Triumph of the maggots?
Valorization of metal in the rock press
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/pomh.v6i1.52Keywords:
authenticity, fan base, heavy metal, metal culture, popular music journalismAbstract
It is generally accepted that heavy metal has been hated by the rock press more or less since its emergence in the early 1970s, because it is supposedly too hedonistic, too stagnant, too noisy, or too immature (Weinstein 2000; Walser 1993). Is this consensus regarding rock writers’ judgements about heavy metal justified? Looking at reviews, articles and interviews written by rock critics and journalists about metal bands who crossed over to rock culture, this article explores three valorization processes and what is at stake behind them: authenticity strategies (how metal musicians prove their authenticity to prove their legitimacy), historiographical (re)writings (how metal gets told and retold through the years and how it is differentiated from other genres) and art and self-consciouness in metal (how metal came gradually to be described as art done by self-conscious musicians). In conclusion, we see that metal has been assessed more positively than originally thought; more precisely, the rock press changed attitude concerning metal through the years.
References
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Videography
Dunn, Sam, Scot McFadyen, and Jessica Joy Wise. 2005. Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey. Produced by Sam Dunn and Scot McFadyen. Canada: Banger Films.
Dunn, Sam, and Scot McFadyen. 2007. Global Metal. Produced by Sam Dunn, Scot McFadyen and Victoria Hirst. Canada: Banger Films.
Altham, Keith. 1971. ‘Black Sabbath: Nobody but the Public Digs Sabbath’. Record Mirror, 30 January.
Bangs, Lester. 1992. ‘Heavy Metal’. In The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll, ed. Anthony DeCurtis, James Henke and Holly George-Warren, 459–63. New York: Random House.
Bourdieu, Pierre. 1979. La distinction: critique sociale du changement. Paris: Éditions de Minuit.
—2001. Langage et pouvoir symbolique. Paris: Éditions Fayard.
Bozza, Anthony. 2001. ‘Highway to Hell’. Rolling Stone, 11 October.
Bryson, Bethany. 1996. ‘“Anything but Heavy Metal”: Symbolic Exclusion and Musical Tastes’. American Sociological Review 61(5): 884–99. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2096459
Christgau, Robert. 1970. ‘Black Sabbath’. Robert Christgau: Dean of American Rock Critics. http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=black+sabbath.
Clark-Meads, Jeff. 1999. ‘Smoke Across the Water: Brits Fire Up’. Billboard, 5 June. Drowned in Sound. ‘Music Journalism R.I.P?’ http://drownedinsound.com/lists/ismusicjournalismdead.
Egan, Sean. 2001. ‘Heavy Metal Thunder: The Roots of a 35-Year-Old Genre’. Goldmine, 1 June.
Farren, Mick. 1975. ‘Black Sabbath—Sabotage’. New Musical Express, 11 October.
Fornäs, Johan. 1994. ‘Listen to Your Voice! Authenticity and Reflexivity in Rock, Rap and Techno Music’. New Formations 24: 155–73.
Frith, Simon. 1981. Sound Effects: Youth, Leisure, and the Politics of Rock ‘n’ Roll. New York: Pantheon Books.
—1996. Performing Rites: On the Value of Popular Music. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Frith, Simon, and Howard Horne. 1987. Art into Pop. London: Methuen.
Gendron, Bernard. 2002. Between Montmartre and the Mudd Club: Popular Music and the Avant-Garde. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Grossberg, Lawrence. 1990. ‘Is There Rock after Punk?’ In On Record: Rock, Pop and the Written Word, ed. Simon Frith and Andrew Goodwin, 111–23. London and New York: Routledge.
Guðmundsson, Gestur, Ulf Lindberg, Morten Michelsen and Hans Weisethaunet. 2002. ‘Brit Crit: Turning Points in British Rock Criticism, 1960–1990’. In Pop Music and the Press, ed. Steve Jones, 41–64. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Jones, Carys Win. 2008. The Rock Canon: Canonical Values in the Reception of Rock Albums. Burlington, VT: Ashgate.
Keightley, Keir. 2001. ‘Reconsidering Rock’. In The Cambridge Companion to Pop and Rock, ed. Simon Frith, Will Straw and John Street, 109–42. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CCOL9780521553698.008
Kuipers, Dean. 1990. ‘Beyond the Valley of the Ultra Glam Boys’. Spin, January.
Lindberg, Ulf, Gestur Guðmundsson, Morten Michelsen and Hans Weisethaunet. 2005. Rock Criticism from the Beginning: Amusers, Bruisers, and Cool-Headed Cruisers. New York: Peter Lang.
Miller, Geri. 2001. ‘Still Rockin’ after All These Years’. Billboard, 23 June.
Moses, Michael, and Don Kaye. 1999. ‘What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?’ Billboard, 5 June.
Nunes, P. 2004. ‘Popular Music and the Public Sphere: The Case of Portuguese Music Journalism’. PhD dissertation, Stirling University.
Peterson, Richard. 1997. Creating Country Music: Fabricating Authenticity. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Reesman, Bryan. 1999. ‘Big Hair, Big Comeback: ‘80s Metal Rocks Anew’. Billboard, 5 June.
—2001. ‘Hard Music: Sustaining the Success’. Billboard, 23 June.
Regev, Motti. 1994. ‘Producing Artistic Value: The Case of Rock Music’. Sociological Quarterly 35(1): 85–102. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1533-8525.1994.tb00400.x
Saunders, Mike. 1971a. ‘Black Sabbath: Master of Reality’. The Rag, 20 September.
—1971b. ‘Sir Lord Baltimore—Kingdom Come’. Creem, May.
Seward, Scott. 2001. ‘Heard it on the X’. Village Voice, 28 August.
Sharpe-Young, Garry. 2007. Metal: The Definitive Guide. London: Jawbone Press.
Shuker, Roy. 1994. Understanding Popular Music. London and New York: Routledge.
Stratton, Jon. 1982. ‘Between Two Worlds: Art and Commercialism in the Record Industry’. The Sociological Review 30(2): 267–83. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-954X.1982. tb00757.x
—1983. ‘What is “Popular Music”?’ The Sociological Review 31(2): 293–309. http://dx.doi. org/10.1111/j.1467-954X.1983.tb00391.x
Strauss, Neil. 1997. ‘Sympathy for the Devil’. Rolling Stone, 23 January.
Straw, Will. 1990. ‘Characterizing Rock Music Culture: The Case of Heavy Metal’. In On Record: Rock, Pop and the Written Word, ed. Simon Frith and Andrew Goodwin, 97–110. London and New York: Routledge.
Turman, Katherine. 2000. ‘Where Does it Go from Here?’ Billboard, 2 December.
Waksman, Steve. 2009. This Ain’t the Summer of Love: Conflict and Crossover in Heavy Metal and Punk. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Walser, Robert. 1993. Running with the Devil: Power, Gender and Madness in Heavy Metal Music. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press.
Weinstein, Deena. 2000. Heavy Metal: The Music and its Culture. Cambridge and New York: Da Capo Press.
Williams, Raymond. 1961. The Long Revolution. New York: Columbia University Press.
Videography
Dunn, Sam, Scot McFadyen, and Jessica Joy Wise. 2005. Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey. Produced by Sam Dunn and Scot McFadyen. Canada: Banger Films.
Dunn, Sam, and Scot McFadyen. 2007. Global Metal. Produced by Sam Dunn, Scot McFadyen and Victoria Hirst. Canada: Banger Films.
Published
2012-05-14
Issue
Section
Controversies
How to Cite
Laurin, H. (2012). Triumph of the maggots? Valorization of metal in the rock press. Popular Music History, 6(1-2), 52-67. https://doi.org/10.1558/pomh.v6i1.52
