"Evil" Music, Part II

Continuing yesterday’s post about ‘evil music’, which is more or less an introduction to this one:

This month’s Ensign has an article by Dennis J. Nordfelt about keeping kids out of gangs. Not a bad article, but I have one major complaint. The article lists “warning signs” that your kid might be getting involved with a gang, one of which is:

An interest in gangster rap or heavy metal music

Well, now…talk about hitting one of The Baron’s pet peeves on the nose. Listening to heavy metal is a ‘warning sign’ that your kid is involved in a gang? That’s like saying ‘playing video games’ is a "warning sign” that your kid is close to taking a gun to school and shooting his classmates.

First of all, heavy metal is a distinct subgenre of rock with its primary characteristics being double-bass drumming, use of the ‘riffing’ style of guitar playing (versus the ‘power chord’ style in other rock genres) and some distinct vocal and lyrical differences (which I won’t get into now…I’m trying to be as untechnical as I can). Yet, 'heavy metal' itself is a broad characterization for a number of subgenres that are also distinct in music style. There’s power metal, thrash metal, speed metal, gothic metal, death metal, and modern-day progressive rock (which is very metal-influenced). Believe me, no matter how little experience you have with the metal genre, you’d be able to tell the difference between a power metal and a death metal band if you heard the two.

The point is: you can’t make generalizations about an entire genre of music such as ‘heavy metal’ any more than you can about ‘country’ or ‘new age’ because it’s too wide-ranging—especially generalizations involving something as serious as “warning signs of criminal behavior”.

Brother Nordfelt deserves credit for specifing “gangster rap” instead of just “rap”. Rap (or hip-hop) is also a distinct genre of music which emphasizes the natural rhythm of the voice instead of a specific melody—with lyrics that are chanted instead of sung. “Gangster” rap on the other hand, is less of a musical subgenre of rap than an attitude subgenre. Violent imagery, vulgar and obscene language, gratuitous sexual dialogue, and, yes, participation in gang-related activity are all characteristic of ‘gangster’ style rapping—even though from a strictly musical standpoint there’s no difference between it and other forms of rap. Brother Nordfelt is culturally literate enough to know that ‘rap’—the music form—isn’t always bad, and thus qualified it with a term which essentially specifies ‘rap that advocates sinful behavior’.

My point is, he should have done the same with “heavy metal”.

Some heavy metal is satanic, just as some of it is vulgar and sometimes violent. Yet, as with any musical genre, you can’t make generalizations for everyone based on a few examples—there’s no such thing as a satanic (or even vulgar) power metal band, for example. The satanic bands (which aren’t as numerous as people think…) are usually classified in their own category—“black metal”. Similarly, the Christian heavy metal bands (yes, there is such a thing…) are called “white metal”, yet listening to a Christian heavy metal band is apparently still a warning sign for criminal and immoral behavior.

I don’t expect Brother Nordfelt to have known the difference between ‘black metal’ and ‘power metal’ or Nightwish-style ‘symphonic opera metal’—but that’s the problem: he’s passing judgment on something he knows nothing about. Unlike rap, heavy metal is a true ‘underground’ style of music. Major labels don’t release it. US media outlets don’t cover it. MTV and radio stations don’t play it. I don’t think Brother Nordfelt or any average Utah Mormon can name five true heavy metal bands of any genre. (So-called ‘nu-metal’ bands like Slipknot, Korn, and Linkin Park don’t count…) Heavy metal for the most part resides outside of public view…which, in fact, leads directly to my next point:

Brother Nordfelt’s thesis has a more fundamental flaw: heavy metal of any type—whether it conforms to Church standards or not—has no direct relationship to gang behavior. Unlike rap, you can’t name any members of heavy metal bands who have direct ties to gangs, you don’t hear reports in the news about fans of one band having violent clashes with fans of another, and you can’t find any heavy metal lyrics that advocate gang-related behavior. One of the predominant themes of heavy metal lyrics is, in fact, social isolationism: and as a result, heavy metal fans tend to be socially isolated themselves. (In other words, they tend to keep to themselves, not form gangs and wreck mayhem on their communities) When you see gang members on the news, do they look like they’re trying en masse to conform to heavy metal band stereotypes as an ‘image’ (long hair, black T-shirts, playing the guitar)...or rap stereotypes?

Heavy metal has been intertwined with criminal behavior before (even recently, as in Italy, where last month two members of a satanic heavy metal band were ritually murdered by the other two members), but that would be more accurately classified as ‘cult’ behavior, not ‘gang’ behavior. (The distinction between a ‘cult’ and a ‘gang’ is a discussion for another day, but the main difference is cults are small, socially isolated groups, unlike gangs which are generally much larger) I don’t believe there is a significant link between any form of heavy metal and gang behavior, and I would suggest if Brother Nordfelt or anyone else wants to persist with this notion. then they’ll need to provide some direct evidence.

Tomorrow: What the ‘real’ problem is…