Heavy Genealogy: Mapping the Currents, Contraflows and Conflicts of the Emergent Field of Metal Studies, 1978-2010

Brown, Andy

doi:10.1080/14797585.2011.594579

Cited by 86 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 101 publications

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“…Heavy metal scholars have documented how individuals use metal music to cope with being perceived as outsiders in general culture, while simultaneously fostering that sense of individualism (Brown 2011;Hedge Olson 2011;Fellezs 2011). Participants in 'Metal Mission' echoed this sentiment of otherness, emanating from two distinct sources.…”

Section: Psychological Sense Of Permanent 'Otherness'mentioning

confidence: 96%

On your knees and pray! The role of religion in the development of a metal scene in the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico

Varas-Díaz

Rivera-Segarra

Mendoza

et al. 2014

International Journal of Community Music

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Heavy metal music is simultaneously reflective of, and reactive to, the cultural underpinnings of the spaces in which it is created. Wallach et al. have emphasized the need to understand metal music outside of Anglo-American contexts and culture. Although the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico seems like an unlikely scenario for the emergence of a metal scene, it has in fact existed via underground means for the past 25 years. Due to the Island’s strong Hispanic and Catholic roots, stemming from Spanish colonialism in the fifteenth century, religion has played a central role in the development of the local metal scene. The first systematic organization of a metal scene was structured by Christian metal groups under the name of ‘Metal Mission’ and served as a meeting space for social interaction based on metal music and religion. The objective of this article is to document the role of Christian religion in the emergence and maintenance of a metal scene in Puerto Rico. We will present data from a larger study of the metal scene in Puerto Rico, which used a mixed methods approach including ethnographic observations (300 hours), qualitative interviews (n=50) and surveys (n=400) with members of Puerto Rico’s metal scene. Although metal music has roots in critical perspectives towards religion, our research shows how it has also helped shape the Island’s metal scene.

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Section: Psychological Sense Of Permanent 'Otherness'mentioning

confidence: 96%

On your knees and pray! The role of religion in the development of a metal scene in the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico

Varas-Díaz

Rivera-Segarra

Mendoza

et al. 2014

International Journal of Community Music

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This code reflects transgressive cultural and political norms and values [8]. It promotes the opposition to established authority, and separateness from the rest of society [14][15][16][17].…”

Section: Heavy Metal Music and Bipolar Disordermentioning

confidence: 99%

Analogies between Heavy Metal Music and the Symptoms of Mental Illness

Angeler

2018

Challenges

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This paper builds a link between isolated domains within the arts and sciences, specifically between music and psychiatry. An analogous model is presented that associates heavy metal music with bipolar disorder, a form of mental illness. Metal music consists of a variety of subgenres with distinct manifestations of song, rhythm, instrumentation, and vocal structure. These manifestations are analogous to the symptomatology of bipolar disorder, specifically the recurrent episodes of (hypo)mania and depression. Examples of songs are given which show these analogies. Besides creating a subjective link between apparently unconnected knowledge domains, these analogies could play a heuristic role in clinical applications and education about the disorder and mental illnesses at large.

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“…Second, and more importantly for this article, the research on metal has also followed these public opinions and contributed to them. The media commentary and moral panics fueled by metal's conservative detractors gave rise to a more political and academic research preoccupation with the “problem of metal” (Brown, ) and the pathologizing of young people's metal preferences, rather than talking with and observing the people involved and finding out about their actual practices. This closely resembles the moral panics in other areas of youth studies, such as the relations between violence and video games (Ferguson, ; Winegarner, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contextualizing the mental health of metal youth: A community for social protection, identity, and musical empowerment

Rowe

Guérin

2018

Journal Community Psychology

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Metal identities are popularly represented as leading to mental health issues but with flawed evidence. We documented the community contexts around metal and well‐being by talking to young metalheads directly. We engaged in repeated, informal talks with 28 young Australians who strongly identified with metal (aged 18–24 years, 5 females and 23 males), and found that the metal identities and community protected them from mental health problems. Four core themes were found from transcripts: they were all bullied or marginalized through social relationships at school; they enjoyed the impact of metal music and lyrics when angry or ostracized; they felt part of a protective community of metalheads, even though in many cases at this age it was more imagined than real; and embodying metal identities enabled them to keep bullies, detractors, and others at bay, and to find friend groups. By talking repeatedly, directly with young metalheads, it was found that metal identities were helping participants to survive the stress of challenging environments and build strong and sustained identities and communities, thus alleviating any potential mental health issues.

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Heavy Genealogy: Mapping the Currents, Contraflows and Conflicts of the Emergent Field of Metal Studies, 1978-2010

Cited by 86 publications

References 101 publications

On your knees and pray! The role of religion in the development of a metal scene in the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico

On your knees and pray! The role of religion in the development of a metal scene in the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico

Analogies between Heavy Metal Music and the Symptoms of Mental Illness

Contextualizing the mental health of metal youth: A community for social protection, identity, and musical empowerment

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