Heavy metal subculture
Fans of heavy metal music, commonly referred to as "Metalheads", have created their own subculture that encompasses more than just appreciation of the style of music. Fans affirm their membership in the subculture or scene by attending metal concerts (an activity seen as central to the subculture), buying albums, growing their hair long (although some metalheads do wear their hair short; one very famous example is late 70s to 80s-era Rob Halford), wearing jackets or vests often made of denim and leather adorned with band patches and often studs, and by contributing to metal publications since the early 1980s.[1]
The metal scene, like the rock scene in general, is associated with alcohol, tobacco and drug use, as well as riding motorcycles and having many tattoos. While there are songs that celebrate drinking, smoking, drug use, gambling, having tattoos and partying, there are also many songs that warn about the dangers of those activities. The metal fan base was traditionally working class, white and male in the 1970s,[2] and since the 1980s, more female fans have developed an interest in the style. Metal culture has also grown more popular among African Americans and other groups in recent times.[3]
Nomenclature[edit]
Heavy metal fans go by a number of different names, including metalhead,[4] headbanger,[5] hesher, mosher, and thrasher,[6] being used only for fans of thrash metal, which began to differentiate itself from other varieties of metal in the late 80s. While the aforementioned labels vary in time and regional divisions, headbanger and metalhead are universally accepted to mean fans or the subculture itself.
Intolerance to other music[edit]
On a 1985 edition of Australian music television show Countdown, music critic Molly Meldrum spoke about intolerance to other music within the subculture, observing "sections who just love heavy metal, and they actually don't like anything else."[26] Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, a guest on the program, readily concurred with Meldrum's view, and opined that his comments were "very true". Directly addressing the resistance to alternate genres seen among certain heavy metal fans, Mercury asserted: "that's their problem".[26]
Interviewed in 2011, Sepultura frontman Derrick Green said: "I find that a lot of people can be very closed minded – they want to listen to metal and nothing else, but I'm not like that. I like doing metal music and having a heavy style, but I don't like to put myself in such a box and be trapped in it."[27] Also that year, Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante admitted that hardened members of the heavy metal subculture "are not the most open-minded people when it comes to music."[28]
Ultimate Guitar reported in 2013 that thrash metal fans had directed "hate" towards Megadeth for venturing into more rock-oriented musical territory on that year's Super Collider album. Singer Dave Mustaine stated that their hostility was informed by an unwillingness to accept other genres and had "nothing to do with Megadeth or the greatness of the band and its music"; he also argued that the labelling of music fans contributed to their inability to appreciate other types of music.[29] That same year Opeth frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt also alleged that most members of the subculture are resistant to the musical evolution of artists within the metal genre, stating that it "doesn't seem to be that important" to those listeners. He added: "I think most metal fans just want their Happy Meals served to them. They don't really want to know about what they're getting. For a while, I thought metal was a more open-minded thing but I was wrong."[30]
Journalists have written about the dismissive attitude of many metal fans. MetalReviews.com published a 2004 article entitled "The True, Real Metalhead: A Selective Intellect Or A Narrow-Minded Bastard?", wherein the writer confessed to being "truly bothered by the narrow-mindedness of a lot of [his] metal brothers and sisters".[31] Critic Ryan Howe, in a 2013 piece for Sound and Motion magazine, penned an open letter to British metal fans, many of whom had expressed disgust about Avenged Sevenfold – whose music they deemed too light to qualify as metal – being booked to headline the 2014 installment of popular metal event the Download Festival. Howe described the detractors as "narrow minded" and challenged them to attend the Avenged Sevenfold set and "be prepared to have [their] opinions changed."[32]
Despite widespread lack of appreciation of other music genres, some fans and musicians can profess a deep devotion to genres that often have nothing to do with metal music. For instance, Fenriz of Darkthrone is also known to be a techno DJ,[33] and Metallica's Kirk Hammett is seen wearing a T-shirt of post-punk band The Sisters of Mercy in the music video for "Wherever I May Roam".[34] Tourniquet band leader Ted Kirkpatrick is a "great admirer of the classical masters".[35]
Some metal fans are also fond of punk rock, most notably the hardcore punk scene which helped inspire the extreme metal subgenres and even fusion genres such as crossover thrash, grindcore and the New York hardcore scene.
The term metal elitist is sometimes used by heavy metal fans and musicians to differentiate members of the subculture who display insulated, exclusionary or rigid attitudes from ostensibly more open-minded ones.[36][37][38] Elitist attitudes are particularly associated with fans and musicians of the black metal subgenre.[39] Characteristics described as distinguishing metal elitists or "nerds" from other fans of metal music include "constant one-upping," "endless pedantry" and hesitancy to "go against the metal orthodoxy."[40] While the term "metal elitism" is usually used pejoratively, elitism is occasionally defended by members of the subculture as a means of keeping the metal genre insulated, in order to prevent it from selling out.[41]
Heavy metal is also known for its large quantity of fusion subgenres including nu metal, folk metal and symphonic metal - contradicting the notion of metal as an isolated musical genre. Many popular groups within the genre are also fusion-music acts not represented by any larger subgenre, such as Skindred and Matanza.
International variations[edit]
Heavy metal fans can be found in virtually every country in the world. Even in orthodox Muslim countries of the Arab World, a small metal culture exists, though judicial and religious authorities do not always tolerate it. In 2003, more than a dozen members and fans of Moroccan heavy metal bands were imprisoned for "undermining the Muslim faith."[43][44] Heavy metal fans in Arab countries have formed their own specific metal cultures, with movements such as Taqwacore.
Heavy metal subculture appears in works of fiction, mostly adult cartoons, and 1980s and 1990s live action movies.