Ron Halford Defending Subliminal Messages in Metal

http://classicrock.teamrock.com/news/2014-11-10/halford-metal-is-a-force-for-good

Even the man himself, Rob Halford describes metal as being a force for good. It's all about energy and mutual enjoyment. Just like any other type of music. 

Spinal Tap Quotes...

"Bobbi Flekman: Ian, you put a greased naked woman on all fours, with a dog collar around her neck and a leash, and a man's arm extended out up to here holding the leash, and pushing a black glove in her face to sniff it - you don't find that offensive? You don't find that sexist?
Ian Faith: No, I don't! This is 1982, for God's sake..."

Nigel Tufnel: You know, just simple lines intertwining, you know, very much like - I'm really influenced by Mozart and Bach, and it's sort of in between those, really. It's like a Mach piece, really. It's sort of...
Marty DiBergi: What do you call this?

Nigel Tufnel: Well, this piece is called "Lick My Love Pump".

Tokenism

After reading a bit more around the subject of women in heavy metal, I have come across the concept of 'Tokenism'. This concept means that:

tokenism:
1. the practice or policy of making no more than a token effort or gesture, as in offering opportunities to minorities equal to those of the majority.
2. any legislation, admissions policy, hiring practice, etc., that demonstrates only minimal compliance with rules, laws, or public pressure:

"Admitting one woman to the men's club was merely tokenism."

In relevance to my research, it could be seen that women ARE TOKENS in the heavy metal genre. As part of a minority, which could also mean that they are more viable than their male counterparts, in a sense of their rarity. 

A journal written in 1977 by Rosabeth Kanter titled 'men and women of the corporation' illustrates this notion of tokenism, and how something is considered a token if they represent less than 15% of the majority.

Women covering male metal songs...

Cannibal Corpse - Evisceration Plague    by an Iranian Female

Amon Amarth - Runes to my Memory (A personal favorite of mine!) by the same Iranian woman

She's only 10...

Another personal favourite of mine...

Women like what?

Generally, women who consider themselves metalheads, like genres such as Heavy Rock, Black, Death, Goth, Folk and Symphonic  metal. This would be usually the case due to the fact that the content within the songs are more emotional, tell stories or talk about sensitive topics such as religion. Female metahleads, as a whole, tend to avoid genres like thrash metal due to the tradition of it being a boys club, and it still holds very sexist views towards women.

Romantic:

Despite bands attracting a lot of female fans with songs they they actually LIKE, the Death Metal band, Anal Cunt recorded a WHOLE album called Picnic of Love was released as a joke and a parody of love songs.

Which is obviously sarcasm on their part!! Still, rather funny though.

What Are You Doing Here? A Black Woman's Life And Liberation In Heavy Metal

An amazing book.
Not only is Laina Dawes a metalhead, but she is also black. She has been questioned, stared at and asked 'What are you doing here?' at metal gigs

"Laina Dawes is not always the only black woman at metal shows, and she's not always the only headbanger among her black female friends. In her first book, the Canadian critic and music fan questions herself, her headbanging heroes and dozens of black punk, metal, and hard rock fans to answer the knee-jerk question she's heard a hundred times in the small clubs where her favourite bands play: "What are you doing here?"."

"“I wanted to find other black women like me: metal, hardcore, and punk fans and musicians that were rabid about the music and culture and adamant about asserting their rightful place as black women within those scenes. I wanted to find other women who put aside the cultural baggage that dictates that we must listen to certain musical styles, and simply enjoy the music that influenced us, not just as black women, but as individuals who grew up in an era when, thanks to technology, a large variety of music is accessible and available to everyone. I found many black women and have shared their stories, but I also realize there is still a lot of work to be done.”—Laina Dawes"

Something that irritates me...

'How to Look like a Hot Metal Chick'

As a metal 'chick' myself, this infuriates me.
Being metal isn't about being 'hot'. Its about the love for a music genre.
This cannot be fabricated, or imitated, otherwise it just isn't real. Besides, metal, to me, has always been about being myself and being confident in myself.

One girl's view on being a metal fan...

Are you talking to me: Respecting women in metal

"Like any subculture, the world of heavy metal has rules. There’s an obvious dress code; violate it at your own peril. What you give up in fashion choices, you supposedly make back in community. Millions of misfit kids have made their home in heavy metal, and with that comes a sense of belonging: a tribe. At least, that’s how it works when you’ve got a Y chromosome.

I would have loved to join that headbanger tribe. But because of my dress code choices, the guys, by and large, ignored me. It didn’t help that I was shy. At my small high school, male metalheads seemed to accept me. But at shows? Forget it. While the guys bonded over the band’s riffage, I might as well have been a scuff on the floor."


"I suspect their reasons for loving metal were similar to mine. Some of them – possibly most of them – found something in metal that purged their pain and made them feel powerful. And it didn’t just help with big, life-changing trauma. Frustrated at school? Anthrax’ cover of “Got the Time” provided a three-minute thrash-filled vacation. Feeling like my parents didn’t get me – or my love of metal? Accept’s “Generation Clash” provided the perfect, brooding companion to my angst."

"As metal soldiered on, it branched out. Operatic and folk metal bands place women musicians front and center. Singers like Angela Gossow, Stevie Floyd, and Otep Shamaya have proven they can bellow with the best of them – and rock out without flashing their goods. Mainstream metal acts, from Tool to Lacuna Coil, offer emotional music that doesn't emasculate the audience."


Are you talking to me: Respecting women in metal

Women in Metal

'They have to scream a little louder to be heard.'
Does that mean that metal means so much more to women because of the fact that they are segregated?

'But the ladies' musical backgrounds and achievements often play second fiddle to their luminous cheekbones or dangerous curves.'
Similar things could be said for female FANS of metal - are they objectified due to their appearance because they are a lot rarer than male metalheads?

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/11/the-never-ending-debate-over-women-in-metal-and-hard-rock/247795/

All Girl Metal Bands

A great site for fans of all-girl metal bands.
And all-girl cover bands of the most well known bands from AC/DC to Van Halen.


http://www.metaladies.com/

NEMETON BOREALIS - The Blackwood Gathering, Black Metal in Cumbria

Nemeton Borealis is a unique Black Metal event situated in a birch woodland overlooking Lake Windermere, Cumbria. Limited spaces for camping and camper vans.

The event includes; Outdoor performance area and ceremonial fire, Indoor Bar with real ale and ciders, wild camping, Black Metal record Distro/ merch stalls, moon pond and Sacrificial Altar stone.

"The event is limited to 200 people and so therefore it is essential that gig attendees contact and purchase tickets beforehand. There are some limited spaces for camper vans, please inquire for their availability."

The gig isn't massively well known, and only really attended through social media networks, through friends and groups that are fans of the genre.

Some photographs taken by fans...

  

Gender in Metal?

I have moved towards the notion of gender in heavy metal music. As a fan of the genre, and a female, I feel like I am really drawn to WHY I like what I like and how that reflects in the eyes of the public!

I love these two paragraphs from The Society Pages, written by a woman. It provides me with a general summary of the arguments I would like to support in my dissertation.

"Performers and fans have been overwhelmingly been heterosexual men (Walser 1993).  The promotion of an exaggerated and idolized dominant, heterosexual form of masculinity is not surprising when taking into account the androgyny that also exists within the heavy metal realm.  Androgyny was especially prevalent during the 1970s and 1980s when heavy metal music peaked in popularity.  Male musicians and fans with long hair, make up and tight fitting clothes needed a mechanism to assert their masculinity and heterosexuality.  They found it in promoting a “sex-drug-and-groupies heavy-metal lifestyle” (Breen 1991).  This metal mantra was often at the expense of women and homosexual men, who were designated to the category of “other” and represented as a threat in visual images, lyrics, and video representations (Walser 1993).

Since the 1970s, women have increasingly gravitated towards the heavy metal scene.  Women who choose to participate, especially subgenres such as death metal or black metal that are more misogynistic, are aware of the culture of marginalization (Vasan 2011).  These women often report that the metal scene provides a sense of individual empowerment through breaking away from the gendered restrictions of mainstream society.   However, this freedom comes at a cost, which involves reframing empowerment through a masculine notion of legitimation."

Thesocietypages.org, (2014). Heavy Metal Music and Sociological Imagination » Sociology Lens. [online] Available at: http://thesocietypages.org/sociologylens/2013/11/18/heavy-metal-music-and-sociological-imagination/ [Accessed 16 Oct. 2014].

METAL: A HEADBANGERS JOURNEY

                                     Metal: A Headbanger's Journey (2005)

Documentary Watch!!

METAL: A HEADBANGERS JOURNEY

Sam Dunn is a 30-year old anthropologist who wrote his graduate thesis on the plight of Guatemalan refugees. Recenly he has decided to study the plight of a different culture, one he has been a part of since he was a 12-year old: the culture of heavy metal. Sam sets out on a global journey to find out why this music has been consistently stereotyped, dismissed and condemned and yet is loved so passionately by its millions of fans. Along the way, Sam explores metals' obsession with some of life's most provacative subjects - sexuality, religion, violence and death - and discovers some things about the culture that even he can't defend. Shot on location in the UK, Germany, Norway, Canada and the US, this documentary is the first of its kind. It is both a defense of a long-misunderstood art form and a window for the outsider into the spectacle that is heavy metal.


This documentary gave answers to a lot of questions I want to explore in my dissertation.

ORIGINS OF METAL:
As much as I want to avoid a 'history' of metal in my dissertation, metal itself has its firm roots in the 1960/70s and a lot of the subgenres of metal remain unchanged since such a time.
Bands that 'started' metal:
Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath
Sabbath being the most notable and described as creating every well known metal riff!!

Metal was derived from the working class man's blues music, and used a lot of the 'Devil's Note' - the tritone (http://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,,-1767,00.html)

A nerw wave of metal was then brought forth in the late 70s and the 80s with bands like Saxon, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Motorhead,

Other musical roots could include dark classical music - Richard Wagner (1813 - 1833)
Due to the use of a lot of bass - tubas, octobass etc and a lot of improvisation, much like Van Halen.

ENVIRONMENTS:
The band members themselves almost always come from very rough / poor backgrounds. This makes a lot of the fans of metal relate to their heroes, as they also tend to come from a similar background. The sound (and indeed the name) of metal comes from a working background - the mines, steelworks etc.

FANS:
Metal fans: Young, hetrosexual males, generally. However, more and more female fans are becoming apparent - myself included.
Heavy metal fans love the music they do because of the sense of confidence and strength it gives them. And getting together in a community of like minded people allows them to be weird, where they aren't considered so by mainstream society!

This can be seen mainly at festivals - Bloodstock, UK is where i went in 2014, but in this film they travel to Wacken.

Metalhead love the tribal feeling they get at festivals. A sense of community and a brotherohood, and a sense of belonging.


METAL CENSORSHIP:
In 1985, the PMRC (Parents Music Resource Center) released a list of 15 songs to be banned called the filthy 15. (www.nndb.com/lists/405/000093126/)

They targeted one band member in particular - Dee Snider of Twisted Sister

Dee Snider 1985 in court
defending his music

The PMRC picked him as a target because of his apparent unintelligent attitude - and were blown away.
He described the music he had written was not INTENDED in a perverse way, and every person who listened to the music interpreted it in their own way, and for them to assume it were perverse, meant they were the ones who thought in such a way - YOU LOOK, YOU FIND.






GENDER & SEXUALITY:
Male dominated 'boys club' and very unsympathetic to females.
It was led by the strong working class man.
HARD FAST STRONG.

It allows young teenage boys anxiety of growing up to disappear, and to worship heroic male idols.
This was then challenged by glam metal:
Leather & Lace, obsessed with female sexuality
Dressing feminine to provoke attention / trouble
to 'FREAK PEOPLE OUT'
GUTS TO BR GLAM.

Ladies in metal:

Girlschool - all girl metal
band in the 80s

GIRLSCHOOL
The first PROPER all girl metal band that did nothing differently to the men! In interview in the film, they felt sexy, powerful and in control. Female fronted bands are popular now (Arch enemy)






RELIGION & SATANISM:
Religious symbolism is used a lot in metal. Some bands praise the devil, and some, like Black Sabbath, warn of the devil.

Norwegian Black Metal:
Burning Churches
A Statement to break Christianity, satan is the liberator, satan is freedom


DEATH & VIOLENCE:
Death metal - Cannibal Corpse depict the glamorisation of violence, fascinated with death, opposed to being afraid. Ideas of a primal desire - which all humans have.

Murder & suicide:
 Metal has been frequently used as a target or a reason as to why teenagers commit suicide.
Metal, by the fans, is actually seen as being empowering, a sense of not being alone.
It confronts what is being ignored and thats why it invokes such a negative reaction.

Bloodstock 2014

As a fan of the genre itself, I found myself heading off to the best metal festival the UK has to offer: Bloodstock.

Before even booking the tickets, I studied the line-up with a few friends who might want to attend.

Amon Amarth, Megadeth, Down, Evil Scarecrow, Hellyeah... I was sold.

We bought our tickets for 5 nights camping in a field, with some of the best bands I could think of. We then began performing what could be referred to as being 'rituals'.

I made sure my battle jacket (also known as a kutte, cut-off or battlevest) was up to withstanding the moshpits, walls of death etc and had all the patches I wanted sewn on, so fellow metalheads could identify what bands and genres I was into:

Jacket before bloodstock...

Here are a collection of photographs taken at Bloodstock 2014 by myself and my group...

Megadeth!!

Hellyeah

Carcass

Met Carcass!!

Amon Amarth

My initial points of attack:

I have come across some initial key texts to read this week:

1. Running with the Devil: Power, Gender and Madness in Heavy Metal Music by Robert Walser

"A Choice Outstanding Academic Book. A musicologist and cultural critic as well as a professional musician, Robert Walser offers a comprehensive musical, social, and cultural analysis of heavy metal in Running with the Devil. Dismissed by critics and academics, condemned by parents and politicians, fervently embraced by legions of fans, heavy metal music attracts and embodies cultural conflicts that are central to our society. Walser explores how and why heavy metal works, both musically and socially, and at the same time uses metal to investigate contemporary formations of identity, community, gender, and power."

I think that this book will generate some initial thoughts about the subject for me to focus on more deeply.



2. Heavy Metal: The Music and Its Culture by Deena Weinstein

"The definitive study of heavy metal culture that "does for metal what Greil Marcus's Lipstick Traces did for the Sex Pistols" ( -Chicago Sun-Times ).. Few forms of music elicit such strong reactions as does heavy metal. Embraced by millions of fans, it has also attracted a chorus of critics, who have denounced it as a corrupter of youtheven blamed it for tragedies like the murders at Columbine. Deena Weinstein argues that these fears stem from a deep misunderstanding of the energetic, rebellious culture of metal, which she analyzes, explains, and defends. She interprets all aspects of the metal worldthe music and its makers, its fans, its dress code, its lyricsand in the process unravels the myths, misconceptions, and truths about an irreverent subculture that has endured and evolved for twenty years."