Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Heavy Genealogy: Mapping the Currents, Contraflows and Conflicts of the Emergent Field of Metal Studies, 1978-2010

2011; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 15; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/14797585.2011.594579

1740-1666

Andy Brown,

Diverse Musicological Studies

Abstract What is metal studies? How can we define and characterize it? How has it emerged as a body of academic enquiry? What are its dominant disciplinary strands, theoretical concepts and preferred methodologies? Which studies have claimed most attention, defined the goals of scholarship, typical research strategies and values? How has the claim for the legitimacy or symbolic value of metal scholarship been achieved (if it has): over time and through gradual acceptance or through conflict and contestation? How can this process of formation, or strategy of legitimation, be mapped, examined and interrogated and which methods of historical, institutional and cultural analysis are best suited to this task? Working with the most complete bibliography to date of published research on heavy metal, music and culture (the MSBD), this article employs Foucault's archaeological "method" to examine the institutional, cultural and political contexts and conflicts that inform the genealogy of this scholarship. Such analysis reveals a formative, largely negative account of heavy metal to be found in the "sociology of rock"; a large volume of psychology work, examining heavy metal music preference as an indicator of youth risk, deviance and delinquency; sociological work on youth and deviancy critical of the values of this research and its links to social policy and politics; culminating in the work of Weinstein and Walser, who advocate a perspective sympathetic to the values of heavy metal fans themselves. Following Bourdieu, I interpret such symbolic strategies as claims for expertise within the academic field that are high or low in symbolic capital to the extent they can attain disciplinary autonomy. I then go on to examine the most recent strands of research, within cultural studies and ethnomusicology, concerned with the global metal music diaspora, and consider to what extent such work is constitutive of a coherent subfield of metal studies that can be distinguished from earlier work and what the implications of this might be. Notes 1. The term 'radical scholarship' refers to those approaches that challenge the categorisation of youth in terms of 'normative' frameworks which define heavy metal fandom as deviant or a social problem, arguing that such definitions ignore or legitimate existing unequal power relations, particularly those of class, gender and ethnic relations. 2. The original 'metal studies' bibliography, which acknowledged French- and German-language citations from Fabien Hein and Sebastian Berndt, was posted online by Keith Kahn-Harris in 2001-2006. A revised version was subsequently published as 'Études metal/metal studies: une bibliographe' (Hein & Kahn-Harris Citation2006). The version drawn on here has been extensively revised by Brian Hickam, with additional items added by myself. I would like to acknowledge my gratitude to Dr Hickam for his tireless effort and enthusiasm in making available the latest versions of the bibliography while still editing it! 3. I wish to thank Juliette 'Jet' Winyard, a Bachelor of Arts graduate in Media Communications at Bath Spa University, UK, for inputting much of the MSBD and for producing the series of graphs in this section. 4. This category was the most problematic to define since the destination journal was not necessarily a reliable guide of the type of research. For example, many items of psychology research were published in popular music and communications journals. The most reliable means of categorisation was found to be the institutional identity of the contributors and the type of article submitted. 5. Of the three categories examined, the latter is likely to be the least reliable since it is made up of entries that could not all be checked and is therefore likely to contain, along with academic monographs and themed edited collections, popular types of journalism (such as Donna Gaines' [Citation1991] well-respected study) as well as pseudo-academic exposés (such as Raschke [Citation1990]). 6. In the second reprinting of the piece, Straw (Citation1993, p. 381) adds a postscript, which argues that from the late 1970s onwards, heavy metal rapidly acquired 'the accoutrements of fandom' (fanzines and speciality record shops) and, by the late 1980s, had affinities with 'post-punk rock culture', allowing it to re-emerge as 'one of the coolest, most critically respectable and most diverse of musical forms'. 7. Although the role of the PTA has been well documented (for example, Martin & Seagrave 1988), the role of the AAP has been less so. For example, in December 1996, its Committee on Communications published a set of recommendations based on its 'concerns about the possible negative impact of music lyrics' (Committee on Communications, American Academy of Pediatrics Citation1996, p. 1219). More recently, its Council on Communications and Media issued a policy statement which argued, on the basis of 'evidence' from a review of previous studies, that it was 'essential for pediatricians and parents to take a stand regarding music lyrics' (Council on Communications and Media, American Academy of Pediatrics Citation2009, p. 1488). 8. The phrase 'low levels of cognition' is, as the researchers note, a measure of the 'perceived lack of mental exercise' that defines the typical 'metalhead'. The Machiavellianism scale, on the other hand, is a measure of the 'strategy of manipulating others in interpersonal situations' (Hansen & Hansen Citation1991b, p. 347). Given that such strategising is likely to require higher levels of cognition, presumably typical 'metalheads' would score badly on such tests. The study also employs an 'abbreviated machismo scale, using four items directly from the Hypermasculinity Inventory' developed by Mosher and Sirkin! 9. I list here only studies published within the last decade. 10. The apparently changed demographics of metal fandom is a debate which appears pivotal to current scholarship but has received little, if any, attention. 11. Despite Walser's (Citation1993, pp. 23-24) criticisms of Weinstein's approach, the specific area of disagreement between them is the role that masculinity plays in the heavy metal subculture (see Walser 1993, p. 195, n. 5). 12. For example, AC/DC's Black Ice album, the first release for five years, was the second highest-selling album globally in 2009 (htp://www.ipfi.org/content/section_news/20090216.html). Iron Maiden, on the back of a global tour since the return of lead singer Bruce Dickinson in 2000 (the most recent world tour taking in India, Australia, Japan, the USA, Mexico, Cost Rica, Columbia, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Puerto Rico and Canada, documented in the film Iron Maiden: Flight 666 [2009]), achieved a number-one chart placing for their latest album in 21 countries worldwide (Kerrang! 24 September 2010, p. 8).