The Social Psychology Of Heavy Metal & Rock Music: Research On Metalheads

Cognition Today ^ | September 19, 2022 | Aditya Shukla

[mythenjoseph]

Headbang to MEGADETH....you will not be angry afterwards...great speed metal/ great words.

[allblues]

Especially death metal. It literally sounds like the voice of Satan.

[dfwgator]

LOL, reminds me of Dennis Leary...

I don’t get it. You know, I just don’t get it. I missed the f______ point some place. The boat left and I wasn’t on the boat. Explain it to me. Heavy metal bands on trial because kids commit suicide?

What is that about? Judas Priest on trial “because my kid bought the record, and listened to the lyrics, and he got into Satan...” Well, that’s great! That sets a legal precedent. Does that mean I can sue Dan Fogelberg for making me into a pussy in the mid-70’s? Is that possible, huh? Huh?

“Your Honor, between him and James Taylor, I didn’t get a b___ j__ ‘till I was twenty-seven years old. I was in Colorado wearing hiking boots, eating granola. I want some f______ money right now!”

[Army Air Corps]

The guitar arpeggios are nothing short of amazing. That kind of precision and speed requires skill and stamina.

[Jonty30]

Metal fans also tend to be most polite fans. I’m assuming it’s because they direct their aggression towards the music.

[Army Air Corps]

It is cathartic.

[nonliberal]

And there’s always been a certain catharsis in running around in circles and slamming headlong into your fellow man.

[dfwgator]

The genre has reached the mature stage of the lifecycle, like classical music, people just want to hear the classics of the genre, and not the new stuff, that’s why the old bands can still pack ‘em in, even if there are only one or two members left from the original band.

[Fuzz]

I was more into standing in the outer circle and pushing people back in toward the violence.

[voicereason]

In The Beginning There Was Silence And Darkness
All Across The Earth
Then Came The Wind And A Hole In The Sky
Thunder And Lightning Came Crashing Down
Hit The Earth And Split The Ground
Fire Burned High In The Sky

From Down Below Fire Melted The Stone
The Ground Shook And Started To Pound

The Gods Made Heavy Metal And They Saw That It Was Good
They Said To Play It Louder Than Hell
We Promised That We Would
When Losers Say It’s Over With You Know That It’s A Lie
The Gods Made Heavy Metal And It’s Never Gonna Die

We Are The True Believers
It’s Our Turn To Show The World
In The Fire Of Heavy Metal We Were Burned
It’s More Than Our Religion It’s The Only Way To Live
But The Enemies Of Metal We Can’t Forgive

Cause We Believe In The Power And The Might
And The Gods Who Made Metal Are With Us Tonight

The Gods Made Heavy Metal And They Saw That It Was Good
They Said To Play It Louder Than Hell
We Promised That We Would
When Losers Say It’s Over With You Know That It’s A Lie
The Gods Made Heavy Metal And It’s Never Gonna Die

We Believe In The Power And The Might
And The Gods Who Made Metal Are With Us Tonight

We’re Here Tonight For Heavy Metal Are You Ready In The Hall
They Have Chosen Us And We Have Heard The Call
Gonna Tear The Roof Off With Out Sound
Crack The Walls And Shake The Ground
Fight Tonight For Metal One And All

Cause We Believe In The Power And The Might
And The Gods Who Made Metal Are With Us Tonight

The Gods Made Heavy Metal And They Saw That It Was Good
They Said To Play It Louder Than Hell
We Promised That We Would
When Losers Say It’s Over With You Know That It’s A Lie
The Gods Made Heavy Metal And It’s Never Gonna Die

Manowar, “ The Gods Made Heavy Metal “

[BudgieRamone]

Im still listening to metal, especially a sub genre’ called folk metal. Its definitely pagan and very myth, story based stuff, but the instruments, bag pipes, hurdy gurdy, violin, pan pipes, accordian, even dulcimer, just tickle auditory areas of my brain that make me smile. I generaly gravitate toward punk, thrash, and power/glam/hair metal, but have a healthy appetite for anything that tells me a story, classical to zydeco. For anyone interested, Korpiklaani, Eluveitie, Arkona, Turisas, and Heidevolk were my gateways to folk metal. YMMV.

[ggrrrrr23456]

Yes! I read three or four paragraphs and had the same reaction. Definitely AI-generated. Really poorly written!

[DoodleBob]

‘Metal’ nowadays is almost a different genre than Iron Maiden or Judas Priest. It’s basically extremely fast, with double bass drums pumping away endlessly and vocals that range from screaming to guttural to unintelligible.

There are some good contemporary metal bands like Trivium, Gojira, and The Deftones (who are less heavy and sort of veterans) but YMMV.

Sabaton, who’ve been around for years, are also a favorite of mine - Swedish metal band with lyrics that are focused on World War I, military themes, and the like. They put on a GREAT live show and their singer doesn’t sound like Cookie Monster.

Personally, I’m finding myself liking new progressive instrumental hard rock. I don’t have to wade through wokey, dopey lyrics and the music ranges from brutal to hopeful.

Regardless of your preferred genre, check out www.Bandcamp.com and find what YOU like and buy it.

[dfwgator]

I must admit, I like The Warning, those girls are sooo cute.

[Billthedrill]

Hmm...well, at least the author acknowledges the importance of differences between subcultures. Slayer and, say, Dream Theater fans are very different. If there is a commonality in this, it is a commonality shared with classical music as well, and that is emotional catharsis. It has similar hooks into the technical - when you hear a metal guitarist ripping off licks from Paganini, you realize it isn't just insensate vomiting, it has a structure that makes sense...to somebody. It is also a last bastion of the humor and the truly politically incorrect in rock now that most punk has gone commercial. Imagine "Speak English Or Die" (Stormtroopers Of Death) coming from a cuck like Springsteen - you can't do it.

Certain subcultures have a very dark nature indeed - the story of the band Mayhem is one of a submergence into insanity, depression, and suicide - these were disturbed young men and some of their fans celebrate it. This isn't healthy, but sometimes lunatics are just lunatics. It happens.

Over-analysis destroys this, as it does most art. Sometimes it isn't altogether bad to scream defiance at the universe. Sometimes the universe screams back.

[Tired of Taxes]

I've always loved metal, grunge, hard rock - that kind of music. Once, I was given a serious diagnosis. I was still relatively young, raising kids. During treatments, I tried listening to "calming" mellow music, but it only made me feel more worried.

So, I started listening to metal/grunge during treatments. For example, this was one of the tracks on my playlist. Probably not the type of music anyone would pick while ill. But, it made me feel instantly calmer and very focused like a warrior ready for battle.

One of my kids must've inherited the metal gene, but he listened to death metal, which I don't understand. He said he couldn't explain why but it "speaks to his soul." He's a great guy, so I assume it was telling his soul good things... lol.

[Seaplaner]

It's fine w me if folks like heavy metal. Many of my friends do as well.

Although my musical tastes are eclectic and diverse, HM is not for me.

[kelly4c]

Absolutely:) I’ve loved metal since age 14, when some of Metallica’s songs sounded like masterpieces to me. Don’t listen to music very often these days though.

[kelly4c]

Thanks for sharing that. Will check it out. I’ve not been into music for a very long time, except for when I came across Tom McDonald and co, Game of Thrones, and Vikings soundtracks. I don’t know why.

[T.B. Yoits]

Re: Heavy Metal Parking Lot (Post 9)

I never saw that until years later but it hit home how true it was. A cable television rockumentary with teens outside a Judas Priest concert in 1986 in Maryland showed how discarded these youngsters were.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBryTebK2Og

Among the more twisted points, at 2:35 the interviewer has a few questions for a twenty-year-old and his thirteen-year-old girlfriend.

At about 9:51, you can see some young adults disconnected from the reality that one of their friends recently died.

Interviewer (off camera): "What would you say if you met Rob Halford?" [the lead singer of Judas Priest]

Young woman and her friend: "Ooh, we're going to. We got backstage passes!"

Interviewer (off camera): "How'd you get the backstage passes?"

Young woman and her friend: "It's a long story. It's a real long story."

Young woman: "Okay, a friend of ours got killed in a car accident about a month ago and he loves Judas Priest. So, his mom wrote to the manager and there's about 75 of us here and they were writing back and calling and they gave us all backstage passes."

Interviewer (off camera): "That's pretty nice."

Young woman and her friend: "Yeah, it is pretty nice."

Young woman: "You'll see us. We got a really big banner. It says Timmy loves Judas Priest."