Second Coming

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Second Coming
The Resurgence of Heavy Metal in Popular Music
by Chris Norris
Photo courtesy of Crystal Miller
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Introduction
Heavy metal music has a turbulent history,
partly due to its loud, harsh style but
especially because of its lyrics. At the height
of its popularity in the 1980s, heavy metals
antisocial and violent themes spurred many
critics to try to eliminate this genre of music.
Ultimately, though, it was the rising popularity
of grunge bands such as Nirvana and Pearl Jam in
the late 1980s and early 1990s that led to
metals decline. The sold-out stadium tours were
all but a memory to the majority of bands that
once thrived in the genre. In the past ten years,
however, numerous bands and their fans have begun
to rekindle the heavy metal flame. By addressing
complex social and political issues, by
incorporating diverse musical styles, and by
cultivating a strong fan community, heavy metal
is undergoing a rebirth.
Heavy Metal (noun) 2- a type of highly amplified
harsh-sounding rock music with a strong beat.


-Oxford English
Dictionary
(Top) Photo courtesy of Megan Branham (Bottom)
Photo courtesy of Josh Lemon/Last Word
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Social and Political Dialogue
Some Early Criticisms of Metal Music In the
1970s and 1980s, many heavy metal songs focused
on the themes of violent crime, suicide, drug
use, and deviant sexual behavior. Concerned about
the effects of such music on young people, some
parents and government officials tried to
eliminate the genre with a number of lawsuits
targeted at the lyrics of heavy metal artists. In
1986, for example, the parents of
nineteen-year-old John McCollum sued Ozzy
Osbourne over his lyrics to the song Suicide
Solution, claiming their son was listening to
the song when he committed suicide (Reuters,
1986). In 1990, Rob Halford, the front man for
the band Judas Priest, faced a similar lawsuit
when two teenage fans shot themselves after
listening to the bands lyrics (Quindlen, 1990).
Although both cases were eventually dismissed,
the resulting negative media coverage cast a long
shadow over the heavy metal community. On
another front, in 1985, Tipper Gore, the wife of
former Vice President Al Gore, co-founded the
Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) to alert
parents to the sexually explicit and violent
content of many heavy metal songs. In fact, the
work of the PMRC led to the parental warning
labels that are still used today on CD covers
(Lee, para. 21). Although some controversy over
metal lyrics still exists, the current wave of
heavy metal has become more socially conscious.
Politically Charged Lyrics Machine Head
Clenching the Fists of Dissent Trivium Declaratio
n Megadeth United Abominations Lamb Of God Now
Youve Got Something to Die For
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Social and Political Dialogue
The Social and Political Themes of Todays Metal
Music During the past decade, many metal
bands have recorded songs or even entire albums
as a form of social protest. As an Associated
Press (2006) article notes, Heavy metal is
growing up. The genre is increasingly
incorporating social and political messages into
its dense power chords (para. 6). Lyrics that
clearly disapprove of the war in Iraq and
question the reasoning behind violence are
becoming more frequent in heavy metal songs. The
band Lamb of God (2004), for instance, has
criticized U.S. foreign policy and President Bush
in numerous songs and even entire albums Bombs
to set the people free, blood to feed the dollar
tree / Flags for coffins on the screen, oil for
the machine / Army of liberation, gunpoint
indoctrination / The fires of sedation / Fulfill
the prophecy (Now Youve Got Something to Die
For). The lyrics of Machine Heads A Farewell
to Arms (2007) are also a protest against war
War hawks and senators, they sit right, so trite
/ Never their sons will know what its like to
fight / But soldiers are dead and children have
bled / And the silence is numb. What have we
become? Where heavy metal bands were once
thought to glorify violence, they now speak out
against it.

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Photo courtesy of Josh Lemon/Last Word
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Social and Political Dialogue
Other bands protest different issues. Cattle
Decapitation, made up of strict vegetarians,
creates songs opposing the meat industry and
animal cruelty. It also brings up environmental
issues in the song Alone at the Landfill, which
speaks out against pollution and describes the
world as a trash heap where we bury the past
(2006). The band Napalm Death (2006) protests
nuclear weapons in their song Call That an
Option? with the lines, Nuclear age again /
Forcing errors, miscalculate / A decimation
game. In Aryanisms and other songs, Napalm
Death (1992) challenges the hypocrisy and hate
embodied in the neo-Nazi movement Get your
kicks through persecution, / used as scapegoats /
for your exterior doubts. Raising such social
and political subjects, heavy metal is creating
strong forms of musical protest.

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Photo courtesy of Josh Lemon/Last Word
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Social and Political Dialogue
While heavy metals lyrics are turning more
socially conscious, mainstream fans are also
becoming more open to the messages metal bands
are putting out. When Lamb of Gods drummer Chris
Adler was asked about metals increasing
popularity, he said that he didnt think bands
were trying to move toward the mainstream.
Instead, he stated, the mainstream has come to
us. We are continuing to write very heavy music
and I think the landscape of todays culture is a
little more open to it (as cited in Borowski,
2007, para. 5). With government approval ratings
the lowest they have been in recent years, and
with the war on terror, many people find metal
music themes easy to relate to. It is likely that
songs focusing on a range of concernswar and
peace, vegetarianism, and genocide, for
examplewill have a much more diverse audience
than songs focused on violence and deviance. Some
of the current popularity of new heavy metal
music, however, involves more than a change in
the lyrics themselves.

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Photo courtesy of Josh Lemon/Last Word
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Diversity
The Diverse Musical Styles of Todays Metal
Music The diversity of new metal music is
also reflected in its many sounds and styles,
which have helped fuel its resurgence. Some of
the most well-known subgenres of 1980s metal,
such as thrash, death, and power metal, have been
revived through the styles of newer bands. Thrash
metal has extremely fast guitar riffs and
aggressive vocals, as represented by bands like
Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax, while death metal
bands like Morbid Angel and Possessed use highly
down-tuned, distorted guitars and screaming or
growling vocals. Power metal bands, like
Dragonforce and Falconer, are known mostly for
their power chords and cleaner vocal sound.
This variety of genres represents only one stage
of metals up-and-down history. As noted earlier,
after its prime in the 1980s, heavy metal music
declined in popularity during the early 1990s.
Many of its teenage fans outgrew their taste for
metal and started identifying with grunge music
instead. However, not all fans left heavy metal
behind. An underground heavy metal scene
continued to exist in many cities because some
fans still wanted a more extreme sound (Borowski,
2007).
Genres Power, Thrash, Progressive, Glam, Pop,
Stoner, Hardcore, Goth, Industrial, Folk,
Nu-Metal, Alternative, Metalcore, and many, many
more
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Diversity
The mid-1990s ushered in a group of mainstream
bands that introduced an edgier, hard rock sound.
Nu-metal bands such as Korn, Disturbed,
Slipknot, and Limp Bizkit became a staple on rock
radio stations and even garnered the attention of
MTV, which by then had all but abandoned rock
music for the more popular hip-hop genre. In
short, nu-metal bands brought the hard rock sound
back to a mainstream audience. As the nu-metal
movement thrived on the airwaves and in big arena
shows, harder-sounding metal bands found their
underground fan base growing again. Kerry King of
thrash metal band Slayer claimed that those who
listen to heavy metal tend to evolve musically
and their taste for intense music intensifies
(as cited in Abram, 2006, para. 3). Although a
lot of heavy metal bands dismissed nu-metal, they
could not deny that it was helping bring
attention and fans to their own music.
Listen to Last Word describe why they play metal
and what attracts people to the sound.
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Diversity
Metals subgenres continue to borrow
elements from each other and from other genres of
music. Heavy metal guitarists, like all other
innovative musicians, create new sounds by
drawing on the power of the old (Walser, 1993,
p. 103). Metalcore bands such as Killswitch
Engage and Shadows Fall blend classic metal riffs
with the driving, machine-gun-like breakdowns of
American hardcore punk music. By combining the
screaming vocals of heavy metal with a more
melodic singing style, metalcore bands appeal
both to metal fans and mainstream rock listeners.
Some bands are heavily influenced by classical
music, incorporating classical song structures
and other symphonic elements into their music.
For instance, Children of Bodoms song Red Light
in My Eyes, Part Two draws heavily on Mozarts
Symphony No. 25 In G Minor K.183 - I. Allegro
Con Brio. Other metal songs have similarly
crossed genres, like Anthrax and Public Enemys
song Bring the Noise, which combines thrash
metal with rap to create rapcore. Another song,
Rebel Meets Rebel, infuses Panteras bluesy
southern metal with the country vocals of David
Allen Coe.
Listen how classical music (Mozart) influences
modern heavy metal (Children of Bodom).
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Social Community
A Devoted and Growing Fan BaseWith New Channels
of Communication Metal musics current
popularity is also rising due to a highly devoted
fan base. The 1980s provided an explosion of
heavy metal fans doing anything and everything
they could to keep the genre alive and growing.
Fanzines (short for fan magazines) were created
and traded on a global scale, along with tapes of
new bands (Berger, 1999). The underground
music scene mentioned by Berger in 1999 has now
become the mainstream new wave of American heavy
metal. Jason Netherton, bass player for the band
Misery Index stated, Finding an audience
becomes mainly a word of mouth effort channeled
through underground communication networks.
Respect comes afterward if you have something
special about your sound (as cited in Purcell,
2003, p. 68). Thanks to technology, more people
than ever are able to hear that sound. Through
sites such as MySpace and PureVolume, which
provide bands with free Web profiles, bands can
place music online, attract friends or fans,
and invite fans to comment on songs and photos.
For example, the up-and-coming band Job for a
Cowboy gained a lot of attention in the metal
community online without even releasing a CD. As
singer Johnny Davy said, MySpace has let bands
gain popularity worldwide without even having to
tour (as cited in Senft, 2007, para. 8). Online
fan groups help new bands attract a following
more easily than ever before.


(Top) Photo courtesy of Josh Lemon/Last
Word (Bottom) Photo courtesy of Marriage of
Convenience
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Social Community
Like the underground of the early 1990s,
when metal music had largely fallen out of favor,
the social community fostered by todays metal
music usually begins on the local level. Unsigned
bands often play shows with other bands in the
same area, building connections and gaining new
fans along the way. Once a show is over,
networking sites allow bands to keep in touch
with each other as well as with fans they meet in
the community, who in turn help their music reach
new listeners all over the world. With so many
promotion tools available and with the hard work
of both bands and fans, heavy metal is becoming
one of the fastest growing genres in the music
industry.
Listen to Last Word describe a local show.
Watch a clip of Last Word performing live.
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Social Community
MySpace Analysis
MP3 players allow fans to listen to songs by the
artist, read lyrics, and in some cases even
download the songs.
Users can add artists as friends to receive
updates and unlimited access to the MySpace page.
This allows users to privately message the bands
and read blogs added by the bands.
The site allows fans to view pictures and videos
of the band. Most bands offer both professional
and amateur videos and pictures.
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Social Community
MySpace Analysis
The pages display a variety of information on the
bands, including members, influences, tour dates,
and other news.
Many bands include music videos on their pages,
both live and/or produced, as a way to show fans
what they bring to the table.
Members can look at profiles of all the bands
fans and friends. Usually included in these
friends lists are other bands, the musicians
individual pages, and fans from around the world.
This allows people to network with other fans,
creating an online heavy metal community.
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Social Community
Social Community
MySpace Analysis
The page also allows users to post public
comments to the band. Such comments are visible
to both members and non-members of MySpace and
are a quick and simple way of staying in touch
with the band.
Many bands respond to postings and maintain close
relationships with fans. While MySpace is an easy
way to create a community, it can quickly become
difficulteven impossiblefor bands to keep up.
In 2003, Trivium had just over 2,000 friends, and
the band maintained close contact with many of
them. By 2008, the band had over 300,000 fans,
and it became nearly impossible for Trivium to
stay in contact with everyone. MySpace is still a
great way for local acts and fans to create
social networks that have the ability to grow
from local to global scales.
MySpace page courtesy of Last Word
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Conclusion
Heavy metal music will likely not re-assume
the role it once played in the 1980s, but its
resurgence has garnered listeners attention,
though sometimes this attention is still
negative. Take, for instance, the 2001 public
protests of Marilyn Manson concerts in Denver,
Colorado, and the 2007 cancellation of a Machine
Head concert at a Disney-owned venue due to
violent themes in the music (Davis, 2001
McLennan, 2007). Nonetheless, while heavy metal
is not for everyone, its diversity is helping the
genre grow. With a devoted group of fans ready to
tell people all about the music, coupled with a
variety of subgenres to please different tastes,
heavy metal is bolstered even further by its
connection to current societal issues. Heavy
metal is back and gaining strength one new
listener at a time.
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References
Abram, M. X. (2006, June 29). Slayer guitarist
Kerry King At the end of the day, Im still a
metal fan. Akron Beacon Journal. Retrieved
from http//www.roadrunnerrecords.com/bla
bbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode
ArticlenewsitemID54371 Associated Press.
(2006, August 10). Heavy metal becoming
increasingly political. Retrieved from
http//www.msnbc.msn.com Berger, H. M. (1999).
Metal, rock, and jazz Perception and the
phenomenology of musical experience.
Hanover, NH University Press of New England.
Borowski, L. (2007, August 21). Lamb of God
The lamb lies down in hell. Retrieved
November 2, 2007, from http//www.imhotep.fi/en/in
dex.php?option com_contenttaskviewid3277
Itemid135langen Davis, D. (2001, May 24).
Marilyn Manson brings out protesters in Denver.
Retrieved from http//music.yahoo.com/read/
news/12031974 Lee, D. (n.d.). Parental advisory
warning labels steeped in controversy. Retrieved
November 20, 2007, from
http//www.hushyourmouth.com/parental_advisory_
labels.htm
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References
McLennan, S. (2007, September 20). Machine Heads
music rattles Disney. Worcester
Telegram. Retrieved from http//www.telegram.com/a
rticle/20070920/ EWORCESTER/309200005/-1/ewor
cester Purcell, N. J. (2003). Death metal music
The passion and politics of a subculture.
Jefferson, NC McFarland and Co. Quindlen, A.
(1990, September 20). Public private Suicide
solution. The New York Times. Retrieved
from http//www.nytimes.com Reuters. (1986,
August 8). Court throws out suit against Ozzy
Osbourne. The New York Times. Retrieved
from http//www.nytimes.com Senft, M. (2007,
August 1). August 4th sounds of the underground
tour featuring Job for a Cowboy. The
Arizona Republic. Retrieved from
http//www.azcentral.com/online/
articles/0801gl-cowboy0804.html Walser, R.
(1993). Running with the devil Power, gender,
and madness in heavy metal music. Hanover,
NH University Press of New England.
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References
Song Lyrics
Cattle Decapitation. (2006). Alone at the
landfill. On Karma.Bloody.Karma. Retrieved
November 2, 2007, from http//www.lyricstime.com/
cattle-decapitation-alone-in-the-
landfill-lyrics.html Lamb of God. (2004). Now
youve got something to die for. On Ashes of the
wake. Retrieved November 1, 2007,
from http//www.darklyrics.com/lyrics/
lambofgod/ashesofthewake.html3 Machine Head.
(2007). A farewell to arms. On The blackening.
Retrieved November 1, 2007, from
http//www.metrolyrics.com/a-farewell-to-arms-lyri
cs-machine-head.html Napalm Death. (1992).
Aryanisms. On Utopia banished. Retrieved November
2, 2007, from http//www.darklyrics.com/lyri
cs/napalmdeath/utopiabanished.html7 Napalm
Death. (2006). Call that an option? On Smear
campaign. Retrieved November 2, 2007, from
http//leoslyrics.com
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