Heavy Metal Music, Culture and Philosophy FAQ (Metal as Music)
The Hessian Studies Center
Posting-frequency: semimonthly
Last-Modified: 16-Mar-06
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Part I :: Frequently Answered Questions (Granular)
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{ I. Frequently Answered Questions
I. Procurement
II. Ideology
III. Music Making
IV. Scene Inbreeding
V. Overheard
VI. About this FAQ }
I. Frequently Answered Questions (Granular)
The Frequently Answered Questions section provides granular
responses to identified questions and constitutes section I of
the FAQ, whereby all things which need to be addressed first
are, before section II, or the academic/philosophical section of
the FAQ.
1.1 Procurement
Metal (the music) is a creation of the spirit; metal (the
physical manifestation as recording) is a creation of a
pressing machine and mail-order distribution system like any
other object. Luckily, thanks to increased technology and
better marijuana, buying metal is in many ways at its easiest
point in history.
1.1.1 how to find?
(a) Local record stores - since 1997, it has been easier
to find death and black metal in such stores.
(b) Online mainstream store - amazon.com, half.com and
gemm.com are great highly-visible, "safe" places to buy.
(c) Underground distro - the traditional way to buy; see
http://www.anus.com/metal for links. This often saves $2-$6
per CD and gives you the ability to find the lesser volume
(100-1000 copy) releases. Disadvantages are that most distros
are flaky one-man outfits.
1.1.2 distribution
See section IV, "Metal as virtual community," subsection
3.
1.1.3 trading
See section IV, "Metal as virtual community," subsection
3.
1.2 Ideology
Many questions come up about why metalheads act the way they
do, and quite often the answer has ideological origins.
1.2.1 black metal crimes
What were the crimes in Norway and other states related to
black metal and their extent?
"Beginning with a small, ineffectual fire at Storetveit
Church in the month preceding the Fantoft blaze, there
have since been a total of at least 45 to 60 church
fires, near-fires, and attempted arson attacks in Norway.
Roughly a third have a documented connection to the Black
Metal scene, according to Sjur Helseth, head of the
Technical Department of the Directorate for Cultural
Heritage."
- Lords of Chaos, p 79
1.2.2 theology
The theology of black metal involves a primary dualism in
which "good" is a weak force which seeks to be inert, and
"evil" is a dark and strong force which seeks destruction
and constant change, chaos.
- gOD = centralized force, guilt force, dependency on
life (= external) for not only physical need but also
for correlation to a "reality"
- society = slavery; it is the result of not having
spiritual insight and thus is a massive load of denial
which we force on each others as tokens of material;
even more, the ultimate expression of materialism is the
"individualism" and "equality" of modern society which
denies our inner abilities and strengths in favor of
conformity, jobs, and bureaucratic norms.
- satan = liberating force of individual chaos and
uniqueness of all corners of universe, "NON SERVIAM,"
and the freedom of darkness: a kind of nihilism in
which all things are mysterious for their potential and
not their actuality, and nothing ever is, only in the
process of being.
- "good" = obedient, oblivious, denial, "modern
reality" dogmatically silent denial existence system
- evil = free, feral, animalistic, instinctual, vital,
courageous, virtue, will, power, freedom, vice, sloth,
ambient fear.
"Other government operations and 'experiments' have also
been verified beyond a shadow of a doubt. The CIA's
COINTELPRO activities against domestic 'agitators' in
the 60s and 70s have been verified by the government and
by non-governmental agencies. Also in the 50s there were
several cities selected, apparently completely randomly,
for a particularly heinous 'experiment.' These cities
were doused with nuclear radiation in order for the
government to determine its effects on the human body.
They wanted to figure out how the populace would be
affected by long-range fallout during a hypothetical
nuclear war with the Soviet Union. A couple of years ago
the government apologized for this 'experiment' but added
the levels of radiation were relatively harmless along
with some other extremely lame excuses. And people
wonder why I'm paranoid."
- Zahhak, on http://www.burzum.com/
1.2.3 fascism
(Summary for those easily offended: metal is a Romanticist
musical genre, and as such idolizes the ancients, nature,
an easy relationship to the giving and taking of death, a belief
in cosmic order derived from the pattern of thoughts, and of
course nationalism. While most metal artists are not National
Socialisms, white pride/white power, white supremacists, white
nationalists, neo-Nazis, Republicans, etc. the greatest majority
of contributors to the genre have been Romanticists and thus
have beliefs which coincide somewhat with some of those of
National Socialists. Our job as FAQ authors is not to apologize
for or promote this relationship, but to report on it!)
As it stands now, it is fair to say that a large
percentage of black metal's founders and practicioners
identify themselves as having National Socialist or
racialist leanings, and that most of those who innovated
the genre with death held such viewpoints. Simultaneously
however it is worthy to mention that these individuals
share an interpretation of the relationship between
Satanism, nihilism, fascism and Odhinism; they see the
fascist mentality as approaching the "warrior morality"
Nietzsche writes of or a spiritual coexistence with
nature.
Many also have identified, as a result of Satanist or
Odhinist spiritual leanings, with the rebellion against
Judeo-Christianity that claims Europe should be free from
the Semitic influences of Judaism, Christianity
and Islam. In one way or another, most black metal
fans have found something in fascism with which they
identify, even if they do not accept the whole.
Before the cry of un-P.C. terror goes up, let us not
forget that metal is a post-moral genre and so has no
qualms about the methods of the Nazis, only questions
about the ultimate effectiveness. There are also many who
appreciate the Nazis but as a scientific preference would
have used other methods for similar but not exact goals.
Nazism was a revolt against the idea that the individual
could be represented as an equal for purposes of
commerce, and thus a superior utilitarian society could
be achieved:
"And if we ask who was responsible for our misfortune,
then we must inquire who profited by our collapse. And the
answer to that question is the 'Banks and Stock Exchanges
are more flourishing than ever before.' We are not
fighting Jewish or Christian capitalism, we are fighting
every capitalism: we are making the people completely
free."
- Adolph Hitler, Speech of April 12, 1922 (Munich)
Romanticism shared this view of the individual not as
something to be counted but experienced:
"According to the romantic conception, the lost unity could
not be restored by external means; it had rather to grow
out of man's inner spiritual urge and then gradually to
ripen. The romantics were firmly convinced that in the
soul of the people the memory of that state of former
perfection still slumbered. But that inner source had been
choked and had first to be freed again before the silent
intuition could once more become alive in the minds of men.
So they searched for the hidden sources and lost themselves
ever deeper in the mystic dusk of a past age whose strange
magic had intoxicated their minds. The German medieval age
with its colourful variety and its inexhaustible power of
creation was for them a new revelation. They believed
themselves to have found there that unity of life which
humanity had lost. Now the old cities and the Gothic
cathedrals spoke a special language and testified to that
'verlorene Heimat' (lost homeland) on which the longing of
romanticism spent itself. The Rhine with its legend-rich
castles, its cloisters and mountains, became Germany's
sacred stream; all the past took on a new character,
a glorified meaning."
- http://flag.blackened.net/rocker/roman.htm
These themes and other Romantic tenets appear in prominent
places in metal music:
While we may believe
our world - our reality
to be that is - is but one
manifestation of the essence
Other planes lie beyond the reach
of normal sense and common roads
But they are no less real
than what we see or touch or feel
Denied by the blind church
'cause these are not the words of God
the same God that burnt the knowing
- Burzum, Lost Wisdom
Many consider Nietzsche the philosopher of metal, and in
his view, our "individualism" works against the mechanism
of natural selection that enables us to be more than
talking apes:
"Mankind does not represent a development of the better or
the stronger in the way that it is believed today. 'Progress'
is merely a modern idea, that is to say a false idea. The
European of today is of far less value than the European of
the Renaissance; onward development is not by any means, by
any necessity the same thing as elevation, advance,
strengthening.
In another sense there are cases of individual success
constantly appearing in the most various parts of the earth
and from the most various cultures in which a high type
does manifest itself: something which in relation to
collective mankind is a sort of superman. Such chance
occurrences of great success have always been possible
and perhaps always will be possible. And even entire
races, tribes, nations can under certain circumstances
represent such a lucky hit."
- Friedrich Nietzsche, The Anti-Christ
A philosopher reviled by the fascists for being "too
extreme," Julius Evola combined occultism and tradition
to show us the ancient order of humanity only recently
interrupted by modern society:
"The essence of liberalism is individualism. The basis of
its error is to mistake the notion of the person with that
of the individual and to claim for the latter,
unconditionally and according to egalitarian premises, some
values that should rather be attributed solely to the former,
and then only conditionally. Because of this transposition,
these values are transformed into errors, or into something
absurd and harmful.
Let us begin with the egalitarian premise. It is necessary
to state from the outset that the 'immortal principle' of
equality is sheer nonsense. There is no need to comment on
the inequality of human beings from a naturalistic point of
view. And yet the champions of egalitarianism make equality
a matter of principle, claiming that while human beings are
not equal de facto, they are so de jure: they are unequal,
and yet they should not be. Inequality is unfair; the merit
and the superiority of the liberal idea allegedly consists
of not taking it into account, overcoming it, and
acknowledging the same dignity in every man. Democracy,
too, shares the belief in the 'fundamental equality of
anything that appears to be human.'
I believe these are mere empty words. This is not a 'noble
ideal' but something that, if taken absolutely, represents
a logical absurdity; wherever this view becomes an
established trend, it may usher in only regression and
decadence."
- Julias Evola, Men Among the Ruins
Some of our most forward-thinking environmentalists realize
that so long as this modern delusion of the individual
exists, we will be on a path toward overpopulation and
pollution of our natural environment:
"A fundamental, devastating error is [having a] political
system based on desire. Society and life are been organized
on basis of what an individual wants, not on what is good
for her...Just as only one out of 100,000 has the talent to
be an engineer or an acrobat, only a few are those truly
capable of managing the matters of a nation or humankind...
In this time and this part of the World we are headlessly
hanging onto democracy and parliamentary system, even
though these are the most mindless and desperate
experiments of humanity...In democratic coutries the
destruction of nature and sum of ecological disasters has
accumulated most...Our only hope lies in strong central
government and uncompromizing control of the individual
citizen." - Pentti Linkola, The Year 2017 Will Never Come
Many, like the Romantics, posited a return to a pre-modern
worldview, without necessarily giving up our technology. It
is not just a different type of government, but a different
conception of society -- and the individual:
"The world may be explained in sociological terms. David
Riesman describes three basic social personalities in _The
Lonely Crowd_. 'Other-directed' people pattern their
behavior on what their peers expect of them. Suburban
America's men in gray-flannel suits are other-directed.
'Inner-directed' people are guided by what they have
been trained to expect of themselves. [General Douglas]
MacArthur was inner-directed. The third type, the
'tradition-directed,' has not been seen in the West
since the Middle Ages. Tradition-directed people hardly
think of themselves as individuals; their conduct is
determined by folk rituals handed down from the past."
- William Manchester, American Caesar
Recently, these ideas have come about through a resurgence
in the popularity of later Romantic-style works, including
medieval fantasy and Gothic Romance:
"I've never thought it an accident that Tolkien's works
waited more than ten years to explode into popularity
almost overnight. The Sixties were no fouler a decade than
the Fifties -- they merely repead the Fifties' foul harvest
-- but they were the years when millions of people grew
aware that the industrial society had become paradoxically
unlivable, incalculably immoral, and ultimately deadly. In
terms of passwords, the Sixties where the time when the
word progress lost its ancient holiness, and escape stopped
being comically obscene. The impulse is being called
reactionary now, but lovers of Middle-earth want to go
there...[Tolkien] is a great enough magician to tap our
most common nightmares, daydreams and twilight fancies,
but he never invented them either: he found them a place
to live, a green alternative to each day's madness here
in a poisoned world. We are raised to honor all the wrong
explorers and discoverers -- thieves planting flags,
murderers carrying crosses. Let us at last praise the
colonizers of dreams."
- Peter S. Beagle, introduction to "The Hobbit," 1973
The authors of this FAQ advance a radical thesis regarding
the development of "NSBM," or "National Socialist Black Metal,"
and the prevalence of Nazi beliefs and imagery in metal bands:
that metal is fundamentally a Romanticist movement, that
modern democracies have failed to avert our largest problems,
and that for those reasons, metal bands have found sympathy
for a set of issues shared in common between Romanticism and
nationalist anti-capitalist aristocratic societies like the
National Socialist German Worker's Party (Nazi Party);
furthermore, because the situation - environment, population
quality, servitude tendency of modern life - is so bad and
yet is so widely unrecognized, metalheads grasp for ideals
both in line with their own and _symbologically extreme_
enough to communicate effectively. Hence, in an extreme
genre of music, anyone who is nationalist, environmentalist,
Romanticist or simply detests modern society may acknowledge
National Socialism as not only a possible solution but as a
symbol of the type of solution needed: unlike every modern
government, the Nazis were not afraid to limit the greed of
individuals and to kill unsuitable ones. Regardless of what
vectors of determination a metalhead would choose for "un-
suitable," that kind of gumption appeals as the only likely
way to reverse the mess that is modern society, a mess to
which metal bands have for several generations demonstrated
their antipathy.
1.2.4 christianity
Metal and Christianity are in direct opposition; metal is
the lawless, romantic, free and spiritually personal
existence that Christianity fights with a material God
ensconced in a symbol so absolute that any chaos or chance
can be attributed to him.
The outlook has not always been so clear. Black Sabbath
wanted to create a Gothic horror movie soundtrack out of
heavy rock, and with it came imagery that took several
decades to explore. By the time of underground metal, the
alienated outlook of hardcore punk had been absorbed by
the metal community, including a total rejection of all
things Christian.
It is likely that newer generations will accept only those
Christians who have a Romanticist, e.g. transcendentalist,
outlook toward religion. Historical examples of this type
of Christian include Johan Eckhart, Ralph Waldo Emerson,
Arthur Schopenhauer and Adolf Hitler.
"Afraid of what lies after death
Your screams are unheard to Him
Resisting your wake of adorn
Your pleading falls deaf on your lord
'Go fuck your god' will be my final words
To die is just the concept of living
To be forgiven, salvation blessed with pain
Endeavored is the blame of creation
Pathetic lives, every second someone dies
Delightful is the sight of repention
No destiny, just a certainty of death
In pain inducing lies of salvation
Never repent..."
- Deicide, Repent to Die (Legion)
1.2.5 suicide/slayer lyrics?
This is forthcoming as soon as someone can show us a
definitive connection between lyrics/music and suicide; I
believe there is an incidental connection in that
teenagers especially use music to define "mood" that
resonates with their socioemotional representation of life
at that moment in time. Hence, sometimes the right
soundtrack must be chosen and Slayer is a reasonable bet.
However, it is useful to analyze the lyrics of Slayer to
examine this supposed "suicide-inducing Satanism" of which
media trumpets and social bores have made quite a
celebration of resentment. For this purpose, the nihilism
of Slayer's lyrics is reproduced here to demonstrate its
logicality and statement of critique of modern society:
"Fear runs wild in the veins of the world
The hate turns the skies jet black
Death is assured in future plans
Why live if there's nothing there
Spectors of doom await the moment
The mallet is sure and precise
Cover the crypts of all makind
With cloven hoof begone
Chorus:
Sadistic Minds
Delay the Death
Of twisted life
Malicious world
The crippled youth try in dismay
To sabotage the carcass earth
All new life must perish below
Existence now is futile
...
Convulsions take the world in hand
Paralysis destroys
Nobody's out there to save us
Brutal seizure now we die."
- Slayer, Hardening Of The Arteries (Hell Awaits)
Where a killing is an act, art is a pretend act, or an
articulation of the significance of that act - without the
act itself necessarily occurring. In an artistic view of
the world, all events and ideas have significance in some
part of a large and varied reality.
Slayer here express both an emotion and a diagnosis of
modern times, speaking ultimately fatalistic depression
and the social projection involved with the onset of
failure. "Nobody's out there to save us" is a directly
level criticism of the belief in a God who intervenes in
the world to prevent humans from experiencing the
consequence of their choices, as indicated by the previous
line, "Paralysis destroys."
The emotion of listless nihilism and a lack of hope
portrays the sickness illustrated by thinkers such as F.W.
Nietzsche, James Joyce, Bertrand Russell and Thomas
Pynchon (Pynchon also uses the term "epileptic" to refer
to the social neurosis which motivates social change
through fear).
The extrapolation of society from this work is quite
clear: "all of mankind", "crippled children", "the world",
and "humankind" are used synonymously for the human
endeavor on planet earth, unified by a belief in the
common logic referenced by the phrase "existence now is
futile," implying a previously less futile existence (from
the word "now" postmodifying the existential token) where
presumably the logical system now ruptured in "epileptic"
"seizure"s is dysfunctional. A similar view is taken in
the break from Modernism that so-called "Postmodernists"
employ: the direction of progress is no longer progress,
but regression, because we have failed to address our
inner needs.
1.2.6 black metal disputes
At this point in time, I am not aware of any ongoing
disputes in black metal except of course the constant
warfare against Christian and Jewish imitators of the
genre who preach their own sordid religion through their
propagandist songs.
1.2.7 Research list
For someone who wished to experience metal in depth
without a huge time investment, the following list of
useful albums might give them a chance to understand the
whole from a slice of its most influential.
1.2.7.1 - 1.2.7.3
See Section II, "Metal as abstract concept,"
subsection 2.1.4.
1.3 Music making
Creation of metal music is an important stage in Hessian
evolution, as it changes a deconstructor/appreciator into a
creator and thus completes the education necessary for
uebermensch process.
1.3.1 technique
Technique is the ideas for constructing events toward an
objectivized efficiency.
1.3.1.1 Blast Beats
Please see section II, subsection 2.1.5.1.
1.3.1.2 Fast strum
Please see section II, subsection 2.1.5.2.
1.3.1.3 Double bass
Please see section II, subsection 2.1.5.3.
1.3.1.4 Harmonics
Please see section II, subsection 2.1.5.4.
1.3.2 production
See our production techniques in Section III, "Metal as
physical manifestation."
1.3.3 as cultural event
Concerts as metal culture connect members of the culture
through bonding via violent but pacifistic dancing, drug
use, conversation, collective obstacle courses provided by
society, and appreciation of music and the distinctiveness
of each other. One learns more people-watching at a
Hessian event than anywhere else.
1.4 Scene inbreeding
No one is willing to declare a "sure" cause of scene
inbreeding, since it is a great argument as to why it occurs,
but one thing is for sure: after some time, scenes converge
on themselves if not kept fresh. This author blames "power"
and "monetary gain" as things which some people allow to
encourage them to hold down territory within a genre, instead
of advancing it; this disease of self-instability is usually
cured with drugs and Roky Erickson ballads.
1.4.1 closed minded
Some argue the "scene" is ruined by those who are
closed-minded and will not accept new ways of creating
music or thinking about ideas. Then again, those who are
calling themselves "open-minded" usually listen to bands
that are mostly the same old trash with a flute player,
female vocalist, and keyboardist added to blast out trendy
aesthetic touches. One thing is clear: too much
consistency in expectation can ruin a "scene," whether
that is by only allowing past-proven archetypes or only
accepting that which is trivially "new" (in aesthetics,
instrumentation, and production) but internally, in
composition very much similar to everything else. The
best art seems to worry less about external factors than
about expressing itself well with whatever means are at
hand.
Often overhead: "you're just closed minded, you won't
accept this new aesthetic variant" (experienced debaters
will recognize the Bifurcation Fallacy here).
1.4.2 too serious
Some argue that the music should not be taken too
seriously, and that it should just be in fun, and no one
should interpret anything more from the music than the
music itself. One must consider, however, the great
amount of privation and sacrifice undergone by many death
metal musicians to make and distribute their music, and
how seriously they make "artistic" and "ideological"
choices about their music, plus how many of them talk
about it in interviews. So as a scientist I would argue
that whatever can be inferred from just the music is
valid, and the rest is context - and if one truly listens
to metal, one can hear a fusion of the oldest philosophies
in history into a dark and nomadic nihilism for the
future.
Often overheard: "you're taking this too seriously... it's
just music" (experienced debaters will recognize this is
a Non Sequitur; all art has an ideology behind it, even if
that ideology is a commitment to no belief, and every
person who takes on an ideology is shaped by that belief
and in turn finds it influences their artistic output).
1.4.3 connection to music
Art is an expression of the consciousness of an "author":
if same author values the ideological, there is a
connection in the consciousness between these theories,
leading to the idea that the art is indirectly influenced
but crucially related by the same idea that is behind the
author's connection to the ideology. For instance, a
fascist musician might have started both of his
explorations as an ecologist.
"Anyways it's not like all artists have completely
admirable qualities about them. If we were to nitpick
about everything we didn't like about artists, nobody
would be able to appreciate art of any kind."
- Philip Wang, mal...@timewarp.net
1.5 Frequently Overheard Questions
These are publically heard or sampled questions people have
been frequently asking about the general topic of metal, with
an emphasis on the recurring items. A random but healthy
measurement.
1.5.1.1 Recently heard Questions
Sampling data from three major sources, USENET postings,
conversation overheard at record stores, and world-wide
Hessian email measurement, a generality at best was
consolidated.
1.5.1.1.1 emperor/enslaved tracks
Q: Can someone refresh me as to what the deal is with
the Enslaved half of the "Hordanes Land" split? They
only have three tracks, but seven are listed. Were they
indexed incorrectly or are the last four just missing?
I've got the red Century Media version, if that makes a
difference.
5.Slaget I Skogen Bortenfor
6.Allfadr Odinn
7.Balfor
the rest is just a fucked up listing of the various
'parts' of the songs.
- "Sybren," poster to alt.music.black-metal
N.B.: Both the Century Media version (red/black) and
the Candlelight version (black) of this album contain
the error.
1.5.1.1.2 swedish distortion
The Swedish death metal of the early 1990s had a
blistering electric guitar tone heard most prominently
on "Clandestine" by Entombed and "Like an Ever-Flowing
Stream" by Dismember.
"I have always loved the Swede death metal guitar sound
above all. Maxing the highs and lows on an old BOSS
'Heavy Metal' gets that heavy Entombed 'Left Hand Path'
sound. Put the Level and Distortion each at half, then
just adjust your EQ's in your amp accordingly. You are
more likely to find a BOSS 'Heavy Metal' at a pawn shop
or something of that sort, seeing as how BOSS
discontinued them a couple years ago..."
- Gary (Morgion)
"i seem to remember somebody said they used a small
Marshal 50W combo for that album. Also, last i bought a
dist box, the recommended one was Boss distortion II (i
_think_, anyway it's the orange one).
But that could never beat a custom rebuilt marshal
(rewire the preamp to get one distorted and one clean
channel, need not be that expensive).
Guitar mics are important too, i still admire the
Duncan Seymore 'Invader' mics that someone persuaded me
to buy (and with that cool a product name, how could
they go wrong). Now these are oldish wisdoms, but if
you go to the store and drop that kind of talk, they
might at least tell you something useful besides the
sales pitch...
Check out the Meshuggah paper at
http://www.notam.uio.no/~espenth/mesh/ under 'Sound'
etc."
- Rasmus (Comecon)
General consensus seems to be that one should use two
distortion pedals in sequence and EQ heavily; favor the
mids instead of the bass.
1.5.1.1.3 blast beats
Please see Section II, subsection 2.1.5.
1.5.1.1.4 discographies
For the most detailed and up to date discography, you
probably want to visit the homepage of the band or the
label. The following are indexes to those which
through multiple reference points will get you what you
need.
Listings of bands and labels
The part of this FAQ which was once here is,
expanded, at the Dark Legions Archive.
Dark Legions Archive Links Forest
http://www.anus.com/metal/about/links/
Release databases
http://www.anus.com/metal
Lists historically important bands.
http://www.freedb.org/
For tracklists.
http://www.vampire-magazine.com/
Cover scans, release data.
http://hematoma.net/
Underground band, label data.
1.5.1.1.5 current prison totals
At the time of this writing, here are the current jail
totals for metal musicians:
Varg Vikernes 21 years Bergen, NO
He will be out in 2006 if all goes well.
"Faust" 15 years Oslo, NO
Out of jail for some years.
"Samoth" 2 years Oslo, NO
Out of jail for some years.
1.5.1.1.6 origin of name "heavy metal"
Some say the name Heavy Metal had been used by
Steppenwolf in the '60s in "Born to Be Wild":
I like smoke and lightning
Heavy Metal thunder
Racing with wind
And the feeling that I'm under
- "A Heavy Metal FAQ," by gra...@geocities.com
The term "heavy metal" was used to describe mass
technological destruction to the point of biological
toxicity in William S Burrough's book "Nova Express,"
published in 1964. He may have also used it in a story
written before "Naked Lunch" in 1959.
It is difficult to trace the etymology of the term
"heavy metal." Most likely, it arose simultaneously
as inspired by the class of metals, including mercury,
described by the same term: volatile, toxic, and
disproportionately heavy both in physical weight and
the responsibility of those who handle such dangerous
substances.
"The earliest citation in the OED relating to the
musical sense of 'heavy metal' is from William Burroughs
in 1964. Here is an earlier Burroughs usage I have found:
1962 William S. Burroughs _The Ticket That Exploded_ 39
The Other Half was only one aspect of Operation Rewrite--
Heavy Metal addicts picketed the Rewrite Office,
exploding in protest."
- Fred Shapiro, "Antedating of Heavy Metal," American
Dialect Society
lead (n.)
"heavy metal," O.E. lead. Black lead was an old name
for "graphite," hence lead pencil (1688) and the
colloquial fig. phrase to have lead in one's pencil
"be possessed of (esp. male sexual) vigor," first
attested 1941 in Australian slang. Adjective form
leaden is a relic of O.E. The fig. sense of "heavy,
oppressive, dull" is first attested 1577. Lead
balloon "a failure" is from 1960, Amer.Eng. slang.
- Online Etymology Dictionary
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=lead
1.5.2 "intellectuals"
See section II, an abstract concept view of metal, for
more information.
"You may notice that various affiliations of some of the
bands are listed. This is because some people may think
that Nazis are nasty people and don't want to accidentally
buy their albums, or that Church of Satan members are
wimps, a disgrace to the scene, and should be brutally
sodomized."
- Thomas Wolmer, d90...@nada.kth.se
1.5.3 totally granular
These are questions from beyond the abyss of coordination,
organization or necessary coherence. In some strange way,
these random shots struck us as profoundly reflective of
the confusion the genre causes.
1.5.3.1 drinking blood
When drinking blood, be sure to have it chilled, or
else it will curdle (clump up and become nauseating).
It is recommended that you verify the blood is from
meat for human consumption (or, of course, DIY).
1.5.3.2 fire-breathing
The useful thing I can say here is that if you are
breathing fire by blowing a highly flammable liquid
over open flame, ready yourself NOT to inhale no matter
what happens - get away from the flame first.
Otherwise, you will fry your lungs and die in a brief
paroxysm of intense pain followed by helpless
suffocation.
1.5.3.3 sodomy
Sodomy is most commonly legally defined as any contact
between the genitals of one person, and the mouth or
anus of another. The word has its origins in Biblical
Christianity. It is sometimes used to mean sexual
deviation, though in legal contexts it is defined as
above. Throughout history, "sodomites," mostly male
homosexuals and bestialists, have been punished by a
largely theocratically controlled government, in hopes
of stamping out "ungodly practices" that might bring
divine retribution against Judeo-Christian society
- http://www.gai.com/
1.6 About this FAQ?
Brief authorship information about those who created this
FAQ, their origins, beliefs and other projects.
1.6.1 authorship
The staff of the Amerikan Nihilist Underground Society and
the Hessian Studies Center contributed extensively to this
FAQ. Most written by Spinoza Ray Prozak, formerly a DJ at
KSPC FM (88.7) in the eastern Los Angeles basin, and now a
free-lance writer in The Netherlands.
For contact, corrections or additions, please email
go...@anus.com.
1.6.2 contributorship
The position of contributor is shared with a constant
stream of references to USENET or email list postings from
talented individuals worldwide. If we use your text,
attribution will be given including your name and a cite
to the publishing of the original work.
1.6.3 design
Design and contents copyright 1994-2006 Spinoza Ray Prozak
and the Hessian Studies Center.
1.6.4 affiliated sites
The staff that produced this FAQ are involved with a
variety of sites:
http://www.anus.com/metal/
Master philosophical metal reviews, history, info,
pictures and sound.
http://www.deathmetal.org/
Institute for the study of death metal.
http://www.grindcore.org/
Academic study of grindcore.
http://www.hessian.org/
Political representation for metal culture.
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(c) Copyright 1994-2006 Hessian Studies Center @ www.hessian.or