Metal. It's been the code I've lived by since I was 16. The music of metal has colored my worldview in more ways than even I may know. To those of you who don't listen to metal as obsessively as I do you probably don't understand the appeal. It's loud, full of lots of notes played really fast, aggressive and very much counter cultural. Metal, real metal, will never "sell" and will never be understood on a grand scale. Every now and then a band like Metallica will make waves, but let's face it; the 'tallica boys gave up on real metal right around 1991. Still, somehow they have been able to expose the main stream of society to the world of skull crushing, house shaking music. Metal is much more than a style of music; it is a lifestyle. It is not, despite some misguided assumptions, about becoming an ardent Satanist. It is not about being an overly aggressive meathead. Does it appeal to these folks? Hell yea it does. Why is that? Well, metal has at it's core several characteristics, two of them being aggression and dissent.
Aggression is in the nature of the music itself. Metal was always about playing faster, rougher, louder, darker, and angrier. It's music that gets the blood pumping. It’s music that makes you, as a guitarist friend said, "want to break a rule." However, the music is also about dissent, but not necessarily in the "punk rock" sense most imagine dissent to be.
Dissent in punk music revolves around rallying against something happening presently in society that you don't agree with. It is a reactionary form of music. Metal on the other hand, grew organically from harder edged rock of the 60's and 70's. The people creating the music though were not the disenfranchised middle class youth of punk. Rather it was kids who had nothing more to do than play music. Kids who grew up in rough neighborhoods, in families that were sometimes broken, and didn't necessarily make a whole lot of money. It came from people who lived in "shit-holes." In severely non-affluent backgrounds. To wax sociological and somewhat Marxist, it came from the "peasants" and the "workers," those who are under the heal of the Capitalist system. Here is metals dissent. It is not a reactionary form of music like punk, but rather an outgrowth of strained cultural dynamics. Here is where metal begins to become a lifestyle. It grew initially out of the same stock of people, growing up in the same depressed urban and rural environments and presented itself to these same people. As such, it's influence and ability to appeal to a wider audience was built in from the get go. However, someone from an affluent background would not particularly understand the issue of growing up in this culture and system. The aggression of the music, the rallying against religion as a form of social and cultural control, grows from the frustrations born into an individual from this facet of society. This is what I have come to think is at the heart of metal as a lifestyle.
This is not to say that one must come from this sort of background to understand and appreciate metal, but it helps. I myself am from Colorado Springs, CO. I grew up in a loving home, with parents and family who have supported me every step of the way. We have always been considered "poor" by American standards though. I think, at our peak, my family made around 26,000 a year. For a family of five, that's just barely scrapping by. Of course, as a teenager I didn't understand the things that I just outlined above, I just liked the music. There is something in there that speaks to the same type of person though and I now feel that part of that was what I outlined above.
Due to the title of this blog, I am assuming many of you felt I was going to talk more about what is actually happening in metal musically today. Don't fret I will get to that. I feel though that some background was needed as metal has also changed in regards to its "lifestyle." Culture is not a static thing and neither is metal. The music as well as the culture of metal is changing in sometimes-drastic ways. If this is for the best or not, I haven't decided. Personally, my view on metal and the culture surrounding it have changed as I've grown more and dove more fully into the metal world. It is these ideas and perceptions I have come to over the years that I want to talk about in the next few parts of this blog. I will begin the next time outlining the current musical state of metal, how it got to the point it is at, and where I feel it is headed. Then I will begin to talk about the implications on the culture of metal and it's changing state. I don't know if I'll have more after that, but there is a good chance. So, stay tuned, I hope to get the next part up soon (which I always say, I realize that). Horns up!
-Dan
