degree of routinisation in which people in large numbers

are subjected to a complex of externally and internally imposed
controls…such people need sports and other more or less
exciting leisure activities in order to experience a pleasurable
upsurge of emotions, an enjoyable ‘de-controlling of emotional
controls.’11
It is through the structure of the sporting field that individuals or groups can
create emotion and engage in what Elias and Dunning describe as the ‘quest for
excitement’. Sport and leisure, in essence, provide a cathartic release. Individuals
engage in mimetic activities in order to take on emotional experiences similar to
the actual activities they replicate. Mimetic behaviour revolves around the creation
of imaginary situations where individuals experience mimetic emotions in
activities where feelings are aroused that closely replicate sentiments felt in non-
leisure life. Examples include films or dramatic tragedies where the viewer is
subjected to feelings of happiness or anger. This creates tension that is then
resolved in one way or another. In other words it is a controlled danger, which
serves as a fantasy function representing particular experiences. Elias and Dunning
claim that for sports such as football, spectators and participants have a far greater
scope for generating and releasing tension. There is a greater connection between
motion and emotion. For example football fans can jump up and down on the
terraces where as those who attend an opera or a plays are expected to sit quietly
__________________________________________________________________
and clap at designated intervals. This may be the case, but in more modern and
popular forms of music, motion and emotion are intrinsically linked in the live
performance. Spectators or fans are encouraged to participate. This particularly
seems to be the case for heavy metal music, which makes the figurational
sociology of sport an appropriate model for the study of this genre and their fans.
In the next section the structure of heavy metal and the live event will be discussed
in order to demonstrate how heavy metal rituals are an example of a civilising
process and fit into Elias and Dunning’s figurational sociology of sport.
3. Dealing with Anger: Heavy Metal Rituals and the Controlled

Decontrolling of Emotions
I argue in this chapter that heavy metal fans use the music and in particular its
rituals to deal with anger. Anger is the most prominent emotion in the heavy metal
scene. The data collected for this research from nine interviews and participant
observation indicates that this anger is directed at perceived ‘established’ groups.
The participants reserve their anger for religious and political groups and in
particular what I refer to as the ‘routinisation of the popular music industry’. Elias
and Dunning speak of the routinisation of social processes and social relationships
in western society. A consistent theme, however, amongst the participants was
their frustration with the popular music industry. They lament the standardisation,
predictability and commercialisation of popular music. The heavy metal scene
represents an alternative to commercial pop and through engagement the fans can
position themselves as outsiders and deal with their anger through participating in
heavy metal’s rituals. The cathartic release in a Freudian sense that is generated
from such rituals is dependent on the internal and external controls. These controls
allow for the construction of an exceptional environment such as a mosh pit where
aggression and anger is generated and expressed in what Elias and Dunning refer
to as a ‘controlled, de-controlling of emotions’. 12
A. Internal Controls
The mosh pit is governed by an unwritten ‘code of behaviour’ amongst the
fans, which looks to insure the safety of those who engage in the ritual. Antony
(DI)13 holds that ‘you are kind of going crazy but you are not trying to hurt them.’
The pit is all about expressing aggression and physicality, but not in anyway that
harms anyone. This seems to indicate that the injuries sustained are unintentional.
Each and every participant I interviewed told me that if someone falls over you
pick them up. Rory (DI) illustrates this code of behaviour when he says ‘You are
jumping into each other and stuff but you are not kicking people throwing fists or
anything like that if someone falls over everybody stops helps to pick them up.’
The participants inform me that spitting, punching, using elbows or trying to hurt
anyone in anyway is not allowed.
Gary Sinclair 97
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The code is reinforced by the potential punishment of exclusion or physical
violence that is handed out to fans that don’t adhere. The participant observation
and interview data however suggests that the ‘code’ is not as strictly followed at
larger heavy metal concerts. This bares similarity to Le Bon’s14 work on crowds.
Le Bon claimed that individuals tended to act more randomly and uncivilised in
bigger crowds. It could however just be simply due to the greater physical
restraints imposed by the larger weight of the crowd.
B. External Controls
Heavy metal rituals are also subject to external controls. This includes the
varying degree of security and supervision that is present at heavy metal events and
the influence that the band has on the actions of heavy metal fans at a live
performance. These factors all contribute towards the unique environment of the
mosh pit. A heavy metal gig or concert can be a dangerous setting and as a result
there are security, rules and regulations in place to make sure people do not get
hurt. There was again a polarisation observed between the small event (a gig) and
the large event (concert). At the larger events there were restrictions concerning the
amount of alcohol consumed, moshing was officially banned and the bouncers
would stop individuals from crowd surfing. There was overall a greater attempt
observed at controlling the fans. However these restrictions failed to stop people
from getting drunk, moshing or crowd surfing. There were bouncers present at the
smaller events but they made no effort to stop any of the heavy metal rituals that
occur at a live event. It was the presence of the stricter internal ‘code of behaviour’
that prevented the mosh pit from getting out of control.
It is the band who exerts the greater external control over the crowd. Kieran
(DI) explains how ‘you do what the band tells you. If the band tells you wall of
death the; wall of death or what have you.’ The ‘wall of death’ is a ritual, which is
dictated by the metal bands. David (DI) tells me how when the band Lamb of God
start the opening chords of the song ‘Black Label’ the crowd automatically
separate into two sides and prepare for the song to break into the chorus. This
could be viewed as a consensual signal that is used by the fans to enhance the sense
of physicality and aggression. This is the case in some of the live performances I
witnessed. It can be seen that the band doesn’t necessarily have to direct the crowd
verbally. They can dictate the crowd through the tempo and structure of the songs
they play. The fans may know how to act in certain parts of songs through
experience but the band has the responsibility of orchestrating the rituals through
their music.
They opened with a very high tempo fast song with the singer
screaming. The song then slowed down in the middle with focus
altered to a tense drum beat and bass riff building the song up,
which gets the crowd going. They seem to know what is coming
__________________________________________________________________
and then as the music gets a little bit quicker and then quicker
again they launch in a violent chorus where the lead singer
screams at the top of his voice. The crowd then begin to mosh
near the front of the stage gathering in a circle of around fifteen
people barging into each other with their shoulders.15
The above extract is similar to the description of football matches presented by

Elias and Dunning.16 They observe the distinct pattern of figurations that the two
teams who play against each other conjure up and depending on the circumstances
of the match this creates a certain level of tension for the watching audience. An
example of tension being released is cheering or jumping up and down when a goal
is scored. This is comparable to the way in which metal fans and musicians build
up the tension in a song by starting a song slow and building the tension both in the
song and in the mosh pit before it is released when the chorus breaks in. Elias and
Dunning17 claim that for sports such as football spectators and participants have a
far better scope for releasing tension. There is a greater connection between motion
and emotion. They had suggested that sport was inimitable from music in that
sense. It is apparent however that heavy metal music incorporates a similar
relationship between movement and feeling.
The influence of the internal (the fans) code amongst the fans and the relative
authority of external controls have provided an understanding of the social
environment and rituals that take place at a heavy metal event. The creation of this
structure provides a platform for the fans to express anger, aggression, and
physicality in a configuration that allows for a ‘controlled, de-controlling of
emotions’.
4. Concluding Remarks
This chapter has examined how the heavy metal scene fits in with Elias’s
concept of a ‘civilising process’. Heavy metal with its propensity for vulgarity and
violence could potentially be viewed as an example of a de-civilising process.
However, it is the case that heavy metal culture is an illustration of how the
civilising process works. It was argued that the complex web of emotions,
relationships and rituals that exist within the scene is part of a process of
informalisation. The public displays of emotions, the violence and aggression of
the live heavy metal event do not represent a de-civilising loss of self-control. They
signify the development of a high level of self-restraint in an environment that is
situated in a complex web of social situations and relationships. Additionally, the
growing need for self-restraint and control in western society has simultaneously
facilitated a desire for excitement. Elias and Dunning hold that sport and leisure
have grown in importance as a result. They argue that the sporting field functions
as an environment where mimetic emotions can be experienced. This research
insists that the heavy metal scene plays a similar role to sport and that the music
Gary Sinclair 99
__________________________________________________________________
and rituals of the subculture provides a cathartic effect for the fans. It shares
similarities with sport in its relationship with movement and emotion and the
generation and release of tension. This is achieved through the construction of the
unique environment of the mosh pit, which is subject to internal and external
controls. This enables a ‘controlled, de-controlling of emotions’.
This chapter puts forward a new framework for examining music subcultures.
Through adopting the theories of figurational sociology heavy metal and other
genres of music can be positioned in a wider context of psychic and social trends.
This will result in a clearer understanding of how such subcultures developed and
what attracts individuals to them both aesthetically and emotionally. It is also
recommended that in consideration of how the participants use heavy metal music
and its rituals to deal with their anger that further research focuses on the
potentially positive use of heavy metal in the treatment of individuals with
emotional difficulties.
Notes
1
N. Elias, The Civilizing Process, Blackwell, Oxford, 2009.
2
J.J. Arnett, Metal Heads: Heavy Metal Music and Adolescent Alienation,
Westview Press, Colorado, 1996.
3
D. Weinstein, Heavy Metal: The Music and Its Culture, Da Capo Press, USA,
2000.
4
L. Kong, ‘’Music and Moral Geographies: Construction of ‘Nation’ and Identity
in Singapore’, Geo Journal, Vol. 65, No. (1-2), 2006, pp. 103-111.
5
C. Wouters, Informalization, Sage, London, 2007.
6
R. Kilminster, ‘Narcissism or Informalization? Christopher Lasch, Norbert Elias
and Social Diagnosis’, Theory, culture and Society, Vol. 25, 2006, pp. 131-151.
7
Wouters, op. cit., 2007.
8
N. Elias ‘Introduction’, Quest for Excitement, Blackwell, Oxford, 2008.
9
N. Elias and E. Dunning, The Quest for Excitement, Blackwell, Oxford, 2008.
10
Ibid.
11
E. Dunning, ‘Sport in the Quest for Excitement: Norbert Elias’s Contributions to
the Sociology of Sport’, Group Analysis, Vol. 30, 1997, pp. 477-487.
12
Elias and Dunning, 2008.
13
(DI) Refers to depth interviews.
14
G. Le Bon, The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind, Dover Publications, New
York, 2001.
15
G. Sinclair, Field notes 02/02/10.
16
N. Elias & E. Dunning ‘The Dynamics of Sport Groups with Special Reference
to Football’, Quest for Excitement, Blackwell, Oxford 2008, pp. 189-203.
17
Ibid.
__________________________________________________________________
Bibliography
Arnett, J.J., Metal Heads: Heavy Metal Music and Adolescent Alienation.
Westview Press, Colorado, 1996.
Dunning, E., ‘Sport in the Quest for Excitement: Norbert Elias’s Contributions to
the Sociology of Sport’. Group Analysis. Vol. 30, 1997, pp. 477-487.
Elias, N., The Civilizing Process. Blackwell, Oxford, 2009.
Elias, N. & Dunning, E., The Quest for Excitement. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford,
2008.
—, ‘The Dynamics of Sport Groups with Special Reference to Football’. Quest for
Excitement, Blackwell, Oxford 2008.
Kilminster, R., ‘Narcissism or Informalization? Christopher Lasch, Norbert Elias

and Social Diagnosis’. Theory, Culture and Society. Vol. 25, 2006, pp. 131-151.
Kong, L., ‘Music and Moral Geographies: Construction of ‘Nation’ and Identity in
Singapore’. Geo Journal. Vol. 65, No. (1-2), 2006, pp. 103-111.
Le Bon, G., The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind. Dover Publications, New
York, 2001.
Weinstein, D., Heavy Metal: The Music and its Culture. Da Capo Press, USA,
2000.
Wouters, C., Informalization. Sage, London, 2007.
Gary Sinclair is a PhD. student at the Dublin Institute of Technology. His research
interests include figurational sociology and music subcultures.
Cycles of Metal and Cycles of Male Aggression: Ageing and the
Changing Aggressive Impulse
Samir Puri
Abstract
This chapter draws a parallel between the aggression that is inherent in metal
music and aggressive behaviour that is typically associated with young men. It
relates one phenomenon to the other in an attempt to better understand both. Of
interest is ageing, and how the male impulse to engage in reckless and aggressive
behaviour changes between adolescence and the 30s. The behavioural
manifestations of this change are clearly visible in society. Younger men exhibit a
higher propensity to engage in violence and criminality, to experience car
accidents, as well as being considered ripe for military service. In metal music, as a
band ages its members may struggle to summon up the same instinctive musical
aggression that came automatically with youth. What dynamics are at play in both
sets of phenomena, and what can one tell us about the other?
Key Words: Heavy metal, music, aggression, war, crime, delinquency,

testosterone, fighting.
*****
1. What Metal Tells Us about Male Aggression

This chapter draws a parallel between two realms in which aggression is
particularly pronounced. It considers the aggression inherent in metal music and
the aggressive behaviour typically associated with young men. The concern of this
chapter is how ageing impacts the male impulse towards aggression, and how this
affects both metal music and men in general.
Why examine male aggression through the lens of metal music? Metal relies
heavily on its conveyance of aggression and thrill seeking. This is sonically
apparent in metal’s fast tempos and jagged sounds; thematically discernible in its
lyrics and iconography; and behaviourally noticeable in rituals like mosh pits.
Other musical styles – punk, for example – are similarly energetic, but few other
genres are so thoroughly pervaded by expressions of aggression in sight and sound.
Moreover, metal is principally, although not exclusively, played and listened to by
males, with young males particularly associated with its more violent and
adrenalin-driven forms.
For these reasons, this chapter proposes a novel and admittedly largely
analogical metric for observing the changing aggressive spirit within young men
between mid-adolescence and their 30s. It examines the demographic correlation
between the declining aggression in metal bands’ music as the musicians traverse
their 20s, and how this reflects a change in the gut level willingness to fight and
102 Cycles of Metal and Cycles of Male Aggression
__________________________________________________________________
engage in recklessly aggressive behaviour that characterises men passing into their
30s.
This chapter relates one phenomenon to the other in an attempt to better
understand both. Society recognises that the propensity to aggression in the male
spirit changes during these years by, for example, charging younger men more than
other drivers for their car insurance, recruiting younger men for military service,
and targeting certain products and hobbies to younger men. The recklessness and
energy of young males is a foundational factor that our social institutions often
account for and – in the case of the military – actively use.1
Thus, as men age into their 30s and beyond they will pay less for their car
insurance and be of declining utility as an infantry soldier. But for metal musicians,
the same ageing process can complicate artistic expression. This is because metal
is, at its essence, an adrenalin-channelling art form in which a youthful lack of
impulse control might be an asset. This is often implicitly recognized in the critical
opinion of metal fans when they complain that a band’s best-loved work might be
produced early in its career. Other factors can explain this: as bands age song
writing ideas dry up, or the lure of commercial success might encourage the
softening of a once harsh sound. In addition of course, aggression does not
necessarily equate to good metal music. Underlying these matters, however, is an
ageing process that none can avoid and that all are beholden to, whether in the
world of metal or not.
2. Cycles of Male Aggression

Much behaviour deemed by society to be ‘insane’ might not be clinically so,
but instead, might be instinctive behaviour that is unmoderated by social norms or
personal restraint.2 Aggression is one such impulse. The propensity to be roused to
anger, to engage in life-threateningly reckless action, or to seek redress of injustice
by force is a powerful driver and distorter of human behaviour. It is an impulse that
exists within us all to varying degrees, but one that we learn to understand and
temper in order to function in harmonious relation with those around us.
What is meant by aggression? One part can be considered the instinct contained
within a person, and another part the manifestation of this instinct through
particular behaviours. As the passions are roused by a given stimuli, the instinct
impels behavioural responses. For the purposes of this chapter, instinct is broadly
understood to be those factors internal to the person, whether comprising of
character disposition or biology, while environmental factors are considered to be
the stimuli that probe and provoke the instinct. Instinct and environment exist in
symbiosis, as van Goozen writes: ‘In considering biological influences on the
development of behaviour, in this case aggression, one should always see the
behaviour as the outcome of a complex interplay of individual, developmental and
social factors.’3
Samir Puri 103
__________________________________________________________________
As males enter adolescence they typically gain physical strength, enjoy high
energy levels, and experience rising testosterone levels that can be twenty times
higher than a girl of the same age4 (although whether pubertal increases in
testosterone increase physical aggression is undetermined).5 The most readily
observable facets of aggression are its more dramatic manifestations in anti-social,
reckless and violent acts. Far harder to observe are everyday instances of
aggression that define life for all people to varying degrees:
It is not difficult to find examples from everyday life showing

that aggression and emotion are intimately connected
phenomenon. Aggression can result from fear, hate, or even love.
Still, the common emotion related to the occurrence of aggressive
behaviour is anger.6
Young men are often associated with aggressive, angry, thrill-seeking or

reckless behaviour intended to establish authority, defend honour or redress
grievances amongst their peers. Examples of such behaviour that readily lend
themselves to observation are violent crime and car accidents. Both tend to involve
young men more so than other groups.
Criminality is clearly driven by a conjunction of behavioural and environmental
factors. Nevertheless, the prevalence of general antisocial behaviour changes
dramatically over age. One study talks of ‘a steep decline in antisocial behaviour
between ages 17 and 30 [that] is mirrored by a steep incline in antisocial behaviour
between ages 7 and 17’.7 In the case of gun violence, according to a study by the
Geneva-based Small Arms Survey:
Armed and angry young men are perhaps the most feared
element of any society, but they also have the most to fear.
Regardless of the countries in which they live, young men
represent disproportionately high share of the perpetrators and
victims of gun-related violence.8
Road accidents are another indicator of such incidents. The insurance costs for
young male drivers (17-25 in the UK) are far higher than any other demographic
group. Men, and particularly young men, incur many more accidents and fatalities
in motor vehicles than do women because men react more aggressively than
women to inconsiderate behaviour by other drivers.9 Insurance companies know
this and charge accordingly.
Then there is war to consider. Most war is fought by young men in their
teenage years and in their 20s. Military recruitment and training effectively treats
male physical strength, aggressive instincts and instincts to defend honour as the
raw materials from which soldiers can be crafted. Recruitment of young men is an
__________________________________________________________________
obvious choice for numerous reasons: they are cheap; at the peak of their physical
fitness and reflexes; and impressionable by demagoguery. Thus, from the world’s
military academies to its terrorist training camps, the task of the recruiter is to
mould the male spirit while it is still malleable. This is regimentation of the male
instinct, conducted en masse.
3. The Aggressive Instinct Changes But Does Not Vanish

It is not that younger men monopolise aggressive behaviour – it is that older
men appear less at the mercy of being provoked to react recklessly. Whether
moderated through common sense, learned experience, or the belief that they now
have more to lose, mature men are less prone to the behavioural spasms of the
young in the face of provocative stimuli.
As male instincts develop over the course of a lifetime different priorities can
command attention and different activities and responses can become preferred
over others. Of course, it is not that older men are less aggressive than younger
men – it is that the manner in which they express this instinct changes, as
Gendreau and Archer claim: ‘Expression of aggression undoubtedly reaches a peak
of complexity in adulthood’ as direct and physical forms of aggression are
gradually substituted for ‘more indirect, controlled and non physical forms’, such
as defaming an opponent, embezzling funds, engaging in litigation or other forms
of adult retaliation.10
The central matter here is impulse control. The propensity to engage in risk-
taking, aggressive behaviour persists throughout life but changes in how it is
expressed. A useful distinction to conceptualise this change is between reactive
aggression, which is triggered when goals are blocked, or by anger or fear, and
proactive aggression, which is behaviour engaged in with aforethought for
anticipated reward.11 Put simply, the former is suggestive of an instinctive reaction
while the latter is suggestive of calculated action. Each individual is likely to
display differing balances between the two, but the latter is more suggestive of how
mature men typically project their aggressive or reckless drives.
4. Cycles of Aggression in Metal Music

It is far to simplistic to say that as the members of a metal band age their music
gets softer, but it is possible to present the hypothesis that: as metal bands age, it
become more difficult for band members to naturally project and sustain high
levels of aggression and energy in composing and performing metal music. A
testable hypothesis this most certainly is not, firstly because it is an entirely
subjective observation as to whether a band is getting softer, and secondly, because
factors aside from the instinct will affect artistic direction (most obviously, musical
changes to sound less aggressive driven by changing taste, fashion or financial
pressure).
Samir Puri 105
__________________________________________________________________
The starting point for considering the role of male instinct in metal is the
cathartic function that playing and listening to metal music provides for young
men. The aggression of metal music helps pour cold water over the burning flames
of young male aggression. Metal – like other forms of high-energy, highly
passionate music such as punk and hip hop – is an outlet for earthing the currents
of angry passion.
So what happens when the energy, rage and restlessness of youth subside?
There are some key instances in which metal musicians have very noticeably
abandoned a certain path of musical intensity at an identifiable moment. A clearly
enunciated example is Devin Townsend describing why he broke up his
relentlessly heavy band Strapping Young Lad, who was responsible for the classic
City album from 1997. Speaking a decade later:
The reason Strapping [Young Lad] came to an end is because

I’m no longer in my mid-20’s. The reason Strapping resonated
with people is because it was passionate and honest about my
circumstance that I’m no longer engaged in. And it’s not because
of a choice. The things that made me artistically satisfied when I
was 27 years old have been resolved. So if we talk about being
untrue or false in terms of what you’re doing, it would have been
easy on a financial level to continue with Strapping. I could go
out there and be pissed off and telling everyone to ‘fuck off.’
Sure, we’ll market that and put it on shirts. It wasn’t pre-
conceived; it is what I felt like doing. People don’t understand
why I can’t do it is because the reason you like it, is the reason I
can’t do it. If I was to be untrue to something that meant so much
to you, it would be this parody. I would rather dig ditches than be
a parody of the music.12
Such an honest exposition is rarely provided. Certainly, for the legions of

Metallica fans around the world banging their heads against walls in sheer
frustration as to why Metallica abandoned thrash metal in the 1990s, and
attributing these musical changes solely to a commercial imperative, were missing
part of the puzzle. The artistic axis of the band, James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich
were 24/25 years old for 1986’s Master of Puppets, 28/29 for 1991’s Black album,
and 33/34 for 1996’s Load. A changing musical climate, the rise of alternative
music at the expense of traditional rock and metal, and the pursuit of commercial
glory and wealth were key factors in Hetfield and Ulrich’s decision-making. But
are do these environmental factors have sufficient explanatory power? What of the
aggressive instinct, dulled no doubt by luxurious living, but dulled too by the
inevitable passage of time?
__________________________________________________________________
That being the case, what then of bands for whom the maintenance of a given
level of aggressive intensity is so integral to their saleability that dissipation must
be fought? There are reserves that can be drawn on. As discussed, men in their 30s
and beyond certainly retain a propensity to act aggressively but usually learn to
disburse this element of their instinct in calculated busts rather than being a
prisoner to its random fluctuations.
Slayer are a case in point. If ever there was a popular metal band for whom
abandoning extremely fast playing and a violently aggressive image was not an
option, Slayer are it. Their original run of albums culminated in 1990’s Seasons of
the Abyss when the band averaged age 26. Divine Intervention arrived four years
later, with its track Dittohead claiming to be: ‘Living with aggression and its
everlasting reign’. By the time albums God Hates Us All (2001), Christ Illusion
(2006) and World Painted Blood (2010) were released; the band had aged from 36
to 45. Is it the case that some of the more barbed lyrics and sounds in this later
work needed to be forced? There is no empirical evaluation possible of such a
subjective observation. All that can be said is that to consider the behavioural
implications of the maturing process can help one better understand the creation of
Slayer’s catalogue of albums.
In metal, where the projection of rage through music might once have been an
expression of the deepest held feelings, later in a band’s career as the musicians
traverse their 30s and 40s, it is likely to be more a calculated feeling that needs to
be summoned up and projected when required. In other words, do older metal
bands have to calculate rather than feel their way to expressing themselves with the
reckless abandon that formerly came more automatically? Space does not permit
treatment of the death and black metal genres, again for whom softening their
sound is less of an option. Space does permit a tentative conclusion: that the arc of
decline in the aggression of a metal band over its career is a bizarre but oddly
effective representation for the dissipating and changing aggressive unrest within
young males.
Art is a form of self-expression. While reference points are sought by artists
from the world around them, it is the interpretative framework within each human
that makes sense of these objects of inspiration by ordering, ranking, selecting and
assigning meaning to them. Herein exists the spirit of a human that is the guiding
force in expressing what is felt inside. By spirit, one refers to the energies,
ambitions, drives, temperament, and other building blocks that equip a person to
negotiate life. It is thus logical to assert that in the case of metal, as an outlet for
conveying the energy, restlessness and rage of youth, fluctuations and changes in
these aspects of the spirit will effect artistic expression.
5. Generational Recharge
‘Every successive generation of created things equally passes through the same
experiences in turn’, observed Marcus Aurelius.13 Two tentative conclusions flow
Samir Puri 107
__________________________________________________________________
from this. The first is that while metal taps into certain human passions in a
particular manner, it is merely the latest vehicle to do so. Considering past
movements such as the Teds, Mods, Rockers, Skinheads and Punks, David
Downes writes that: ‘revolts into style can only re-transcribe, and not resolve, in
any structural sense, the set of contradictions that give rise to them.’14 Metal does
not perform a novel function as a cathartic outlet for aggression, although it
certainly does so in novel style.
Secondly, an undeniable truth about life on this planet is that no matter how the
conditions of life change over time, with each successive generation born, the spirit
of the species is recharged. The aggressiveness of the spirit can be tempered by the
passage of time within individuals and within a single generation, but stemming its
replenishment in a new generation is a different matter. There will always be more
restless and aggressive young men to replenish the ranks of metal bands and fans,
as there will also be to replenish the ranks of gangs and armies. Metal has persisted
as a musical form for four decades, and may continue to do so for many more. True
immortality, however, resides in the impulse towards aggression.
Playing and listening to heavy metal on the one hand, and taking up arms in
war and criminality on the other hand, are not in the least comparable acts. And yet
the spirit that impels men to act is consistent across such boundaries. Whether
expressed through metal or war, young, angry men play a role that older, more
assured men do not.
The implication for the world of metal relates to how fans articulate their
frequently voiced criticism at bands for musically diversifying or wimping out. The
implication for humanity relates to the responsibility for older generations to
comprehend, tolerate and ultimately direct male aggression in as positive a
direction as possible. In society as a whole, directing the aggressive impulse into
productive, constructive and ultimately harmless outlets is an essential
undertaking. Making its own humble contribution, metal can perform a valuable
function as an outlet for the aggressive instincts of those who seek refuge in
playing and listening to it.
Notes
1
D.J. Kruger & R.M. Nesse, ‘Evolutionary Life-History Framework for
Understanding Sex Differences in Human Mortality Rates’, Human Nature, Vol.
17, No. 1, 2006, pp. 74-97.
2
‘An impulse, to one who does not share it actively or imaginatively, will always
seem to be mad.’ B. Russell, Why Men Fight, General Books LLC, 2009, p. 4.
3
S.H.M. Van Goozen, ‘Hormones and the Developmental Origins of Aggression’,
Developmental Origins of Aggression, W.W. Hartup, R.E. Tremblay & J. Archer
(eds), The Guilford Press, New York/London, 2005, p. 281.
__________________________________________________________________
4
R. Tremblay & D.S. Nagin, ‘The Developmental Origins of Physical Aggression
in Humans’, The Guilford Press, New York/London, 2005, p. 87.
5
Van Goozen, op. cit., p. 287.
6
Van Goozen, op. cit., p. 282.
7
T. Moffitt, ‘Adolescence-Limited and Life-Course Persistent Antisocial
Behaviour: A Developmental Taxonomy’, Psychological Review, 1993, pp. 674-
701.
8
‘Few Options but the Gun: Angry Young Men’, Small Arms Survey Yearbook,
Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2006, p. 295.
9
M. Wilson & M. Daly, ‘Competitiveness, Risk Taking and Violence: The Young
Male Syndrome’, Ethnology and Sociobiology, Vol. 6, 1985, pp. 59-73.
10
P.L. Gendreau & J. Archer, ‘Subtypes of Aggression in Humans and Animals’,
The Guilford Press, New York/London 2005, pp. 23 & 38.
11
F. Vitaro & M. Brendgen, ‘Proactive and Reactive Aggression: A
Developmental Perspective’, The Guilford Press, New York/London 2005.
12
Devin Townsend interview: http://www.blistering.com/fastpage/fpengine.php/
templateid/18165/menuid/3/tempidx/5/catid/4/editstatus//restemp/b%3A0%3B/fPp
agesel/2?PHPSESSID=dbed5e9eab3432757d3e511d007d4df3, Accessed August
2010.
13
M. Aurelius, Meditations, Penguin, London, 2004, p. 108.
14
D. Downes, ‘The Language of Violence’, Aggression and Violence, Basil
Blackwell Publisher, Oxford, 1982, p. 41.
Bibliography
Aurelius, M., Meditations. Penguin, London, 2004.
Downes, D., ‘The Language of Violence’. Aggression and Violence. Basil

Blackwell Publisher, Oxford, 1982.
Gendreau, P.L. & J. Archer, ‘Subtypes of Aggression in Humans and Animals’.

Developmental Origins of Aggression. The Guilford Press, New York/London,
2005.
van Goozen, S.H.M., ‘Hormones and the Developmental Origins of Aggression’.

Developmental Origins of Aggression. The Guilford Press, New York/London,
2005.
Kruger, D.J. & Nesse, R.M., ‘Evolutionary Life-History Framework for

Understanding Sex Differences in Human Mortality Rates’. Human Nature. Vol.
17, 2006.
Samir Puri 109
__________________________________________________________________
Moffitt, T.E., ‘Adolescence-Limited and Life-Course Persistent Antisocial

Behaviour: A Developmental Taxonomy’. Psychological Review. 1993.
Russell, B., Why Men Fight. General Books LLC, 2009.
Small Arms Survey Yearbook. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2006.
Vitaro, F. & Brendgen, M., ‘Proactive and Reactive Aggression: A Developmental

Perspective’. Developmental Origins of Aggression. The Guilford Press, New
York/London, 2005.
Wilson, M. & Daly, M., ‘Competitiveness, Risk Taking and Violence: The Young
Male Syndrome’. Ethnology and Sociobiology. Vol. 6, 1985.
Samir Puri is a Ph.D. candidate at the Centre of International Studies, Cambridge

University. He holds an MA in War Studies from King’s College London and has
worked as a Defence Analyst for the RAND Corporation.
Metal Disorder, Metal Disturbance
Niall Scott
Abstract
In this chapter I assess Heavy Metal culture in terms of the concept of disorder.
Heavy metal as a spectrum disorder is content with its own condition in a manner
that holds up a critique against the individualisation of mental health under the
banner of the mental as and merely related to categories of perception, volition,
cognition and emotion. System of A Down in the song Toxicity question whether
you can own a disorder, a question that goes to the heart of the control and
maintenance of mental health as a concern of an individual’s condition. The
therapeutic expression of the heavy metal scene plays with the paradox of
individualism and community, challenging the possibility of the ownership and
containment of mental health. The heavy metal scene provides an example of
performative engagement that oscillates between the individual and the group, a
therapeutic mirroring of speech acts that move from the theatre of narrative to
dialogue. As Newman and Holzman, critical of the individuation of mental health,
state, ‘our emotional states of mind in late capitalist culture are alienated,
individuated and truth referential commodification’.1 In the metal scene the
alienated are de-alienated, content in embracing abnormality and disturbance,
diagnosing its opposite.
Key Words: Heavy Metal, System of a Down, disorder, mental health, therapy,
performance, psychology.
*****
1. Introduction
A challenge presented to current conceptions and treatments of disorder and
mental illness is to challenge the scientific approaches to mental health and
therapeutic interventions based on ‘science’. As an alternative to this, narrative
approaches and storytelling are presented to complement the therapeutic needs of
the self-conscious subject. Although it is the case that the therapeutic context, in
dealing with disorders of the mind aim in part at making the alien familiar so that it
is not feared, this all too quickly becomes a sanitising process based on conformity
to certain kinds of models of behaviour or certain kinds of models of the mind and
of mental health. There is a considerable difference in category, Newmann and
Holzmann argue,2 between the distant objects of scientific study and the close
subject of the human in therapeutic/psychological interest. They poetically present
this, stating that stars are not the same as humans,3 the meaning of which will
become apparent below. They ask why it is so difficult to accept the difference in
the demand between an atomistic, empirical object oriented science and the kinds
112 Metal Disorder, Metal Disturbance
__________________________________________________________________
of demands required by a practice that is concerned with human subjective-social
life. Part of this lack of attention given to this difference leads us to accept a
language, which suggests that our behaviour divides into neatly defined natural
categories. This classification and categorisation in a range of theories in mental
health in part individuates the issue of mental health as a health problem- the
solution to mental health problems lies in the treatment of the individual, be it
through pharmacological, therapeutic intervention or both. The heavy metal sound
and lyrics of System of a Down provide a magnifying glass for these issues. Not
only do they attack the confidence assumed by science in general, in their song
Science,4 but also directly interrogate the relationship between psychiatric
diagnosis and intervention, in the track Sugar 5 as well as question whether disorder
can be owned at all, in Toxicity.6 Although this chapter criticises the psychological
and psychotherapeutic sciences at a general level in the context of therapy, the
author does recognise that there are a vast range of disorders and cases to which
scientific research has expanded understanding and insight.
2. Stars and Stories

Writing on the narrative approach to therapy, Epston, White and Murray hold
that where an objective description of the world is not available, the only thing left
to us is lived experience, and this is understood and given meaning through the
telling and performance of stories.7 The conceptual distance required for a
scientific study of an object is not available to matter concerning human
psychology according to Newmann and Holzmann.8 Humans as self conscious
beings and the condition connected to this predicament is such that there is no
distance from which such an object can be studied- nothing can be said about the
ourselves in the way that we can say something about an external sense object.
They neatly claim, regarding the attempt to make people objects of scientific study
on which therapeutic approaches are based, that: ‘when psychologists try to meet
the scientific criterion of objectivity, they falsify humans beings.’9 The result is
that we are turned into star like objects instead of treating us as human beings. The
critique of science in general as having failed is a component of System of a
Down’s album Toxicity in the song Science: ‘Making two possibilities a reality/
predicting the future of things we all know/ fighting of the diseased programming
of centuries/ science fails to recognise the single most potent element of human
existence/ letting the reigns go to the unfolding/ is faith, faith, faith.’10 If this is the
case for a large part of therapeutic psychology, in its positing of disorder as a
mental health concept, it lies in making the two possibilities of the human object
and subject combined as the reality of the object of study, rather than letting each
possibility be- the human subject as separate from the human object, the latter of
interest to the psychiatric, medical and biological sciences. Newmann and
Holzman propose an unscientific psychology with no method;11 instead therapy is
treated as an activity when proposing talking rather than talking about as that,
Niall Scott 113
__________________________________________________________________
which works therapeutically. In an essay on life stories in the context of hysteria,
even though a narrative approach is appreciated, Slaveney counter to Newmann
and Holzman’s approach, holds that rather than allowing stories to be told and the
activity to be promoted, it is the breakdown and analysis of a story’s content and
symbolism, according to this or that psychoanalytic theory which takes on more
importance than the story delivered.
Since many stories can be told for each individual, and since
many of those stories can be taken to support differing theories of
psychiatric illness, what standards might be employed to judge
clinical narratives and the meaningful connections on which they
rest?12
Analysis in part then involves the therapeutic intervention. In judging whether a

story conforms to a range of expected standards dictated by a framework of
normalcy from a privileged assumed position outside the disorder- the story must
be assessed to be self consistent, coherent, comprehensive as well as accurate. In
other words there is a correspondence challenge to the story between observations
on the patient/client and similar individuals and the meaningfulness of the
relationship and the meaningful connections of the story.13 Holzman counter this in
their approach, alternatively holding that: ‘The value of stories is in their
making.’14
One of the strongest features of the metal scene and community is that it is a
realm of performing storytellers and listeners. Ronnie James Dio’s works or for
example the genres of Viking Metal, amongst many others are fine examples of the
storytelling tradition in metal. In addition it is not a scene that easily subjects itself
to analysis, definition nor does it open itself easily for atomistic analysis. The
immediacy of this non scientific approach to therapy and its imperviousness to
analysis is I think a strong feature of the immediacy of expression in the heavy
metal world The heavy metal world mirrors Holzman’s demand for letting the
activity of therapy simply be instead of objectifying and scrutinising the voice of
the storyteller.
3. How Can You Own a Disorder?

System of A Down question whether you can own disorder.15 In the song
Disorder, the challenge is, as I read it, an anti capitalist one regarding a social anti
system/institution reaction. System of A Down’s primary lyrical focus in general
is on the criticism of modern capitalist urban and industrial life, as a poisoning
problem for communities and individuals in communities. Their lyric Disorder,
traces a reflected perspective, reflected by car technology- ‘looking at life through
the eyes of a tire hub’, and lamenting a more primordial, simple existence ‘eating
seeds as a pastime activity/ the toxicity of our city, of our city.’16
__________________________________________________________________
Despite the attempt at the commodification and control of populations, and the
de-alienating effect of technology as commodity, disorder cannot be commodified.
This is the case not only for responses to state and market control, but I suggest
also the case for the psychological management of populations and individuals
through scientific, object oriented packaging of the human self. The objectification
of the human subject as a viable opportunity for classification and study from
distance is at the heart of a drive towards alienation from the reflective self that can
express itself through stories. This goes to the centre of a control and maintenance
of mental health as a concern of an individual’s condition. The therapeutic
expression of the heavy metal scene plays with the paradox of individualism and
community, challenging the possibility of the ownership and containment of
mental health.
The heavy metal scene provides an example of performative engagement that
oscillates between the individual and the group, a therapeutic mirroring of speech
acts that move from the theatre of narrative to dialogue. System of a Down’s
performance, style and content arguably is a study in disorder and madness, at the
individual and social level. Indeed their music courts this description too from the
music press. For example Rolling Stone described their music as manic and
schizoid, demonic and doomily ruminative17 as well as dubbing them the lunatic
fringe in rock. System of a Down’s direct question: ‘You, what, do you own the
world?/ how do you own disorder, disorder/ Now, somewhere between the sacred
silence/Sacred silence and sleep/somewhere, between the sacred silence and sleep
disorder, disorder, disorder...’18 not only does this refer to social disorder, but also
to individual metal disorder and sleep disorder. The eyes that are continuously
open to gaze inwardly at the soul staying awake to see these problems can reflect
narrate and report on them endlessly. Anyone having heard an System of a Down
song will know that there is a considerable amount of chaos, vocal leaps,
vocalisation that screech, growl and sing; lyrics often come across as arbitrary
sounds rather than coherent words, They appear to be meaningless, and this
immediate analysis may lead to agreement with Karl Jaspers’ conclusion regarding
meaningfulness being not necessarily present even when it appears to be self
evident: ‘The self evidence of a meaningful connection does not prove that in a
particular case that connection is really there nor even that it occurs in reality at
all’19 In the client/patient’s expression of a story, this allows the therapist to retain
a sceptical stance, even a ‘knowing position’ and miss the evidence available in the
total performance of a story. In a sense the scientific classification of disorder, is
not just a power over others through presumed accurate, workable descriptions of
those identified as having mental health problems, but it is furthermore an attempt
at owning a disorder.
Niall Scott 115
___________________________________________________________________
4. Two Reflections on Madness: One Metal, One Philosophical
The attempt to gain control over disorder in the diagnosis of madness (and
other descriptions of mental health disorders) in identifying and naming the object
of study, rather than maintain the subject as a self, is further an attempt to cope
with the relationship of doubt to certainty, from the unpredictable fluid nature of
selves to predictability. Here I wish to present some speculations and ruminations
that indeed do require a great deal of further development and open the door for
discussion at this conference on heavy metal and madness. To explore the criticism
I have offered above and its alternative in a narrative approach to therapy, I will
present two accounts of an encounter with madness- one encountered through the
ingestion of an artificial sweetener, the metaphorical reading of which in the
context of consumerist western culture and the commodification and consumption
of disorders and subsequent therapy will I hope not go unnoticed, the other a
philosophical reflection on gaining confidence in sanity. The location of madness
as contrary to certainty through reason is encountered in Descartes meditations.
Thus begins a chronicling of a history of madness to a modern day scenario where
the discipline of Psychology has in effect invented behaviour. The history of
madness in Foucault’s work and in analysis of madness in philosophy and
literature testifies to this. The Cartesian cogito/ reflection is not just a self-
reflective exploration on how to move from doubt to certainty; it is an attempt to
stave of madness.20 It is an attempt to distance oneself from one’s self. Descartes
pensive reflections on his location and condition are not dissimilar to System of a
Down’s lyric on madness induced through misinformation and the use of
Aspartame, instead of sugar, in Sugar:
I sit in my desolate room, no lights no music, just anger, I’ve

killed everyone, I’m away forever, but I’m feeling better, how do
I feel, what do I say, fuck you it all goes away. 21
Descartes writes, reflecting on his possible spiral into madness brought on by

the influence of doubt, also sitting alone in his desolate room with no music and
darkness save only candlelight:
For example there is the fact that I am here, seated by the fire,
attired in a dressing gown, having this paper in my hands and
other similar matters. And how could I deny that these hands and
this body are mine, were it not perhaps that I compare myself to
certain persons, devoid of any sense, whose cerebella are so
troubled and clouded by the violent vapours of black bile, that
they constantly assure us that they think they are kings when they
are really quite poor, or that they are clothed in purple when they
are really without covering or who imagine that they have an
__________________________________________________________________
earthenware head or are nothing but pumpkins made of glass.
But they are mad and I should not be any the less insane were I
to follow examples so extravagant.22
The act of expression here and the reflective content seems to ward of madness,
in the manner that in expression there is its connection to sense as opposed to non-
sense. However this self-reflective moment places (or is misread as) the ego as an
object of observation, a star like object, from which all other external object-
observations can be grounded. The System of a Down narrative is instead a
complete performed story, arguably a claim about a self, damaged by Aspartame
ingestion, spewing forth a narrative with little reflection. In the song through a
poetic story and an ‘insane’ Metal expression, a counter diagnosis is offers to an
individual’s descent into madness, by accepting artificial sweeteners rather than
sugar. System of a Down’s song is a plea to overcome lies with truth through
research, thinking through an issue- in this case the possible health damage done
by an artificial sweetener. The tone infers the plight suffered by a myriad of young
people ingesting the substance. The System of a Down story provides an
alternative diagnosis for a condition counter to scientific objectivity. The artificial
sweetener of the psychological classification of the self and its objectification
under a range of theories and classifications is such that the self has become
alienated from itself – being in a state of disorder, unless it conforms to a
scientifically developed understanding of its object condition. In this case, a heavy
metal song diagnoses its contrary, but not through any attachment to a method
grounded in theory or science. There is madness in its method, which is a story,
narrative and performance diagnosing the corrupt and impoverished conformism
and blandness of the human entrapped by the categorised and object oriented
obsession of scientific study. Newman and Holzman, critical of the individuation
of mental health state: ‘Our emotional states of mind in late capitalist culture are
alienated, individuated and truth referential commodification’.23 In the metal scene
the alienated are de-alienated, content in embracing abnormality and disturbance,
diagnosing its opposite.
Notes
1
F. Newman & L. Holzmann, ‘Beyond Narrative to Performed Conversation’,
Performing Psychology: a Post Modern Culture of the Mind, L. Holzmann (ed),
Routledge, New York, 1999, p. 105.
2
Ibid., pp. 91-98
3
Ibid., pp. 93-94.
4
System of a Down, Science, S. Tankian & D. Malakian (comp), R. Rubin (prod),
American Recordings, 2001.
Niall Scott 117
___________________________________________________________________
5
System of a Down, Sugar, S. Tankian, D. Malakian & S. Odadjian (comps), R.
Rubin (prod), American Recordings, 1998.
6
System of a Down, Toxicity, S. Tankian, D. Malakian, S. Odadjian, R. Rubin
(prod), American Recordings, 2001.
7
D. Epston, M. White & K. Murray, ‘A Proposal for Re-Authoring Therapy:
Rose’s Revisioning of Her Life and a Commentary’, Therapy as Social
Construction, S. McNamee & K.J. Gergen (eds), Sage, London, 1992, p. 100.
8
Newman and Holzmann, op. cit., p. 94.
9
10
System of a Down, Science, S. Tankian, D. Malakian & S. Odadjian (comps), R.
Rubin (prod), American Recordings, 2001.
11
12
P. Slaveney, Perspectives on Hysteria, Johns Hopkins University Press,
Baltimore, 1990, p. 166.
13
Ibid.
14
L. Holzman ‘Life as Performance’, Performing Psychology: A Post Modern
Culture of the Mind, L. Holzmann (ed), Routledge, New York, 1999, p. 56.
15
System of a Down, Toxicity.
16
Ibid.
17
Album Reviews, Rolling Stone Magazine, 09/27/2001, p. 70.
18
System of a Down, Toxicity.
19
K. Jaspers, General Psychopathology, University of Chicago Press, Chicago,
1963, p. 303.
20
S. Felman ‘Madness and Philosophy or Literature’s Reason’, Yale French
Studies, No. 52, 1975, p. 210.
21
System of a Down, Sugar.
22
R. Descartes, ‘Meditations’, The Philosophical Works of Descartes, Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge, 1967, p. 145.
23
Bibliography
Descartes, R., The Philosophical Works of Descartes. Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge, 1967.
Felman, S., ‘Madness and Philosophy or Literature’s Reason’. Yale French

Studies. No 52, 1975, pp. 206-228.
Holzmann, L. (ed), Performing Psychology: A Postmodern Culture of the Mind.

Routledge, New York, 1999.
__________________________________________________________________
Jaspers, K., General Psychopathology. University of Chicago Press, Chicago,

1963.
McNamee, S. & Gergen, K.J. (eds), Therapy as Social Construction. Sage,

London, 1992.
Slaveney, P., Perspectives on Hysteria . Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University

Press, 1990.
System of a Down, System of a Down, Tankian, S., Malakian, D. & Odadjian, S.

(comp), Rubin, R. (prod), American Recordings, 1998.
System of a Down, Toxicity, Tankian S. & Malakian, D. (comp), Rubin, R. (prod),

American Recordings, 2001.
Niall Scott is Senior Lecturer in Ethics at the University of Central Lancashire and
project leader for Music Metal and Politics at Inter-Disciplinary.Net.
PART 5
Challenging Perceptions on Metal and Suicide

War inside My Head: Metal, Mental Illness and Psychic Energy
Colin A. McKinnon
Abstract
Music has been shown to have many positive effects on mood, and there is much
anecdotal evidence in the metal community that, in fans suffering from various
kinds of mental distress and illness, metal can help those individuals to get through
emotionally turbulent times. However, much has also been made in certain aspects
of the media concerning potential links between metal fans and certain types of
mental illness. Data from some studies have suggested that metal fans may be more
prone to depression, anxiety, suicidality and schizophrenia, for example. Some
have suggested that metal is therefore a contributory factor to adverse mental
health in these individuals. These studies were therefore objectively evaluated.
However, a more recent theory uses the existing evidence that some metal fans
may be more predisposed to some mental health issues and disorders, but contends
that something about metal may connect with and attract certain people with such
predispositions. There may be various reasons for this from both psychological and
physiological perspectives, one of which is that metal may tap into the
unconscious, which can subsequently communicate to the individual’s
consciousness, allowing it to act as a source of psychological energy and power.
Another reason relates to feelings of alienation in mental illness, for which metal
may act as both emotional release and refuge from the outside world. These
theories will therefore be discussed from a psychological perspective.
Key Words: Metal, mental illness, suicide, suicidality, depression, brain
*****
1. Introduction
Metal has also been accused many times of having an adverse effect on the
mental health of its fans, through its perceived use of ‘negative’ lyrics, themes and
images. In particular, metal has been accused of promoting and idealizing suicide,
violence, misogyny, Satanism, etc. For metal’s detractors, it appears to be
considered inconceivable that such themes, combined with the aggressive nature of
the music itself, can fail to have an adverse effect on the listener. Much has been
made of potential links between metal fans and certain types of mental illness,
particularly depression, and the perception of such a connection has been supported
by various studies published in the academic literature. Indeed, some studies in the
published literature have suggested that metal fans may be more prone to, for
example, depression, anxiety, suicidality and schizophrenia, or are more likely to
indulge in ‘risky’ behaviour (e.g. alcohol and/or drug abuse, unprotected sex, etc).
The clear implication, especially in the media reporting of such studies, is that
122 War inside My Head
__________________________________________________________________
metal is a contributory factor to adverse mental health in these individuals, even if
this is not the clear conclusion of the study being reported. A fairly recent example
that attracted much media attention was an Australian paper (and literature review)
examining musical preference in students which suggested that significant
associations were evident between a preference for heavy metal and suicide
ideation, depression, delinquency and drug-taking.1 The purpose of this research,
therefore, was to find studies in the peer-reviewed published literature and examine
the methodology and results from an objective, scientific viewpoint.
2. Adolescence and Alienation

One publication stated that heavy metal was more likely to be the musical
preference in white adolescent males among a random selection who participated
in five or more risky behaviours (which included sexual intercourse, cheating on
school tests, smoking (cigarettes or marijuana), drinking, cutting class, stealing and
driving without permission), putting them in a ‘high-risk’ category; among this
group, Motley Crue was named as the favourite group.2 However, despite claiming
that their results confirmed speculation about the effects of music, and metal in
particular, on adolescent risk-taking behaviour, the authors conceded that cause
and effect was not established and that adolescents may gravitate towards
‘activities that include use of more antisocial media’.3 Authors who examined a
large group of high school students for a potential relationship between metal and
delinquency concluded that there was no support for such a relationship.4
However, they did find evidence to support an effect of metal on delinquent
behaviour when parental control was low, which begs the question whether
insufficient parental supervision is more of a factor in delinquent behaviour than
musical preference.
A study by a child and adolescent psychiatrist that examined music preferences
and drug abuse in 470 adolescent patients in a psychiatric hospital facility, came to
the conclusion that heavy metal was the first music of choice for 59.1% of
chemically dependent individuals, and was the ‘musical expression of forces at
work in their lives - violence, promiscuous sex, and increasingly Satan’.5 The study
even advocated epidemiological measures against the ‘public health problem’ of
heavy metal, while at the same time conceding that ‘a clear-cut relationship cannot
be established between heavy metal and destructive behaviour’.6 Another study a
few years later that examined music preferences in adolescent patients in an in-
patient psychiatric unit suggested that those whom primarily listened to heavy
metal had a history of more preadmission, dysfunctional psychosocial behaviours
(PDPB) than those who listened to other types of music.7 However, the authors
acknowledged that the results may reflect that emotionally troubled adolescents
may be more drawn to music with, as they describe it ‘negative lyrics and
themes’.8
Colin A. McKinnon 123
__________________________________________________________________
The fundamental flaw is that the majority of metal-loving individuals who have
never spent time on a psychiatric hospital are not taken into account.9 In addition,
studies with adolescents carry a number of caveats that need to be considered,
partly because a number of changes take place in the brain during this time, and
partly because this is a time when individuals are forming and exploring their
personal identities in depth for the first time, as well as forming a sense of
community and belonging, often expressed through the strong musical preferences
that form at this stage.10 We feel strongly attached to the music that we listed to in
our teenage years because of deep emotional and also neurophysiological
connections, and because music acts as a sign of personal and group identity more
so at this time than any other.11 The choosing of music deliberately offensive to
adults may be related to adolescent alienation in the sense of an antagonistic
attitude towards the ‘moral and ethical duplicity of adult society’12 rather than a
barometer of emotional and mental health.
3. Suicidality and Depression

Generalizations and suggestions of potential links between metal and mental
illness or suicide vulnerability are not new, and have been the subject of several
publications in peer-reviewed journals. A number of studies have cited that
individuals, particularly young adults, who regularly listen to metal have a higher
preoccupation with suicide and higher levels of depression than their peers. For
example, Stack and colleagues have suggested a link between heavy metal fanship
and suicide acceptability, which they assessed by relating data on heavy metal
magazine subscriptions (the magazine ‘Metal Edge was used) to suicide rates in the
15-24-year-old age group in all 50 states.13 The authors used magazine
subscriptions because magazines were considered to be a ‘valued cultural object
among metal fans’.14 The conclusion was that the rate of youth suicide is higher
where the extent of heavy metal subculture (i.e. magazine subscription) is greater.
The authors stated that heavy metal may ‘nurture suicidal tendencies already
present in the subculture’. However, from the perspective of scientific data,
whether such aggregate data can indicate any kind of relationship is highly
questionable.
Stack and Gundlach previously authored a paper suggesting a link between
country & western music and suicide in a similar way, by correlating greater
suicide rates in cities where a greater amount of radio airtime was devoted to
country& western.15 In both of these studies, such data cannot be related to
individuals and it is impossible to infer any degree of causality; as such, these data
are of very limited use. A later paper by Stack suggested that the link between
preference for heavy metal and suicide acceptability is attenuated if religiosity is
taken into account, the implication being that metal fans are lower in religiosity
and therefore more likely to have an accepting attitude towards suicide.16 The
author himself indicates, however, that such an association may be spurious.
__________________________________________________________________
Another empirical study of high school students, which surveyed musical
preferences and suicidal risk, suggested that reasons for living were less strong in
metal fans, especially amongst males, and that metal fans, especially females, had
more thoughts of suicide. Although metal preference was indicated as a potential
‘red flag’ for suicide vulnerability, it was recognised that assumptions about
individual fans are unwarranted and that familial and personal characteristics
probably play a far greater role than the music they listen to.17
Due to the aggregate nature of the data mentioned above, another study sought
to investigate whether there was any real link between heavy metal (or country &
western) and suicidal tendencies using empirical data from a number of
individuals, in this case undergraduate students.18 Interestingly, they found no
association between depression or suicidal preoccupation in those with a
preference for country & western or for metal, but there was an association
between preference for metal and prior suicidal ideation, i.e. had thought about
suicide in the past. Correlations were also suggested between psychoticism and
preference for jazz and rhythm & blues, and between extraversion and preference
for rap and hip-hop. An important point to note, however, is that a preference for
one musical style does not exist independently of other music preferences;
therefore to suggest an association between metal and suicidality ignores the fact
that metal fans listen to other types of music.19,20 Authors of a paper investigating
musical preference in Australian high school students found that instances of self-
harm or thoughts of suicide were much greater in females with a preference for
rock/metal, but that no significant differences were found in males. However, they
also suggested that individuals with pre-existing problems may seek out such
music because it reflects their own feelings.21 However, results such as these must
therefore be treated with extreme caution. Although there may be a widespread
perception of a connection between metal and suicidality, establishing a causal link
has, for those who would like to show this, thus far proved impossible. Even the
authors of the recent Australian paper22 that received so much media attention
concede that is not causal but rather may be indicative of an underlying emotional
vulnerability.
However, the finding about prior suicidal ideation is interesting when one
considers the substantial amount of anecdotal evidence along the lines of ‘metal
saved my life’. Some evidence has shown that metal fans experience positive shifts
in mood and attitude after listening to metal,23,24,25,26 suggesting a cathartic effect.
Weinstein notes that ‘for each heavy metal fan who commits suicide there are
hundreds who feel that the music has actually saved them from killing
themselves’.27 In this context, it would seem to make sense that there may be a
connection between prior suicide ideation and metal in some fans – these fans have
obviously thought about suicide at some point in their past, but metal has played a
role in them not going down this path.
__________________________________________________________________
There was, however, one very interesting study that stood out from all the
others, chiefly because of the way it was conducted. Instead of examining people
with delinquent behaviour or thoughts of suicide or mental health problems and
finding how many of them listened to heavy metal, the authors of this study
exclusively examined a large group of heavy metal fans in France and evaluated
their mental health via the widely used Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale
(HADS).28 They used the largest Internet metal forums in France to administer the
survey and received 333 responses, 282 from males and 39 from females. The fans
expressed preferences for various types of metal, including death, black and thrash.
What they found was that the respondents had generally low levels of anxiety and
depression, far below the cut-off levels used to determine mental disorders, and
that age, gender, number of concerts attended per year, preferred metal type and
tattooing or piercing all had no link to mental health, and pathological symptoms
were shown by less than 5% of those surveyed. However, they did find that lower
levels of education and employment status did correlate with greater depression
and anxiety, and that students with literary or arts backgrounds had higher levels of
anxiety than those with science backgrounds. Interestingly, those who wrote metal
music lyrics had higher levels of anxiety, as did those who reported greater alcohol
consumption, but these findings are ambiguous, since being more anxious may
motivate one to write lyrics or drink more, or both.29 In contrast to the Australian
paper previously discussed, media reporting of this fairly well-conducted study
was practically non-existent.
4. Transformation of Psychic Energy and Neurotransmitter Modulation

Although metal may not be responsible for adversely affecting the mental
health of an individual, and metal fans appear to be good health at least with
respect to anxiety and depression, we have to deal with the tendency for some
evidence to suggest that a number of individuals with mental health issues have a
preference for metal. The reasonable suggestion is that certain individuals who
have, or are predisposed to, such conditions may be more drawn towards metal,
partly because they perceive that it reflects their mental state, but also partly
because it may act as a connection to the unconscious mind, allowing it to
communicate to the individual’s consciousness as a source of psychic (in the strict
psychological sense) energy and power.
In terms of major Jungian archetypes, there is a potential correlation here with
the Shadow, which could be said to lie mid-way between the Persona and the Self,
and which is traditionally thought to be the receptacle for the darker aspects of our
natures.30 Jung recognised that there is no shadow without the sun and no Shadow
without the light of consciousness, i.e. we are incomplete without it. In a sense,
denial or repression of the Shadow only makes the Shadow stronger. In metal fans
with depression, therefore, the music, through this connection to the Shadow self,
can strengthen the individual’s awareness of this aspect, allowing them to
__________________________________________________________________
recognise the Shadow’s instinctive and impulsive tendencies. Jung recognised that
both mental and physical health depend on man’s ability to reconcile and live with
his dark side.
Psychotherapists also recognise that avoiding certain aspects of the unconscious
identity and denying the possibilities of an individual’s psyche can lead that
individual into depression. Music can undermine this avoidance and allows the
individual permission to get in touch with parts of their nature far away from the
perception of self and to experience something very important for the individual’s
consciousness. In this way, a release of repressed energy can be channelled,
allowing for a healing process. Patterns of movement and emotional ecstasy, both
of which can be experienced at concerts, are also important in undermining this
avoidance.
As well as the psychological perspective, there is evidence from research in the
field of neuroscience that music can have a profound effect on brain
neurotransmitters. Loud music in particular can overstimulate neural transmitters in
the brain, inducing a state that is qualitatively different from the normal situation
and even leading to permanent alterations in the neural network.31 Music generally
has been shown to have an effect on brain function through improvement of
dopaminergic transmission32,33 and modulation of the nucleus accumbens,34 closely
involved with opioid production and dopamine transmission. Recent evidence has
suggested that the dopaminergic system may play a key role in bipolar
disorder35,36,37 and depression.38,39 This may partly explain why an individual’s
preferred music can be a very powerful tool in therapy of mental illness and why
‘self-medicating with metal’ can be extremely effective for many individuals.
As mentioned previously, we feel very attached to the music and musical
genres we discover and embrace as teenagers; most peoples’ musical tastes have
formed by the age of 18-20.40 These connections are not purely emotional; the
work of the psychiatrist and neuroscientist Eric Kandel has shown that long-term
memory involves a change in the number of synaptic connections or functional
effectiveness of previously existing neural connections – experiences and emotions
develop new neural connections and effectively change a person’s brain state. As
Kandel said in his Nobel lecture, ‘we are what we are in good measure because of
what we have learned and what we remember’.41 Therefore, if an individual has a
strong emotional response to metal in their formative years because it reflects their
aggression, frustration and emotional turbulence, it may not be surprising if the
same individual gravitates towards the same music that previously made and
strengthened those powerful neural connections in the first place. In the words of
Devin Townsend, ‘I think a lot of people who really love heavy music love it
because it’s a way for them to protect themselves’.42
__________________________________________________________________
Notes
1
F. Baker & W. Bor, ‘Can Music Preference Indicate Mental Health Dtatus in
Young People?’ Australasian Psychiatry, Vol. 16, 2008, pp. 284-288.
2
J.D. Klein, et al., ‘Adolescents’ Risky Behaviour and Mass Media Use’,
Pediatrics, Vol. 92, 1993, pp. 24-31.
3
Ibid.
4
S.I. Singer, M. Levine & S. Jou, ‘Heavy Metal Music Preference, Delinquent
Fiends, Social Control and Delinquency’, Journal of Research in Crime and
Delinquency, Vol. 30, 1993, pp. 317-329.
5
P. King, ‘Heavy Metal Music and Drug Abuse in Adolescents’, Postgraduate
Medicine, Vol. 83, 1988, pp. 295-301.
6
Ibid.
7
C.K. Weidinger & A.S. Demi, ‘Music Listening Preferences and Preadmission
Dysfunctional Psychosocial Behaviours of Adolescents Hospitalized in an In-
Patient Psychiatric Unit’, Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric & Mental
Health Nursing, Vol. 4, 1991, pp. 3-8.
8
Ibid.
9
S.D. Proctor, ‘Heavy Metal Music and Drug Abuse’, Postgraduate Medicine,
Vol. 84, 1988, p. 29.
10
B.H. Reddick & E.V. Beresin,’ Rebellious Rhapsody: Metal, Rap, Community,
and Individuation’, Academic Psychiatry, Vol. 26, 2002, pp. 51-59.
11
D.J. Levitin, This is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession,
Plume Books, New York, NY, USA, 2007, pp. 231-233.
12
E.F. Brown & W.R. Hendee, ‘Adolescents and Their Music: Insights into the
Health of Adolescents’, Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 262,
1989, pp. 1659-1663.
13
S. Stack, J. Gundlach & J.L. Reeves, ‘The Heavy Metal Subculture and Suicide’,
Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, Vol. 24, 1994, pp. 15-22.
14
Ibid.
15
S. Stack & J. Gundlach, ‘The Effect of Country Music on Suicide’, Social
Forces, Vol. 71, 1992, pp. 211-218.
16
S. Stack, ‘Heavy Metal, Religiosity, and Suicide Acceptability’, Suicide and
Life-Threatening Behavior, Vol. 28, 1998, pp. 388-394.
17
K.R. Scheel & J.S. Westefeld, ‘Heavy Metal Music and Adolescent Suicidality:
An Empirical Investigation’, Adolescence, Vol. 34, 1999, pp. 253-273.
18
D. Lester & M. Whipple, ‘Music Preference, Depression, Suicidal Preoccupation
and Personality: Comment on Stack and Gundlach’s Papers’, Suicide and Life-
Threatening Behavior, Vol. 26, 1996, pp. 68-70.
19
Ibid.
20
M. Burge, C. Goldblat & D. Lester, ‘Music Preferences and Suicidality: A
Comment on Stack’, Death Studies, Vol. 26, 2002, pp. 501-504.
__________________________________________________________________
21
G. Martin, M. Clarke & C. Pearce, ‘Adolescent Suicide: Music Preference as an
Indicator of Vulnerability’, Journal of the American Academy of Child and
Adolescent Psychiatry, Vol. 32, 1993, pp. 530-535.
22
Baker and Bor, 2008.
23
M. Wooten, ‘The Effects of Heavy Metal Music on Affect Shifts of Adolescents
in an Inpatient Psychiatric Setting’, Music Therapy Perspectives, Vol. 10, 1992,
pp. 93-98.
24
E. Lacourse, M. Claes & M. Villeneuve, ‘Heavy Metal Music and Adolescent
Suicidal Risk’, Journal of Youth and Adolescence, Vol. 30, 2001, pp. 321-332.
25
Stack, 1998, op. cit.
26
Martin, et al., op. cit.
27
D. Weinstein, Heavy Metal: The Music and its Culture, Da Capo Press,
Cambridge, MA, 2000, p. 253.
28
R. Recours, F. Aussaguel & N. Trujillo, ‘Metal Music and Mental Health in
France’, Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, Vol. 33, 2009, pp. 473-488.
29
Ibid.
30
J. Schaverien, ‘Analytical Psychology (Carl Gustav Jung 1875-1961)’,
Handbook of Counselling and Psychotherapy, C. Feltham & I. Horton (eds), Sage
Publications, London, UK, 2000, pp. 293-298.
31
C. McKinnon, ‘Louder than Hell: Power, Volume and the Brain’, Paper
Presented at 2nd Global Conference of Heavy Fundametalisms: Music, Metal and
Politics, Salzburg, Austria, 11-12 Nov 2009.
32
D. Sutoo & K. Akiyama, ‘Music Improves Dopaminergic Neurotransmission:
Demonstration Based on the Effect of Music on Blood Pressure Regulation’, Brain
Research, Vol. 1016, 2004, pp. 255-262.
33
K. Blum, et al., ‘Do Dopaminergic Gene Polymorphisms Affect Mesolimbic
Reward Activation of Music Listening Response? Therapeutic Impact on Reward
Deficiency Syndrome (RDS)’, Medical Hypotheses, Vol. 74, 2010, pp. 513-520.
34
V. Menon & D.J. Levitin, ‘The Rewards of Music Listening: Response and
Physiological Connectivity of the Mesolimbic System’, NeuroImage, Vol. 28,
2005, pp. 175-184.
35
D.A. Cousins, K. Butts and A.H. Young, ‘The Role of Dopamine in Bipolar
Disorder’, Bipolar Disorders, Vol. 11, 2009, pp. 787-806.
36
M. Berk, et al, ‘Dopamine Dysregulation Syndrome: Implications for a
Dopamine Hypothesis of Bipolar Disorder’, Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica
Supplementum, Vol. 434, 2007, pp. 41-49.
37
J.K. Zubieta, et al., ‘High Vesicular Monoamine Transporter Binding in
Asymptomatic Bipolar I Disorder: Sex Differences and Cognitive Correlates’,
American Journal of Psychiatry, Vol.157, 2000, pp. 1619-1628.
__________________________________________________________________
38
S.A. Montgomery, ‘The Under-Recognized Role of Dopamine in the Treatment
of Major Depressive Disorder’, International Clinical Psychopharmacology, Vol.
23, 2008, pp. 63-69.
39
G.S. Malhi & M. Berk, ‘Does Dopamine Dysfunction Drive Depression?’ Acta
Psychiatrica Scandinavica Supplementum, Vol. 433, 2007, pp. 116-124.
40
Levitin, 2007, p. 231-233.
41
E. Kandel, ‘The Molecular Biology of Memory Storage: A Dialog between
Genes and Synapses’, Nobel Lecture, Karolinska Institüt, Stockholm, Sweden, 08
December 2000.
42
J. Gill, ‘Devin Townsend: ‘Ghost’ Recording Sessions Video’, Metal Hammer
website, accessed 06 September 2010 http://www.metalhammer.co.uk/news/
devin-townsend-ghost-recording-sessions-video/.
Bibliography
Baker, F. & Bor, W., ‘Can Music Preference Indicate Mental Health Status in
Young People?’ Australasian Psychiatry. Vol. 16, 2008, pp. 284-288.
Berk, M., Dod, S., Kauer-Sant’anna, M., Malhi, G.S., Bourin, M., Kapczinski, F. &
Norman, T., ‘Dopamine Dysregulation Syndrome: Implications for a Dopamine
Hypothesis of Bipolar Disorder’. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica Supplementum.
Vol. 434, 2007, pp. 41-49.
Blum, K., Chen, T.J., Chen, A.L., Madigan, M., Downs, B.W., Waite, R.,
Braverman, E.R., Kerner, M., Bowirrat, A., Giordano, J., Henshaw, H. & Gold,
M.S., ‘Do Dopaminergic Gene Polymorphisms Affect Mesolimbic Reward
Activation of Music Listening Response? Therapeutic Impact on Reward
Deficiency Syndrome (RDS)’. Medical Hypotheses. Vol. 74, 2010, pp. 513-520.
Brown, F. & Hendee, W.R., ‘Adolescents and Their Music: Insights into the Health
of Adolescents’. Journal of the American Medical Association. Vol. 262, 1989, pp.
1659-1663.
Burge, M., Goldblat, C. & Lester, D., ‘Music Preferences and Suicidality: A
Comment on Stack’. Death Studies. Vol. 26, 2002, pp. 501-504.
Cousins, D.A., Butts, K. & Young, A.H., ‘The Role of Dopamine in Bipolar
Disorder’. Bipolar Disorders. Vol. 11, 2009, pp. 787-806.
__________________________________________________________________
Gill, J., ‘Devin Townsend: Ghost Recording Sessions Video. Metal Hammer
website, Viewed on 06 September 2010, http://www.metalhammer.co.uk/
news/devin-townsend-ghost-recording-sessions-video/.
Kandel, E., ‘The Molecular Biology of Memory Storage: A Dialog between Genes
and Synapses’. Nobel Lecture, Karolinska Institüt, Stockholm, Sweden, 08
December 2000.
King, P., ‘Heavy Metal Music and Drug Abuse in Adolescents’. Postgraduate
Medicine, Vol. 83, 1988, pp. 295-301.
Klein, J.D., Brown, J.D., Childers, K.W., Oliveri, J., Porter, C. & Dykers, C.,
‘Adolescents’ Risky behavior and Mass Media Use’. Pediatrics. Vol. 92, 1993, pp.
24-31.
Lacourse, E., Claes, M. & Villeneuve, M., ‘Heavy Metal Music and Adolescent
Suicidal Risk’. Journal of Youth and Adolescence. Vol. 30, 2001.
Lester, D. & Whipple, M., ‘Music Preference, Depression, Suicidal Preoccupation,

and Personality: Comment on Stack and Gundlach’s Papers’. Suicide and Life-
Threatening Behavior. Vol. 26, 1996, pp. 68-70.
Levitin, D.J., This is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession.
Plume Books, New York, NY, USA, 2007, pp. 231-233.
Martin, G., Clarke, M. & Pearce, C., ‘Adolescent Suicide: Music Preference as an
Indicator of Vulnerability’. Journal of the American Academy of Child and
Adolescent Psychiatry. Vol. 32, 1993, pp. 530-535.
McKinnon, C., ‘Louder than Hell: Power, Volume and the Brain’, Paper presented
at 2nd Global Conference of Heavy Fundametalisms: Music, Metal and Politics,
Salzburg, Austria, 11-12 Nov 2009.
Malhi, G.S. & Berk, M., ‘Does Dopamine Dysfunction Drive Depression?’ Acta
Psychiatrica Scandinavica Supplementum. Vol. 433, 2007, pp. 116-124.
Menon, V. & Levitin, D.J., ‘The Rewards of Music Listening: Response and
Physiological Connectivity of the Mesolimbic System’. NeuroImage. Vol. 28,
2005, pp. 175-184.
__________________________________________________________________
Recours, R., Aussaguel, F. & Trujillo, N., ‘Metal Music and Mental Health in
France’. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry. Vol. 33, 2009, pp. 473-488.
Reddick, B.H. & Beresin, E.V.,’ Rebellious Rhapsody: Metal, Rap, Community,
and Individuation’. Academic Psychiatry. Vol. 26, 2002, pp. 51-59.
Schaverien, J., ‘Analytical Psychology (Carl Gustav Jung 1875-1961)’. Handbook

of Counselling and Psychotherapy, Feltham, C. & Horton, I. (eds), Sage
Publications, London, UK, 2000.
Singer, S.I., Levine, M. & Jou, S., ‘Heavy Metal Music Preference, Delinquent
Fiends, Social Control and Delinquency’. Journal of Research in Crime and
Delinquency. Vol. 30, 1993, pp. 317-329.
Stack, S., ‘Heavy Metal, Religiosity, and Suicide Acceptability’. Suicide and Life-
Threatening Behavior. Vol. 28, 1998, pp. 388-394.
Stack, S. & Gundlach, J., ‘The Effect of Country Music on Suicide’. Social Forces.
Vol. 71, 1992, pp. 211-218.
Stack, S., Gundlach, J. & Reeves, J.L., ‘The Heavy Metal Subculture and Suicide’.
Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior. Vol. 24, 1994, pp. 15-22.
Sutoo, D. & Akiyama, K., ‘Music Improves Dopaminergic Neurotransmission:

Demonstration Based on the Effect of Music on Blood Pressure Regulation’. Brain
Research. Vol. 1016, 2004, pp. 255-262.
Wooten, M., ‘The Effects of Heavy Metal Music on Affect Shifts of Adolescents in
an Inpatient Psychiatric Setting’. Music Therapy Perspectives. Vol. 10, 1992, pp.
93-98.
Zubieta, J.K., Huguelet, P., Ohl, L.E., Koeppe, R.A., Kilbourn, M.R., Carr, J.M.,
Giordani, B.J. & Frey, K.A., ‘High Vesicular Monoamine Transporter Binding in
Asymptomatic Bipolar I Disorder: Sex Differences and Cognitive Correlates’.
American Journal of Psychiatry. Vol.157, 2000, pp. 1619-1628.
Colin A. McKinnon is an independent scholar with a personal and professional

passion for heavy metal. He works in the science industry in Switzerland.
Suicide, Metal Music and Expectancy Theory
Alick Kay
Abstract
Can music have an impact on those contemplating suicide? Considering the wide
range of genres of music, metal would have to have the greatest number of
references made to death and dying as evidenced by band names such as Death,
Suicidal Tendencies and Napalm Death. Would listening to these bands increase
the chances of suicide or is there a personality factor that needs to be considered?
The research suggests that there is no evidence that would support the notion that
any music causes suicide, however, there are reports of metal music being
associated with suicide. The expectancy motivation theory developed by Victor
Vroom1 is used to explore the motivational force for suicide. Issues such as the
strength of desire to suicide as well as the expectation of the ability to carry out the
act are considered in application of the theory.
Key Words: Death, metal music, suicide, expectancy theory, Vroom.
*****
1. Introduction
What is the motivation for someone to suicide? Can it be music? Metal music is
associated with sombre, dark images, and death-like themes. A quick glance at the
‘metal’ section of any CD store, or a visit to the websites of metal bands–
particularly those categories under the genres of death, black, thrash, doom and
goth metal–reveals these bands have names like Death, Slayer, Megadeth,
Cannibal Corpse, Suicidal Tendencies, Napalm Death, Obituary, Funeral and
Mournful Congregation, which all obviously perpetuate this mood. Even the recent
virtual / cartoon / comedy band, Dethklok, has this link in their name.
Over a number of years, there have been reports linking youth suicide to metal
music.2 However, what has not been covered is the motivation for suicide. This
chapter looks at incorporating a well-established theory of motivation to explain
how music may be a major contributory factor in suicide through the application of
a simplified version of Vroom’s expectancy theory.3
2. Metal Music Life Style

For some supporters of metal music, it is a way of life in terms of appearance,
clothing, magazine reading and through frequenting certain clubs. Over a decade
ago Scheel and Westefeld identified that the fans of metal music are generally
adolescent white males, and this could well be the view today of those who are not
supporters of this music.4 Although this demographic is obvious at metal concerts,
it does hide the fact that there are substantial numbers of older consumers who still
134 Suicide, Metal Music and Expectancy Theory
__________________________________________________________________
buy, and/or download and listen to the music, and who might not go to the concerts
in the same numbers. Consider those substantial numbers of older followers who
would be in their 50s or 60s, since Black Sabbath, which has arguably had the
greatest impact on metal music, began in the late 1960s. This is mentioned since
most studies are done on youth suicide, and this writer is not aware of suicide of
those over 30 being linked to metal music
Lacourse et al., in looking at gender of metal preference, found that girls who
preferred this music were higher on suicide risk and more alienated than those who
did not prefer metal.5 However, this broad generalisation does not hold if
considering the type of metal, and the band members. From observation at metal
concerts where there is a female performer - mainly as a lead singer (such as in
bands like Nightwish, Lacuna Coil, Within Temptation, Leaves Eyes) - there is a
much greater proportion of female attendees. It needs to be noted, however, that
these bands are much more melodic with clean vocals and less aggressive music
and lyrics than most death metal bands. (An exception is Arch Enemy where lead
singer Angela Gossow delivers the traditional death metal growly vocals).
3. Suicide and Death and Music

Can music have an impact on those contemplating suicide? Stack et al.
researched the Hungarian ‘Gloomy Sunday’ song, which was reportedly a cause of
many suicides in Hungary, to the extent that the Hungarian suicide song (as it
became to be known) was banned by the BBC until 2002.6 Curiously, however,
was the report that it had been recorded 79 times - much more than the
controversial Suicide Solution by Ozzy Osbourne or Metallica’s Fade to Black,
both associated with suicides.
Stack, et al. also added that the music writer himself, Seres, committed suicide
apparently as he was depressed that he would never be able to write another hit
song.7 However, the authors are quick to add that Hungary has the highest suicide
rate in the world, and that there exists a Finno-Ugrian gene, which increases
predisposition to suicide. Furthermore, this was all happening during the great
depression; so, there are a range of factors at work and not just the music and
lyrics.
Scheel and Westefeld in their research on metal supporters in high school found
they had more thoughts of suicide, and this was higher for females.8 They qualify
their findings by saying that although there is a widespread perception of some
connection between a preference for metal and adolescent suicide, it is difficult to
conclude that there is a causal link and they refer to Stack et al. who suggest that
metal reflects, and maybe nurtures, suicidogenic alienation.9
Scheel and Westefeld also talk about moods that fans experience, and that some
have positive affect shifts but some feel worse off.10 They found metal music in
their study was associated with positive mood if subjects were angry. They also
found a greater percentage of metal fans as compared to non fans thinking about
Alick Kay 135
__________________________________________________________________
killing themselves and concluded that it may well be the pessimism of metal (as
opposed to country music) which is likely to attract unhappy and alienated youth:
not produces them.
North and Hargreaves believe that the music reflects rather than creates.11 In
their research they found that telling people a song is suicide inducing may make it
so, as would saying a song is life-affirming. On a positive note, Recours et al.
suggest that metal music may be perceived as merely a form of entertainment,
similar to horror films.12 Furthermore, these authors go on to say that it may be
somewhat therapeutic, in that death and black metal portray murder and suicide as
everyday events that happen to everyday people.
Peterson et al. in their study on listening to music with lyrics about suicide
found higher levels in projective story-writing if the subject had low self esteem, as
well as knowing a suicide victim.13 Rustad et al. found that in their study
participants exposed to suicidal content wrote more scenarios than non-suicidal
content in projective techniques but this would not necessarily lead to increased
risk.14 Arnott, cited in Rustad et al. refer to research where the effects of suicidal
songs were more pronounced in younger, less academically successful, and more
alienated, or depressed, individuals.15 Interestingly, some listeners reported pro-
social effects–a desire to help those contemplating suicide.
Lacourse et al. on studying 275 Canadian secondary school students aged 14-18
found metal music preference was not significantly related to suicidal risk.16 From
all this, the research (mainly on school age youths) suggests that there are many
issues involved in suicide and metal music and that there is no causal link.
4. Musicians and Suicide

Mula and Trimble, in researching musicians and suicide, examined
psychopathology and creativity/mood disorders.17 They highlight that although a
substantial number of creative musicians are bipolar, not all people with bipolar are
creative. They concluded that listening to ‘problem’ music did not precede self-
injurious thoughts/behaviours. Rather, it was an issue of self esteem. Suicides and
murders do occur in metal bands, and musicians in the Norwegian bands Mayhem
and Funeral have both suffered this.18,19
5. Vroom’s Expectancy Theory

What motivates someone to suicide if metal music is a contributory factor for
that person? A theory of motivation that appears in just about every management
or organisational behaviour textbook for over 30 years is an expectancy theory
developed by Vroom.20 It goes by a range of names including Instrumentality
Theory, Valence-Expectancy, VIE, and even the lengthy Valence-Instrumentality-
Expectancy.21
__________________________________________________________________
The original model which Vroom developed is quite complex mathematically,
however, for the purposes of simplification, most text books present the model in
simpler ways such as by the formula22,23,24,25 MF = (E X I X V).
‘MF’ stands for motivating force. ‘E’ stands for the expectancy that one can
achieve a specific task; that is, if one puts effort into a task, do they believe they
can achieve the performance they are after? ‘I’ stands for instrumentality and refers
to whether one believes that if they perform a task they will obtain the outcome
they desire. ‘V’ stands for valence or desire and refers to outcomes.
If calculations are required, then both E and I may be thought of as probability
functions (in the range 0 to +1) and V as a value, which can have any figure,
although the range is equidistant about a zero (for example, from -1 to +1). In
other words, the higher the positive value in a predetermined range, the greater the
desire for the outcome. The more negative the value in that predetermined range,
the greater the dislike for the outcome and if the value is zero, it means that the
person is indifferent to the outcome.
Therefore the motivating force to achieve something one desires is based on
having high positive values for all 3 concepts, since if one is low or close to zero,
the multiplicative factor would be close to zero and therefore suggest that the
person was not motivated to pursue that option. An issue that needs to be
mentioned is that the E factor is mainly associated with the person’s own skills and
abilities to do the task they are given, so it tends to be linked to internal factors. In
contrast, the I factor relates to the trust that if they perform a task they will be
provided with the outcome they desire, and so relates to external factors.
So, how does this translate to suicide and metal music? The first step relates to
what the person desires, based on a high positive valence. This would then identify
what the motivating force would be directed towards. In this example, the desire
would be to commit suicide so that is what the motivating force would be directed
towards.
The next focus is the E in the formula. Here this would relate to how much one
believed that they had the skills, knowledge, expertise, and, if required, the
equipment to commit suicide. Most people would have that. So that would be a
‘given’ and high and positive (+1). If one accepts that a person focussed on suicide
has determined the method they will use and that they are confident it will work,
whether it be slashing wrists, pills, shootings, hanging, jumping from great heights,
lying on train tracks, etc., then the I component can be accepted as ‘given’ also
(+1) This means that they strongly believe that the performing of a particular task
will lead to the outcome they desire.
How much desire does one have to commit suicide? This is where the issue of
images, music, etc., might be used to bring the desire to a maximum, but would
only be relevant if the person had the predisposition to suicide in the first place.
This is the V component. Whether the lyrics increase the desire, the song title, the
music itself... it will always be based on an individual’s perception.
Alick Kay 137
__________________________________________________________________
The formula would be:
MF (Suicide)= E (High) X I (High) X V (High)= MF is high
OR
MF (Suicide)= 1 X 1 X 1= 1
So the motivating force to commit suicide would be very high.

The theory is based on perception, and so it is quite explicable that there have
been suicides to Ozzy Osbourne’s Suicide Solution in the belief that it is a pro-
suicide song when in fact it may not be:
Ozzy’s own explanation is that the song was about the death of
AC/DC singer Bon Scott. However, the explanation that seems
most obvious is that the song was written about himself. The
lyrics were penned by bassist Bob Daisley who has said the song
was actually written as a warning to Ozzy about his own habitual
drinking habit (‘solution’ being equated to ‘liquid’). With lyrics
like ‘Wine is fine, but whiskey’s quicker, suicide is slow with
liquor, take a bottle, drown your sorrows, then it floods away
tomorrows...’, this meaning is pretty clear.26
Again the issue here is that if someone is strongly contemplating suicide, then
they may well have chosen the method of committing it, and it is up to how strong
their desire is at a particular point of time as to whether they go through with the
act.
On the contrary, it needs to also be noted that listening to metal could actually
decrease the desire to suicide since it may help the listener to realise that there are
others out there who share similar feelings and thoughts. In other words, they are
‘not alone’. So in the model, the formula would be:
MF (Suicide) = E (High) X I (High) X V (Low) = MF is low.
Here the motivation to commit suicide would be quite low, if not zero.
6. Conclusion
As a motivation theory, expectancy theory has been used in areas such as
management, human resources, sport and in most things that people do where they
have a choice amongst a range of options. It is also linked to theories of leadership
in that a leader should make the path to the goal easier for the subordinates by
assisting to build up their E, I and V values as high as possible.
__________________________________________________________________
Metal music has received a substantial amount of ‘bad press’ and even if the
expectancy theory can explain the motivation of why someone suicides, it can
never show a causal effect.
Burge et al. are quick to point out that one cannot report a direct association
between metal and suicide anyway, since if you like metal you very likely also like
other types of music and that as Baker and Bor conclude, music preference is more
indicative of emotional vulnerability.27,28 They rejected music causes for suicide in
favour of suicide vulnerability.
Snell and Hodgetts believe that rather than being manipulated, audiences alter
and modify products of popular culture for own purposes.29 In other words, it is
what we do with the products in the media rather than the reverse, which supports
the expectancy model in this situation.
Anderson et al. highlight the issue of whether in death metal one can actually
hear the lyrics anyway; in contrast, the lyrics are easy to follow in Suicide Solution
and Fade to Black.30
So, the whole issue of metal music and suicide can be explained by things such
as perception and individual differences. What some may find as reassuring or
empowering, others may perceive as increasing a desire to suicide. In conclusion, it
needs to be noted that if someone is extremely depressed, they may likely not be
motivated enough to do anything, let alone commit an act of suicide.
Notes
1
V.H. Vroom, Work and Motivation, Wiley, New York, 1964.
2
S.S. Stack, K Krysinska & D Lester, ‘Gloomy Sunday: Did the ‘Hungarian
Suicide Song’ Really Create a Suicide Epidemic?’ Omega: Journal of Death &
Dying, vol. 56(4), 2008, pp. 353-356.
3
VH Vroom, Work and Motivation, Wiley, New York, 1964.
4
KR Scheel and J S Westefeld, ‘Heavy Metal Music and Adolescent Suicidality:
An Empirical Investigation’. .Adolescence, Vol. 34, 1999, p. 253.
5
E. Lacourse, M. Claes & M. Villeneuve, ‘Heavy Metal Music and Adolescent
Suicidal Risk’, Journal of Youth and Adolescence, Vol. 30(3), 2001, p. 329.
6
Stack, et al., 2008, op. cit.
7
Ibid.
8
Scheel & Westefeld, 1999, op. cit.
9
Stack et al., 2008, op. cit.
10
Scheel &d Westefeld, 1999, op. cit.
11
A.C. North & D.J. Hargreaves, ‘Brief Report: Labelling Effects on the Perceived
Deleterious Consequences of Pop Music Listening’, Journal of Adolescence, Vol.
28, 2005, p. 434.
12
R. Recours, F. Aussaguel & N. Trujillo, ‘Metal Music and Mental Health in
France’.Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, Vol. 33, 2009, pp. 474 & 488.
Alick Kay 139
__________________________________________________________________
13
R.J. Peterson, M.A. Saferand & D.A. Jobes, ‘The Impact of Suicidal Rock Music
Lyrics on Youth: An Investigation of Individual Differences’, Archives of Suicide
Research, Vol. 12(2), 2008, p. 161.
14
R.A. Rustad, J.E. Small, D.A. Jobes, M.A. Safer & R.J. Peterson, ‘The Impact of
Rock Videos and Music with Suicidal Content on Thoughts and Attitudes about
Suicide’, Suicide & Life-Threatening Behavior, Vol. 33(2), 2003, p. 128.
15
Rustad, et al., 2003, op. cit., p. 129.
16
Lacourse, et al., 2001, op. cit.
17
M. Mula & M.R. Trimble, ‘Music and Madness: Neuropsychiatric Aspects of
Music’, Clinical Medicine, Vol.9(1), 2009, p. 85.
18
Funeral, Accessed 22 September 2010 http://www.funeralband.no/main.php?
site=bio.
19
‘Mayhem: One of Metal’s Most Radical Acts’, Dark Legions archive website,
accessed 22 September 2010 http://www.anus.com/metal/about/metal/mayhem/.
20
Vroom, 1964, op. cit.
21
W. Van Eerde & H. Thierry, ‘Vroom’s Expectancy Models and Work-Related
Criteria: A Meta-Analysis’. Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 81(5), 1996, p.
575.
22
D.A. Buchanan & A.A. Huczynski, Organizational Behaviour, Pearson
Education, Harlow, UK, 2010, pp. 273-275.
23
R.B. Dunham, Organizational Behaviour, Irwin, Homewood, IL, 1984, pp. 201-
212.
24
R. Kreitner & A. Kinicki, Organizational Behavior, McGraw-Hill Irwin, New
York, 2010, pp. 223-227.
25
J.E. Champoux, Organizational Behavior, Routledge, Oxon UK, 2011, pp. 172-
176.
26
‘Ozzy Osbourne’, No Life Til Metal, Accessed 22 September 2010,
http://www.nolifetilmetal.com/ozzy.htm.
27
M. Burge, C. Goldblat & D. Lester, ‘Music Preferences and Suicidality: A
Comment on Stack’, Death Studies, Vol. 26, 2002, p. 503.
28
F. Baker & W. Bor, ‘Can Music Preference Indicate Mental Health Status in
Young People’? Australasian Psychiatry, Vol. 16(4), 2008, p. 284.
29
D. Snell & D. Hodgetts, ‘Heavy Metal, Identity and the Social Negotiation of a
Community of Practice’, Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology,
Vol. 17, 2007, p. 431.
30
C.A. Anderson, N.L. Carnagey & J. Eubanks, ‘Exposure to Violent Media: The
Effects of Songs with Violent Lyrics on Aggressive Thoughts and Feelings’,
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 94(5), 2003, p. 961.
__________________________________________________________________
Bibliography
Anderson, C.A., Carnagey, N.L., & Eubanks, J., ‘Exposure to Violent Media: The
Effects of Songs With Violent Lyrics on Aggressive Thoughts and Feelings’.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Vol. 94(5), 2003, pp. 960-971.
Baker, F. & Bor, W., ‘Can Music Preference Indicates Mental Health Status in
Young People?’ Australasian Psychiatry. Vol. 16(4), 2008, pp. 284-288.
Buchanan, D.A. & Huczynski, A.A., Organizational Behaviour. (7th.Edn.) Pearson

Education, Harlow, UK, 2010.
Burge,M., Goldblat,C. & Lester, D., ‘Music Preferences and Suicidality: A

Comment on Stack’. Death Studies. Vol. 26, 2002, pp. 501-504.
Champoux, J.E., Organizational Behaviour. Routledge, Oxon, UK, 2011.
Dunham, R.B., Organizational Behaviour. Homewood, Irwin, Illinois, 1984.
Funeral, Accessed 22 September 2010. http://www.funeralband.no/main.php?

site=bio.
Kreitner, R. & Kinicki, A., Organizational Behavior. McGraw–Hill Irwin, New

York, 2010.
Lacourse, E., Claes, M. & Villeneuve, M., ‘Heavy Metal Music and Adolescent
Suicidal Risk’. Journal of Youth and Adolescence. Vol. 30(3), 2001, pp. 321-332.
Mula, M. & Trimble, M.R. ‘Music and Madness: Neuropsychiatric Aspects of

Music’. Clinical Medicine. Vol. 9(1), 2009, pp. 83-86.
North, A.C. & Hargreaves, D.J., ‘Brief Report: Labelling Effects on the Perceived
Deleterious Consequences of Pop Music Listening’. Journal of Adolescence. Vol.
28, 2005, pp. 433-440.
North, A.C. & Hargreaves, D.J., ‘Problem Music and Self-Harming’. Suicide and
Like-Threatening Behaviour. Vol. 36(5), 2006, pp. 582-590.
‘Ozzy Osbourne’, Viewed 22 September. 2010, http://www.nolifetilmetal.com/

ozzy.htm.
Alick Kay 141
__________________________________________________________________
Peterson, R.J., Safer, M.A & Jobes, D.A., ‘The Impact of Suicidal Rock Music
Lyrics on Youth: An Investigation of Individual Differences’. Archives of Suicide
Research. Vol. 12(2), 2008, pp. 161-169.
Recours, R. Aussaguel, F. & Trujillo, N., ‘Metal Music and Mental Health in
France’. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry. Vol. 33, 2009, pp. 473-488.
Rustad, R.A., Small, J.E., Jobes, D.A., Safer, M.A. & Peterson, R.J., ‘The Impact
of Rock Videos and Music with Suicidal Content on Thoughts and Attitudes about
Suicide’. Suicide & Life-Threatening Behavior. Vol. 33(2), 2003 pp. 120-131.
Scheel, K.R & Westefeld, J.S., ‘Heavy Metal Music and Adolescent Suicidality:
An Empirical Investigation’. Adolescence, vol. 34, 1999, pp. 253-273.
Snell, D. & Hodgetts, D., ‘Heavy Metal, Identity and the Social Negotiation of a
Community of Practice.’ Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology.
Vol. 17, 2007, pp. 430-445.
Stack, S.S., Krysinska, K. & Lester, D., ‘Gloomy Sunday: Did the ‘Hungarian
Suicide Song’ Really Create a Suicide Epidemic’? Omega: Journal of Death &
Dying. Vol. 56(4), 2008, pp. 349-358.
Van Eerde, W. & Thierry, H., ‘Vroom’s Expectancy Models and Work-Related
Criteria: A Meta-Analysis’. Journal of Applied Psychology. Vol. 81:5, 1996, pp.
575-586.
Vroom,V.H. Work and Motivation. Wiley, New York, 1964.
Alick Kay is a lecturer in management at the University of South Australia with

research interests in management across cultures, stress management and creativity
in management.
Emo Saved My Life: Challenging the Mainstream Discourse of
Mental Illness around My Chemical Romance
Rosemary Hill
Abstract
This chapter examines the role of mental illness in the discourse by and about My
Chemical Romance fans in the context of the emo moral panic in 2008. I ask two
questions: how were fans represented in the mainstream press; and how did the
fans represent themselves at that time? Fans of My Chemical Romance are
unusually vocal about their experiences of mental illness. The band was derided in
America and the UK as leaders of a ‘suicide cult’ with the fans their victims. This
mainstream connection between music and mental illness is not new: researching
the American heavy metal moral panic of the late 1980s, Gaines and Arnett found
a disparity between the popular image of the metal fan as depressed by the music
he listened to, and the reality of fans finding in the music solace from alienation
and anger. What is new is the gender of the fans - they are a female and feminised
audience - and their angry response to the mainstream press. Building on Gaines’
and Arnett’s work, I analyse readers’ letters to Kerrang! magazine during the late
2000s, data from interviews with fans, the film Emo: The Movie, and articles in the
mainstream press. I argue that the mainstream press characterise My Chemical
Romance fans as misguided innocents. I contend that My Chemical Romance fans
discuss the music of the band as enabling them to cope with pre-existing
depressions, to overcome bullying and even to save their lives. There is a clear
disparity between the mainstream representation of My Chemical Romance fans
and the words of the fans themselves. I conclude that My Chemical Romance fans’
willingness to discuss depression has been misinterpreted by their detractors, and I
offer instead a positive story of the therapeutic benefits of emo music.
Key Words: Depression, emo, heavy metal, My Chemical Romance, self-harm,

suicide.
*****
My Chemical Romance, depression and suicide. In much of the popular

imagination these terms are not only linked, but causal: it is thought that the emo
band My Chemical Romance provoke depression in their fans which can
sometimes lead to suicide. Yet for emo fans the narrative links between listening to
the band’s music, unhappy emotions and the action of ending one’s life are
complex and, indeed, are optimistic and life-giving. In this chapter I focus on UK
press reports of the suicide of Hannah Bond, a 13-year-old girl who was a fan of
My Chemical Romance and the responses of fans to the press reporting of the
144 Emo Saved My Life
__________________________________________________________________
suicide. But first I want to offer some context to My Chemical Romance, to ‘emo’
and to the accompanying moral panic.
Emo is a contested term among metal fans. It is a genre that grew out of
hardcore punk and ‘emo’ is a contraction of ‘emotional hardcore’. Sarah F.
Williams describes emotional hardcore bands, such as Dashboard Confessional and
Thursday as ‘attempt[ing …] to reconcile the long-established codes of masculinity
- musical representations of aggression, pomp, stoicism, misogyny, and
determination - with more multifaceted human expressions of heartache, weakness,
longing and loss’.1 Emo’s origin in hardcore means that it is not unreasonable to
place it under the metal umbrella, but this place is not assured; nor is the current
incarnation of emo even guaranteed to be allowed a relationship with earlier
incarnations. Furthermore, bands and their fans do not always accept their popular
categorisation as emo. Let me introduce My Chemical Romance: they are an
American band that are frequently described as emo, and their fans as emos, but
the band themselves have described emo as ‘shit’2 and decried any similarities to
the genre. In fact the band claim the heritage of Queen. However the ideals that
Sarah F. Williams describes as being fundamental to emotional hardcore are
clearly evident in the songs and image of My Chemical Romance. They attempt to
break down the gendered binaries that have long been lived out by rock and metal
bands,3 and incorporate qualities that have traditionally fallen on the feminine and
undervalued side of the dichotomy. Whilst using ‘emo ‘to describe My Chemical
Romance is therefore problematic, its frequent use by the media and fans
themselves makes it a term that must be interacted with when discussing the band.
The Daily Mail is a very popular British newspaper with a large female
readership. At the time of the coroner’s report on Hannah Bond’s death two and
quarter million people were reading the paper. Its political allegiance is
Conservative. Its reporting has been criticised as to be sensational, inaccurate and
homophobic,4 but nevertheless its popularity means that its force for affecting
public opinion needs be taken seriously. In 2006 The Daily Mail described fans of
emo as follows:
The Emos - short for emotional - regard themselves as a cool,

young sub-set of the Goths. […] Although the look is similar, the
point of distinction, frightening for schools and parents, is a
celebration of self-harm.5
There is a clear emphasis on the manifestation of mental ill health and fashion
rather than love of the music. Within the 974 word article alarmist terms pepper the
article like ‘razor blade’, ‘appeared to be dead’, ‘coffin’, ‘mutilated’,
‘depressingly’, ‘dangerous teenage cult’, ‘scars on their wrists’, ‘as serious a
problem as binge drinking’, ‘secret shame’, ‘inner despair’, ‘slit my throat’,
‘suicide notes’, ‘misery’, ‘morbid’, ‘horror films’, ‘Death Pop’, ‘bloodless’, ‘dark
Rosemary Hill 145
__________________________________________________________________
and airless’, ‘self-pity’, ‘what worries me’, ‘cult of suicide’, ‘horrible
consequences’, ‘irresponsible’, and frequently ‘death’ or ‘dead’.6 Accompanying
the words was a photograph of a young woman wearing a black wig and a sad
expression. Although it seemed like a joke, some elements of the UK metal
community took it seriously. For instance Kerrang!, a British weekly music
magazine, have frequently featured My Chemical Romance on the cover of the
magazine, and in 2006 awarded them the title of ‘Best Band On The Planet’,7
referred to the article as ‘horrendous scaremongering’,8 and later used it to
contextualise the The Daily Mail’s reporting of Hannah Bond’s death.
Emo isn’t seen as problem only in the UK. In the global context, in 2008 a bill
progressing through the Russian parliament which would regulate emo and goth
websites and ban emo fashions in schools was widely reported in the British press.
The Russian Public Oversight Council believed that the genre promotes suicide
and self-harm.9 In America Time reported on anti-emo violence in Mexico. Groups
of young men physically attacked those wearing emo fashions and Time reported
that: ‘the assailants target emos for dressing effeminately, still a provocative act
for many in a macho Mexico’, and argued that the violence was ‘homophobic’.10 In
Saudi Arabia women emo fans were arrested for revealing emo fashions beneath
their abayas,11 suggesting that emo fandom presented a problem for conservative
ideas of women’s place in society. In America tv news reports on the dangers of
emo have been numerous. In one a member of the Eddy County Sherriff’s
department claimed that:
there’s no psychological problem in the young children, it’s just

for the fashion. The more they cut, the more pills, the more they
talk about suicide, the cooler they are.12
The global press presentation of emo positions music fandom as dangerous,

making a causal link between listening to emo and becoming depressed. The emo
moral panic reached its Zenith in the UK in May 2008. On 22nd September 2007 a
young My Chemical Romance fan, Hannah Bond from Kent, UK hung herself. The
following May the coroner laid the blame at emo’s door:
A girl aged 13 years has […] taken her own life for no reason
that could be regarded by anyone as sensible or justified and if in
doing so she was thinking about how this would go down with
those others who were involved with the emo fad I just believe
this a terrible tragic explanation for what happened.13
On 16th May The Daily Mail ran an article under the title ‘Why no child is safe
from the sinister cult of emo’. The article echoed many of the sensationalist claims
of the 2006 article as it gave the narrative of Hannah’s metamorphosis from ‘a
__________________________________________________________________
well-liked girl who had many friends and was doing well in school’14 to an emo
going by the online pseudonym of ‘Living Disaster’, and cutting her wrists before
eventually hanging herself with her school tie. The article also contained
information on hospital admissions of children who had self-harmed (three times
as many girls as boys), and an interview with the mother of an emo fan girl from a
small town in a bleak highland area of England The mother seemed to be
extremely frightened for her daughter’s life. The article used language like ‘sect’,
‘cult’, ‘deeply unhealthy undertone’, and described emo as the cause of teen angst
rather than a symptom. Following the coroner’s inculpation of emo, the author,
Tom Rawstorne, blamed one band in particular for Hannah’s death: My Chemical
Romance. The most controversial claim in the article was that the Black Parade is
where ‘emos believe they go after they die’15 as if it is some sort of emo Valhalla,
but in fact Welcome To The Black Parade is the name of the band’s 2006 album.
The Black Parade claim was hotly disputed by a number of fans writing to
Kerrang!16 and in them The Daily Mail came in for much abuse. However the
claim had been made in an article in British tabloid The Sun on 8th May and in an
updated article in The Daily Mail on 9th May. The original report by The Daily
Mail on 7th May suggests that the black parade/Valhalla myth may have its origins
in some sort of research, reporting that a tribute on Hannah’s Bebo page had
‘referred to the lyrics of [Hannah’s] favourite song’: ‘I’ll hold on to these
memories till we meet again in the black parade’.17 Quoting lyrics and stating a
belief can be quite different things and it is a clear distortion by The Sun and The
Daily Mail to attribute this belief to all fans of emo music.
This was not the first time that metal had encountered a moral panic: in the
1980s US right wing conservative criticisms of the dangers of allowing young
people to listen to metal were widely reported inside and outside the USA.
Criticisms centred around the effects that metal had on its listeners and, leaders of
the charge, the Parents Music Resource Centre, achieved a senate hearing on the
subject of metal lyrics. This hearing was successful in that the now famous
Parental Advisory stickers began to appear on album covers; but not so successful
as the stickers became a badge of honour and helped to sell records.18
Donna Gaines opens her book Teenage Wasteland with the mass suicide of four
American teenagers in Bergenfield in 1987. They had been listening to AC/DC as
they sat in a car in a disused garage waiting for exhaust fumes to put them out of
their misery. This was part of what was perceived as a wider trend of teen suicide.
The media furore around the suicides focused on the kids’ love of metal and, in
some cases, made a causal link between the deaths and the music.19 This
relationship between metal and suicide was to become even more famous when
Judas Priest were sued for persuading two fans to commit suicide by placing
‘backmasked’ messages in their music. The court decided in favour of the band,
but that the case got so far is indicative of the depth and prevalence of the belief in
the dangers of metal.20 Both panics assume the listeners to be young and naïve.
Rosemary Hill 147
__________________________________________________________________
Music is a scapegoat which allows adults to express their fears and anger, but does
not address the real causes of adolescent unhappiness: there is no further
investigation as to what may be causing self-harming and depression amongst
teenagers. Nor do they attempt to explore why fans would be attracted to such
music if it causes depression and instigates suicidal tendencies. Research by Jeffrey
Arnett and Donna Gaines shows that metal does not in fact make its fans feel bad.
In his interviews with male fans in the 1990s Arnett concluded that far from
making fans feel unhappy, listening to metal helped its male fans to cope with
feelings of powerlessness, frustration and anger. Angry metal music helped to
dissipate the rage.21 Similarly Gaines theorised that structural problems in the
schooling, socialisation and ‘normalisation ‘of America’s young people, combined
with the lack of job prospects in the particular town in which the suicides occurred,
caused strong feelings of alienation and despair amongst the town’s youth.22 Do
My Chemical Romance fans use the music to help them deal with emotions in a
similar way? Gaines’ ethnographic work and Arnett’s interviews were conducted
almost completely amongst or with young white American men. However the
focus of the 2008 moral panic was on a young white British woman; the American
television news reports featured interviews with young women, mostly white; and
the fans ‘response to the panic came predominantly from white British women.
Gender is the difference: these fans are predominantly female. Girls and boys are
socialised differently and the conditions of their teenage lives are somewhat
dissimilar. Gaines’ and Arnett’s findings that young men use metal to cope with
anger, suggests that we could similarly explore My Chemical Romance fans’
reasons for listening to the band in the context of their reported self-harming and
discussions of suicide. We need to listen to what the young women have to say
about their reasons for listening to My Chemical Romance.
To return to the controversial 16th May 2008 The Daily Mail article, Rawstorne
quoted self-confessed emo girl Levi Harrison:
I do get teased for being an emo because some people at school

think it’s just about suicide and self-harm. But I think you have
to be depressed already to self-harm - and I’m not depressed. I
like going out in emo clothes because it causes a stir. There
aren’t many emos where I live, so people look at you. It makes
you feel individual.23
Jennina Taylor-Wells reflected,
I was going through an unhappy period at school. […] I grew up

in the wealthy area of Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, and I was
surrounded by spoilt rich kids. I felt being an emo gave me a
defined individuality.24
__________________________________________________________________
Both girls highlight their problematic relationships with their peers: for Levi
bullying comes as a result of her emo identity; for Jennina feelings of difference
and frustration with her peer group were fundamental in seeking an emo identity.
For both girls their emo identities allow them to stand as distinct from their peers:
neither connect the genre to mental ill health.
In the published letters to the editor My Chemical Romance fans’ response to
the Mail article was ferocious:
What a load of bollocks!25
they obviously haven’t done their research.26
when the hell are these tabloid papers going to realise they know
NOTHING?!27
More measured responses such as Adele’s ‘have they actually listened to

‘Famous Last Words ‘- ‘I’m not afraid to keep on living’?’,28 show that many fans
are not afflicted by depression and self-harm at all: ‘I listen to the music I do
because I love it, it makes me happy and I feel a connection’,29 or reiterate Levi’s
feelings that music is not to blame, as Benny does:
It’s really stupid that The Daily Mail is saying Hannah killed
herself because of MCR. People kill themselves because of their
problems.30
Benny’s words are echoed by many fans on the letters pages and in the two
Kerrang! articles about the reporting of Hannah’s death. That My Chemical
Romance had become a scapegoat for a generation’s misery only perpetuates and
entrenches feelings of frustration amongst teenage fans as they continue to be
misunderstood and silenced. Whilst some fans expressly do not suffer from mental
ill health, some older letters to Kerrang! suggest that some My Chemical Romance
fans use the band as a form of self-medicating music therapy:
If anything, I think that emo music can stop teens from

committing suicide and doing things they are going to regret.
Feeling someone else’s pain can help you get over your own.
You understand that lots of other like-minded people know what
you’re going through and that you’re not alone in feeling down.31
Rosemary Hill 149
__________________________________________________________________
Becca in Norwich gives a personal perspective:
Thank you so much Kerrang!. You’ve opened up my eyes to

good music, which has changed my life. It has helped me
through so much, like bullying and depression. I became more
confident in myself, and the fuckers who made my life a misery
saw that, and the bullying gradually became less and less serious.
[…] And you know what? One of those bands who helped me
through this are MCR. They had been through so much as a
band, and they pulled through it all. Their lyrics have such hope,
they hold one important message, to keep going, whatever it
takes.32
My interviews with fans of the band corroborate these letters: fans discussed
how the band had helped them overcome unhappiness, fight despair brought on by
bullying, and in one case helped them to come to terms with a debilitating long-
term illness. What I have found is that some My Chemical Romance fans find
solace in the music when faced with unhappiness. Rather than emo being a fashion
that pushes them towards feelings of desperation, into self-harming, to commit
suicide, it can help fans to survive mental ill health. This is not the case for all fans
of My Chemical Romance, but fans do agree that unhappy emotions may be
present before they begin to listen to My Chemical Romance: none claim that the
band cause them.
To conclude, I argue that the mainstream press still characterise metal fans - in
my case of My Chemical Romance fans - as victims and misguided innocents,
while fans themselves still have a different story to tell. I contend that My
Chemical Romance fans view the group's music as enabling them to cope with pre-
existing depressions, to overcome bullying and even to save their lives. My
Chemical Romance fan’s willingness to discuss depression and other mental health
issues has been misinterpreted by their detractors, and I offer instead a positive
story of the therapeutic benefits of emo music.
Notes
1
S.F. Williams, ‘A Walking Open Wound: Emo Rock and the ‘Crisis’ of
Masculinity in America’, Oh Boy! Masculinities and Popular Music, Routledge,
New York, 2007, p. 146.
2
G. Way quoted in B. Sowerby, ‘My Chemical Romance Talks to The Campus’,
The Maine Campus, 20 September 2007, Accessed 19th August 2010,
http://mainecampus.com/2007/09/20/my-chemical-romance-talks-to-the-campus/ .
3
M. Schippers, Rockin' Out of the Box: Gender Maneuvering in Alternative Hard
Rock, Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, 2002, pp. 24-28.
__________________________________________________________________
4
R. Booth, ‘Daily Mail Column on Stephen Gately Death Provokes Record
Complaints’, The Guardian, 16 October 2009, accessed 6th November 2010,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/oct/16/stephen-gately-boyzone.
5
S. Sands, ‘EMO Cult Warning for Parents’, The Daily Mail, 16 August 2006.
6
Ibid.
7
Kerrang!, ‘Best Band On The Planet’, Kerrang!, 24 August 2006, accessed 6th
November 2010, http://kerrang.typepad.com/kerrang_awards_2006_blog/2006/
08/best_band_on_th.html.
8
Kerrang!, ‘My Chemical Romance Blamed by Newspapers for Teen’s Suicide’,
Kerrang! 17 May 2008, p. 7.
9
Kerrang!, ‘Emo and Goth to be Made Illegal in Russia’, Kerrang! 23 July 2008,
accessed 27th September 2010 http://www.kerrang.com/blog/2008/07/emo_
and_goth_to_be_made_illega.html.
10
I. Grillo, ‘Mexico’s Emo-Bashing Problem’, Time, 27 July 2008, Accessed 27th
September 2010, http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/08599172583900.html.
11
Breitbart, ‘Saudi ‘Emo’ Girls Busted by rReligious Cops’, Breitbart, 22 May
2008, Accessed 27th September 2010, http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=
CNG.818e03363d37aed733b8e1d6484580c4.8f1&show_article=1.
12
B. Maygra quoted on WDAZ8 News report posted on YouTube.com by jarrettm
23 February 2007 under the title ‘I Must Be Emo - News Report’, accessed 23rd
September 2010, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ri6ySOHoDfk.
13
R. Sykes quoted in A. Levy, ‘Girl, 13, Hangs Herself after Becoming Obsessed
with ‘Emo Suicide Cult’ Rock Band’, The Daily Mail, 7th May.
14
T. Rawstorne, ‘Why No Child is Safe from the Sinister Cult of Emo’, Mail
Online, 16 May 2008, Accessed 8th July 2008, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/fe
mail/article-566481/Why-child-safe-sinister-cult-emo.html.
15
Ibid.
16
Various authors, letters to the editor in Kerrang! 1211, 24 May 2008.
17
A. Levy, ‘Girl, 13.
18
S. Jones, ‘Ban(ned) in the USA: Popular Music and Censorship’, Journal of
Communication Inquiry, Vol. 15, No. 1, Winter 1991, p. 78.
19
D. Gaines, Teenage Wasteland: Suburbia’s Dead End Kids, with a New
Afterword, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1998, pp. 237-261.
20
D. Weinstein, Heavy Metal: The Music and its Culture, Da Capo Press, New
York, 2000, pp. 254-256.
21
J. Arnett, ‘Adolescents and Heavy Metal Music: From the Mouths of Metal
Heads’, Youth and Society, Vol. 23, No. 1, September 1991, pp. 76-98.
22
D. Gaines, Teenage Wasteland, pp. 237-261.
23
L. Harrison quoted in T. Rawstorne, 2008, op. cit.
24
J. Taylor-Wells quoted in T. Rawstorne, 2008, op. cit.
25
Anonymous, via text, letter to the editor in Kerrang! 1211, 24 May 2008.
Rosemary Hill 151
__________________________________________________________________
26
R. Grimsby, via email, letter to the editor in Kerrang! 1211, 24 May, 2008.
27
A. Richardson-Lee, via MySpace, letter to the editor, in Kerrang! 1211, 24 May,
2008.
28
R. Grimsby quoted in E. Johnston ‘To Call us a Suicide Cult is an Insult!’,
Kerrang! 1214, 14 June 2008.
29
Abi quoted in quoted in E. Johnston ‘To Call us a Suicide Cult.
30
Benny quoted in E. Johnston ‘To Call us a Suicide Cult.
31
Jodie, Stamford, letter to the editor, in Kerrang! 1165, 30 June, 2007.
32
Becca In Norwich, via MySpace, letter to the editor, in Kerrang! 1164, 23 June,
2007.
Bibliography
Arnett, J., ‘Adolescents and Heavy Metal Music: From the Mouths of Metal
Heads’. Youth and Society. Vol. 23, No. 1, September 1991, pp. 76-98.
Booth, R., ‘Daily Mail Column on Stephen Gately Death Provokes Record
Complaints’. The Guardian. 16 October 2009, Aaccessed 6th November 2010,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/oct/16/stephen-gately-boyzone.
Breitbart, ‘Saudi ‘Emo’ Girls Busted by Religious Cops’. Breitbart. 22 May 2008,
Accessed 27th September 2010, http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.81
8e03363d37aed733b8e1d6484580c4.8f1&show_article=1.
Gaines, D., Teenage Wasteland: Suburbia's Dead End Kids with a New Afterword.
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1998.
Grillo, I., ‘Mexico’s Emo-Bashing Problem’. Time 27 July 2008, Accessed 27th
September 2010, http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/08599172583900.html.
Johnston E., ‘To Call Us a Suicide Cult is an Insult!’. Kerrang! 1214, 14 June
2008.
Jones, S., ‘Ban(ned) in the USA: Popular Music and Censorship’. Journal of
Communication Inquiry. 15, No. 1, Winter, 1991.
Kerrang! ‘Emo and Goth to be Made Illegal in Russia’. Kerrang! 23 July 2008,
accessed 27th September 2010 http://www.kerrang.com/blog/2008/07/emo_and_
goth_to_be_made_illega.html.
__________________________________________________________________
Kerrang!, ‘My Chemical Romance Blamed by Newspapers for Teen’s Suicide’.

Kerrang! 17 May 2008.
Kerrang!, ‘Best Band on the Planet’ Kerrang!. 24 August 2006, Accessed 6th
November 2010, http://www.kerrang.typepad.com/kerrang_awards_2006_blog/
2006/08/best_band_on_th.html.
Levy, A., ‘Girl, 13, Hangs Herself after Becoming Obsessed with ‘Emo Suicide
Cult’ Rock Band’. The Daily Mail. 7th May.
Rawstorne, T., ‘Why No Child is Safe from the Sinister Cult of Emo’. Mail Online.
16th May 2008, Accessed 8th July 2008, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-
566481/Why-child-safe-sinister-cult-emo.html.
Sands, S., ‘EMO Cult Warning for Parents’. The Daily Mail. 16 August 2006.
Schippers, M., Rockin’ Out of the Box: Gender Maneuvering in Alternative Hard
Rock. Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, 2002.
Sowerby, B., ‘My Chemical Romance Talks to The Campus’. The Maine
Campus. 20 September 2007, accessed 19th August 2010, http://mainecampus.
com/2007/09/20/my-chemical-romance-talks-to-the-campus/.
WDAZ8 News Report Posted on YouTube.com by jarrettm 23 February 2007 under

the title ‘I Must Be Emo - News Report’, accessed 23rd September 2010,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ri6ySOHoDfk.
Weinstein, D., Heavy Metal: The Music and its Culture. Da Capo Press, New
York, 2000.
Williams, S.F., ‘A Walking Open Wound: Emo Rock and the ‘Crisis’ of
Masculinity in America’. Oh Boy! Masculinities and Popular Music, Jarman-Ivens,
F. (ed), Routledge, New York, 2007.
Bibliography of Letters (by first name)

Richardson-Lee, A., MySpace, Letter to the Editor. Kerrang! 1211, 24 May, 2008.
Anonymous, via text, Letter to the Editor. Kerrang! 1211, 24 May 2008.
Rosemary Hill 153
__________________________________________________________________
Becca In Norwich, via MySpace, Letter to the Editor. Kerrang! 1164, 23 June,
2007.
Jodie, Stamford, Letter to the Editor. Kerrang! 1165, 30 June, 2007.
Rebecca, via email, Letter to the Editor. Kerrang! 1211, 24 May, 2008.
Various authors, Letters to the Editor. Kerrang! 1211, 24 May 2008.
Rosemary Hill is a Ph.D. student in the Centre for Women’s Studies at the
University of York, UK. Her research focuses on the representation and
experiences in the metal community of female readers of Kerrang! Magazine.
Does Death and Suicide Sound Like the Music You Hear?
Abílio Oliveira and Rute Rodrigues

Abstract
We have addressed some aspects related to music, its meanings, roles and effects,
as well as its closeness with emotions, during adolescence. Mood swings are
typical at this stage of life. In which music is essential; just as much as the
questioning of life and death, in a creative process involving parents, colleagues,
friends, idols and all of those that help in gaining autonomy, values and identity. 1
A celebrity such as Kurt Cobain could represent any desperate adolescent, facing
unbearable pain and pressure, who finds in music a reason for living and trying to
be accepted. Our empirical research, developed in two phases (an extensive
exploratory research and a set of three experiments), was framed on the theory of
social representations (SR).2 SR facilitates the analysis of the complex
subjectivities that involve the imaginary relation with death, suicide and some
practices (where music occupies a central place). We verified, on a (total)
population of 1226 adolescents (comprehending both phases) that musical
preferences articulate with the thoughts, feelings, beliefs and symbolic imaginary
associated with life, death and suicide, with suicide ideation, the will to die or to
live, suicidal and parasuicidal behaviour. Girls tend to prefer soft sounds and music
to dance, and boys rather prefer ‘harder’ music, such as grunge, rock or metal. The
younger (15-16 years old) listen to harder music that the older (17-18 years old).
Musical preferences can also be associated to risk-taking and self-harm behaviours.
Key Words: Adolescence, death, life, music, social representations.
*****
1. Introduction
Everything is energy. Everything vibrates. Life itself is motion that generates
sound, thus life is sound. So, in a certain sense, everything is music and it is natural
to communicate through sound.
In a simple definition, music organizes the relations between sonorities through
the course of time. Sounds (and silences) are combined and threaded forming
rhythms, melodies and harmonies. Music acts by the intimate content present in the
expression of sound and remits us to the sumptuous manifest order of our cosmos.3
As a universal phenomenon that all humanity can understand, it is, at the same
time, an art and a science, that we can appreciate and understand.4 Can we move
towards life without referring to music?
Usually we prefer to listen to what is in affinity with ourselves at a moment.
Music is strongly related to our SR, namely about life, death and suicide.5 Music
can help us live moments of great satisfaction or to relief tensions. It can also
156 Does Death and Suicide Sound Like the Music You Hear?
__________________________________________________________________
influence behaviour, emotional and psychological state, given its closeness to
emotions or feelings like euphoria, melancholy, joy or sadness.6 Music always
relates to feelings, thoughts and even proceedings. The lyrics of the songs and its
latent contents, as rhythm, melody or musical style, also have a large importance in
what is experienced.
Adolescence is, in a large way, a typical age of emotions, where advances,
retreats and periods of balance and instability, occur progressively. Music, as a
primordial ally, follows intensely the everyday life of teenagers.7 Thus, who better
than adolescents will emphasize the feelings that arise with music? How can we
understand them if we don’t know the music they listen to?
In adolescence we try to answer to the greatest psychosocial questions, in a
process of construction that involves parents, peers, friends, idols (namely
musicians) and all those that, in some way, help in the conquest of autonomy, in
the definition of values and of an identity. Teenagers think a lot about death and
suicide.8 Searching for references and values, in a society hidden under the shadow
of death, a teenager can take risks beyond the social norms, breaking its own
security to see how far can he go or what can he achieve.9
The risk is glorified by adolescents and, also, by a society obsessed by youth
and the (illusory) domain of life and death. Certain risks are symbolic of certain
kinds of social identity.10
To grow implies taking risks, test ourselves, to find new limits,

overtake them and amplify consciences, (...) the search for these
emotions, where the young can quickly debate, simultaneously,
between living or dying, reveals a predominantly symbolic
character of closeness to death and rises a sense of renewed
identity.11
Defying death can provide a strong reason to live.12 Here lies one of the reasons
for parasuicide behaviour, especially risk-taking behaviour, in which one can risk
life without intending to die. This differs from the suicide behaviour, which clearly
indicates a will to die. But both can be faced as survival strategies.13
Risk-taking behaviour is considered a form of assertion, valorisation and social
recognition, particularly with the group of peers, improving self-esteem and
providing some meaning to life. Therefore, parasuicide - namely risk-taking and
self-mutilation or self-harm behaviours - is increasingly frequent in our societies.
Music is essential in the development of adolescents’ identity, socialization and
sociability.14 Adolescents search for authenticity, integration and to be socially
distinguished. Their musical tastes, as their feelings, can vary significantly. More
than a preference for a musical style, it is important the way preferences are mixed
and the contexts in which they are most evident. Even when an adolescent doesn’t
Abílio Oliveira and Rute Rodrigues 157
__________________________________________________________________
identify himself with singers or doesn’t know all the lyrics, music can influence his
cognitive, psychosocial and emotional development, and his personal history.15
In Portugal, for more than 90% of youngsters, music is important or very
important in their lives.16 There has been observed a relation between vulnerability
to suicide and the preference for certain styles, especially heavy metal, also
associated with risk-taking behaviours.17 Musical preferences are important as an
indicator for health professionals, helping them in primary care.18 Music evidences
many of the typical adolescents’ representations of feelings, death, suicide, and
life.19
In the history of music, we can find various themes associated to death or
suicide, including lyrics used in suicide notes; however, there’s no evidence of a
suicide due to the negative content of a theme.20 Can a musical style influence the
ideas, feelings and behaviour of a youngster? Does the youngster choose to listen
to something related to what he is experiencing?
Music may be associated to personal, familiar or social factors. In any situation,
thinking of suicide and death is naturally linked to an inner strong will to reach to
something different, and to find a way to survive.21
Most of the studies on this area, assume that listening to a predefined style (as
heavy metal) can induce suicide. Others have focused their attention in the feelings
of adolescents when facing certain types of music, arguing that the way they feel
determines their tastes. In our research, we consider pertinent to study significant
associations, rather than causalities, between musical preferences22 and other
aspects like suicide ideation and parasuicide.
2. Some Notes about the Empirical Research

The theory of social representations (SR), as proposed by Moscovici, focuses
on the way that human beings think and create their shared realities, as well as their
content.23 SR are structures that combine, in an integrated and organized form,
cognitions, affections and actions, generated in a given social context, connecting
individuals with their environment, status, positions, groups and social belongings,
by correlated processes of objectification and anchoring.24
Here we present some of the most relevant results of an extensive empirical
research focused on the SR of death, music and suicide in adolescence.25 This
research was enclosed in two parts, the first one, exploratory and the second,
experimental.
From the results obtained in the exploratory part, we extracted, in great extent,
the indicators used to construct the questionnaires for the subsequent
experiments.26
In the second part we have conducted three experiments that had some
independent variables in common, namely gender, age, and experimental context. 27
In the first two experiments we have focused particularly in the SR of death and
suicide. And, in the third, in the SR of suicide and music, relating them to feelings,
__________________________________________________________________
musical preferences and other indicators, such as the death ideation, suicidal
ideation, suicide attempt and parasuicide behaviours.
Among the main goals, this research aimed to: apprehend and analyse the SR of
death, suicide and music amongst an adolescent population; explore the
associations between the experimental contexts and these representations;
understand how SR vary according to gender and age; articulate the musical
preferences with the thoughts, feelings, beliefs and the symbolic imaginary
associated to death and suicide.
In this chapterwe will centre our attention on the third experiment.
3. Method and Materials

A. Participants
A population of 26828 Portuguese adolescents, 51% girls, 49% boys; 50% in
each age group (15-16 years old and 17-18 years old).
B. Variables
We considered experimental context, sex and age as the main independent
variables, and the SR of death, suicide and music, as well as the musical
preferences, as dependent variables.
C. Instruments and procedure

We developed a questionnaire with seven groups of items on closed questions,
followed of ordinal scales (1 to 5) based on the results obtained on previous
studies.29 The data was collected in a class context, having each student answered it
anonymously and individually.
Different techniques were applied for the data analysis, such as, principal
component analysis, invariable and multivariable variance analysis and correlation
analysis.
4. Results
Among the most significant representations of suicide, we point out the
discomfort, sadness, unhappiness and fear, the compassion with the suicidal person
and the fragility that is associated, the external causes of suicide, and the
perception of suicide as a resolution or violent death. The suicidal gesture reveals a
cry for help, a solution or escape from difficulties or problems, a giving up or
denial of life. It is, simultaneously, an act of despair and a (final) wish to survive.
In what respects to music, we point out dimensions which are especially related
to well-being, pleasure, affections, relaxation, fun and life, but also, in a less
extent, to discomfort, sadness and depression. Music is important for the good and
the bad moments. In fact, it is related to thoughts, feelings and pictures that are
both positive and negative.30
__________________________________________________________________
We have found many representations according to the social belongings of
adolescents. For example, girls, more than boys, point out feelings or thoughts of
compassion, fear, loss and discomfort, and a ritualistic meaning in death;
experience greater sadness, fear and compassion towards suicide; and highlight
music as fun and pleasure, but also as apprehension, a source of affective
relationships and sociability. Boys, in the majority of situations, reveal higher
motivation for life than girls.
Adolescents of 17-18 years old express more proximity, compassion, fear and
discomfort, towards death (and particularly suicide), than the 15-16 years old.
Among the musical choices of adolescents, we observed variations according to
the moment in which data were gathered. But the essential is to understand what
music transmits, in terms of sound, lyrics or poems. Between 1999 and 2007, along
with the results from different studies, we found some preferences that we called
non-circumstantial or convict preferences: Nirvana, Pearl Jam, U2, Offspring,
Smashing Pumpkins, Green Day, Metallica, REM, Queen or The Doors, always
appeared among the 25 higher preferences of adolescents, which shows certain
continuity.31
We found that the more consensual ‘music styles’32 are rock/grunge, punk/rock,
and pop/rock. The biggest fans of pop rock and trip-hip/pop also appreciate other
styles, but the ones who prefer new metal/punk and rock/metal, only appreciate
grunge33 and don’t like pop music.
Generally, boys prefer metal, rock/metal, and new metal/punk better than girls.
Like the youngsters that never thought about suicide, girls are bigger fans of pop,
dance/pop and trip-hop/pop - these preferences34 are associated to a decrease in
risk-taking behaviors.
As suicide ideation becomes more frequent, the weaker is the choice for
dance/pop and the greater is the preference for heavy music, rock/grunge and
metal/new metal - this result is especially evident between the youngest,
particularly among boys.35
However, between the youngsters who never imagined suicide, the choice for
(metal or) harder music tends to decrease as they approach adulthood and become
more mature, while adolescents who continue to have suicidal ideation tend to
maintain this preference.
As the choice for harder music persists, the more frequent become self-harm
behaviors.36 A larger preference for rock/grunge also underlines a larger wish to
die37 and eventual suicide attempts, being therefore more associated with tension,
discomfort, fear, as well as for compassion with suicide - viewed as a resolution or
way out.38
5. Conclusions
Nowadays, we may hardly talk about death, in particular a death by suicide, our
biggest taboo.39 Every death exposes and confronts us, in a society that depreciates
__________________________________________________________________
imagination but urges to easy pleasure, illusory happiness and temporary glory,
where it is more important ‘appear to be’ than ‘to be’.
We found that death is more represented as ‘an end’ (distant and unknown),
than as ‘the end’ (too final). Suicide stands as a ‘feared end’ or resolution to
despair. And music stands in everywhere, every moment.
Kurt Cobain,40 who is still one of the greatest references (or idol) among
adolescents, can represent any desperate youngster that finds in music some reason
to live and, eventually, to die.41
For a youngster, surrounded by doubts with the inherent pressure to grow and
‘be someone’, in the search of values and references, a way to discover and to
know is trying to do ‘something else’, appealing to others and to a shamed society
in the shadow of death, testing, taking risks beyond the social norms and
transgressing his own safety to find other limits and beyond. Therefore, the
adolescent’s risk is glorified, in the friends’ circle and in a society obsessed for
youth and immortality.
In time, the parasuicide gesture can turn into a suicidal attempt. The suicidal
adolescent, in the edge of disharmony, reveal us an intolerable inner pain of
someone who lost hope and can’t endure tension anymore, unable to find
motivation. In desolation, avid for an existential solution and a definition for
himself, he challenges death with his behaviours, and risks to die, to feel some
strength and a right to live.
In the anguish to understand a meaning for his life, from euphoria to
melancholy, from exalted share to isolation, it can be just a small step, replete of
multiple events, oscillations and transformations. Everything can assume
exaggerated dimensions that influence the physical, cognitive and social
development.42 Sometimes, the only friends that support him in his demand for
answers can be found in a poem, a book... or inside a CD or an mp3 file, maybe
continuously heard.
Therefore, the adolescents’ musical preferences and the way they think and feel
about music, can give us important clues about the way they represent life, death
and suicide.43 Music reflects a lot about who composes it and no less on who
listens to it, mindfully. Music can communicate what words, emotions and
thoughts cannot. We may facilitate the communication with youngsters if we are
prepared to listen to them and to the music they hear!
Notes
1
D. Sampaio, Ninguém Morre Sozinho, Caminho, Lisboa, 2002; V. Strasburger,
Adolescents and the Media - Medical and Psychological Impact, Sage Publications
Inc., CA, 1995.
2
S. Moscovici, La Psychanalyse, son Image et son Public, Presses Universitaires
de France, Paris, 1961/1976.
__________________________________________________________________
3
J. James, The Music of the Spheres, Abacus, London, 1993.
4
R. Stewart, Música e psique, Cultrix, São Paulo, 1996.
5
A. Oliveira, Ilusões na Idade das Emoções - Representações Sociais da Morte, do
Suicídio e da Música na Adolescência, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisboa,
2008a.
6
K. Scheel & J. Westefeld, ‘Heavy Metal Music and Adolescent Suicidality: An
Empirical Investigation’, Adolescence, Vol. 134, 1999, pp. 253-273.
7
C. Borralho, Música, Preferências Musicais e a Ideação Suicida na
Adolescência. Monografia, ISPA, Lisboa, 2002; Oliveira, 2008a, op. cit.; C.
Richards, Teen Spirits - Music and Identity in Media Education, UCL Press,
London, 1998.
8
R. Frankel, The Adolescent Psyche, Routledge, London, 1999; Sampaio, 2002,
op. cit.
9
Oliveira, 2008a, op. cit.; A. Oliveira, O Desafio da Morte, Âncora Editora,
Lisboa, 2008b; X Pommereau, L’Adolescent Suicidaire, Dunod, Paris, 2001.
10
C. Lightfoot, The Culture of Adolescent Risk-Taking, Guilford Press, New York,
1997.
11
A Oliveira, L Amâncio & D Sampaio, ‘Da desesperança ao desafio da morte… e
à conquista da vida: Olhar sobre o adolescente suicida’. Psychologica, vol. 35,
2004, p. 75.
12
A. Oliveira, SobreViver, Âncora Editora, Lisboa, 2001.
13
M. Laufer, O Adolescente Suicida, Climepsi, Lisboa, 2000; R. O’Connor & N.
Sheehy, Understanding Suicidal Behaviour, British Psychological Society,
London, 2000.
14
V. Strasburger & B. Wilson, Children, Adolescents & the Media, SAGE London
Publications, Thousand Oaks, 2002.
15
D. Buckingham & Sefton-Green, ‘Series Editors’ Preface’, Teen Spirits - Music
and Identity in Media Education, C. Richards (ed), UCL Press, London, pp. ix-xii,
1998.
16
M. Cabral & J. Pais (eds), Condutas de Risco, Práticas Culturais, e Atitudes
Perante o Corpo, Celta/IPJ, Oeiras, 2003.
17
R. Kendall, ‘Adolescent Emotional Response to Music and its Relationship to
Risk-Taking Behaviours’. Journal of Adolescent Health, Vol. 23, 1998, pp. 49-54;
18
E. Brown & W. Hendee, ‘Adolescents and Their Music: Insights into the Health
of Adolescents’, Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 262, 1989, pp.
1659-1663.
19
D. Reanney, After Death: A New Future for Human Consciousness, Avon
Science, New York, 1991.
20
S. Stack, ‘Heavy Metal, Religiosity and Suicide Acceptability’. Suicide and Life-
Threatening Behaviour, Vol. 28, 4, 1998, pp. 388-394.
__________________________________________________________________
21
E. Shneidman, Suicide Thoughts and Reflections, 1960-1980, Human Sciences
22
Questioning them directly which authors or groups they prefer to listen to,
without any previous categorization in styles, types or musical preferences.
23
Moscovici, 1961/1976, op. cit.
24
S. Jovchelovitch, ‘In Defense of Representations’. Journal for the Theory of
Social Behaviour, Vol. 26, 1996, pp. 121-135; S. Moscovici, ‘The Phenomenon of
Social Representations’, Social Representations, Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge, 1984, pp. 3-70.
25
26
In the exploratory phase we have gathered the musical preferences of the
participants, and we determined, by free association of words and Factorial
Analysis of Correspondences, the SR of death, suicide, music and life.
27
The experimental contexts were operated trough images (three small films that
show the death of a person in different situations: surrounded by family or friends,
in a private context; surrounded by health professionals, in a public context; and
alone after shooting over herself, in a suicidal context) in the first experience; texts
(two suicide notes, one of a anonymous young person, in an unknown context; and
the other of Kurt Cobain, in a context of a known person) in the second; and music
(two songs previously tested: one, Beautiful Day, from U2, associated to a positive
ideation of life; and the other, Jeremy, from Pearl Jam, associated to a negative
ideation of life and suicide) in the third experience. In any of the studies, beside the
conditions in which the participants had these stimuli, there was also a control
group, which answered to the proposed questionnaire without previous stimuli
(film, suicide note or music).
28
In a total of 1226 adolescents, comprehending all studies on this research.
29
30
31
Other bands have been named in almost all studies (like Marilyn Manson, for
example), and many appear occasionally, relating occasional preferences.
32
We questioned adolescents about their preferences, and from their answers
constructed a list with their favorite bands and musicians, that was included in the
instruments we used in the experiments - this list was updated after each study.
From those answers we ‘reconstructed’ musical styles according to the meanings
and characteristics associated to the groups, the type of music and the intrinsic
message. So, we admit that some musicians may naturally belong to more than one
‘music style’.
33
Styles more associated to stress, contesting or ideological speeches.
34
Pop, in general, is a lighter, more danceable and romantic type of music.
__________________________________________________________________
35
Borralho, 2002, op. cit.; K. Roberts et al., ‘Adolescent Emotional Response to
Music and Its Relationship to Risk-Taking Behaviours’. Journal of Adolescent
Health, Vol. 23 (1), 1998, pp. 49-54.
36
Kendall, 1998, op. cit.; Strasburger, 19995, op. cit.
37
Punk rock is also associated with discomfort and death rituals.
38
About 40% of our population claimed that they already had risk-taking
behaviors, close to 35% declared they had self-mutilation (or self-harm) behaviors,
7% have committed suicide attempts and about half have had suicide ideation (in
30% of cases several times), and also, closeness to suicide situations - about 45%
know a person that committed or tried suicide.
39
M. Bradbury, Representations of Death, Routledge, London, 1999; R.
Kastenbaum, Death, Society and Human Experience, (7ª ed.), Allyn & Bacon,
Boston, 2001; Oliveira, 2008a, op. cit.
40
The suicide of someone like Kurt Cobain is still outstanding; he certainly
provided, through his music, a ‘smell’ of euphoria, rage, admiration, compassion
and isolation moments; Kurt was, since his disturbed childhood, a very lonely and
melancholic person, that slowly lost the hope in his life.
41
As a 17 year-old girl told us ‘Suicide is the only exit when a person is in an
unknown world and when the only 'music' listened is the loneliness’.
42
Any adolescent can, frequently, feel anxious or depressed, but that doesn´t mean
that he wants to die or kill himself. Kurt Cobain suggested that in a simple question
'Hello, how low?'
43
Musical preferences can also allude to attitudes that reinforce some shared
representations, prevalent in what distinguishes individuals and subcultures,
offering identification models, integration or social differentiation. For instance,
going to a concert, more than a socialization act becomes a ritual of unequalled
magnitude.
Bibliography
Borralho, C., Música, Preferências Musicais e a Ideação Suicida na Adolescência.
Monografia, ISPA, Lisboa, 2002.
Bradbury, M., Representations of Death. Routledge, London, 1999.
Brown, E. & Hendee, W., ‘Adolescents and Their Music: Insights into the Health
of Adolescents’. Journal of the American Medical Association. Vol. 262, 1989, pp.
1659-1663.
Buckingham, D. & Sefton-Green, ‘Series Editors’ Preface’. Teen Spirits - Music

and Identity in Media Education. UCL Press, London, pp. ix-xii, 1998.
__________________________________________________________________
Cabral, M. & Pais, J. (eds), Condutas de Risco, Práticas Culturais, e Atitudes

Perante o orpo: Resultados de um Inquérito aos Jovens Portugueses em 2000.
Celta/IPJ, Oeiras, 2003.
Frankel, R., The Adolescent Psyche. Routledge, London, 1999.
James, J., The Music of the Spheres. Abacus, London, 1993.
Jovchelovitch, S., ‘In Defense of Representations’. Journal for the Theory of

Social Behaviour. Vol. 26, 1996, pp. 121-135.
Kastenbaum, R., Death, Society and Human Experience. (7ª ed.). Allyn & Bacon,
Boston, 2001.
Kendall, R., ‘Adolescent Emotional Response to Music and its Relationship to

Risk-Taking Behaviours’. Journal of Adolescent Health. 23, 1998, pp. 49-54.
Lightfoot, C., The Culture of Adolescent Risk-Taking. Guilford Press, New York,
1997.
Laufer, M., O adolescente Suicida. Climepsi, Lisboa, 2000.
Moscovici, S., La Psychanalyse, son Image et son Public. Presses Universitaires de

France, Paris, 1961/1976.
Moscovici, S., ‘On Social Representations’. Social Cognition-Perspectives on

Everyday Understanding. Fargas, J.P. (ed), Academic Press, London, 1981.
–––, ‘The Phenomenon of Social Representations’. Social Representations.

Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1984.
O’Connor, R. & Sheehy, N., Understanding Suicidal Behaviour. British

Psychological Society, London, 2000.
Oliveira, A., SobreViver. Âncora Editora, Lisboa, 2001.
–––, Ilusões na Idade das Emoções - Representações Sociais da Morte, do Suicídio

e da Música na Adolescência. Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisboa, 2008a.
–––, O desafio da Morte (2ª ed.). Âncora Editora, Lisboa, 2008b.

__________________________________________________________________
Oliveira, A., Amâncio, L., & Sampaio, D., ‘Arriscar morrer para Sobreviver’.
Análise Psicológica. Vol. XIX, 2001, pp. 509-521.
Oliveira, A., Amâncio, L., & Sampaio, D., ‘Da desesperança ao desafio da morte…
e à conquista da vida: Olhar sobre o adolescente suicida’. Psychologica. Vol. 35,
2004, pp. 69-83.
Pommereau, X., L’Adolescent Suicidaire. Dunod, Paris, 2001.
Reanney, D., After Death: A New Future for Hhuman Consciousness. Avon
Science, New York, 1991.
Richards, C., Teen Spirits - Music and Identity in Media Education. UCL Press,
London, 1998.
Roberts, K., Dimsdale, J., East, P. & Friedman, L., ‘Adolescent Emotional
Response to Music and Its Relationship to Risk-Taking Behaviours’. Journal of
Adolescent Health. Vol. 23 (1), 1998, pp. 49-54.
Sampaio, D., Vozes e Ruídos. Caminho, Lisboa, 1993.
–––, Ninguém Morre Sozinho (12ª ed.). Caminho, Lisboa, 2002.
Scheel, K. & Westfeld, J., ‘Heavy Metal Music and Adolescent Suicidality: An
Empirical Investigation’. Adolescence. Vol. 134, 1999, pp. 253-273.
Shneidman, E., Suicide Thoughts and Reflections, 1960-1980. Human Sciences

Sprinthall, N. & Collins, W., Psicologia do Adolescente - Uma Abordagem

Desenvolvimentista. F. C. Gulbenkian, Lisboa, 1999.
Stack, S., ‘Heavy Metal, Religiosity and Suicide Acceptability’. Suicide and Life-
Threatening Behaviour. Vol. 28, No. 4, 1998, pp. 388-394.
Stewart, R., Música e Psique. Cultrix, São Paulo, 1996.
Strasburger, V., Adolescents and the Media - Medical and Psychological Impact.
Sage Publications Inc., CA, 1995.
__________________________________________________________________
Strasburger, V. & Wilson, B., Children, Adolescents & the Media. SAGE London
Publications, Thousand Oaks, 2002.
Abílio Oliveira is an Assistant Professor at ISCTE-Lisbon University Institute and

a Researcher at CIES-IUL Centre for Research and Studies in Sociology (Lisbon).
He is the author of several books, namely ‘Ilusões Na Idade das Emoções -
Representações Sociais da morte, do suicídio e da música na adolescência’ and ‘O
Desafio da Morte’. olivirtual@gmail.com.
Rute Rodrigues is a Social Psychologist currently working on Suicide

Symbolisms and Representations as a Research Assistant at CIES-IUL Centre for
Research and Studies in Sociology (Lisbon). rute.rodrigues.pso@gmail.com.
PART 6
Positively Mad: Black Metal Health and the

Construction of Identity
Playing with Madness in the Forest of Shadows: Dissonance,
Deviance and Non-Comformity in the Black Metal Scene
Karl Spracklen
Abstract
Pino has argued that music is the site of a struggle over the meaning of deviancy in
what Urban calls metaculture: the culture of culture. This struggle might be
described as a Foucauldian struggle over what constitutes deviance, as well as what
constitutes acceptable, (high) cultural taste. Sandlin and Callahan have noted the
importance of deviance and dissonance in the counter-hegemonic scene of culture
jamming. In this chapter, I use these frameworks of deviance in music and
dissonance in counter-culture to explore the intentionality of playing with madness
in the black metal scene. Methodologically, the chapter will follow the discourse
tracing approach used in my previous research on black metal. Specifically, I will
examine the discussions of fans on an internet forum about madness and bands that
deliberately play with madness, deviance and dissonance over a period of twelve
months. Material produced by those bands in the form of records and websites, and
interviews with those bands in fanzines and magazines, will be also utilised. In the
chapter I will argue that the concept of madness is utilised in a communicative way
to suggest dissonance, deviance and resistance against the instrumentality of what
Rojek, borrowing from Sennett, calls the new capitalism of leisure.
Key Words: Foucault, dissonance, deviance, black metal, power, leisure,

intentionality.
*****
1. Introduction
In this chapter, I use frameworks of deviance in music and dissonance in
counter-culture to explore the intentionality of playing with madness in the black
metal scene. Methodologically, the chapter will follow the discourse tracing
approach1 used in my previous research on black metal.2 Specifically, I will
examine the discussions of fans on an internet forum over a period of twelve
months – as well as in fanzines and magazines – about madness and bands that
deliberately play with madness, deviance and dissonance: Shining and Mayhem
being two pertinent exemplars. Material produced by those bands in the form of
records and websites, and interviews with those bands in fanzines and magazines,
will be also utilised. In the chapter I will argue that the concept of madness is
utilised in a communicative way to suggest dissonance, deviance and resistance
against the instrumentality of what Rojek,3 borrowing from Sennett,4 calls the new
capitalism of leisure.
170 Playing with Madness in the Forest of Shadows
__________________________________________________________________
2. Theoretical Framework
Sandlin and Callahan5 have noted the importance of deviance and dissonance in
the counter-hegemonic scene of culture jamming. Pino6 has argued that music is
the site of a struggle over the meaning of deviancy in what Urban7 calls
metaculture: the culture of culture. This struggle might be described as a
Foucauldian struggle over what constitutes deviance, as well as what constitutes
acceptable, (high) cultural taste. Foucault’s discussion of madness and power
begins with Bentham’s panopticon (the Big Brother of the 19th Century).8 He
argues power is not simply imposed on individuals by institutions, individuals
accept responsibility for their control. Power is not hegemonic, but is spread out in
various centres in social structures. Increasingly, Western civilisation is about how
our bodies are institutionalised. The body and mind are places of contestation
between individual wills and the power of institutions, and madness is increasingly
a label assigned to any metal states or attitudes that are not useful to the State. The
genealogical story of the West is the increasing number of ways in which minds
and bodies are controlled. Bodies themselves become subjectified – defining our
status and power (or lack of it). Identity then is corporeal (of the body) as well as
social. Foucauldian analyses move away from ossified structures to map out
instances of control (conforming) and challenge (resistance). Applications on
Foucault to leisure are limited (to sport and other activities where the body is
central, such as alternative lifestyles).9 Foucault’s ideas about the distribution of
power and the importance of the body could be used to map out a Foucauldian
response to the paradox of leisure.10 We are all involved in creating the structures
that constrain us, and gender (for example) is still central to this construction even
if we have moved away from stories of agency and structure. Whatever
rationalities we have in choosing our leisure, Foucault would still point out the
awful gaze of the Panopticon that makes us choose a certain way.
3. Methodology
This chapter maps and analyse discussions about suicide, madness, mental
health and deviance over a 12-month period on one black metal internet forum
(blackmetal.co.uk). This forum has been used before by this researcher in
exploring ideologies of black metal,11 reactions to National Socialist Black Metal,12
and sexuality.13 There is an epistemological and methodological debate about the
truth-value and utility for researchers of debates on Internet forums.14 There is no
doubt that users of on-line forums do not necessarily represent the views of a wider
population: users of forums are more likely to be passionate, opinion-setters. There
is no doubt also that users of on-line forums do not necessarily post what they
actually feel about a particular topic. These problems, however, should not concern
us. On the matter of representation, this chapter does not claim to provide a
definitive scene ‘response’. Rather, this chapter explores responses made by those
fans who care enough about black metal to post on the forum – these fans are not
Karl Spracklen 171
__________________________________________________________________
representative of all fans, but they are de facto serious and passionate about what
constitutes true or ‘kult’ black metal. On the matter of the truth-value of their
comments, it is indeed true that we do not know whether the fans actually mean
what they write. They could be lying, or unclear, about their private thoughts; it is
impossible for us to be confident about the mapping of their actual thoughts on to
these public opinions. This problem is especially true where fans post under
pseudonyms. That said, truth-value is only a problem if we are concerned with
truth. In this chapter, I am not concerned about whether the fans actually mean
what they say – but I am interested in what they think they have to say to be a part
of black metal’s insider scene, and what they think is acceptable to post on the
forum.
In addition to the debates on the forum, I have undertaken discourse tracing, a
triangulated range of methods applied to provide an account of discourses at a
number of intersecting levels.15 Those levels are fanzine writers, those in the music
industry, the author as a researcher, and the serious consumers of black metal who
write on internet sites. In this case, then, the Discourse Tracing allows a range of
sources, voices, texts and other data to build up a reliable account (‘trace’) of
debates surrounding the discourses of dissonance, deviance and madness
surrounding the bands Mayhem and Shining; and the subgenre called suicidal or
depressive black metal.
4. Mayhem and Shining

Mayhem, one of the key bands of the second-wave of black metal, have a long
history of madness, deviance and dissonance. The stories have become folk tales in
the black metal popular imagination. One of their vocalists, Dead, committed
suicide. Their guitarist was killed by their stand-in bass player, who was associated
with the church burnings and extreme ideologies that dogged Norwegian black
metal in the 1990s. The re-formed band enjoyed notoriety for singer Maniac’s on-
stage self-harm and cutting. Even in 2007, when promoting their latest album Ordo
ad Chao, madness and dissonance were cited as crucial creative sources: frontman
Attila Csihar explained in an interview that:
We have this very similar craziness artistically, or whatever…

It’s like the songs started to affect us, so we were almost
depressed… The second half [of the album] is more like an inner
world – the inner fuck-up, let’s say – it’s about mind
manipulation and psychic techniques and the triggering of the
brain.16
Shining are a Swedish black metal band who are often referred to as being
creators of ‘suicidal black metal’, or ‘depressive black metal’. The band’s lyrical
themes support self-harm, suicide and other forms of nihilistic destruction. They
__________________________________________________________________
have been hugely influential on a whole subgenre of depressive black metal. Their
frontman Kvarforth has courted controversy and publicity through self-harm on
stage, picking fights with members of the audience, encouraging his fans to cut
themselves, and staging (faking) his own suicide. Even though he has now
distanced himself from these antics he still embraces the deviance and dissonance
of the band’s notoriety:
It’s a bit of a problem for me, but I make my own bed, so I have
to lie in it. I’ll try in the coming years to see that was part of our
past. It’s nothing that I regret; I just don’t want to do that
anymore.17
5. On the Forum and in the Fanzines

Madness, dissonance and deviance are subjects of a number of postings on the
black metal fan forum. One thread, entitled ‘Depressive Black Metal’, was obviously
the focus of an exchange of information abut the most underground, invisible bands
that are in the subgenre.18 Posters on the thread were keen to describe the music in
ways that made one band sound more miserable than another – there was a tendency
to ‘trump’ bands listed by previous posters with bands that were more underground,
more black, more depressive. Only one poster to the thread actually said they did not
listen to depressive black metal. There was no ideological challenge to the music from
Satanists, heathens or National Socialists, who might have been expected to criticise
the subgenre for being too self-centred, emotional or ‘emo’: a surprise, given the
extent of such extreme ideologies in the normative discourses elsewhere on the forum
and in the Black metal scene more widely.19
Depression and madness did appear in another short thread entitled ‘We need a
thread on music and mental illness’.20 The thread was started by a poster called
CorpsepaintSmurf, who expressed some cynicism about the connection:
I suppose there’s some merit to the old myth that creativity and
sanity seldom walk as one. ‘A man is less likely to become great
the more he is dominated by reason: few can achieve greatness –
and none in art – if they are not dominated by illusion.’ But that
could also be because the plebeians have a dreadful quality of
considering things insane that they can’t comprehend.21
The theme was picked up by a number of childish posters, before the first and
most considered response from someone who had already talked to the first poster
argued that
seriously, the reason I mentioned this to the corpse painted

smurfman is because it arose out of a conversation we were
Karl Spracklen 173
__________________________________________________________________
having about Shining and other Swedish/Finnish bands he claims,
wrongly, are ‘shit.’ From there we got onto Shining and whether
they are depressive black metal. I say ye, because Kvarforth is a
well known nutter. Smurf says nay, claiming Shining are just a
gimmick and can’t be classed as true depressive BM. He also
claims they’re ‘shit’ too, including V Halmstad.22
These two posts exemplify the claims about depressive black metal being a true
reflection of the scene’s dissonance: only madness is the true inheritor of the madness
and fascism of the 1990s. This connection is also present in a thread called
‘Schizophrenia and the speed of thought’, where the conversation normalises mental
illness as a true inspiration for black metal, and psychic and mental dissonance as a
true state of mind for the black metal musician and fan.23
In the fanzine Asgard Root, there is an editorial stance that questions the evolution
of depressive black metal and its appeal to people from outside black metal and heavy
metal (‘scenesters’, ‘shoegazers’, ‘emos’). Mental illness could be seen as a weakness
in the opinion of more traditionally elitist black metal fans. However, the fanzine
acknowledges the great number of influential and aesthetically interesting bands that
straddle the line between acceptable black metal and unacceptable shoegaze. In
interviews with these bands, the musicians get to articulate their belief in self-loathing
and nihilism. For instance, Andrew from Caina says,
I think starting to play music probably saved my life… it allowed

me to focus on creation rather than destruction… The first Caina
demo… is basically a concentrated dose of my rage and pain… I
was never on hard drugs, but was so bent on my own obliteration
through various others substances and means – not to mention good-
old-fashioned self-hatred – that I am certain that I would have taken
my own life if I hadn’t started Caina.24
Such themes of nihilism and self-hatred, all things associated with mental illness
and the stereotype of the teenage emo kid, also appear in an interview with one of the
members of the band Lyrinx.25 But in this interview, there is also a gradual realisation
by the band member that ‘depressive black metal’ is a fashionable (‘trendy’) tag,
associated with outsiders. He makes it clear that although he is driven by a deep self-
loathing and anger at the modern world, he is suspicious of the trend to diminishing
the extreme nature of black metal through some bands adopting a ‘soft’ depressive
edge, rather than a ‘hard’ deviance of (self) destruction.
6. Discussion and Conclusions

This chapter shows how the concept of madness is utilised in a communicative
way to suggest dissonance, deviance and resistance against the instrumentality of
__________________________________________________________________
what Rojek calls the new capitalism of leisure. To survive in the new capitalism of
leisure, Rojek suggests we navigate through a series of interactions with leisure
activities that provide us with intentional constructions of who we are as social
selves. This intentionality – the communicative making of identity through leisure
– plays with and subverts Foucault’s thesis that the definition of madness is in the
power of the State, and is a definition that is used to imprison those bodies and
kinds unacceptable to the State. Rather, in black metal, madness is a positive
discourse, something seen as part of the extreme ideology of misanthropy explicit
in the scene. There are, however, limits to the madness. When the madness
becomes self-pitying shoegazing, rather than a glorious, deviant Nietzschean
destruction of the modern world, the dissonance and mental illness become
Othered.
Notes
1
M. Le Greco & S. Tracy, ‘Discourse Tracing as Qualitative Practice’, Qualitative
Inquiry, Vol. 15(9), 2009, pp. 1516-1543.
2
K. Spracklen, ‘Leisure, Consumption and a Blaze in the Northern Sky’, World
Leisure Journal, Vol. 48(3), 2006, pp. 33-55; K. Spracklen, ‘True Aryan Black
Metal: The Meaning of Leisure, Belonging and the Construction of Whiteness in
Black Metal Music’, The Metal Void: First Gatherings, N. Scott (ed) I-D Press,
Oxford, 2010a, pp. 81-93; K. Spracklen, ‘Gorgoroth’s Gaahl’s Gay! Power,
Gender and the Communicative Discourse of the Black Metal Scene’, Heavy Metal
Fundametalisms: Music, Metal and Politics, R. Hill & K. Spracklen (eds) I-D
Press, Oxford, 2010b, pp. 89-102.
3
C. Rojek, The Labour of Leisure, Sage, London, 2010.
4
R. Sennett, The Culture of New Capitalism, Yale University Press, New York,
2006.
5
J. Sandlin & J. Callahan, ‘Deviance, Dissonance, and Détournement: Culture
Jammers’ Use of Emotion in Consumer Resistance’, Journal of Consumer Culture,
Vol. 9(1), 2009, pp. 79-115.
6
N. Pino, ‘Music as Evil: Ceviance and Metaculture in Classical Music’, Music
and Arts in Action, Vol. 2(1), 2009, pp. 37-54.
7
G. Urban, Metaculture: How Culture Moves Through the World, Minnesota
University Press, Minneapolis, 2001.
8
M. Foucault, The History of Madness, Routledge, London, 1961:2006.
9
S. Holland, Alternative Femininities, Oxford, Berg, 2004.
10
K. Spracklen, The Meaning and Purpose of Leisure, Basingstoke, Palgrave,
2009.
11
K. Spracklen, ‘Leisure, Consumption and a Blaze in the Northern Sky’, World
Leisure Journal, Vol. 48(3), 2006, pp. 33-55.
12
See note 2 and 10.
Karl Spracklen 175
__________________________________________________________________
13
K. Spracklen, ‘Gorgoroth’s Gaahl’s Gay! Power, Gender and the
Communicative Discourse of the Black Metal Scene’, Heavy Metal
Fundametalisms: Music, Metal and Politics, pp. 89-102.
14
J. Fernback, ‘Beyond the Diluted Community Concept: A Symbolic
Interactionist Perspective on Online Social Relations’, New Media and Society,
Vol. 9(1), 2007, pp. 49-69.
15
See note 1.
16
Attila in the magazine article: W. Pinfold, ‘A Sort of Homecoming’, Zero
Tolerance, 17, 2007, p. 53.
17
Kvarforth in the magazine article: C. Harvie, ‘Reflections’, Zero Tolerance, 33,
2010, p. 22.
18
Found at http://blackmetal.co.uk/forums/10-general-music-discussions/434265-
depressive-black-metal.html#434265.
19
See note 2.
20
Found at http://blackmetal.co.uk/forums/10-general-music-discussions/508126-
qwe-need-a-thread-on-music-and-mental-illnessq.html#508126.
21
CorpsepaintedSmurf, initial posting in thread ‘We need a thread on music and
mental illness’, blackmetal.co.uk public forum, posted 3 May 2010, 09:00. The
quote has spread like a virus across hundreds of metal and goth web-sites. It is a
phrase seemingly first used by the Slovenian experimental rock band Devil Doll in
1987.
22
Inquisitor, response to thread ‘We need a thread on music and mental illness’,
blackmetal.co.uk public forum, posted 3 May 2010, 11:52.
23
Found at http://blackmetal.co.uk/forums/8-philosophy-and-religion/514680-
schizophrenia-and-speed-of-thought.html#514680.
24
Andrew in the magazine article: ‘Caina’, Asgard Root, 2, 2009, p. 60.
25
L in the magazine article: ‘Lyrinx’, Asgard Root, 2, 2009, pp. 32-35.
Bibliography
Fernback, J., ‘Beyond the Diluted Community Concept: A Symbolic Interactionist
Perspective on Online Social Relations’. New Media and Society. Vol. 9(1), 2007,
pp. 49-69.
Foucault, M., The History of Madness. Routledge, London, 1961:2006.
Holland, S., Alternative Femininities. Oxford, Berg, 2004.
Le Greco, M. & Tracy, S., ‘Discourse Tracing as Qualitative Practice’. Qualitative

Inquiry. Vol. 15(9), 2009, pp. 1516-1543.
__________________________________________________________________
Pino, N., ‘Music as Evil: Deviance and Metaculture in Classical Music’. Music and
Arts in Action. Vol. 2(1), 2009, pp. 37-54.
Rojek, C., The Labour of Leisure. Sage, London, 2010.
Sandlin, J. & Callahan, J., ‘Deviance, Dissonance, and Détournement: Culture

Jammers’ Use of Emotion in Consumer Resistance’. Journal of Consumer Culture.
Vol. 9(1), 2009, pp. 79-115.
Sennett, R., The Culture of New Capitalism. Yale University Press, New York,
2006.
Spracklen, K., ‘Leisure, Consumption and a Blaze in the Northern Sky’. World
Leisure Journal. Vol. 48(3), 2006, pp. 33-55.
Spracklen, K., The Meaning and Purpose of Leisure. Basingstoke, Palgrave, 2009.
Spracklen, K., ‘True Aryan Black Metal: The Meaning of Leisure, Belonging and
the Construction of Whiteness in Black Metal Music’. The Metal Void: First
Gatherings. Scott, N. (ed), I-D Press, Oxford, 2010.
Spracklen, K., ‘Gorgoroth’s Gaahl’s Gay! Power, Gender and the Communicative
Discourse of the Black Metal Scene’. Heavy Metal Fundametalisms: Music, Metal
and Politics. Hill, R. & Spracklen, K. (eds), I-D Press, Oxford, 2010.
Urban, G., Metaculture: How Culture Moves through the World. Minnesota
University Press, Minneapolis, 2001.
Karl Spracklen is a Principal Lecturer in Socio-Cultural Aspects of Sport and

Leisure at Leeds Metropolitan University (United Kingdom), and the Chair of the
Leisure Studies Association. He is interested in leisure theory, Jurgen Habermas
and, in his spare time, real ale.
Lord Satan’s Secret Rites and Satanism as Self-Therapy: The
Creation of a Masculinity Gender Identity within Black Metal
Sanna Fridh
Abstract
Satanism and anti-Christianity have always had prominent roles in black metal,
expressed in such a way that it has usually been understood as a cult movement.
While most musicians and fans today would claim that true evil is organized
religion and even more so Christianity, the Satanism in black metal can also be
interpreted as a new religions movement, making this statement highly
paradoxical. This chapter will investigate how it is possible to understand the black
metal movement as a new religious movement by applying Peter Clarke’s concept
of the true self to act as a catharsis to separate the individual from the collective.
By comparing the true self to ‘being true’, a complex notion of gender roles within
black metal will be revealed, where Christianity can be seen as a metaphor for the
consumerist society and how it emasculates men through the feminization of
masculinity. By being evil through an extreme use of violence, Satanism therefore
works as a tool for black metal men to free themselves of the metrosexual shackles
and experience themselves as authentic in a world where everyone is supposed to
be the same.
Key Words: Black metal, Satanism, new religious movements, true self,
masculinity, feminization of masculinity, authenticity, metrosexuality.
*****
Contrary to popular belief, there is little to no evidence to support the idea that
theistic Satanist movements have existed throughout history.1 This means that the
Satanism that appears in black metal would be the first popularized form of theistic
Satanism to emerge, and as such it can be understood as a new religious
movement.
The concept ‘new’ is a very important keyword, and here it will be understood
as a religious movement that has appeared during the past century. However, the
word ‘new’ also implicates many other qualities when discussing religious
movements. While scholars sometimes disagree over the definitions of a new
religious movement, the definitions that are usually generally agreed upon include
the charismatic leader, decentralization and syncretisation of various ideas and
philosophies.2 While it is possible to study the black metal movement based on
these three definitions and see that the early black metal movement resembles that
of a new religious movement in ideology and structure, the term which will be
studied and applied in more detail is Peter Clarke’s true self, because it is the true
self, more than the other definitions available, that can lend a hand in
178 Lord Satan’s Secret Rites
__________________________________________________________________
understanding how it is possible to create a gender identity with the help of
religion.
1. The True Self

So what is a true self? As the attentive reader might have noticed, the word true
self strongly resembles the typical metal jargon of being ‘true’, and this not without
reason. According to Clarke, the true self is a term used to describe new religious
movements that in particular focus on self-improvement and self-empowerment.
Many, if not all, of these religions start with the premise that humans are weak for
not being able to realize their true inner potential, and this weakness is the cause of
many of the world’s problems like war and pollution. The religion solves this
problem by forcing the individual to introspect so one’s true inner potential can be
found, such as being a god or an extraterrestrial. By realizing one’s own true
potential, it becomes possible to transcend the idea of being a mere mortal. By
converting to a religion of the true self, an individual can therefore go from a state
of dissatisfaction with him- or herself and/or the current state of the world to a
feeling where he or she has transcended the mortal plane into something much
greater. This causes a feeling of being unique and special which in turn leads to a
sense of authenticity. The reason for this lies in how the practitioner(s) of the
religion in question has actually achieved this very special metaphysical state while
the rest of humanity has not.3 As such, ‘true’ can and should be understood as
‘authentic’ in this context.
When applied to black metal, the premise assumes that humans have become
weak because of religion, and most of all Christianity. This has led humans in
following a sheep-mentality, and the reason why the world is politically corrupt is
because people do not question the current world order. The idea of finding one’s
true self therefore means the realization that every human being is by nature
actually evil where evil can understood as a kind of primordial force in the
universe, created from Satan (one can argue that Satan is evil). A person who has
realized his or her true self will thus be able to constantly live out these evil urges,
and this will lead to the person to break out of his or her sheep-mentality and
become truly individualized, experiencing a sense of authenticity.
2. Gendered Conceptions in Black Metal

An authentic identity can in turn be understood in many ways, and humans
usually like to emphasize different parts of our identity in different social contexts
depending on how we want to be perceived but also how we perceive ourselves. As
such, identity is something we constantly create within each given cultural context.
However, what constitutes a ‘part’ of someone’s identity is not that easy to
pinpoint, especially because it does indeed vary between different social contexts,
and it’s not the large events that necessarily matter, it’s the small ones. Consider
the text below:
Sanna Fridh 179
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The male truck driver may similarly experience his [...] identity
in different ways when talking to fellow male truckers, to
waitresses, to the odd female trucker, and to his wife on the
phone, all at the same truck stop along the highway. Such
examples could be multiplied endlessly.4
Even though the way we behave and the way we want others to behave towards
us may differ between each social context, there are still some factors that can be
considered more ‘constant’ than others, such as gender for the simple reason that
all humans are gendered. When studying the black metal movement from a gender
perspective, it becomes evident that a vast majority of the musicians are men, and
while the number is somewhat less among the fans, the trend is pretty much the
same. The movement itself also clearly exhibits certain gendered attitudes,
particularly towards homosexuals, where such words as ‘fag’ or ‘gay’ are
constantly used in a derogatory sense towards anything that does not fit the criteria
of being true. This seems to indicate that in order to be true, one can for example
not be homosexual by espousing certain characteristics that we may associate more
strongly with homosexuality. So when men use words such as fag or gay,
especially when aimed at another man, they question that man’s sexuality and
hence, also his gender identity, since the men who are often accused of being
homosexual are usually heterosexual men (or at least they are believed to be).
Since only true men can act like heterosexual men, those can also only be the ones
that possess an authentic masculine identity.
While sexual orientation is one part of a gender identity, it’s far from the only
one, even though Westerners usually like to think it is.5 As I have been trying to
hint so far, what really constitutes gender identities are personal characteristics.
One such characteristic is aggression. Violence is for example a very permeating
feature in black metal, and many lyrics express violent ideas or ideas about
violence (murder, war, Armageddon...). It is also common to pose with medieval
weapons in promotional photos, and ritual self-mutilations may be a part of a
band’s stage performance/appearance either on or outside the stage. And of course,
let’s not forget the murders associated with the genre which goes beyond any kind
of metaphorical violence. Indeed, even though death metal might have taken the
descriptions of violence in its lyrics to the extreme, it was black metal that lived
them out.
This might not be so strange when studying the connection between
masculinity in violence, as it becomes evident that violence has historically been
associated with masculinity for a very long time. The most typical examples
include how boys must undergo violent rites of passage in order to become men.
However, no matter how mindless and destructive violence may appear, violence
can also carry social meanings to create something new by destroying that which
already exists. Gry Mørk argues that this is the case with black metal, and she
__________________________________________________________________
describes how creative violence, and more specifically, a subcategory called
progressive violence, can be applied to understand the black metal movement.
Here violence serves a function to carry messages about ‘alienation, pain, thirst for
vigor, force and self-fulfillment, while simultaneously launching critical
perspectives on Western civilization’.6 Progressive violence in particular
specifically criticizes how the current consumerist culture is watering down the
male into something that is no longer perceived as masculine. If homosexuality is
associated with femininity and thus attributes such as care and nurture, then a true
black metal musician or fan is violent by nature and he has no fear to inflict
violence on others or to himself, which proves his heterosexuality, regardless of
whether he is actually heterosexual or not. Ritual self-mutilation is not only
interesting but also an important aspect of the black metal movement, in that it
affirms how men should constantly attempt to experience pain but not show that
they do. The lack of emotion is of course also another typical feature of the
stereotypical man, and here violence can serve the purpose to train this particular
feature, especially when aimed towards others.
This leads me to another aspect of gender, namely appearance. Who has missed
the picture of the sleek, young, long-haired, pale man dressed up in black clothes,
spikes and chains, carrying a medieval weapon with corpsepaint in his face? When
the aesthetic goal is to appear as ugly and repulsive as possible, it’s usually
referred to as anti-aesthetics and this is exactly what black metal attempts to do.
Even if calling it fashion might be going a bit too far, there is certainly an apparent
dressing code that fans and musicians should follow, and breaking this code might
lead others to yell ‘fag’ at you, as Mikael Sarelin duly noted in his study of
Enochian Crescent and Black Dawn.7 While Gry Mørk argues that the
development of the black metal anti-aesthetics was mostly a way to counter the
‘trend kids’, I would like to go further with her assessment and argue that the anti-
aesthetics is a counter-aesthetic to the metrosexual man. This becomes apparent
when noting how the metrosexual man is usually described. One example for
example states that
the term metrosexual by definition is generally applied

to heterosexual men with a strong concern for their appearance,
and/or whose lifestyles display attributes stereotypically
attributed to gay.8
The word ‘gay’ is an important signifier in this context, because what it

assumes is that men who are considered metrosexual naturally act more feminine
or are associated with behavior that is usually considered feminine. Such examples
include almost a narcissistic attitude towards one’s looks, acting emotional, caring
and appearing as a nurturing person, while at the same time being sexually
available and considered physically attractive by the opposite sex.
Sanna Fridh 181
___________________________________________________________________
Even if there might still be some reluctance of men admitting to be
metrosexual, metrosexuality is all over us, especially when it comes to the mass
media like TV adverts and giant posters. Metrosexuality can therefore be
considered the new masculine ideal, and this goes in line with the idea about
progressive violence, in how metrosexual men ultimately are victims of the
consumerist culture. If progressive violence is meant to criticize the Western
society and how it emasculates men, then progressive violence can be considered a
critique against metrosexuality in particular.
3. Satan the Man, Christ the Woman?

So if the black metal movement is mostly a critique against current masculine
norms and ideas, then how does the religion come into all this? I already
established that true self can be understood as ‘true’, and ‘true’ in turn as
‘authentic’. Then who is the most authentic man in black metal, the man every
other man in black metal looks up to? Seemingly, that would be Satan or any other
names that may refer to the same mythological figure. This becomes apparent
when studying the lyrics of many songs, where Satan is often referred to as the
narrator’s master, king, emperor or any other title that refers to a person with great
social importance. In interviews with prominent musicians, it also becomes clear
that many idolize Satan or see Satan as a great source of strength and power, just
like how Christians might see Christ in a similar manner.
The peculiar part about the Satanism in black metal is that it is not metaphorical
like LaVey’s modern Satanism, but theistic; meaning that it is more or less
Christianity inverted. This in turn means the inversion of all Christian ideals, like
loving your neighbour like you love yourself, help the poor and sick and so on, and
a person who exhibits these traits is considered feminine based on the idea that
only women are nurturing by nature. The conclusion would be that Christianity
promotes femininity as an ideal that goes in line with the idea of metrosexuality as
the new masculinity since metrosexual men are heterosexual men who act as if
they were homosexual. Since the metrosexual man is highly narcissistic, he is
considered extremely superficial. What this implies is that the meterosexual man is
an object rather than a subject, and an object among many other objects, since
every man should aspire to be like the metrosexual man. There is thus a loss of
individuality and hence, authenticity, since a feeling of authenticity often stems
from a feeling of uniqueness. So what Satanism in black metal does is that it offers
an alternative by presenting an idea of how men should be but currently are not.
Metrosexuality can thus be understood as what is commonly known as the
feminization of masculinity, which describes an ongoing process where previously
typically masculine traits such as aggression (violence) are progressively devalued
into something negative. Since the theist Satanism in black metal is an inverted
version of Christianity, it is possible to understand Christianity as a metaphor for
the feminization of masculinity. The true self in black metal therefore revolves
__________________________________________________________________
around how the feminization of masculinity (i.e. Christianity) has weakened men
into lesser beings, and by understanding this, their true inner masculine potential
can be unleashed. This also explains why many men within black metal like to
describe themselves as evil, because by doing so they affine a supernatural power
which they have gained thanks to realizing their true selves.
4. Conclusions
In this chapter I have argued that it is possible to understand the Satanism in
black metal as a new religious movement by drawing a comparison between Peter
Clarke’s concept of the true self to the typical metal jargon of being ‘true’. By
investigating what it means to be true, it becomes evident that true seems to be
strongly connected with gendered concepts within black metal, and particularly,
masculinity. By studying certain aspects associated with gender, it becomes
possible to understand black metal as a stark social critique against current
masculine ideals, and most notably the phenomenon of metrosexuality. By using
Christianity as a metaphor for the feminization of masculinity, the Satanism in
black metal expresses a desire for many men to find an authentic gender identity in
a world where being ‘manly’ seems to be the same as ‘womanly’. More than just
being a sonic assault, black metal therefore fills a void where men can be men,
even if it just means the one hour and thirty minutes it takes to attend a concert.
Notes
1
J. Klaits, Servants of Satan: The Age of the Witch Hunts, Indiana University
Press, USA, 1985.
2
P. Clarke, New Religious Movements in Global Perspective: A Study of Religious
Change in the Modern World, Routledge, New York and London, 2006.
3
Ibid.
4
A. Gottlieb, ‘Interpreting Gender and Sexuality’, Exotic No More: Anthropology
on the Frontlines, J. McClancy (ed), The University of Chicago Press, Chicago,
2002, p. 171.
5
D. Kulick, Travesti: Sex, Gender, and Culture among Brazilian Transgendered
Prostitutes, The University of Chicago Press, London and Oxford, 1998.
6
G. Mørk, ‘With my Art I am the Fist in the Face of God: On Old-School Black
Metal’, Contemporary Religious Satanism: A Critical Anthology, J.A. Petersen
(eds), MPG Books Ltd., Cornwall, 2009.
7
M. Sarelin, ‘Masculinities within Black Metal: Heteronormativity, Protest
Masculinity or Queer?’ The Metal Void: First Gathering, N.W.R. Scott (ed), Inter-
Disciplinary Press, Oxford, 2010.
8
S. Blu, Bang: True to the Streets 103.6 http://www.bangradio.fm/index.php/
2009/02/08/metrosexuality-porn.
Sanna Fridh 183
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Bibliography
Baddeley, G., Lucifer Rising: A Book of Sin, Devil Worship and Rock’n’Roll.
Plexus Publishing Limited, London, 1999.
Bossius, T., Med framtiden i backspegeln: black metal- och

transkulturen.Ungdomar, musik och religion i en senmodern värld. Bokförlaget
Daidalos, Göteborg, 2003.
Bowie, F., The Anthropology of Religion: An Introduction. Blackwell Publishing,

Oxford, 2006.
Clarke, P., New Religious Movement in Global Perspective: A Study of Religious

Change in the Modern World. Routledge, New York and London, 2006.
Edwards, T., Cultures of Masculinity. Routledge, New York and London, 2006.
Geertz, C., ‘Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight’. Anthropological Theory:
An Introductory History. McGraw-Hill, New York, 2006.
Gootlieb, A., ‘Interpreting Gender and Sexuality’. Exotic No More: Anthropology

on the Front Lines. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2002.
Iida, Y., ‘Beyond the ‘Feminisation of Masculinity: Transforming Patriarchy with

the ‘Feminine’ in Contemporary Japanese Youth Culture’. Inter-Asia Cultural
Studies. Vol. 6, 2005, pp. 56-74.
Klaits, J., Servants of Satan: The Age of the Witch Hunts. Indiana University Press,
USA, 1985.
Kulick, D., Travesti: Sex, Gender, and Culture among Brazilian Transgendered
Prostitutes. The University of Chicago Press, London and Oxford, 1998.
Moynihan, M., Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal
Underground. Feral House, Los Angeles, 2003.
Mørk, G., ‘With my Art I am the Fist in the Face of God: On Old-School Black
Metal’. Contemporary Religious Satanism: A Critical Anthology. Petersen, J.A.
(ed), MPG Books Ltd., Cornwall, 2009.
__________________________________________________________________
Sarelin, M., ‘Masculinities within Black Metal: Heteronormativity, Protest

Masculinity or Queer?’ The Metal Void: First Gathering. Scott, N.W.R. (ed), Inter-
Disciplinary Press, Oxford, 2010.
Sanna Fridh is a graduate in the Global Studies at the University of Gothenburg.

Her primary research interests include the anthropology of religion and gender
studies.
‘A Furore Normannorum, Libera Nos Domine!’ A Short History
of Going Berserk in Scandinavian Literature and Heavy Metal
Imke von Helden

Abstract
The motif of the berserker (‘one whose actions are recklessly defiant’) and of
‘going berserk’ (‘going mad’, ‘to become violent and uncontrolled’) has a long-
standing cultural history, especially in old Scandinavian literature. It is in hm. The
following chapter aims to portray the history of the motif from Old Norse literature
to its presence in today’s culture and particularly in heavy metal music. I aim to
show how the motif is used to act as both a channel for aggression and as social
criticism.
Key Words: Berserker, heavy metal, madness, Manowar, Thyrfing, Månegarm.
*****
1. Multifarious Metal Madness

Madness and Heavy metal seem to be the perfect match: It is evident at metal
concerts, where the crowd goes wild and bang their heads or perform the ‘Wall of
Death’; it can be found on album cover designs and lyrics, in breakneck guitar
solos and sometimes even in the ideological excesses of fans and musicians. To the
outsider, this world often seems threatening and nihilistic. Critics generally assume
that heavy metal has a dramatic effect on teenagers as well as ‘causing madness
and death’,1 or at least that it negatively influences young people’s lives to a great
extent. Some regard metal music as an attack on traditional values. Metal indeed
seems to glorify violence, death and negativity itself, with band names such as
Slayer, Mayhem, Twisted Sister and Napalm Death – let alone album titles like
Massive Killing Capacity or Butchered at Birth – titles that can hardly be enjoyed
by a healthy mind.
Robert Walser, however, suggests to perceive the phenomenon as critical
madness: heavy metal does not intend to spread madness, but utilises it as a means
of reflecting and criticising the insanity taking place in society, such as the effects
of social indifference or violent conflicts. Deena Weinstein suggests a ‘figural and
contextual interpretation rather than a literal reading’2 of heavy metal. Weinstein,
while saying that there are basic similarities among themes of songs, states that
there are ‘significant core thematic complexes’, namely clusters of the Dionysian
and the Chaotic. Surely, the madness-motif and with it, the berserker, belongs to
the latter. Like Walser, she views in motifs such as disorder, conflict, opposition
and contradiction a readiness to acknowledge the facts of life and try to deal with
them. Thus, the berserker-motif is a way of expressing both madness and social
criticism in heavy metal songs and thereby a medium of coping with the world. In
186 ‘A Furore Normannorum, Libera Nos Domine!’
__________________________________________________________________
order to facilitate text comprehension, the following section will help to explain the
literary and historical background of the berserker.
2. The Berserker in Literature and History

Descriptions of fierce heroism and wild fury as being peculiar to the Germanic
people already appear in the writings by and records of ancient authors. A Nordic
phenomenon among their fighters is the berserker, who is said to be a long-haired,
huge and vigorous warrior fighting in uncontrollable anger and who is reputed to
be insensitive to pain. Old Norse sagas, Skaldic verses, annals and historical works
contain a great abundance of berserker characteristics. Snorri Sturlusson’s
berserker-definition in the Ynglinga Saga portrays them as mad, inhuman fighters
without body armour:
Woden’s men went without hauberks and raged like dogs or

wolves. They bit their shields and were strong like bears or bulls.
They killed men, but neither fire nor iron could hurt them. This is
called berserksgangr.3
Furthermore, berserker characteristics include howling, flashing eyes, twisting

faces and bodies and foam coming from the berserkers’ mouths, whenever they are
irritated or enter battle. The berserker appear mainly in stereotypical roles: They
are often a king’s bodyguards or belong to an elite troop. Being often considered as
outlaws or troublemakers, they appear as unwelcome suitors4 or heathen demons,
too. In terms of etymology, the meaning of the prefix ber- can be connected to the
Old Norse noun berr/beri (bear), resulting in the thought that berserker were ‘bear-
fighters’ and particularly brave and/or carrying wolf skin. Another assumption
connects the figure to the adjective berr, meaning bare or naked, and refers to the
lack of armour.
The actual existence of similar warriors outside of literature is highly contested.
Klaus von See,5 who does not doubt the existence of these warriors, places the
berserker in medieval literature rather than in real life and regards the word in the
‘Haraldskvæði’ as being not an established term, but an invention and addition of a
later poet. According to von See, there are neither runic inscriptions, nor are there
any occurrences of the word in the collection of medieval Scandinavian law texts.
Even proponents of the assumption that the berserker existed in history, like Clive
Tolley, assign most of the cultural aspects, like initiation rites, to the world of
literature.6 They appear as a motif in Old Norse literature, more specifically in
Eddaic poetry, Skaldic poetry and sagas. However, there are an immense amount
of sources that display these grim warriors, the earliest reference deriving from the
already mentioned poem ‘Haraldskvæði’. Later, the word mainly appears in
Eddaic-Skaldic poetry and Icelandic prose from the 12th century onwards, for
Imke von Helden 187
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example the Íslendingadrápa (approx. 12th century) and Grettis Saga (approx. 14th
century).
Michael P. Speidel builds up a slightly different picture of the berserker by
tracing their history back to the timespan between 1300 BC to 1300 AD. He draws
on archaeological evidence from the 13th century BC, which suggests an origin of
an alleged berserker-tradition in the late Bronze Age. The warriors of the Assyrian
king Tukulti-Ninurta fought the Hittites and the Babylonians as berserk-like
fighters. They shed their armour and part of their clothing in sight of the enemy.7
This was an uncommon phenomenon in the Babylonian-Assyrian tradition where
warfare included orderly rows of heavily armed and disciplined soldiers and might
have shocked the combatants. Speidel’s reference is an epic that describes and
praises the berserk fighting style.
They are furious, raging, taking forms strange as Anzu.

They charge forward furiously to the fray without armour,
They had stripped off their breastplates, discarded their clothing
(…)
The fierce heroic men danced with sharpened weapons.8
Speidel’s argumentation connects the long-lasting tradition of this fighting style

and their code of honour and behaviour to the tribal culture the people lived in.9
However, their downfall came with growing influence of the Romans’ armies:
With their more civilised warfare came simplified clothing and lighter weapons
which made fighting easier. But even some time after this change, berserk troops
were hired from outside to support the soldiers.10 According to Hermann Güntert,
the berserk tradition died out with the arrival of Christianity.11
The sources differ on what made people become berserker. Güntert claims the
rage to be inheritable and come out when a person was thwarted or slightly
irritated, whereas others have suggested various medicinal explanations12 such as
fungi, roots or intoxicating tonics, and even witchcraft.13 The rage was, according
to Speidel, roused by shouting and singing or screeching like raucous birds, war
songs were sung and dances on the battlefield fanned fury and bonded the warriors
together.14
3. Heavy Metal Berserker

The berserker-motif can be found in various fields of contemporary culture. It
appears in many different contexts and forms in films, video games and role-plays.
Even more frequent is the utilisation of the berserker as a motif in song lyrics,
especially in heavy metal music: The online reference work Encyclopaedia
Metallum lists 19 band names that include the word; furthermore 12 album titles
and 115 song titles. That indicates the importance of the motif to the genre. In the
following, my aim is to analyse exemplarily the lyrics of heavy metal songs by
__________________________________________________________________
Manowar, Thyrfing and Månegarm that feature the berserker-motif and to find out
in what ways it illustrates a connection between heavy metal and madness.
Manowar’s lyrics generally focus on heavy metal and fantasy stories about war,
heroes, loyalty. In recent years, the application of Norse mythology has increased
within the band’s textual and visual concept. In the song ‘The Sons of Odin’15 from
the album Gods of War the first person narrator seems to walk alone through the
night, thinking proudly of an already fought battle and the day he himself may die
in combat. In addition, the song lists facts and fiction known of the Viking Age,
among them above mentioned aspects of berserker history: The lines ‘Killers of
men/of warriors friend’ indicates the historical assumption that berserker were
hired by kings or jarls to support their troops. The missing facts are filled with
concepts of honour and fame that are consistent with Manowar’s general view on
war themes: Courage and loyalty to fellow fighters are important to the narrator
(‘sworn to avenge our fallen brothers’), whose thoughts oscillate between
thoughtfulness and pride, as well as the awareness of his own mortality and the day
he will join the einherjer (fallen Viking warriors) in Valhalla. This personalisation
of history through the display of thoughts and feelings of supposedly historical
characters is frequently used in glocal metal.16 One verse of the lyrics is decidedly
dedicated to the berserker rage and their fighting style:
And in their hour of need

He sent forth unto them
The Berserker Rage
Now gods and men
They rose up from the ground
Screaming like wild animals
Such is the gift of absolute power
No blade or weapon could harm them
They killed men and horses alike
And all who stood before them died that day
Hail Gods Of War.
The berserker here serves as an escapist motif that is confined to world of

fantasy and stories, so there is obviously no connection to the real world. However,
there are numerous examples in other metal songs that suggest a connection
between the ‘historical’ and ‘contemporary’ berserker in that the authors of the
lyrics make him a character whose rage is aroused by a certain matter and who
fights against everything without caring for social rules and frameworks, thus
constructing an outlet for social criticism in the widest sense of the term: Social
criticism could be anything from unease about other people’s behaviour to the
critique of society. In the following, I will briefly discuss two such examples.
Imke von Helden 189
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Especially in the Nordic viking and folk metal subgenres, there are numerous
albums and songs that include the motif of the berserker without explicitly
mentioning the word. Among these albums is Vansinnesvisor (Songs of Madness)
by Thyrfing from Sweden.17 The lyrical concept is dedicated to negativity and the
darker side of mankind that can be resolved only by ‘kick[ing] the walls [of the
dark tunnel] out and create that light yourself’.18 Since the band members state that
they are very interested in the Viking Age, a connection between the lyrics of the
title song ‘Vansinnesvisan’ (The Madness Song)19 and berserker can be made, even
if there is no mention of the word itself in the text: the first person narrator is angry
to a degree bordering on madness and is expressing his will to slay people around
him. Not much more information on the circumstances and people involved is
given during the song: It is not clear though why the narrator is killing and why the
death of these people will not or cannot be mourned by their relatives and beloved,
as the text also states. The only person who is able to stand by the graves and mock
the memory of the dead is the slayer himself. It is neither clear whom the aim of all
this aggression is, nor is it obvious who the ‘I’ in the song is. Even in terms of time
and place, the song is universal, since there are no references whatsoever. ‘Ingen
hjältars sal, ingen himmelsk fröjd när makter (na) (era) öden utmäta/Blott spott och
spe era eftermälen färga ‘(No Hall of Heroes, no heavenly joy when the powers
rate your fate/Only mockery and scorn will be your remembrance) may give a hint
that the slain are no followers of Odin (Hall of Heroes meaning Valhalla, where
those who died in combat are guided by the Valkyries), but Christians who tried to
convert the heathens to their faith. The descriptions of the state of the first person
narrator are strongly reminiscent of the berserker characteristics. One of the band
members says about this song in an interview:
It’s about all those feelings inside when you loose your fucking
mind with rage and anger and how you’d like to piss on the
graves of those who have ever done you wrong.20
Indeed, the lyrics include signals of excessive hate, like ‘Länge nog har era
maskätna huvuden vilat på era veka axlar’ (Long enough has your worm-eaten
head rested upon your weak shoulders) and there are various other indications
concerning the berserk state ‘En längtande känsla sprider sig I mina nävar och
lustan brinner’ (A longing feeling is spreading in my fists and belligerence is
burning) and fight ‘Klinga stolt när ben möter stål, klinga stolt när sårsvetten
droppar’ (It is a mighty sound when bone meets steel, the blade is proud when the
blood is dripping from it). The last line of the lyrics, ‘I mitt vansinne fann ni livets
ruttna slut’ (In my madness, your life found its rotten end), gives a final hint on the
person as acting as slaying berserk. The above mentioned statement also points to a
transference of the berserker motif from a historical or literary context to a
contemporary one, perhaps a problematic everyday situation.
__________________________________________________________________
In the song ‘Vredens Tid’ (Age of Wrath) from the homonymous album21 by
Månegarm from Sweden, there is no appearance of the word berserker either. Here,
the figure of the berserker seems to arise from memories, thousands of years after
his ‘actual’ existence, a memory, the narrator can take comfort from: ‘Minnen
svunna stiger åter ur tidens vittrande stoft./Ur leden stiger de fram, en gyllene
flamma av hopp.’ (Lost memories arise again, from the withering dust of
time/They step forth from the ranks, a golden flame of hope.’). Again, these figures
are threatening and powerful: ‘Ett föraktets dova töcken, närd av nid och
hån./Bländad av raseri, på hämndens vinger buren’ (The dull haze of disdain.
Nourished by spite and scorn/Blinded by fury. Borne on the wings of vengeance).
They bear the characteristics of the berserker in literature: ‘vredens herrar’
(masters of wrath) and ‘skapare av vanvettets kaos’ (creator of the chaos of
madness), they act brutally, and are blind to helplessness ‘Vanmakten inför
vredens hand, speglar/i blinda ögon.’ (The powerlessness before the hand of wrath,
is mirrored in blind eyes). The lyrics thus connect the saga berserker with a
contemporary character who is bursting with anger, but who is beyond that able to
come to terms with his problems by using the berserker motif as a means of
channelling his aggressions.
4. A ‘Social’ Berserker?
In the lyrics discussed above, the berserker-motif appears as an escapist
element and metaphor for finding a vent for disappointment or unjustness one has
experienced. The motif appears as a flame of hope and a consoling remembrance
of a reputedly glorious past, where loyalty and honesty were values that counted
and where you could fight for something that was even worth dying for. It is about
criticising others without caring for the right words, of finding a vent for
aggressions. It also mirrors the state of headbanging and ‘going berserk’ in the
moshpit at concerts, drinking mead or other alcoholic drinks, and maybe a dream
of not being as civilised as you have to be in everyday life. And, eventually, the
motif is a way of expressing both anger and social criticism in heavy metal songs
and thereby, a medium of coping with the world, of coping with annoying
comments of people around you or anything that makes a person go ‘mad’.
Notes
1
R. Walser, Running With the Devil, Wesleyan University Press, Middletown,
1993, p.146f: Walser is referring to the lawsuit against Judas Priest where the band
was accused of driving two young men to suicide.
2
D. Weinstein, Heavy Metal: A Music and Its Culture, DaCapo Press, 2000, p. 34.
3
S. Sturlusson, Heimskringla, Ynglinga Saga 6.
4
See B. Blaney, ‘The Berserk Suitor: The Literary Application of a Stereotyped
Theme’, Scandinavian Studies, Vol. 54, 1982, p. 279.
Imke von Helden 191
___________________________________________________________________
5
K. von See, ‘Berserker’, Zeitschrift für deutsche Wortforschung, Vol. 17, 1961,
p. 129.
6
C. Tolley, ‘Hrólfs Saga Kráka and Sámi Bear Rites’, Saga Book, Vol. 31, 2007,
pp. 6 & 18.
7
See M. Speidel, ‘Berserks: A History of Indo-European ‘Mad Warriors’, Journal
of World History, Vol. 13, 2002, p. 254f.
8
See Speidel, op.cit., p. 255.
9
Ibid.
10
Ibid., p. 280.
11
H. Güntert, ‘Über altisländische Berserker-Geschichten’, Beiträge zum
Jahresbericht des Heidelberger Gymnasiums, Vol.10, 1912, p. 22.
12
A. Guðmundsdóttir, ‘Um Berserki, Berserksgang og Amanita Muscaria’, Skírnir,
Vol. 175, 2001, pp. 317-353.
13
See M. Speidel, op.cit., p. 274.
14
Ibid.
15
Manowar ‘The Sons of Odin’, Gods of War, Magic Circle Music, 2007.
16
I apply the term glocal metal to all bands that deal with local elements (history,
national literature & symbols) within the global context of metal music. The term
glocal was introduced by R. Robertson and serves as corrective to the term
globalisation. See also von Helden 2011.
17
Thyrfing, ‘Vansinnesvisan’, Vansinnesvisor, Hammerheart, 2002.
18
Interview with Thyrfing on Metalkings.com, accessed 20th September 2010),
http://metalkings.com/reviews/thyrfing/thyrfing-eng.htm.
19
Thyrfing, Vansinnesvisor, op.cit.
20
Interview with Thyrfing on Voices from the Dark Side, accessed 21st September
2010, http://www.voicesfromthedarkside.de/interviews/thyrfing.htm.
21
Månegarm, ‘Vredens Tid’, Vredens Tid, Displeased Records, 2005.
Bibliography
Blaney, B., ‘The Berserk Suitor: The Literary Application of a Stereotyped
Theme’. Scandinavian Studies. Vol. 54, 1982, pp. 279-294.
Guðmundsdóttir, A., ‘Um Berserki, Berserksgang og Amanita Muscaria’. Skírnir.

Vol. 175, 2001, pp. 317-353.
Güntert, H., ‘Über altisländische Berserker-Geschichten’. Beiträge zum

Jahresbericht des Heidelberger Gymnasiums. Vol.10, 1912, pp. 6-33.
Månegarm, ‘Vredens Tid’. Vredens Tid. Displeased Records, 2005.

__________________________________________________________________
Speidel, M., ‘Berserks: A History of Indo-European ‘Mad Warriors’. Journal of

World History. Vol. 13, 2002, pp. 253-290.
Thyrfing, ‘Vansinnesvisan’. Vansinnesvisor. Hammerheart, 2002.
Tolley, C., ‘Hrólfs Saga Kráka and Sámi Bear Rites’. Saga Book. Vol. 31, 2007,
pp. 5-21.
von Helden, I., ‘Glocal Metal: Lokale Phänomene einer globalen Heavy Metal-
Kultur.’ Metal Matters: Heavy Metal als Kultur und Welt, LIT-Verlag Münster (in
press).
von See, K., ‘Berserker’. Zeitschrift für deutsche Wortforschung. Vol. 17, 1961,
pp. 129-135.
Walser, R., Running With the Devil. Wesleyan University Press, Middletown,
1993.
Weinstein, D., Heavy Metal: A Music and Its Culture. DaCapo Press, 2000.
Imke von Helden is a PhD student and a member of the research group History in
Popular Cultures of Knowledge at Albert-Ludwigs-University in Freiburg,
Germany. Her research deals with cultural and national identity in heavy metal
music. She is also a member of the MMP steering group.
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Can progressive metal’s narrative inform social

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Colin A. McKinnon, Niall Scott and Kristen Sollee

Dr Alejandro Cervantes-Carson Dr Peter Mario Kreuter

A Critical Issues research and publications project.

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Colin A. McKinnon, Niall Scott and Kristen Sollee

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Inter-Disciplinary Press, Priory House, 149B Wroslyn Road, Freeland,

PART 1 Analysing Insanity

Goethe vs. Rammstein: Who is Allowed to Play 3

Death and Life: The Role of Music and Others 15

Textual Analysis of Song Lyrics Adopting a 25

PART 2 Disparate Disciplines: Theoretical Applications

Two Steps past Insanity: The Expression of 35

Can Progressive Metal’s Narrative Inform Social 41

Hysteric Desire: Sexual Positions, Sonic Subjectivity 51

PART 3 More Madness in the Metal Method: A Spectrum

No Method in the Madness? The Problem of the 63

Heavy Metal, Identity Work and Social Transitions: 79

PART 4 Ripping it Up: Metal as a Symptom of a Civilised

Heavy Metal Rituals and the Civilising Process 93

Cycles of Metal and Cycles of Male Aggression: 101

Metal Disorder, Metal Disturbance 111

PART 5 Challenging Perceptions on Metal and Suicide

War inside My Head: Metal, Mental Illness 121

Suicide, Metal Music and Expectancy Theory 133

Emo Saved My Life: Challenging the Mainstream 143

Does Death and Suicide Sound Like the Music 155

Playing with Madness in the Forest of Shadows: 169

Lord Satan’s Secret Rites and Satanism as Self- 177

‘A Furore Normannorum, Libera Nos Domine!’ 185

Colin A. McKinnon, Niall Scott and Kristen Sollee

Julia Kneer, Diana Rieger, Lena Frischlich and Daniel Munko

2. Personal Affection and Stereotypes: Is Goethe Allowed to Play with

Graphic 1. Ratings for brutality as a function of musical taste, author

Graphic 2. Ratings for emotional affection as a function of musical taste,

As expected, interaction effects for brutality and emotional affection were

F (1, 40) = 8.09, p < .001,  p = .17.

ANOVA did not reveal a significant three-way interaction for Music

F (1, 40) = 1.20, p > .28.

F (1, 40) = 14.54, p < .001, p = .27.

Binder, A., ‘Constructing Racial Rhetoric: Media Depictions of Harm in Heavy

Entman, R., ‘Framing: Toward Clarification of a Fractured Paradigm’. Journal of

Hamilton, D.L. & Trolier, T.K., ‘Stereotypes and Stereotyping: An Ooverview of

Little, P. & Zuckerman, M., ‘Sensation Seeking and Music Preferences’.

Monteith, J.M., Spicer, C.V. & Tooman, G.D., ‘Consequences of Stereotype

Moore, M., (Producer/Writer/Director). Bowling for Columbine [Motion picture].

–––, Message in a Ballad: ‘The Role of Music Preferences in Interpersonal

–––, ‘The Content and Validity of Music-Genre Stereotypes among College

Sherman, J., ‘Development and Mental Representation of Stereotypes’. Journal of

Zillmann, D. & Bathia, A., ‘Effects of Associating with Musical Genres on

Diana Rieger is currently working as research assistant at the University of

Lena Frischlich is currently working as a student assistant at the University of

Daniel Munko is currently working as a student assistant at the University of

Rute Rodrigues and Abílio Oliveira

Key Words: Adolescence, death, life, music, social representations.

When we study social representations, what we are studying are