Researchers associate the metal culture, especially before the 90s, with the philosophical ideas of Friedrich Nietzsche, namely the idealization of rebellion, rejection of a simple “gray” life, and respect for strong personalities.
To be honest, there were and are excesses that take place in outrageousness, like Rammstein’s phallic shows. However, in many cases, outrageousness is combined with musical skill. And, we should not forget about such things as showmanship (for example, breaking guitars) or stage image. The hedonistic, though not total, behavior of metalheads is not unique. Even in the wild 80’s, the popular Metallica had a song “Master of Puppets” with anti-drug messages that was iconic for them. Fans of both rap and club music can serve as analogs.
The reason for the provocativeness should be sought not in musical preferences, which are extremely diverse, but in the young age of the fans. After all, this is the time for experiments, both alcohol and drug and sexual. The American Association of Psychologists, together with scientists from Oxford, studied the relationship between intelligence (IQ) and musical tastes among teenagers. And, contrary to stereotypes, heavy metal fans are as mentally developed as jazz and classical music lovers. Other researchers point out that metal can help teenagers overcome psychological difficulties, namely, it reduces the level of aggressiveness, as it is a way of processing negative emotions.
Continuing the topic of research, we can point to the findings of the relationship between people’s style of thinking and musical preferences. Thus, heavy music fans tend to think systematically rather than emotionally/empathically. But the journal Frontiers In Psychology points out that “sad music, although perceived as tragic, nevertheless, when listening to it, people felt romantic, cheerful, or much less sad emotions…”. This can also be attributed to the “dark” themes of heavy metal songs.
PERFORMANCE FEATURE
The boundaries of metal music are very blurred, as are the boundaries of any broad concept. In addition, experience shows us that phenomena and processes change over time. This means that their definition should be updated as well. The punk genre is particularly close, although metal is generally more musically inventive and pretentious. There is even such a thing as Punk Metal, which includes hybrids of both genres: from Nirvana’s grunge to early Napalm Death’s grindcore. A lot of bands have elements of rock itself (genres with Rock in the name), or on the other hand, old rock bands have elements of metal. Finally, we can mention the blurred line between metal itself and purely industrial music, such as Industrial Metal or Rammstein’s New German Hardness.
The peculiarity of heavy metal is the primacy of the music itself. The lyrics and vocals, though important, do not play a decisive role, or may be absent altogether. In contrast, rap is quite the opposite: the lyrics are more important than the music.