Heavy Metal Is Saving Society
Man, I see the strongest and smartest men who've ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off.
– Fight Club
A type of music. An elitist cult. A dangerous den of negativity and hatred. Heavy metal has been called all of those things.
But what if it is some amalgamation of them all?
…An identity?
An identity that simultaneously has a huge following of millions of passionate fans all over the world, and at the same time is completely unknown to just as many millions.
An identity considered by its adherents to be the greatest in the world, yet considered by many others to be offensive, uncultured, and even dangerous.
Nevertheless, a culture such as heavy metal is one that our society needs…even more than it realizes.
From the gray-skied industrial wasteland of late-1960’s Birmingham, an environment seemingly unfit for human beings, a new sound was born. Much of the popular culture at the time was the hippie, flower-power movement—free love, world peace, free drugs. “Imagine.”
On paper, it may have sounded too good to be true. Except in Birmingham, and so many other places all over the world, it simply wasn’t, and never could be. It still isn’t.
A brave group of musicians decided to buck the trend. World peace, free love—all idealistic fantasy and so much claptrap. The real world was heavy metal factories, schoolyard brawls, family members dying of industrial pollution, and nightmares about that dusty old book with the pentagram on the cover that you decided to read from one night with your friends…and wished you hadn’t.
This was the world that Black Sabbath chose to expose to the unsuspecting mainstream.
Then, as now, reaction was muted. Let’s pretend it doesn’t exist; we all know that’s outside of our comfort zone. People don't really listen to that, do they?
But when the movement grew too large to ignore, the mainstream negativity lashed out and tried to choke off the music, the culture, the identity with its distinctive devil horns.
First there came the protests, fueled by fears of a Satanic epidemic among fans.
Then there came the high-profile lawsuits, and accusations of suicide, even murder.
Then there came the unparalleled Congressional censorship hearings, resulting in the now ubiquitous Parental Advisory labels.
Even now, after decades of history and a flowering of new ways to express the heavy metal identity, it is still greeted in the mainstream with a dismissive yawn. Heavy metal groups are largely unrepresented in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Precious few are able to crack the top 40. And even true legends pass away (more of them every year, sadly), without the pomp and circumstance, the front-page commemorative magazine editions, and six-hour primetime funeral spectacles attended by heads of state.
And society ignores this at its peril.
Because inside mankind, a war is raging between light and dark, between heaven and hell, between good and evil, and most of us are dancing right around the middle line between the two and trying not to hate ourselves for it.
Because without being able to indulge that other, politically incorrect side of our nature, without being able to keep that 15-year-old inside of you alive, where are we headed?
If, every once in a while, you don’t get the chance to just put on black leather, put your devil horns in the air, and just go nuts and scream, until your throat is killing you the next day and your head is still ringing from the amplifiers…how else are you going to do it?
Because if it wasn’t for this heavy metal identity, its bereft followers would resort to other, much more sinister means of indulgence.
Heavy metal is saving society…from itself. In a culture of excess, of struggle, of sheeple, of decay…there is a sound that rejects it all. There is a sound that says, “This is mine.” There is a sound that says, “I reject this world as it is handed to me, with these fake friends, this hopeless job, and the disgusting, fake, mainstream garbage that passes for music.” There is a sound of discovery that lets you say, “no” to the haters.
Because, from the late 1960s until today and far into the future, heavy metal is music of hope.
And hope is something that our society has in short supply.
So the next time you see some folks with long hair, clad in black and red, go ahead and smile and flash them the devil horns. For through this music, they are embracing the struggle within us all…and winning.







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Fucking love AAL.
Fucking love AAL.
"I swear, by my life and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine."
I think the greatest metal
I think the greatest metal album of all time deserves - no, needs to be in this thread:
it's possible i'm mistaken
it's possible i'm mistaken but i'm pretty sure heavy metal is just metallica...kinda unfortunate to have a one-band genre, but such is life...
now i'm really not trying to fuel anyone going to the sanitarium because they went stone cold crazy from my comments, but trust me i'm not some kind of monster just because i don't like all those death anthems...thats what the rest are, it's sad but true...and if you can't forgive me for saying that and just turn the page, then i guess i'm just unforgiven and nothing else matters...and if my comments make you so frantic that you don't rest until i disappear, then i guess you really are a master of puppets...but afterward i bet you'll find that still the memory remains of my truthiness
And I think it's gonna be a long, long, time
In The Flesh: Heavy metal is
Heavy metal is saving society…from itself.
so ITF - which are your favorite genres of heavy metal, and within that, your favorite bands?
What is the answer to 99 out of 100 questions?
I enjoy Heavy Metal - but you
I enjoy Heavy Metal - but you have to admit it has long had an association with the white power movement
GS: I enjoy Heavy Metal - but
I enjoy Heavy Metal - but you have to admit it has long had an association with the white power movement
You mean like classical music and the Nazis?
"It's a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don't quit when you're tired you quit when the gorilla is tired"
-Robert Strauss
GS: I enjoy Heavy Metal - but
I enjoy Heavy Metal - but you have to admit it has long had an association with the white power movement
You're probably thinking of skinhead punk bands, not metal (with the exception of a tiny handful of extremist groups largely based in the European underground).
Head of Metal Website: www.headofmetal.com
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Going Concern: it's possible
it's possible i'm mistaken but i'm pretty sure heavy metal is just metallica...kinda unfortunate to have a one-band genre, but such is life...
now i'm really not trying to fuel anyone going to the sanitarium because they went stone cold crazy from my comments, but trust me i'm not some kind of monster just because i don't like all those death anthems...thats what the rest are, it's sad but true...and if you can't forgive me for saying that and just turn the page, then i guess i'm just unforgiven and nothing else matters...and if my comments make you so frantic that you don't rest until i disappear, then i guess you really are a master of puppets...but afterward i bet you'll find that still the memory remains of my truthiness
Sorry you feel that way.
And yes, I get every single reference in your second paragraph. :)
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David Aames: In The
Heavy metal is saving society…from itself.
so ITF - which are your favorite genres of heavy metal, and within that, your favorite bands?
I honestly can say at this point that I am at an extremely happy place where I can enjoy all the subgenres (up to and including the underground stuff like black metal and grind).
Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and Black Sabbath will always be my favorite metal groups. Lately however, I have been getting into a lot of early death metal (Death, Morbid Angel, Atheist) and prog (Dream Theater, Fates Warning).
Head of Metal Website: www.headofmetal.com
https://twitter.com/headofmetal2012
In The Flesh: David
Heavy metal is saving society…from itself.
so ITF - which are your favorite genres of heavy metal, and within that, your favorite bands?
I honestly can say at this point that I am at an extremely happy place where I can enjoy all the subgenres (up to and including the underground stuff like black metal and grind).
Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and Black Sabbath will always be my favorite metal groups. Lately however, I have been getting into a lot of early death metal (Death, Morbid Angel, Atheist) and prog (Dream Theater, Fates Warning).
i like to lump chaps like black sabbath into classic rock within my mental index, and i am a fan of all music thats prog (old or new) but then again i would just leave them as progressive rock...hence my comment, heavy metal = metallica
And I think it's gonna be a long, long, time
Going Concern: In The
Heavy metal is saving society…from itself.
so ITF - which are your favorite genres of heavy metal, and within that, your favorite bands?
I honestly can say at this point that I am at an extremely happy place where I can enjoy all the subgenres (up to and including the underground stuff like black metal and grind).
Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and Black Sabbath will always be my favorite metal groups. Lately however, I have been getting into a lot of early death metal (Death, Morbid Angel, Atheist) and prog (Dream Theater, Fates Warning).
i like to lump chaps like black sabbath and iron maiden into classic rock within my mental index, and i am a fan of all music thats prog (old or new) but then again i would just leave them as progressive rock...hence my comment, heavy metal = metallica
Plenty of people consider Black Sabbath classic rock--nothing wrong with that. And partially, that's because they never identified themselves as heavy metal; they called themselves a blues band.
Iron Maiden and Judas Priest however, fully embraced calling themselves heavy metal and almost universally considered as such.
No love for the other thrash bands?
Head of Metal Website: www.headofmetal.com
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Veni Vidi Vici: GS: I enjoy
I enjoy Heavy Metal - but you have to admit it has long had an association with the white power movement
You mean like classical music and the Nazis?
There's a reason no one performs Wagner in Israel.
I'm not suggesting the Bruce Dickinson is a closeted white supremacist or anything. Or that Ozzy Osbourne has a stormtrooper uniform. I like listening to some old metal too. But , why is it whenever any race-nut/crazy shooter is found and the cops go through his apartment , its littered with metal bands. Whats the correlation here?
GS: Veni Vidi Vici: GS: I
I enjoy Heavy Metal - but you have to admit it has long had an association with the white power movement
You mean like classical music and the Nazis?
There's a reason no one performs Wagner in Israel.
I'm not suggesting the Bruce Dickinson is a closeted white supremacist or anything. Or that Ozzy Osbourne has a stormtrooper uniform. I like listening to some old metal too. But , why is it whenever any race-nut/crazy shooter is found and the cops go through his apartment , its littered with metal bands. Whats the correlation here?
Examples?
Head of Metal Website: www.headofmetal.com
https://twitter.com/headofmetal2012
I used to listen to
YOU JUST GOT TROLLED
http://www.troll.me/images/red-foreman322/dont-you...
In The Flesh: No love for the
And I think it's gonna be a long, long, time
Going Concern: In The
Head of Metal Website: www.headofmetal.com
https://twitter.com/headofmetal2012
UFOinsider: I used to listen
Head of Metal Website: www.headofmetal.com
https://twitter.com/headofmetal2012
UFOinsider: I used to listen
In The Flesh: GS: Veni
anaismalcolm: UFOinsider: I
Head of Metal Website: www.headofmetal.com
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GS: In The
Head of Metal Website: www.headofmetal.com
https://twitter.com/headofmetal2012
GS: Honestly , ever been to a
YOU JUST GOT TROLLED
http://www.troll.me/images/red-foreman322/dont-you...
In The Flesh: In fact, many
YOU JUST GOT TROLLED
http://www.troll.me/images/red-foreman322/dont-you...
UFOinsider: In The
At worst , they are complicit
GS: UFOinsider: In The
YOU JUST GOT TROLLED
http://www.troll.me/images/red-foreman322/dont-you...
UFOinsider: GS: Honestly ,
Head of Metal Website: www.headofmetal.com
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GS: socially
YOU JUST GOT TROLLED
http://www.troll.me/images/red-foreman322/dont-you...
GS: UFOinsider: In The
Head of Metal Website: www.headofmetal.com
https://twitter.com/headofmetal2012
In The
YOU JUST GOT TROLLED
http://www.troll.me/images/red-foreman322/dont-you...
UFOinsider: In The
Head of Metal Website: www.headofmetal.com
https://twitter.com/headofmetal2012
In The
And I think it's gonna be a long, long, time
Jeremy spoooke iiin claaaaaas
But Rhaegar fought valiantly, Rhaegar fought nobly, Rhaegar fought bravely.
And Rhaegar died.
Anomanderis: Jeremy spoooke
Head of Metal Website: www.headofmetal.com
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Going Concern: In The
YOU JUST GOT TROLLED
http://www.troll.me/images/red-foreman322/dont-you...
In The
But Rhaegar fought valiantly, Rhaegar fought nobly, Rhaegar fought bravely.
And Rhaegar died.
Anomanderis: In The
Head of Metal Website: www.headofmetal.com
https://twitter.com/headofmetal2012
\m/.
don't cry to me oh baby
And I think it's gonna be a long, long, time
Yes, this correct before they
Going Concern: it's possible
Stringer Bell: Going
ITF, I don't know WTF you're
TL ; DR Iron Maiden - Fear Of
Valor is of no service, chance rules all, and the bravest often fall by the hands of cowards. - Tacitus
Dr. Nick Riviera: Hey, don't worry. You don't have to make up stories here. Save that for court!
Ron Paul: Stringer
Stringer Bell: Ron
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(No subject)
Ok, I'm a little annoyed by
YOU JUST GOT TROLLED
http://www.troll.me/images/red-foreman322/dont-you...