Metal in the Mainstream (Part 4 of 6)
Plugged In Online's in-depth series on heavy metal music examines its history, subgenres, performers, fans, messages and influence on us all.
Our world is awash in messages seeking to influence our thinking. But what is influence, exactly? Merriam-Webster defines the word as, "The power or capacity of causing an effect in indirect or intangible ways." By its very nature, something with influence sways us in one direction or another.
The Bible teaches that the world's molding influence happens continually, whether we're aware of it or not. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Roman church, "Do not be conformed any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Romans 12:2). Bible scholar J.B. Phillips paraphrases this verse, "Don't let the world squeeze you into its mold."
We will be conformed to something; it's just a question of what.
So why, you might ask, start here when talking about the influence of heavy metal? Because the influence metal exerts works in subtle ways as well as extreme ones. Stories of people allegedly being influenced by metal to commit heinous crimes generates headlines, but less sensational influence happens everyday as we pop our favorite artists into the CD player. Before we address metal's extreme influence, then, we need to understand how it shapes the majority of fans in more mundane ways day by day.
Just a Few Drinks Here and There
Despite what the dictionary and the Bible might say, one of the hallmarks of our culture is the stubborn belief that we're not influenced by our environment. We're deeply invested in the idea that we have total control over what affects us. We might call this conviction absolute personal autonomy: Something only influences me if I allow it to, if I give it permission. We desperately want to believe that we're masters of our own destiny.
And yet we only have to turn to our own experience—if we're honest—to begin to see that this cherished conviction is very wrong. For example, have you ever told someone who was critical of your music choices that you don't really listen to the words, that "I just like the beat?" I have. And yet ... I can almost always sing the lyrics to those songs. Even if I haven't consciously memorized the words, repeated exposure burns a habitual groove in my brain.
But even if I know the lyrics, it doesn't mean they're influencing me. Until recently, it would have been difficult to refute that subjective argument with objective data. Now, several new studies solidly indicate that what we consume, media-wise, affects our behaviors. Increasingly, science is identifying a cause-and-effect relationship between our entertainment choices and what we actually do.
According to a study published in August 2006 by the RAND Corporation, for example, 12- to 17-year-olds who frequently listen to music with sexually degrading lyrics are almost twice as likely to engage in sexual activities within the next two years as peers who rarely or never listen to such songs. Another 2006 study by the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation discovered a connection between listening to rap music, taking drugs and behaving aggressively. Likewise, other research has demonstrated links between movie and television content and teens' choices regarding sex and smoking.
Arrested Development
With that in mind, let's get back to the specifics of metal. In a genre that often majors on minor chords, despair, fatalism, nihilism and suicide are common subjects. How do these ideas affect listeners? What happens when someone listens to Metallica's "The Unnamed Feeling" repeatedly, on which James Hetfield growls, "I just wanna get the f--- away from me/I rage, I glaze, I hurt, I hate/I hate it all"?
Some argue that lyrics like these offer listeners a chance to process similar feelings. Perhaps that can happen. But couldn't the other, opposite influence also be in play? It's reasonable to ask whether these songs might at the very least prolong someone's stay at the Hotel Alienation.
In my own case, I don't believe my teenage love for metal scarred me for life. (Admittedly, however, most of what I was listening to in the '80s was not as lyrically bludgeoning as today's metal). Still, I did connect with the idea of being a misunderstood outsider. For me, the bands I listened to constantly reinforced that sense of isolation virtually every adolescent experiences. I wonder what might have happened had someone helped me process those emotions in a healthier way. In retrospect—and with a sinking sense of irony—I suspect my music choices may have delayed my realization that everyone feels like an outsider at times.
In a recent interview, Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden hinted at exactly this aspect of metal. "If you ever lose the 15-year-old kid inside you," the singer observed, "then [metal] won't make any sense at all." Essentially, he's implying that metal reflects the alienated emotions of your average middle-teenager—someone who by definition hasn't developed a mature perspective on life—and that metal requires a sort of arrested development to keep connecting with it. Given that tendency, I wonder if relational isolation may be the most common collateral damage from metal music—something that's difficult to measure and never makes the evening news.
Going to Extremes
Sometimes this sense of being isolated boils over into something deadly. For a very small percentage of listeners, lyrics about violence, death and suicide may be among the catalysts that influence them to hurt themselves or others.
Beginning in the 1980s, high-profile cases have regularly implicated the lyrics of hard rock and heavy metal bands as factors influencing violent behavior. The first of these cases shocked the nation; suicide and serial murder linked to Ozzy Osbourne and AC/DC songs (respectively) were front-page news in '84 and '85. Since then, however, metal-inspired mayhem has sadly become commonplace.
In 1993, a 15-year-old Houston teen killed his mother while listening to Megadeth's "Go to Hell." The following year, an Ohio man stabbed and killed his father after a 10-hour metal binge that included Metallica's Kill 'Em All. That year also saw an English fan of the band Sepultura stab a 12-year-old girl to death and severely wound two others at a school. In 1995, 15-year-old Elyse Marie Pahler was tortured, raped and murdered in a satanic ritual imitating lyrics of a Slayer song.
Then, two teen fans of Marilyn Manson committed suicide (separately) in 1997. The father of one of the victims spoke at a U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing, saying, "I failed to recognize that my son was holding a hand grenade, and it was live, and it was going to go off in his mind." Other cases in Europe have linked black metal (a specific subgenre focusing on intensely anti-Christian messages) with church burnings in Norway and satanic ritual murders in Italy.
All of which leads to the obvious question that's often asked when these tragedies occur: Does heavy metal music "make" someone commit murder or suicide? Perhaps a better way to phrase it is this: Could metal be among the influences that enable an unstable or struggling soul to make such awful choices? A 1994 study led by Dr. Steven Stack of Wayne State University suggests that the answer is yes. The researchers examined the relationship between the heavy metal scene and suicide, and reported, "Controlling for other predictors of suicide, the greater the strength of the metal subculture, the higher the youth suicide rate."
After further research, Stack expanded on that idea in a 1998 article: "Metal fanship is thought to elevate suicide acceptability through such means as exposure to a culture of personal and societal chaos marked by hopelessness." His research also found that heavy metal fans often exhibit common risk factors for suicide, including poor family relationships, depression, feelings of alienation and drug abuse. He concludes, "The music perhaps nurtures suicidal tendencies already present in the subculture."
"Not Casual Music"
Whether metal's influence is subtle or extreme, it's rarely just a phase for its voracious fans. In the documentary Metal: A Headbanger's Journey, industrial rocker Rob Zombie says, "[Metal is] lifestyle music, you know? ... It's not casual music. No one goes, 'Yeah, I was really big into Slayer one summer.' You know? I've never met that guy. I've only met the guy who's got 'Slayer' carved across his chest." Underscoring how deeply fans identify with the music, the next scene shows grainy home video of a teen guy using a penknife to carve 'Slayer' into the forearm of a friend. "No main veins, that's good," he comments clinically. "No arterial spray." As his friend's arm bleeds, he sets it on fire with a blowtorch, presumably to cauterize the wound. Not casual, indeed.
Most metal fans won't take things to life-ending or flesh-maiming extremes. But it's worth asking ourselves and talking to our metal-listening friends about how music influences our perspective and choices—specifically, how we see ourselves in relationship to other people. To deny its influence is to ignore both our own experience and the mounting evidence of metal's significant shaping power.
In Part 5, finally, a breath of fresh air. Adam turns the spotlight around and shines it on a few positive trends (and bands) in heavy metal music.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6
