Source: Protothema.gr
It's been widely known for a long time: Heavy metal is Satan's music. All the musicians and almost all of its listeners worship satan, sacrifice goats, rape virgins, burn churches, sex, drugs etc. Right?
Well, no. There have been some incidents (apart from the sex & drugs part which are a little bit more -if not as- common as in the other music styles & lifestyles), but Heavy Metal is most and above all a community and a way of life. You've heard in the news about the average heavy metal fan/rapist that attacked an innocent woman in the middle of the road, and usually the next topic is about one of the biggest celebrities doing charity work or something like that.
In the past, as being the most underground voice, many heavy metal icons did things to provoke. Either to get attention or just because "to hell with them. We only get to live this once, I'll do what I want".
Image source: Rock and Smoke Shop
Parents, politicians and communities have criticised and are still criticising the music. I get that: the music is violent and provoking. Even more when you take the guitar effects away (as we can understand from this piece of art).
The lyrics? Well, they promote suicide, have you read this song's lyrics?.
Worst of all, they don't care about anyone, just about themselves. Here are a few links to back that last statement: Dio Cancer Fund - Stand up and Shout, Ride for Dime, Heavy Metal Truants (also notice the 666 in the site's logo), Sweet Relief and the list goes on. However, this aggression in the music helps people deal with their own aggression. It's called Catharsis (you'll understand later on the post)
Moreover, it is a sure way to get autism and other mental diseases. Studies have established a direct link between Heavy Metal music and mental illnesses, that are cured as soon as the person stops listening to it. Let's read from the Journal of Community Psychology:
Metal identities are popularly represented as leading to mental health issues but with flawed evidence. We documented the community contexts around metal and well‐being by talking to young metalheads directly. We engaged in repeated, informal talks with 28 young Australians who strongly identified with metal (aged 18–24 years, 5 females and 23 males), and found that the metal identities and community protected them from mental health problems. Four core themes were found from transcripts: they were all bullied or marginalized through social relationships at school; they enjoyed the impact of metal music and lyrics when angry or ostracized; they felt part of a protective community of metalheads, even though in many cases at this age it was more imagined than real; and embodying metal identities enabled them to keep bullies, detractors, and others at bay, and to find friend groups. By talking repeatedly, directly with young metalheads, it was found that metal identities were helping participants to survive the stress of challenging environments and build strong and sustained identities and communities, thus alleviating any potential mental health issues.
Also, it is a well-known fact that the people inside the Heavy Metal communities around the world, are bound to make you antisocial and if you are disabled in some way, you are bound to feel 100% excluded and of course make fun of you.
Well, one thing is sure. Some individuals within the scene, may have caused more trouble than in other music scenes. I'm not denying that, and I'm not saying that Heavy Metal is the music of Christianity or Islam or whatever religion you are following. Stop using metal music as a scapegoat. Your mainstream idols are mostly worse than my idols!
Oh, and I'll close this post with a counter-argument to the usual argument of "Metal music is just noise":
If you made it to the end of the post, and you didn't find yourself distracted by the multitude of links I've put, thumbs up! If you liked my post feel free to upvote it, resteem it, leave a comment and/or follow me!
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