Brian Hickam 1

Crypts of Eternity:
The archival preservation of heavy metal and hardcore punk
music & culture

Brian Hickam with Thomas Atwood

The University of Toledo

[Note: In 2010, I substantially revised and expanded the conference paper that I’d co-
written with Thomas Atwood for the ‘1st Global Conference: Heavy Fundametalisms:
Music, Metal & Politics’ (3-5 Nov. 2008). I changed the title to ‘Crypts of Eternity’ and
self-published it on my Academia.edu website. The original paper, ‘Filling the Void:
The Heavy Metal and Hardcore Punk Archiving Project,’ appears in the eBook The
Metal Void: First Gatherings, edited by Niall W. R. Scott and Imke von Helden:
https://www.interdisciplinarypress.net/online-store/ebooks/diversity-and-
recognition/the-metal-void ]

Abstract:
While heavy metal and hardcore punk are currently experiencing renewed popularity, there
is concern regarding the preservation of books, magazines/fanzines, and audio & video
recordings which cover these genres- primary sources on which today's and future
researchers will depend. Even though the metal, punk, and related communities have done
excellent jobs of documenting the music and cultures over the past five decades, no library
or archive with a mission to create an exhaustive collection of such materials existed
before 2008. Heavy metal studies was realizing synergies that year, prompting scholars to
act on this crisis. A special collection within the Music Library & Sound Recordings
Archive at Bowling Green State University (Ohio, U.S.A.) was commenced with a goal of
affording scholars a permanent, openly accessible, exhaustive collocation of research
materials. This paper details that endeavor and presents strategies for establishing multi-
lingual archives of heavy music materials in three to five strategic locations around the
world. The collections and missions of other relevant repositories are also highlighted.

Keywords: Heavy metal (music), hardcore (music), collectors and collecting, periodicals, books,
archives, libraries, communities, subcultures

To a historian libraries are food, shelter, and even muse. They are of two kinds:
the library of published material, books, pamphlets, periodicals, and the archive of
unpublished papers and documents.
-- Barbara Tuchman (1981)

Rising force

'[H]eavy metal has been one of the great success stories of popular culture, finding fans in the
millions across the world who often remain dedicated listeners to their favorite musical style
2 Brian Hickam

throughout their lives' (Bayer 2009, p. 1). Nonetheless, heavy metal studies within academia was
slow to develop. While the genre predates that of hip hop by about a decade, the first scholarly
monograph on heavy metal music and culture, Weinstein's Heavy Metal: A Cultural Sociology
(1991), was published seven years after the first hip hop treatises.1 While hip hop studies is well
established in numerous African-American studies, popular music, American studies,
performance studies, women's studies, and other departments around the globe, heavy metal
studies courses, or courses which include substantial discussions of heavy metal, remain scarce.
In September 2009 McNally Smith College of Music (St. Paul, Minnesota) began offering what
is believed to be the first 'Hip Hop Diploma'2 allowing students to explore 'a cross-departmental
curriculum that covers music, recording technology, language, music history, and music
business' (‘Hip Hop Diploma’ 2009). While many college courses presumably mention hardcore
punk or heavy metal, there isn't a known degree related to either genre. Deena Weinstein,
professor at DePaul University, theorizes that this is due to the music's lack of association with
any specific ethnic group. She has been discussing aspects of heavy metal, along with many
other musical genres, in her sociology courses since 1982. Weinstein states, however, that she
has never taught a course in heavy metal studies (Weinstein 2009). The only known accredited
course that is specifically on heavy metal is that of Sandy Pearlman and Don McLean at McGill
University in Montreal, Quebec. Their course 'Bruckner and Heavy Metal: From Chord Power to
Power Chord' was first taught in 2007 (Bourguignon 2006). Compared to other popular music
genres, heavy metal has been readily dismissed or ignored by most journalists, music critics, and
scholars.

As for hardcore punk, there are not any known courses or degrees that focus specifically
on the genre and subculture. Numerous courses no doubt discuss hardcore punk along with other
styles of music.3 Historically, there has been overlap in the developments of hardcore punk
music and culture and that of heavy metal. A more detailed discussion on the topic is provided in
the section 'A Shared Cultural History.' Several books, chapters, articles, dissertations,
conference presentations, and Internet sites have featured discussions on both subcultures and
styles of music. The Heavy Metal and Hardcore Punk Archiving Project's (HMHP Archiving
Project) mission specifies the collection and preservation of primary sources from both genres.
The scope is broadly described as print and nonprint materials related to 'heavy music'.4

At the time of this article, there are only about eighteen scholarly or scholarly-leaning
monographs on heavy metal (three of which also focus on punk rock, hardcore punk, or Straight
Edge) and seven monographs on hardcore punk. See Table 1 in the Appendix. An analysis of the
publication dates, authors' fields of study, and LC subject headings exemplifies the diversity and
recent increase in activity. The majority of available books on these musical styles are non-
scholarly. A search of Amazon.com or the Books-In-Print Professional database will show that
there are hundreds of biographies, journalistic histories, music criticisms, guitar tablatures, and
fictional novels based on these musical genres. It's possible that the general lack of course
offerings on heavy metal and hardcore punk has affected authors' and publishers' decisions to
offer academic books. Fortunately, the list of scholarly books on heavy music is sure to grow
now that conferences focused on this music have emerged. Inter-Disciplinary.net's annual
conference Heavy Fundamentalisms: Music, Metal and Politics (Salzburg, Austria) commenced
in the fall of 2008. The second ID.net conference on metal took place in November 2009. The
Heavy Metal and Gender conference, sponsored by Hochschule für Musik Köln, took place in
 Brian Hickam 3

Cologne, Germany in October 2009. An analysis of the number and types of scholars involved in
these three conferences exemplifies the rising force of heavy metal studies. There are
approximately 20 countries represented and 39 disciplines or areas of expertise. The countries
include Australia, Brazil, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, England, France, Germany, Indonesia,
Poland, Romania, Turkey, and the United States. Disciplines include anthropology,
ethnomusicology, Japanese studies, media philosophy, musicology, history of modern art,
political science, Scandinavian studies, and telecommunications.

While these recent and forthcoming conferences and symposia allow heavy music
scholars to present in-depth research to colleagues with similar interests, various presentations on
heavy metal or punk music have been given at conferences with broader appeal for a number of
years. Examples would include seminars and conferences on: folklore; science fiction;
psychology; culture studies; sociology; popular culture; ethnomusicology; religious studies; and
popular music. The Midwest Popular Culture Association and Midwest American Culture
Association conference (locations vary) and the Pop Conference at the Experience Music
Project|Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame (EMP|SFM- Seattle, Washington) are two
instances of such annual events.

The number of articles in peer-reviewed journals is expected to grow substantially as the

network of heavy music scholars improves. What is also likely to increase is the number of
articles by authors who consider themselves to be heavy music enthusiasts. In the past, many
journal articles on these subcultures and styles of music were written by sociologists,
psychologists, criminologists, and musicologists who identified themselves as 'outsiders' who
weren't fans of the music. Sometimes, these styles of music were declared to be a root cause of
deviancy, suicide, depression, aggression, or antisocial behavior.5 Most heavy metal scholars
would likely argue that the findings of such scholars were sometimes misguided, biased, or
incorrect.

In the August 2009 issue of SPIN magazine, assistant editor David Marchese authored a
piece entitled 'Eggheadbangers ball: how a generation of scholars raised on metal got to rocking
academia' (Marchese 2009, p. 42). While SPIN magazine typically appeals to a broader popular
music audience, it has consistently covered subgenres such as heavy metal and hardcore punk
over the past three decades, albeit far less frequently than pop, rock, hip hop, or R&B. Marchese
points out the global quality of heavy metal studies by quoting heavy metal scholars from the
United Kingdom and United States and mentioning the conferences in Austria and Germany.
Since the SPIN website and print magazine are both highly visible, the article should facilitate
awareness of this emerging field of study. As blogs, webzines, and other avenues help add to the
buzz, scholarly communication will increase. Heavy music studies should garner more respect as
a viable area of study as additional scholars to join.

Punk's not dead & metal is forever, but there is a preservation 'crisis'

The rise in heavy music scholarly activity is coinciding with renaissances in both heavy metal
and hardcore punk music. The popularity of each genre seems to be at an all-time high, allowing
old and new bands to enjoy success. The summer 2009 issue of Classic Rock magazine not only
4 Brian Hickam

tells a history of heavy metal, it offers the reader a free CD of '14 Turbo-Charged New Metal
Bands!' (Classic Rock p. front cover). In his editorial for this special issue, editor in chief Scott
Rowley notes that covering 'all genres of modern rock' is essential to his definition of a 'relevant
rock magazine' (Rowley 2009, p. 7). He goes on to point out that the research for this history of
metal surprised many members of his staff. They realized that the 'story of metal' was more
complex than they had first assumed and that it's still unfolding. Subsequently, the content of the
issue should surprise the magazine's average reader. In hyping this issue's spotlight on 'The
Three Ages of Metal' (its roots; explosion; and reinvention/rebirth), Rowley concludes, 'Today
metal is more vibrant than ever. There's prog metal, stoner metal, sleaze metal, goth metal, power
metal…The story, it turns out, is still being written' (ibid., p. 7).

At present, traditional or classic metal, grindcore, death metal, hardcore punk, and thrash
are all experiencing renaissances. A search of Internet blogs and webzines, a perusal of niche
magazines/fanzines, a listen to Sirius/XM satellite radio's 'Liquid Metal' channel or Music
Choice's 'Metal' channel, a viewing of the videos viewers regularly vote for play on Havoc on
The 101 Network (a channel offered in North America by satellite television provider Directv),
or a perusal of the tours displayed on the websites for Live Nation and Ticketmaster (and their
counterparts outside the U.S.) provide the evidence. Newer musical groups, comprised mostly of
musicians in their teens and twenties, are creating music within the conventions of these
established subgenres. For instance, the band Municipal Waste, according to numerous accounts,
is viewed as a 'reincarnation' of D.R.I. (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles), a seminal band that dates back
to 1982. Both bands play a version of thrash that was once called 'crossover' since it blends
hardcore punk with metal. D.R.I. itself is still a viable and respected band that continues to tour.
Their catalogue of albums has recently been re-released on CD and vinyl. In a June 6, 2009
episode of the Sirius/XM Liquid Metal show 'Bloody Roots,' host and author Ian Christe
highlighted the younger bands that are bypassing the plethora of newer heavy metal subgenres
and are going back to the 'traditional' or classic heavy metal of the 1970s and 80s. Oftentimes,
these newer bands, whether traditional or extreme, share concert stages with the older bands that
inspired them. Groups from various eras are reuniting to join in on this resurgence of fandom and
consumerism. Along with bands which never broke up, these journeymen (and women) are
releasing new material and touring with much success. Alice Cooper, the band Heaven and Hell
(i.e. Black Sabbath with Ronnie James Dio on vocals and Vinnie Appice on drums), Saxon, Blue
Öyster Cult, and Iron Maiden (all of whom date back to the 1960s or 70s) are selling out venues
around the world and seeing fans from age six to sixty-five. Many fans take their children to
these concerts. In the 2009 documentary film Iron Maiden Flight 666, Bruce Dickinson, lead
singer of Iron Maiden, notes that the band is in the midst of its largest tour ever. This is no small
claim for a band with a history of large, successful intercontinental tours in the 1980s and the
90s. This time around, the band members, roadies, and all of the equipment and stage props are
traveling via Iron Maiden's private jumbo airliner. Dickinson, who also pilots the plane, adds that
the band is playing all their classics for their new legions of young fans that weren't old enough
to see such songs played live on earlier tours (Iron Maiden Flight 666 2009).

This resurgence in the popularity of heavy music should assist the archivists, librarians,
musicologists, and historians who are striving to raise awareness of the looming preservation
crisis. Concern exists because there is a window of opportunity for creating such repositories and
obtaining materials before items disappear and egregious omissions are unavoidable. While
 Brian Hickam 5

heavy music bands and fans have continually created and handed down oral traditions, histories,
and the community’s material culture, they must now consider who will assume the perpetual
responsibility of preserving this legacy for future generations. Heavy music’s history and culture
have been preserved largely through grassroots efforts. Most of the materials are privately held
by individual fans, which elevates the risk of such sources becoming lost. As Dunn and
McFadyen relate in their documentary film Global Metal, heavy metal has thriving, regionally
distinct subcultures throughout the world (2009). While this international community has
maintained an impressive record of documenting and self-preserving items for decades in some
cases, there needs to be a secure, coordinated, systematically organized, global effort to protect
these valuable resources. Resulting archives should be as exhaustive, comprehensive, accessible,
and representative of the heavy music community as possible. Research-level collections for
heavy music researchers would need to cover all formats, mediums, languages, geographic
locations, and eras.

It is an inevitable fact that all recordings and items of literature are doomed as they
eventually go out of print. Most books, for instance, go from being readily available from
retailers to being only available secondhand to being very difficult and costly or even impossible
to obtain. During the period that an item is in-print and is in stock with retailers, it may be only
available in certain countries or regions. There are numerous publications from small
independent presses and vanity presses which receive limited promotion or distribution. The
original pressing of Daniel Ekeroth’s 2006 book Swedish Death Metal by Tamara Press is one
such example. The authors felt it would be valuable to have one copy for our research endeavors
and another for the special collection at Bowling Green State University. While searching for
this text, it was discovered that Amazon.com and other U.S. retailers did not list the book. The
only option for purchasing a copy of the Tamara Press printing was via the author’s Myspace
page and having it sent from Sweden. When investigating the purchase of the second copy a few
weeks later, it was discovered that the book was no longer available as it had sold out.
Fortunately, it was republished in the U.S. and Europe months later by other presses and is
currently available at a more reasonable cost.

Many books, regardless of their publishers, never return in the form of reprints or
subsequent editions. It is an unfortunate result that many publications on heavy music will prove
difficult to learn about, locate, and obtain before their availability is limited. Books-In-Print
Professional, for example, lists only one book on heavy metal music from 1983. If this were the
sole source for locating primary sources, there would be no way to cross-reference and discover
other publications from that year, such as Tony Jasper's 1983 out-of-print work The International
Encyclopedia of Hard Rock & Heavy Metal. One of author Martin Popoff's current endeavors is
a series of books titled Ye Olde Metal, where he combines exclusive, firsthand accounts from
musicians with his own commentaries. The five books published thus far have been limited to
1,000 copies each and can only be purchased directly from the author, thus making availability
an issue.

October 2008 and August 2009 searches of the Archives U.S.A. database and the
University of Idaho's Repositories of Primary Sources website indicated that none of the listed
repositories had a mission to collect print resources on heavy music. The only repository
collections that came up with keyword searches for 'heavy metal' were ones pertaining to
6 Brian Hickam

chemistry. In the article 'Confronting the dark side of the beat: a guide to creating a heavy metal
music collection' Robert Freeborn notes that in 2002 a keyword search in the database Library
Literature 'produced a total of four entries, only one of which was written in English' (2002, p.
26). An October 2008 search for the same keyword phrase in Library, Information Science &
Technology Abstracts (which includes the content available in Library Literature) produced an
additional twenty-three entries, discounting book and video reviews. In August 2009, only one
additional entry (again discounting reviews) was listed. While reviews of encyclopedias, mass
market books, and films are important, it would be gratifying to see more articles on collection
development and preservation issues related to heavy music. Freeborn comments on the
preservation crisis by referencing a study by Wolfgang Lux:

Lux’s 1990 article 'Hier glänzt Metall durch Abwesenheit' illustrates that this dearth of library
materials on the subject is the rule rather than the exception. Of the eight libraries that Lux
evaluated for their heavy metal content, six of them were at less than one percent in relation to
their entire music collections and just over one percent in terms of their popular/rock music
collections. In this age of proactive librarianship, these numbers are not acceptable (2002, pp. 25-
37).

The opposite seems true regarding the preservation of many other genres of music in U.S.
institutions. In April 2008 Oberlin College (Ohio, U.S.A.) acquired what was then regarded as
the world’s largest privately held jazz collection (McDonough 2008, pp. 15-16). Similarly, the
University of California in Santa Cruz became owner of the Grateful Dead Archives. University
of California-Santa Cruz music professor Fred Lieberman contended that '[The Grateful Dead
Archive] is the first step toward having a library that is a destination for scholars interested in
studying an important aspect of America’s vernacular music' (Clark 2008, p. A4). In July 2008, a
gift to Syracuse University established their libraries as holders of the second largest collection
of 78 r.p.m. vinyl records. The Library of Congress holds the largest collection (Sisario 2008, p.
E2). Chicago Public Library boasts an extensive blues archive (Dolins 2000, pp. 98-100). Florida
International University acquired the largest collection of Cuban music in 2006. It contains
thousands of items from salsa to Latin jazz. It is noteworthy that:

Each year, research grants [at FIU] are awarded to academics who come to the library to use the
collection. And another grant brings local educators, including FIU faculty, to the collection,
where they are instructed on how to use it and integrate it into various disciplines. ‘You could
teach history, international relations, sociology, all through the collection,’ says Aragon
(Fernandez 2006, p. 1M).

Rutgers University, the University of North Texas, and other academic institutions have
impressive genre-specific collections and associated degree programs. The question arises, will
heavy music course offerings become more common? Jeremy Wallach, Associate Professor in
the Department of Popular Culture at Bowling Green State University, has expressed his
intentions of integrating the special collection of heavy music into his curriculum (Wallach
2009). Counting the course at McGill University, it would be a small, but noteworthy beginning.
 Brian Hickam 7

A Shared cultural history

The line between heavy metal and hardcore blurred decades ago. Certain forerunners, such as
bands like Motörhead and The Stooges, always appealed to both camps. Countless young bands
have been inspired and influenced by these stalwarts. Throughout the years, many music critics
and journalists have not embraced distinctions in categories. Many writers have used the term
'punk rock' when referring to both punk and hardcore punk. Others have occasionally used
broader terms such as 'rock music' to encompass multiple styles of music. Most heavy metal fans
would agree that 'heavy metal' usually refers to any and all metal genres; sometimes to bands that
display heavy hardcore, gothic, folk, hip hop, or other genre influences. While distinctions in the
attributes of hardcore punk and heavy metal remain, the two styles have been successfully
blended innumerable times.

Thrash metal, for instance, began in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the U.S., Canada,
and England as bands influenced by the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, speed metal, and
hardcore experimented with fast and aggressive musical approaches. While it was initially
separate from hardcore and punk, fans of these genres joined their metal associates in attending
concerts and collecting recordings. Thrash was often a reaction against glam metal, arena rock,
and similar styles. Nonetheless, many music fans listen to all of the aforementioned genres.
'Grindcore, often shortened to grind, is an extreme music genre that emerged during the mid–
1980s. It draws inspiration from some of the most abrasive music genres – including death metal,
industrial music, noise and the more extreme varieties of hardcore punk' (‘Grindcore’ 2009).
Grindcore releases have come from bands such as Extreme Noise Terror, Napalm Death, and
Carcass. The thrashcore genre, for some, falls under the hardcore umbrella:

[Thrashcore] is a fast tempo subgenre of hardcore punk that emerged in the early 1980s. . . [and]
is essentially sped-up hardcore punk, with bands often using blast beats. Songs can be very brief .
. . [and] less dissonant, less metallic [than] grindcore. Like hardcore groups, thrashcore lyrics
typically emphasize youthful rebellion or antimilitarism. The genre is in some ways aligned with
skateboarder culture. Thrashcore is often confused with crossover thrash and sometimes thrash
metal (‘Thrashcore’ 2009).

A related style is powerviolence: '(sometimes written as power violence) [it] is a raw and
dissonant subgenre of hardcore punk. The style is closely related to thrashcore and grindcore'
(‘Power violence’ 2009). 'Crust punk (often simply crust) is one of the evolutions of anarcho-
punk and hardcore punk, mixed with extreme metal guitar riffs. The style, which evolved in the
mid-1980s in the UK, often had songs with dark, pessimistic lyrics, lingering on political and
social issues' (‘Crust’ 2009). Bands once labeled 'crossover,' such as D.R.I., S.O.D., Suicidal
Tendencies, and Corrosion of Conformity, eventually appealed to punks and metalheads alike.

Comrades in arms

There is a present and growing need for strategically located heavy music repositories with
missions to preserve books and periodicals and serve the increasing number of scholars who are
looking into these enduring, global subcultures. Bowling Green State University's heavy music
archive is complemented by those in other repositories, which have different, yet related, foci or
8 Brian Hickam

strengths. None of the other institutions, however, are known to be acting quickly enough to
obtain and preserve literature related to heavy metal and hardcore punk. The holdings of the
National Rock & Heavy Metal Archive at the University of Salford in Greater Manchester,
United Kingdom, 'consists of a collection of 6000 LPs and CDs in good condition [including]
some rare Japanese vinyl recordings' (‘National Rock & Heavy Metal Archive’ 2009). The
University of Salford also maintains the Popular Music Research Centre (PMRC). Two of the
four concentrations of the PMRC are 'musicological research concerned with musical style,
ideology, and constructions of subjectivity and identity' and 'the influence of technology on
music' (‘About Popular Music Research Centre’ 2009). There is, then, hope for future heavy
music research based on these resources.

The ARChive of Contemporary Music (with locations in New York City, Havana, and
Paris) continues to amass an enormous and impressive collection of LPs, 45s, 78s, CDs,
cassettes, reel-2-reel tapes, acetates, magazines, books, sheet music, and songbooks. The
archivists at this key institution collect items in 'terms broader than those usually described by
selectiveness or availability. Taste, quality, marketing, halls of fame, sales, stars and value … are
alien to [them]' (‘Why the ARChive?’ 2009). Heavy music, however, does not seem to be one of
the ARChive's strengths. While they no doubt have thousands of important heavy metal and
hardcore recordings and other items, their list of approximately two thousand 'styles, genres and
dance forms of popular music from around the world defined and collected by the ARChive of
Contemporary Music' indicates a lack of expertise in this area (ibid. 2009). While this lengthy
list includes hardcore, heavy metal, anarcho-punk, darkcore, death metal, emocore, heaven's
metal, noise, speed metal, and others, a number of significant omissions are telling.6

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio also maintains
important resources and services, including education and outreach. They do not, however, have
a mission that includes maintaining a public-access research center for scholars. The Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame's library of books and periodicals is not known to be anything extensive. The
Experience Music Project|Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle seems to be more
actively preserving and promoting the history and scholarship of heavy music. The 'Riot Grrrl
Retrospective' sections of their website's Exhibitions/Online Features, for instance, indicate that
the EMP|SFM holds many relevant fanzines.7 (‘Media: Beast and Blessing’ 2009). The
EMP|SFM's Oral History Program has some impressive offerings related to punk, hardcore, hard
rock, and metal, especially concerning musicians with ties to the Pacific Northwest. Interviews
with or related to Jimi Hendrix, Alice Cooper, Metal Church, Queensrÿche, Wayne Kramer,
Forced Entry, Nirvana, Vernon Reid, Henry Rollins, The Circle Jerks, Mudhoney, and others
display the program's inclusiveness (‘Interviewees.’ 2009). The addition of oral histories related
to The Accüsed, The Melvins, Sanctuary, Heir Apparent, Alice in Chains, Fifth Angel, The
Mentors, and Soundgarden would make the Pacific Northwest entries more complete. Expanded
coverage of the West Coast United States to include bands such as Blue Cheer, Iron Butterfly,
Montrose, Slayer, Cryptic Slaughter, Van Halen, Possessed, Saint Vitus, Neurosis, Death Angel,
and others would complement the heavy music offerings.

The Archive of Popular American Music at UCLA has many remarkable items in its
physical & digital collections. This research collection covers 'the history of popular music in the
United States from 1790 to the present … [is] fully accessible at the item level through the
 Brian Hickam 9

UCLA Library Orion2 catalogue [and] is one of the largest in the country, numbering almost
450,000 pieces of sheet music, anthologies, and arrangements for band and orchestra' (‘About
the Digital Archive of Popular American Music’ 2009). Also included are '62,500 recordings on
disc, tape, and cylinder' (ibid. 2009). Strengths of UCLA's contemporary music holdings include
materials related to 'the theater, motion pictures, radio and television, as well as general popular
music, country, rhythm and blues, and rock songs' (ibid. 2009). Searches of the UCLA archive's
online catalogue for the terms 'heavy metal', 'metal', 'hardcore', or 'punk' indicate zero holdings.

An August 2009 examination of the United State's Library of Congress (LOC) Online
Catalog, http://catalog.loc.gov, for subject headings commencing with 'heavy metal (music)'
indicated holdings of 1,617 items (both books and recordings) under 49 descriptors. While the
far majority of these works are sound recordings, there were 28 books of history & criticism, 2
being juvenile books. Subject searches for 'Hardcore (Music)' and 'Straight Edge' display 115 and
18 items, respectively. A subject search for 'extreme metal (music)' adds 3 sound recordings and
the book Extreme Metal by Kahn-Harris. Also included in the LOC collections are recent
publications such as Mudrian's Precious Metal: Decibel Magazine Presents the Oral Histories of
25 Extreme Metal Essentials and Waksman's This Ain't the Summer of Love and the seminal
works by Weinstein and Walser. Items not found included Mudrian's Choosing Death: The
Improbable History of Death Metal and Grindcore, Ekeroth's Swedish Death Metal, and Blush's
American Hardcore: A Tribal History. The catalogue record for Nedorostek and Pappalardo's
book Radio Silence: a Selected Visual History of American Hardcore Music indicated that
subject headings had not been assigned and holdings information was not available. See Table 2
in the Appendix for a comparison of monographic holdings at select libraries. These randomly
selected book titles are representative of the scholarly books on heavy metal, black metal, death
metal, skinhead subcultures, Straight Edge subcultures, and hardcore punk.

Fanzines fill a niche in rock history and criticism that is not met by mainstream music
magazines. Worldwide, there are hundreds of print fanzines for the many styles of heavy metal
and hardcore punk music and culture. Table 3 in the Appendix provides an idea of the breadth
and size of the fanzine collections for punk, hardcore, and metal genres at select institutions. For
any given location in this table, some periodical titles may be counted more than once due to
overlap of Library of Congress subject headings. The fanzine Empty Playground, for instance,
has four descriptors: Heavy metal (Music)–Periodicals; Hardcore (Music)–Periodicals; Death
metal (Music)–Periodicals; and Rock music–Periodicals.

A very important initiative to preserve heavy metal culture and music is taking place in
the United Kingdom. The folks behind Capsule's Home of Metal project recognized the need to
celebrate the cultural heritage of 'Birmingham and the Black Country ... the city and the region as
the birth place of "heavy metal"' (‘Home of Metal,’ 2009). Their website quotes Daniel Trilling's
July 30, 2007 article 'Rocking the world,' which appeared in New Statesman: 'Heavy Metal was
born in the West Midlands and has developed a global following matched only in Hip-Hop. It's
time to stop sneering and celebrate this proud cultural heritage…' (ibid. 2009). The Home of
Metal site also indicates that their archive was developed after [their] ‘Metal’ symposium which
was held as part of Supersonic Festival in 2007 at New Art Gallery. . . The symposium's aim was
to kick start people thinking about the West Midlands as the birth place of [heavy metal] and
open up the discussion' (ibid. 2009). Following this event, research by Home of Metal
10 Brian Hickam

coordinators 'found that there was very little info or objects held by museums and libraries based
in the West Midlands on the subject of "Heavy Metal" and certainly not archived under the
heading of "Metal"' (ibid. 2009).

The Home of Metal coordinators '[aim] to build an online archive that actively engages
its audience in the creation and shape of the project' (ibid. 2009). They advertise gatherings at
galleries and other locations and 'invite people to bring along memorabilia, photographs and
great stories which will be digitised to help [Capsule] create a digital archive of memories,
images and pictures to tell the story of this unique moment of Midlands’ musical heritage' (ibid.
2009). As stated on their website, the bands Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Judas Priest, Napalm
Death and Godflesh originated in this region. 'The long term aim for the project is to create a
permanent collection … [and] a legacy for this genre and those that created it' (ibid. 2009). At
the 2009 South by Southwest (SXSW) Music Conference & Festival in Austin, Texas two of the
leading representatives from Capsule's Home of Metal met with Brian Hickam of the Heavy
Metal & Hardcore Punk Archiving Project to discuss the shared missions of these two efforts and
to commence a dialogue on a potential partnership. Both parties agreed to an official affiliation
in order to sponsor shared activities on both sides of the Atlantic, to collaborate, and to raise
awareness of preservation issues. The Home of Metal approach to creating oral histories and
digital archives will eventually be applied to California's Bay Area thrash scene of the early and
mid 1980s, Florida's death metal scene of the late 80s and early 90s, Cleveland's hardcore scene
of the 90s and 2000s, Canada's streetpunk scenes, and Brazil's death metal scenes, among others.

While the Heavy Metal and Hardcore Punk Archiving Project aims to secure resources
not held by the aforementioned institutions, it should be noted that these complementary
repositories will continue to play vital roles. It's likely that each will have periodicals,
monographs, recordings, and other sources that the HMHP project is not able to obtain. What
sets this archival project apart is the direct participation of heavy metal studies scholars.
Recruiting local heavy music experts within each region will, of course, be fundamental to
locating materials and procuring donations of items, services, and funds. By definition, a heavy
music expert would be a fan of the music. Since heavy metal and hardcore punk are often
misunderstood by outsiders, the contributions by such enthusiasts (supplementing the knowledge
of historians, archivists, & librarians) would be essential to building the HMHP research
collections. It is also likely that without fans helping to drive such projects, interest could fade.

It's a lifestyle / DIY (Do it yourself)

Complementing the countless recordings, a substantial amount of literary attention to heavy

music has always been present. Unfortunately, no exhaustive bibliography of such items is
known to exist. The list of 443 items resulting from an October 2008 keyword search for the
terms 'heavy metal' and 'music' in the Books-In-Print Professional database is far from
comprehensive and includes many irrelevant results. Searching for 'hardcore' and 'music' and
'punk' and 'music' provided 64 and 549 results respectively. The same searches in August 2009
provided 311, 74, and 509 results. It is interesting that two of these numbers went down. It is
noteworthy that most punk books do not discuss hardcore, crossover, or metalcore at any length.
Through searches of numerous online and print sources, conversations, and interviews the
 Brian Hickam 11

authors have identified nearly 1,000 works directly related to heavy metal and hardcore. While
the majority of these books are not scholarly, this number (which includes tablature books,
biographies, autobiographies, histories & criticisms, and dissertations) demonstrates the body of
extensive literature.

The heavy music community has always shown appreciation for its history. Black
Sabbath is still revered four decades after their debut and considered to be essential to a proper
understanding of heavy music. Most heavy metal radio programs play the classics alongside new
songs. Monographic histories of Creem magazine and BOMP! magazine appeared in 2008.
Lester Bangs, who published music criticism from 1968 until his death in 1982, is often
considered America's first great rock critic. His eyewitness accounts and critiques are still
studied, as evidenced by 2003's Lester Bangs reader and 2000's biography.8 Martin Popoff,
arguably the most prolific author in heavy music’s history, has contributed more than 30 books
and several hundred magazine articles and reviews.9 Indeed, the past decade has witnessed an
explosion in the number and variety of DVD documentaries covering bands, music scenes, and
eras. The number of books focused on heavy metal, hard rock, or hardcore punk has risen as
well. As individuals who grew up on heavy music continue to enter careers as concert promoters,
disc jockey’s, business owners, researchers, and educators, the number of scholarly publications
continues to grow. The popularity of heavy metal magazines, such as Red Flag Media’s Decibel
(which began in 2004 and covers extreme music), and radio programs, such as Ian Christe’s
weekly-aired Bloody Roots (which highlights the international history of heavy metal eras and
styles), demonstrate the passion and dedication fans continue to have for this music.

Arnett's book Metal Heads: Heavy Metal Music and Adolescent Alienation analyzes
socialization, dedication, identity, and community:

Many metalheads find a crucial source of meaning in their involvement with heavy metal, not just
from the way they resonate to the lyrics of the songs but from their admiration of the performers,
from their participation in the collective ritual of the heavy metal concert, and from becoming
part of a youth subculture that shares not merely music but a way of looking at the world (Arnett
1996, p. 25).

In his book Burning Fight: The Nineties Hardcore Revolution in Ethics, Politics, Spirit, and
Sound Brian Peterson delves into politics and social awareness, Straight Edge, animal rights,
spirituality, and the bands and sounds of the genres:

Hardcore was more captivating and passionate than anything else I had heard. The sound seemed
to express a feeling of frustration that I felt about my surroundings and our culture. What
separated hardcore from everything else was the fact that the individual had the power to take an
active role in the scene and claim it as their own….This changed my outlook as it also did for
many of my friends in the hardcore scene, which led to several years of going to shows, reading
zines, playing in bands, putting on shows, and driving long distances to fests (2009, p. 25).

Since heavy music is sometimes misunderstood and viewed as less valuable or not worthy of
purchase by the decision makers in most of the world's repositories, it is left to the music's fans
and scholars to see to the acquisition and storage of primary sources. Freeborn’s article on how
to create a heavy metal music library collection serves to reinforce the idea that metal as a
musical genre and social force is scarcely collected in terms of books, articles, and even
12 Brian Hickam

recordings among academic and public libraries. When a public or academic library does acquire
a handful of heavy music materials, they are often general in scope and depth. Also, it is unlikely
these items will be available years later as many are stolen or withdrawn due to damage, the need
for space, or changes in policies. Unlike libraries, most archives maintain 'closed stacks' and do
not allow materials to leave the premises. Some archives require appointments to be approved in
advance. The question arises, however, that since so many recordings and fanzine/magazine
issues will prove difficult to find, how will the HMHP Archiving Project obtain copies? The
solution is to turn to the fans, musicians, and scholars who have amassed countless personal
libraries of literature, recordings, and memorabilia. Regrettably, these thousands of personal
collections are at risk of becoming lost to future generations. As music scholar B. Lee Cooper
articulates, awareness is an essential element of creating a foundational collection of popular
music:

As today’s private collectors age and die, librarians and sound recording archivists must convince
their family members to donate the cherished collections intact to archival facilities. Emotional
attachment and greed will be staunch foes in this resources-accumulation pursuit. So will
intransigence. The best bet for accomplishing this task is a firm commitment from the collectors
themselves to carefully transfer their most treasured discs directly to a community of music
scholars. Deferred giving via last will and testament bequests may sound outrageous as a means
of assembling an academic archive. But it is the best way to insure that the heritage of American
popular music won’t be frittered away in the fashion that Gordon Stevenson described concerning
'rare records' of the ‘20s and ‘30s (1997, p. 106).

From our own networks of friends and associates and searches of online and print
literature, we know that some enthusiasts have kept 'every' issue of certain magazines/fanzines.
Many fans have amassed libraries with thousands of recordings and dozens of books. A large
percentage of heavy music fans exhibit lifelong and passionate commitments to music purchases,
concert attendance, and to learning the music's history. The literature, recordings, and concerts
are given appreciation and value. In his dissertation Reading "Heavy Metal" Music: An
Interpretive Communities Approach to Popular Music as Communication, Thomas F. Gencarelli
notes how the musicians themselves are fans. His observations describe beliefs and traits of the
heavy music community that bode well for the success of the HMHP Archiving Project:

The fourth [point] about sincerity, integrity, and truth has to do with longevity. This is true among
both performers and fans. Simply put, longevity is a measure of commitment. For performers, it
indicates a willingness to stick to their guns while an audience evolves for their music, no matter
what the cost or how long it takes... It also leads to the track record: the legacy of how they stuck
to their guns if they did so. For fans, longevity indicates the lengths they are willing to extend
themselves over time and time again. It affords them the opportunity to learn about the music to
the extent they need to understand and appreciate it. It also lets them demonstrate the extent of
their commitment, since metal, more so than any other genre of popular music, is a matter of a
lifestyle and not just listening to a set of sounds, diverting one's attention, or following the in-
crowd and doing what is 'hip' (1993, pp. 357-358).

In the United States, communities such as Nashville, Tennessee, Chicago, Illinois, and
Cleveland, Ohio have pushed their constituents to establish country music, jazz, and rock ‘n’ roll
museums and archives. But as for heavy music? It is unlikely that any community will petition
for its exclusive recognition or conservation. Nonetheless, the heavy music community proves to
 Brian Hickam 13

be resolutely passionate about supporting, promoting, documenting, and critiquing its musicians
and scenes. While the level of heavy music’s popularity, presence in the mass media spotlight,
and its tours and ticket sales have risen and fallen over the years, the music has continually
maintained healthy and loyal followings. Despite popular opinion, misinformed views, and lack
of coverage or unflattering press from mainstream sources, heavy music has survived and
continues to flourish.

Final destination

A consideration of the history of popular culture genres provides some lessons on preservation
strategies. Cultural and artistic movements, especially new genres or styles of music, commonly
exist for several years before they receive much scholarly attention and become established as
areas of valid historical and cultural research. It takes longer, in most cases, for related textbooks
to be published, courses to be designed and approved, and degrees to be offered. Jazz music, for
example, spread globally for over six decades before it was legitimized within academe. It was
not until the late 1970s and early 1980s that most textbooks for survey music history courses
acknowledged Duke Ellington and Miles Davis as being worthy of the same serious study as
Beethoven and Mozart. In her article 'Jazz Goes to College: Has Academic Status Served the
Art,' Alice Goldfarb Marquis assertively concludes:

Yes, jazz deserves all the respect, scholarship, and training that its presence in academe suggests.
It deserves to be taken seriously. But, unlike the classical music created for society’s stratosphere
(elite), jazz erupted from the lowest levels of society, to capture the hearts and bodies of
exuberant masses. Despised and persecuted, jazz won a place for itself at the center of American
culture. It survived the unrestrained abuse of America’s musical establishment. It gave its name to
an era. It survived America’s worst depression in the arms of swing. It captured the world with its
blue notes and fascinating rhythm (1998, p. 122).

While neither heavy metal nor hardcore punk has ever truly been at the center of any
country's mainstream culture or had an era named after it, Marquis’ remarks echo each music's
inception and mainstream culture’s opinion of these genres and their fans. It is highly unlikely
that any music department faculty across the globe would ever rally for the substantiation of
metal or hardcore punk. Nevertheless, heavy music and its culture are worthy of study and
collections that are comprehensive are required to support both research and integration into
curricula. Many of heavy music's primary and secondary sources have always been difficult for
scholars to learn of, locate, and analyze since they are ephemera, self-published, or have low
circulations. Such materials will be targeted for preservation by the HMHP Archiving Project.
As the field matures, some scholars will specialize, collaborations will become more frequent,
and new directions of research will stem from existing studies.

Bowling Green State University (BGSU) was selected as the site for the first Heavy
Metal and Hardcore Punk special collection of print materials for several reasons. Once the
realization that a university archive was a better pursuit than an independent (not-for-profit or
corporate) one, higher education institutions in the United States and Canada were considered.
The Sound Recordings Archive (S.R.A.) and Music Library at BGSU already had foundational
collections of punk, hardcore, heavy metal, and rock music fanzines. While few titles were
14 Brian Hickam

represented by more than one or two issues, there were dozens of existing zines. The University's
Department of Popular Culture included an active metal scholar. As the originators of the
discipline of Popular Culture, the BGSU Library contained a wonderfully rich collection of
related materials.10 The head music archivist was very receptive to the idea of receiving heavy
metal and hardcore punk materials. The proximity of Bowling Green State University to the
academic home of the lead implementers of The HMHP Archiving Project was very attractive.
Toledo is approximately twenty miles north of Bowling Green, Ohio. The Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame and Museum is less than two hours away by car. With both of our universities being
members of the state consortium OhioLINK, we are members of a network of ninety library
systems with '48 million books and other library materials' and national recognition (‘What Is
OhioLINK' 2009).

As noted, the Sound Recordings Archive at Bowling Green State University had a modest
collection of books and periodicals on heavy metal and a larger collection of punk and hardcore
items before the involvement of the HMHP Archiving Project. The heavy music periodicals
collection, for example, included 146 issues from 77 hardcore punk magazines/fanzines, 35
issues from 21 hard rock or heavy metal magazines/fanzines, and 430 issues from 262 punk
magazines/fanzines. It is also important to note that the S.R.A. continues to purchase and receive
as gifts items on metal and hardcore separate from the activities of this archiving project.
Additionally, some fanzines and magazines that the library received as gifts over the past few
years were only recently catalogued by volunteers. As of August 2009, the nascent heavy music
collection at the S.R.A. included 126 books on or with a section on heavy metal, 78 books on or
that mention hardcore music, current subscriptions to Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles magazine
and Decibel magazine, and a gift of nearly every back issue of Decibel to complete the holdings
back to issue #1 from 2004. Over 2,000 heavy metal sound recordings, over 400 hardcore sound
recordings, over 2,000 punk sound recordings, 37 videos on heavy metal, 11 videos on punk or
hardcore, and numerous record label press kits are also housed. Ultimately, the HMHP Archiving
Project hopes to see the creation of three to five such collections around the world.

A 'union catalogue' linking such collections will be a feature of the HMHP Archiving
Project's website. Envisioned are bibliographies of relevant books, dissertations, theses, and
videos with notes on which HMHP affiliated sites hold copies. An annotated bibliography of
scholarly articles on heavy music could not begin to list holdings worldwide, but it would offer
guidance as to how one could locate and obtain print or electronic copies. The project's website
is also planned to be a portal for heavy music studies. It will include a directory of heavy music
scholars that lists names, areas of expertise, and contact information along with presentations and
publications. The directory should help with networking, scholarly communication and
collaboration, and the promotion of events, projects, and associations.

Delivering the goods & learning from history

The success of a global archiving endeavor (where the items being collected are multilingual and
of various formats and mediums) is reliant on participation and cooperation. The main
participants must be the fans, i.e. the record and CD collectors, magazine and fanzine collectors,
memorabilia collectors, musicians, promoters, managers, engineers, authors, and editors. An
 Brian Hickam 15

advantage which almost cannot be overstated is how well-connected the heavy music community
has always been. With the advent and increased ubiquity of the Internet, its network of
information and resource sharing and cooperation has only improved.

Why then not call for the heavy music community to raise funds for a freestanding
museum and hall of fame dedicated to heavy metal and hardcore? Answers are found by heeding
lessons from popular culture’s history. In May 2008 The Cartoon Research Library at The Ohio
State University received over 200,000 works that were formerly housed at The International
Museum of Cartoon Art (founded by cartoonist Mort Walker in Greenwich, Connecticut in
1974). The museum, which had relocated to Boca Raton, Florida in an effort to improve
finances, had closed for good in 2002 as it was millions of dollars in debt (Ryzik 2008, p. B8).
The Cartoon Research Library at The Ohio State University doubled its 'already-substantial
holdings' with this acquisition (Eichenberger 2008, p. 1A). The combination created what is
thought to be the world's largest collection of cartoon art. Similarly, The Dick Tracy Museum
closed in 2008 due to a lack of visitors and financial woes (Starks 2008, p. 1). While other
museums, such as The Cartoon Museum in London, The Cartoon Museum in Athens, The
Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco, and The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art in New
York, are successfully preserving comic art, their collections are far smaller and less diverse. It
is, therefore, recommended that the heavy metal and hardcore punk community create heavy
music 'special collections' within existing academic archives as the expenses are more beneficial,
longevity is more likely, and collocation appeals to researchers. Aside from the special
collections’ core foci on heavy music and culture, university libraries (which usually include
archives) already contain materials on related topics, such as horror films, war, mythology,
folklore, the human condition, violence, social injustice, history, politics, the occult, religion,
environmental issues, death, sex, and art. A goal of the HMHP Archiving Project's collection
development policy will be to obtain a representative sampling of dissertations and theses from
around the world. A central focus for each repository location will be theses/dissertations from
that region, country, and continent.

Financial contributions would allow for the purchasing of items and of library and
archival resources and services, such as the binding of magazine issues for conservation
purposes. The HMHP Archiving Project may even witness large financial contributions from
fans. The impressively massive archive of Bob Marley items, for example, exists due to two
unique individuals. First, California musicologist Roger Steffens invested thirty-one years, a
significant amount of money, and six rooms in his home to build and organize a collection which
included '12,000 records and CDs, 10,000 posters and flyers, and 12,000 hours of tapes' (Infantry
2004, p. F1). Michael Lee-Chin, a Jamaican-born entrepreneur and billionaire, purchased the
collection of over 200,000 items in 2004 and gifted them to a soon-to-be-established National
Museum of Jamaican Music (ibid. p. F1). Maxine Henry-Wilson, Jamaica's former culture
minister, noted that Bob Marley’s iconic status has created an identity for Jamaicans that has
'[increased] their perception of themselves and pride in their heritage' (ibid. p. F1).

An important point of discussion for HMHP project archivists is how one goes about
defining what is and what is not heavy metal or hardcore punk? Who has the proper training and
experience to authoritatively categorize bands into genres and rank their importance? It is not the
attempt of the authors of this paper, nor should it be the endeavor of archivists, librarians, or
16 Brian Hickam

others involved with archival projects, to define 'heavy metal,' 'hardcore punk,' or related genres
or to employ any personal tastes. The scope of the HMHP Archiving Project’s collection
development policy must be 'anything and everything.' It should be left to historians and other
researchers to judge, prioritize, and classify. The main goal of such archival endeavors should be
to acquire and maintain items in perpetuity for future generations.

The creation of finding tools (such as bibliographies by genre, indexes, abstracts, and
bibliographic databases) for the heavy music archives will depend upon fans who volunteer their
time and expertise to describe items. While the libraries can create catalogue records for books
and periodicals, they will likely not have funds or staffing for the abstracting and indexing of
these heavy music gifts. Such activities, and the creation of archival 'finding aids' (which provide
detailed descriptions and provenance), will be necessary to allow researchers the ability to
ascertain and evaluate the collections’ contents. The majority of fanzines, and some magazines,
do not have International Standard Serial Numbers (ISSNs) associated with them. Due to this
and their subject matter, none of the existing commercial databases index and abstract such
periodicals. Considering the hundreds of magazines and thousands of print fanzines on heavy
music, one must appreciate the utility of citations and abstracts:

A well-prepared abstract enables the reader to 1) quickly identify the basic content of the
document, 2) determine its relevance to their interests, and 3) decide whether it is worth their time
to read the entire document (Reitz 2007).

Additionally, many books are published by small or vanity presses, sometimes without
International Standard Book Numbers (ISBNs). For these reasons, such items may not be listed
in bibliographic tools, such as OCLC's WorldCat database of worldwide library holdings or
Ulrich's Periodicals Directory database. The Archiving Project coordinators will be reliant upon
individuals around the world to help identify items. In some situations, due to import and export
options, fans will also assist with obtaining items.

Finally, it will be enthusiasts who will help raise awareness of The Heavy Metal and
Hardcore Punk Archiving Project and help to promote donations, collaborations, affiliations, and
volunteerism. The project might, for example, benefit from affiliations with The World Metal
Alliance, Encyclopaedia Metallum: The [online] Metal Archives, similar organizations, record
labels, book and periodical publishers, and other educational and scholarly associations.
Promotion of the Archiving Project and the collections themselves is essential. Fans must assist
project volunteers with attaining 'buy-in.' The average fan and the above groups could all assist
with promoting the project through word of mouth, blogs, radio programs, reviews, editorials,
articles, concerts, documentaries, interviews, conferences, seminars, etc. Ideally, the HMHP
Archiving Project would be strengthened by perspectives from people who are not librarians or
archivists, perspectives from outside of academe, and from those with experience in relevant
industries and activities.

To ensure success and continuity, it is imperative that each location have a local board of
coordinators and that the Archiving Project have a worldwide board of directors which oversees
all locations. It is recommended that the multiple special collections of heavy music have
advisory boards that are linked via a consortial model. In addition to providing streamlined
procedures and the sharing of duplicate copies of items, this will allow the HMHP Archiving
 Brian Hickam 17

Project to speak with one consistent voice to the media, potential donors, and others. A
consortium approach will allow for the creation of the master lists which will be the very heart of
this endeavor: an exhaustive 'bibliography of known books' (with translations of publisher
information or abstracts where necessary); a 'bibliography of known magazines/fanzines'; the
scholars directory; descriptions of and links to related collections; and links to discographies,
filmographies, etc.

Ideally, The Heavy Metal and Hardcore Punk Archiving Project would obtain tax exempt
status since it is a non-profit organization with an educational mission. In the U.S. this tax law
provision is Section 501(c)(3). With locations in different countries, there may be a need to have
each location apply for the appropriate status. With a tax exempt organization, financial
contributions can be accepted via bank cheques and services such as PayPal. The Archiving
Project could then purchase resources and services as needed. If the average monetary
contribution is small, it would then be possible to consolidate several such donations and
purchase a book or a year’s subscription to a magazine. The reward to participants for their
contributions will be knowing that they assisted with the preservation of their music and cultural
history. Those who choose to donate a book may request a bookplate which lists the donor’s
name and a dedication, if desired. Other types of recognition for contributions of resources and
services may include naming opportunities within the collections and lists of donors on the
project website.

The heavy music archives should be located in strategic areas, ideally in three to five
university libraries/archives around the globe where popular music or cultural studies programs
are viable and likely to endure. Since heavy music exists and is popular all over the world,
potential geographic regions could include: London, Berlin, Toronto, Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo, and
Sydney. Access to international airports would enhance research opportunities. Creating
repositories that are within universities would allow for cross-disciplinary studies. Scholars could
more easily initiate programs that encourage the use of metal studies in sociology, religious
studies, literary studies, history, art or film studies, musicology, and other disciplines.

Eternal rhythm

Over the decades, numerous heavy metal, hardcore punk, and hard rock musicians and their fans
have displayed fascinations with images of death. The subgenres 'death metal' and 'horror punk'
are examples. Band names from various subgenres have included Grim Reaper, Death, Grave
Digger, Entombed, Gang Green, The Casualties, D.O.A., Gallows, Sarcófago, Suicidal
Tendencies, and Rigor Mortis. The cover art to Dust's 1971 eponymous release and the majority
of albums by Iron Maiden, Children of Bodom, and The Exploited also come to mind. What is
now necessary, however, is a successful effort at 'cheating death.' Ongoing preservation in secure
repositories is essential since primary sources play vital roles as scholars often debate
conclusions and sometimes re-interpret the past. Since knowing one's history is important, the
heavy music community must strive to keep its legacies alive by preserving the materials that tell
their individual and shared stories. While heavy music studies is becoming established and
optimism is high, the heavy music community must now heed this call, knowing that others have
successfully created museums, libraries, and similar archives. Cooper, commenting on the
18 Brian Hickam

current scholarship of popular and rock music, contends:

Linking librarians and record collectors is the key to sustaining the scholarly study of 20th-century
popular music. The Sound Recording Archives at Bowling Green State University in Ohio ought
to become a model for the method of assembling, cataloguing, and making available to serious
music students the broadest range of contemporary music. Certainly, jazz, country, and blues
archives, and other specialty collections remain invaluable. So are memorabilia palaces, whether
as numerous Hard Rock Cafes or as singular as Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and
Museum. But the salvaging of private collections, a task lovingly pursued by Bowling Green’s
William L. Schurk, is a key goal to be achieved over the next five decades (1997, p. 106).

The archival projects mentioned in this paper are expected to be successful as heavy
music fans have displayed loyalty and passion for their lifestyle throughout the years.
Nonetheless, the time to act must be now. This entreaty should not have to be repeated anew.
Either the nations of heavy music fans will come together and answer the call to arms or a paper
similar in nature will be presented years from now, at a time when the situation will be grave.

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<http://www.adelphi.salford.ac.uk/adelphi/p/?s=27&pid=49>, accessed 8 August 2009

Nedorostek, N. and Pappalardo, A. 2008. Radio Silence : a Selected Visual History of American
Hardcore Music (New York, MTV Press)

Peterson, B. 2009. Burning Fight: The Nineties Hardcore Revolution in Ethics, Politics, Spirit,
and Sound (Huntington Beach, Calif., Revelation Books)

‘Powerviolence’. 2009. Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia, < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Power_violence>, accessed 8 August 2009

Reitz, J. M. 2007. ODLIS - Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science,
<http://lu.com/odlis/index.cfm> accessed 5 August 2009

Rowley, S. 2009. ‘For Those About to Rock.’ Classic Rock, Summer 134 p. 7
 Brian Hickam 21

Ryzik, M. 2008. ‘Do the Superfriends have library cards?’ New York Times, 17 May p. B8

Sisario, B. 2008. ‘Syracuse University gets an oldies collection.’ New York Times, 2 July, p. E2

Starks, C. 2008. ‘It’s case closed for Dick Tracy Museum.’ Chicago Tribune, 27 February, p. 1

‘Thrash metal’. 2009. Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Thrash_metal>, accessed 8 August 2009

‘Thrashcore’. 2009. Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia, < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Thrashcore>, accessed 8 August 2009

Tuchman, B. 1981. Practicing History: Selected Essays (New York, Knopf)

Wallach, J. 2008. [Email Interview] 5 October, Bowling Green State University.

Walser, R. 1993. Running with the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal Music
(Hanover, New Hampshire, University Press of New England)

Weinstein, D. 2009. [Email Interview] 3 August, DePaul University.

‘What Is OhioLINK'. 2009. This is OhioLINK, The Ohio Library and Information
Network<http://www.ohiolink.edu/about/what-is-ol.html> accessed 12 August 2009

‘Why the ARChive?’ 2009. About, The ARChive of Contemporary Music,

<http://www.arcmusic.org/begin.html> accessed 10 August 2009
22 Brian Hickam

Appendix. Table 1.Scholarly monographs on heavy music.

==========================================================================

Author(s)/Title: Author Discipline(s) Keywords from LC Subject

or expertise: Headings:

Weinstein, D. (1991) Heavy Metal: A - Sociology Heavy metal (Music)--history

Cultural Sociology. and criticism; Music--social
aspects

Walser, R. (1993) Running With - Musicology Heavy metal (Music)--history and

The Devil: Power, Gender and criticism.
Madness in Heavy Metal Music.

Arnett, J. J. (1995) Metalheads: Heavy - Developmental psychology Youth--United States;

Alienation (Social Metal Music and Family studies psychology); Subculture; Heavy
Adolescent Alienation. metal (Music)

Moynihan, M. and Søderlind, D. (1998) - Journalism Black metal (Music)--history

Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of
the Satanic Metal Underground. §
Music criticism and criticism; Heavy metal
(Music); Satanism; Music--
Psychological aspects;
Neopaganism; Church
buildings–Scandinavia

Baddeley, G. (1999) Lucifer Rising: - Journalism Satanism--history

Sin, Devil Worship and Rock 'n' Roll. Occultism

Berger, H. M. (1999) Metal, Rock and - Ethnomusicology Rock music--Ohio--history and

Jazz: Perception and the Phenomenol- Folklore studies criticism; Jazz--Ohio--history
ogy of Musical Experience. Popular music studies and criticism; Musical
Performance studies perception; Music—philosophy,
aesthetics, social aspects

Muggleton, D. (2000) Inside Sub- - Sociology Subculture; Fashion--social

culture: The Postmodern Meaning of aspects; Youth--social life and
Style (Dress, Body, Culture). customs--20th century; Identity;
Subculture

Purcell, N. (2003) Death Metal Music: - Sociology, Death metal (Music)--history

The Passion and Politics of a Public Administration and criticism; Heavy metal;
Subculture. Subculture

Mudrian, A. (2004) Choosing Death: - English literature Death metal (Music)--history

The Improbable History of Death Metal and criticism; Punk rock music-
and Grindcore. -history and criticism

Taylor, S. (2004) False Prophet: - Ethnomusicological Rock musicians; Punk rock

Fieldnotes from the Punk Underground. Semiotics music--history and criticism &
culture; False Prophets (Musical group)

Thompson, S. (2004) Punk Produc- - English literature Punk culture & music;
tions: Unfinished Business. Critical theory Subculture
Cinema studies

Haenfler, R. (2006) Straight Edge:
Clean-Living Youth, Hardcore Punk,
and Social Change.
Pillsbury, G. T. (2006) Damage
Incorporated: Metallica and the
Production of Musical Identity.
Wood, R. (2006) Straightedge Youth:
Complexity And Contradictions of
a Subculture.
Baulch, E. (2007) Making Scenes:
Reggae, Punk, and Death Metal in
1990s Bali.
Irwin, W. (ed) (2007) Metallica and
Philosophy.
Ekeroth, Daniel (2007). Swedish Death
Metal.
Kahn-Harris, K. (2007) Extreme Metal:
Music and Culture on the Edge.
Wilson, S. (2007) Great Satan's Rage:
American Negativity and Rap/Metal
the Age of Supercapitalism.
Forster, J. (2008) Commodified Evil's
Wayward Children: Black Metal and
Death Metal as Purveyors of an
Alternative Form of Modern Escapism.
O'Connor, A.(2008) Punk Record
Labels and the Struggle for Autonomy:
The Emergence of DIY.
Bayer, G. (Ed) (2009) Heavy Metal
Music in Britain.
Brian Hickam 23
- Sociology Youth--United States; Straight-
Youth subcultures edge culture & music;
Subculture; Hardcore (Music);
Punk culture
- Musicology Rock musicians--United States--
Biography; Heavy metal
(Music)--social aspects &
history and criticism; Metallica
(Musical group)
- Sociology Youth--United States; Straight-
edge culture & music;
Subculture
- Asian studies Youth -- Indonesia; Reggae
Cultural anthropology music—social aspects; Punk
rock music; Death metal
(Music); Subculture; Group
identity; Reggae music; Heavy
metal (Music); Rock music &
musicians
- Philosophy Heavy metal (Music)--United
States--history and criticism;
Metallica (Musical group)—
Criticism and interpretation
- Musician Death metal (Music)--Sweden--
history and criticism & discog-
raphy; Rock groups--Bio-
bibliography
- Sociology Extreme metal (Music)--history
& criticism & social aspects;
Heavy Metal; Death metal;
Doom Metal
- Culture theory Rap (Music)/Heavy metal
(Music) United States--social & in
economic aspects; Music and
race
- Religious studies Black metal (Music)/Death
metal (Music)—social & psych-
ological aspects; Good and evil;
Escape; Subculture
- Sociology Punk rock music--marketing;
Sound recording industry
- British studies Heavy metal (Music)—
Cultural studies Great Britain—history &
World literatures criticism & social aspects
24 Brian Hickam

Waksman, S. (2009) This ain't the - American studies Heavy metal (Music)/Punk
summer of love: conflict and cross- Musicology rock music—history & criticism
over in heavy and punk.

Wallach, J, H. Berger, and - Anthropology Heavy metal (Music)—history,

P. Greene, eds. (2010) Metal Ethnomusicology criticism, analysis, & apprecia-
Rules the Globe: Heavy Metal Sociology tion
Music around the World.

Kuhn, G., ed. (2010) Sober Living - Political science Hardcore (Music); Straight-edge
for the Revolution: Hardcore culture & music; Politics &
Punk, Straight Edge, and government; Political culture
Radical Politics.

§ Though this book is generally considered to be more journalistic than scholarly, the book addresses a
subculture that was not well documented and the book has fostered much scholarly discussion.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Brian Hickam 25

Appendix. Table2.Library holdings of select, representative books on heavy music:

(“Y”=Yes; See also legend in Table 3.)
=====================================================================
Book Title* BL LOC
L&A NL Québec BGSU
Canada Australia
==================================================================================

All Ages § -- Y Y -- -- Y

Are You Morbid? §§ Y -- Y -- Y Y

Death Metal music §§§ Y Y Y -- Y Y

Making Scenes * Y Y Y Y -- Y
†
Skinheads shaved Y Y Y Y -- Y
††
Straight Edge: clean-living Y Y Y Y -- Y
†††
Straightedge Youth Y Y Y Y -- Y

Swedish Death Ω -- -- -- -- -- Y
Σ
True Norwegian -- Y -- -- Y Y

§: Lahickey, B. 1997. All Ages: Reflections on Straight Edge (Huntington Beach, Revelation Books)
§§: Fischer T.G. 2000. Are You Morbid?: into the Pandemonium of Celtic Frost (London, Sanctuary)
§§§: Purcell, N.J. 2003. Death Metal Music: the Passion and Politics of a Subculture (Jefferson, N.C.,
McFarland)

*: Baulch E. 2007. Making Scenes: Reggae, Punk, and Death Metal in 1990s Bali (Durham, Duke
University Press)
†
: Moore J.B. 1993. Skinheads Shaved for Battle: a Cultural History of American Skinheads (Bowling
Green, OH, Bowling Green State University Popular Press)
††
: Haenfler, R. 2006. Straight Edge: Clean-living Youth, Hardcore Punk, and Social Change (New
Brunswick, N.J., Rutgers University Press)
††††
: Wood, R.T. (2006). Straightedge Youth: Complexity and Contradictions of a Subculture (Syracuse,
N.Y. : Syracuse University Press)
Ω: Ekeroth, D. 2008. Swedish Death Metal (Brooklyn, NY, Bazillion Points Books)
Σ: Peter B. and Kugelberg, J. 2008. True Norwegian Black Metal: We Turn in the Night Consumed by
Fire (Brooklyn, N.Y., Vice Books)

=====================================================================
26 Brian Hickam

Appendix. Table 3. Fanzine holdings at select libraries.

=====================================================
† ††
LCSH Keywords BL§ LC§§ LA§§§ NL* Québec BGSU
===============================================================

Black metal 2 0 0 0 0 1

Death metal 4 0 0 0 0 6

Grind/grindcore 0 0 0 0 0 0

Hardcore punk 17 0 4 1 0 77

Heavy Metal 19 15 25 10 4 68

Industrial (rock or music) 2 0 2 2 0 3

Metal and punk/

hardcore 3 1 0 0 0 2

Oi! 8 0 0 0 0 1

Punk 217 6 41 7 2 262

Punk & Hardcore 12 0 3 0 0 29

Ska 9 0 3 1 0 23

Skinhead(s) 24 0 1 2 0 1

Straight-edge 0 0 0 0 0 0

Thrash 0 1 2 2 1 0

§: BL=The British Library,

§§: LC=Library of Congress,
§§§: LA=Library and Archives Canada,

*: NL=National Library of Australia,

†
: Québec=Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec,
††
: BGSU=Bowling Green State University Music Library.

=====================================================
 Brian Hickam
Endnotes:
1. David Toop's Rap Attack: African Jive to
New York Hip-Hop and Steven Hager's Hip
Hop: The Illustrated History of Break
Dancing, Rap Music, and Graffiti (both
1984), as described in Forman and Neal's
book That's The Joint!: the Hip-Hop Studies
Reader, p. 2.
2. ‘McNally Smith Introduces Hip-Hop
Diploma Program.’ 2009. News and Events,
13 February, McNally Smith College of
Music<http://www.mcnallysmith.edu/
academics/hiphop.aspx>
3. An example of such a course would be
'History of American Popular Music Since
1950,' offered at William Paterson
University (Wayne, New Jersey)
<http://www.wpunj.edu/wintersession/Cours
es/MUS317-517-80.pdf>.
An example of a rock history book with a
general scope would be Katherine Charlton's
Rock music styles : a history (published by
McGraw-Hill; the 5th ed. came out in 2008)
An example of a library resource guide for a
similar course is offered by Cuyahoga
Community College in Ohio. Resources for
'MUSIC 1030, Survey of Rock and Roll':
<https://portal.tri-c.edu/library/course/pages/
mus1030.htm>
Note the links to resources that discuss
hardcore punk and heavy metal.
4. Please see the entries for 'print' and
'nonprint' at ODLIS—Online Dictionary for
Library and Information Science by Joan M.
Reitz: http://lu.com/odlis/ for descriptions
of how we are using these terms. Currently,
the focus of the HMHP Archiving Project
does not include electronic formats. While
audio and video recordings are being
collected, the emphasis is on books,
27
periodicals, dissertations, theses, and
memorabilia.
The validity of the term 'Heavy music,' used
here encompass the many subgenres of
metal, hardcore punk, and related styles, was
evidenced in March 2009 when the
University of California Press published
Steve Waksman's book This Ain't the
Summer of Love: Conflict and Crossover in
Heavy Metal and Punk. Since many heavy
metal fans follow numerous metal subgenres
and also embrace hardcore punk, heavy
industrial, heavy psychedelic, and other
styles of alternative or extreme music, and
since tastes and definitions vary, the term
'heavy music' will be used to describe all of
these styles.
The Myspace page for The Heavy Metal and
Hardcore Punk Archiving Project is:
<ww.myspace.com/heavymusicarchives
project>.
5. Examples would be: (a) Scheel, K. R.
(1999). 'Heavy metal music and adolescent
suicidality: an empirical investigation.
Adolescence, 34(134), 253-273; (b) (1995).
Adolescents' use of socially disvalued
media: toward a theory of media
delinquency. Journal of Youth and
Adolescence, 24(5), 617-631..; and (c) The
book The Stoners: Drugs, Demons, and
Delinquency by Lawrence C. Trostle
(Garland, 1992), which is based on the
author's 1986 dissertation.
6. Styles not listed include: alternative
metal; ambient noise; avant-garde metal;
black metal; Christian hardcore; crust; d-
beat; darkwave; death industrial; death 'n'
roll; death rock; digital hardcore; doom;
drone metal; extreme metal; folk metal;
funeral doom; funk metal; glam metal or
28 Brian Hickam

hair metal; gothic rock; gothic metal;
grind/grindcore; horror punk; mallcore;
math metal; melodic death metal; New
Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM);
New Wave of American Heavy Metal; nu-
metal; progressive metal; sludge; straight-
edge; stoner metal; symphonic metal; and
Viking metal.
7. For an excellent brief history of fanzines
of all types see the British Library's 'Zines,
fanzines, alternative comics, and graphic
novels' (Parts 1 & 2)- a guide within their
'Help For Researchers' section:
http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/
findhelprestype/news/zines(part1)/zines1.ht
ml
8. See Lester B. 2009. Main Lines, Blood
Feasts, and Bad Taste: A Lester Bangs
Reader (New York, Anchor Books) and
DeRogatis J. 2000. Let it Blurt: The Life and
Times of Lester Bangs, America's Greatest
Rock Critic (New York, Broadway Books),
respectively.
9. Martin Popoff is co-founder and editor of
Brave Words and Bloody Knuckles
magazine. A list of his books is available at:
<http://www.martinpopoff.com/html/
bookslist.html>.
10. See, for instance, Rosenblatt, J. 1991.
‘From rock ‘n’ roll to zydeco: eclectic
archives of popular music at Bowling Green
State University.’The Chronicle of Higher
Education, 37/21, pp. B6-B7

Acknowledgements:

I offer sincere thanks to Rob Fisher, Founder and Network Leader of Inter-Disciplinary.Net,
Oxford, United Kingdom, for granting us the release of an earlier version of this paper. That
paper, entitled 'Filling the void: the heavy metal and hardcore punk archiving project,' was
presented at the first scholarly conference on heavy metal studies: Heavy Fundamentalisms:
Music, Metal and Politics (November 3 – 5, 2008; Salzburg, Austria.

I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to William L. Schurk, Sound Recordings
Archivist, University Libraries, Bowling Green State University, for his overwhelming support
of the heavy music special collection.