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."
