Am I evil? No I'm not actually (Photo by Gavriil GrigorovTASS via Getty Images)
It’s really hard to be a metalhead if you have the wrong sort of hair. As a teenage thrash-metal fan in the 1990s, I was at a disadvantage: while my friends’ hair hung long and lank, mine sat immobile, like a young Douglas Hurd’s. You can’t headbang effectively with a brillo pad stitched to your scalp.
This was a problem. For a while I tried a bleached-blonde mohawk — I looked like a prat, but you couldn’t fault the commitment. A chin-only beard was a nice idea, but I was not a hirsute teen and after several months’ growth I looked as though I had a tennis ball made of pubes stapled to my chin. But, of course, the obvious option for the wavy-haired metaller is to go full skinhead, and that is what I did: buzzcut, grade zero.
In 1998, aged 17, three friends and I went to OzzFest at the Milton Keynes Bowl. It was a heavy metal festival organised by Ozzy Osbourne of Black Sabbath; it had various luminaries of the metal scene playing, including Fear Factory, Slayer and Pantera. My scalp was freshly shorn. It was a blazing hot day; I was too young and self-conscious to want to show weakness by applying suncream, and, of course, I was drinking and smoking weed all day, because that is what you do at a festival when you’re 17.
On my second or third venture into the moshpit, the physical activity, and the drink and weed, and of course the relentless sun on my gleaming bonce, became too much for me, and I started to faint. Fainting in the middle of a large moshpit is not a very good idea. Luckily, a group of skinheaded young men spotted me going pale, grabbed me by the arms, and cleared a path out of the crowd for me. I like to think they were doing so out of solidarity.
I’ve been thinking about metal lately, because recently, one of the formative albums of my youth turned 30 years old. Metallica’s self-titled album, also known as The Black Album, was released in August 1991. I graduated slowly from rock to metal in my teenage years, going from Queen to Guns N’ Roses and Pearl Jam, to Metallica and Faith No More, and eventually Pantera, Carcass and Fear Factory. It was probably The Black Album which did as much as anything to push me along that route. And Metallica were the first band I saw live, at Earls Court in 1996.
It’s probably not so true nowadays, but in my youth metal still had a hint of danger about it. Men wearing make-up and long hair was still mildly shocking to people who remembered the 1950s, and a lot of people still did back then. When the Columbine massacre happened in 1999, conservative voices blamed it on Marilyn Manson (and the video game Doom, something else I spent a lot of my youth playing). Not that long earlier, there was a serious societal concern that heavy metal was encouraging Satanism among American youth. Geraldo Rivera made a documentary saying that heavy metal encouraged devil-worship.
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SubscribeI really enjoyed this.
I haven’t been to a metal gig in yonks – I’m a similar age to yourself, and I’ve reached the point where I’m a bit worried that someone there might yell, “Who bought their mum?”, but I’m determined to see the HU and Sabaton at some point.
As I also have your addiction to ‘Plastic Crack’, I’m intrigued by Bolt Thrower, who I’d never heard of before. I had no idea that GW ever produced albums!
I am now in my 60s and have been into rock/metal most of my life. In fact, as I’ve got older my tastes have got more extreme. So, Sharon, never worry about what anyone thinks. I still go to gigs with my son and his friends, in fact, we have got 9 lined up over the next few months and I can’t wait (we are going to see Sabaton and the HU) but the one I am really looking forward to is Behemoth and Arch Enemy. I have always enjoyed the atmosphere at metal gigs, met some great people and had a hell of a lot of fun. I intend to carry on until I really can’t do it anymore!
Thanks, you give me social courage! I hope you have a great time!
I’m 56. I’ve seen Sabaton a couple of times – they’re great!
Yep, you’ve hit the nail on the head really here. I just this weekend spent 5 days & nights (camping) at Britain’s biggest metal festival- Bloodstock- up near Lichfield
20,000 metalheads in a huge field. All good natured, not one bit of aggro, a fun, good vibe atmosphere. Everyone just there for a good time and some killer riffs
The comparison between a musical event that assembles 20,000 people who are “predominantly a white genre”, and the Notting Hill Carnage, is instructive. Especially the number of stabbings.
Couldn’t be more different, yep. I lived on the actual Carnival route on Ladbroke Grove for years, and it was a no go area at night for the whole weekend. The undercurrent of menace, plus the noise, the mess.. it was a nightmare for residents. Why the hell this one culture gets to take over a whole part of residential London instead of allotting them a park..? But hey, we’re forced to all celebrate the WONDERFUL Caribbean culture eh
They should move the whole thing to a field outside town and charge admission to cover the mess they make. Easier to police and no cost to the public purse.
I spent my yoof, hanging out with bike gangs, going to gigs, doing some drugs and generally being a complete lout. To be honest, Warhammer and D&D was not really our idea of fun! They were blissfully happy days that I am now so grateful for.
The bikers and the rockers were some of the most intelligent, decent and fun-loving people I have ever met. Now in my 50’s, I feel sorry for those teenagers who became squares and new-romantics. They have no idea what they missed! Epic music. Epic people. Crazy rides. Belonging.
The greatest tragedy of modern youth though is the desperation to conform, the abdication of their lives to fear of the future and their obsession with university and corporate life. As I say to the needfully conformist 20-year-old pilot cadets I fly with from time to time, “I was not airline cadet material at your age!”
Yep, I’m in my mid sixties and the rockers, bikers and greasers that were half of my social life were the nicest and nerdiest people I knew
Here in the U.S., there’s a distinct (maybe even predominant) class element in heavy metal fandom – or, at least that was the case in the ‘80s when I was growing up. Metal had both male and female fans here in my once solidly blue collar town, and I (a brown immigrant) found lifelong friends among them, as opposed to the other, far more well-off kids who either turned down their noses at us (best case scenario), or bullied us in awful ways.
You will *very* rarely (if ever) find SJW types among metal fans, here in America. I think that’s telling, and reflects the class dichotomies inherent in metal fandom vs. that of other music genres. The same goes for country music, but that’s another story. It would be interesting to see if this holds true for gangster rap, as well. These are the only music genres I can think of, in the U.S., not overwhelmed by SJW extremists. Pretty much every other form of music, from pop to classical, has fallen victim to SJWs.
And I think it’s because metal fans here predominantly originate in more blue-collar, and/or poorer communities, where SJW ideologies more or less perish. The only thing they can do is wring their hands about how “white” and or “male” (also: cis, right-wing, heteronormative, etc., etc.) it all is. And, of course, ignore it as much as they can.
I’ve never quite understood the Devil/death/etc. imagery in metal, though it’s never bothered me, but regardless of that, you can find fascinating glimpses of class identities in Amercan metal, such as when one of the members of Slayer (who are big on the demon imagery) described, in an interview, how he had turned to prayer (to God, not Lucifer) to overcome an addiction, because that’s what he grew up with in the working class midwestern community he’s from. I found this immensely touching, and thought about how you will *never* come across a story like that from some SJW-addled popular music performer!
Happy times at Donnington Park, too… I quite miss it! If only my Zimmer didn’t get stuck in the mud…
Awful racket though.
And Satanist – no matter what Chivers says. I know, most are just liking that dark because they are ‘edgy’ Nerds, but it is mentally unwholesome to go along with evil sentiments for fun, even if you think it all just a lark and rebellious.
Like if Na* ism theme became a genera of popular music played in dark clubs with mosh pits and lots of body mutilation art – could one just say it means nothing, just good fun? ‘No one believes that junk – we just like it for the music and sense of community’.
I Like the spluttering down votes…
But, who are the World’s most Recognized Metal Fans? Biker gangs, no, they are more ZZ Top and Hard Rock, Street gangs? Special Forces?, no…. Beavis and Bu** head are – they are the archetype Metal Heads….
AC/DC T shirt, check. puerile cackling over any sexual innuendo, Check, and the fore finger – little finger, devils horn’s, hand sign? Check, youth spent in front of a TV, check……
You’re taking it far too seriously mate! 😀
Go to a metal gig, or festival, it’s just people having some fun, letting their hair down, so to speak. The devil horns etc is all tongue in cheek, and it’s probably the most respectful, good natured crowd you’ll come across
So… not a fan of the Swedish band Ghost, then?!
Is it still the case that if you call it “heavy metal” you don’t get it? I.e. you’re supposed to call it “metal”?
There was a Fry and Laurie sketch about “light metal”. It was so long ago, Stephen Fry was slim.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbzfINsCcVY
Hilarious, thanks.
Perhaps metalheads are kind because the remembrance of death has the salutary effect Christian monks attribute to it, even among people who are often self-consciously non- or even anti-Christian.
Funny and true. My son’s the metal fan not me, except in a vicarious way – I think Sabaton are great.
I’ve gone over all Seekers recently for some reason.
My son’s into metal too. He a kind lad and I’m glad he enjoys it. (He also enjoys classic music). I’ve tried hard to get something from metal but…no. I think I’m too old.
Thanks that all sounds surprisingly charming. But surely it takes Wagner’s Ring Cycle to give one the real business?
Gotta love that ‘Cradle Of Filth’
“Cthulhu dawn
Spatter the stars
Douse their luminosity
With our amniotic retch
Promulgating the birth
Of another Hell on Earth
Shadows gather poisoned henna for the flesh
A necrotic cattle brand
The hissing downfall pentagram
Carven deep upon the church doors of the damned
But no Passover is planned
A great renewal growls at hand
And only when they’re running
Will they come to understand…”
Cool lyrics, just what a young mind needs. http://www.darklyrics.com/lyrics/cradleoffilth/midian.html
A teenage friend was into metal and in truth I actually rather liked a lot of it but perhaps couldn’t quite bring myself to admit as much, and so wimped out over synth pop. The music of Frank Zappa was as close as I got around that time. If anything my tastes have got even more extreme over the years and several times I have stilled my mind while my body vibrated to ear-splittingly loud drone m etal. . The evening I got back from a 2019 silent meditation retreat I went to see a concert which I had pre-booked six months previously – Sunn O))).
Pretty sure that watching Carcass at the Duchess of York in the early 90s was a gateway for me. Though It might have been the library borrowed Maiden album or even hearing Def Leppard on the telly. Whatever it was, metal remains the closest thing I have to a musical home. Great piece and so true that the metal was always a good place to escape from the townies.
A brilliant piece. Great fun. It might also be worth pointing out that heavy metal musicians are, by and large, the most delightful and approachable of types. I had the privilege of meeting a couple of major stars recently, fear of name-dropping accusations prevent me revealing their names, and they could not have been nicer. Utterly charming, intelligent, funny and warm. God Bless Rock.
Like Metal in occasional doses. Agree with the sentiments. Visit Finland to see part of my family. Metal is mainstream dominant teen culture there! None of your RnB wannabes! Refreshing.
I agree. Heavy Metal fans are in general lovely people. As are Goths and skateboarders. Whenever I encounter them, it takes me back to my carefree 1970s youth. They remind me of my friends back then and idle summer days.
Sorry, but heavy metal is just noise.
I once felt ‘the light thru/in my window is like hole in the sky’ was pure poetry – the best description of the effects of a hangover ever recorded ! Gormless happy times !!! before reality set in – i wanna take the red (?) pill and go back !
No, that’s Merzbow.
And My Bloody Valentine.
And as a interesting fact – Heavy Metal grew from ‘Glam Rock’, the big hair groups, Mud, T Rex, Bowie, Slade, Gary Glitter, The Sweet, and I think influenced a lot by the big hair Southern Crude American Rock – Van Halen, 38 Special, Molly Hatchett, CCR, ZZ Top, Lynyrd Skynyrd