‘[I] hate girls and emo[tion]s'

Negotiating masculinity in grindcore music

Authors

  • Rosemary Overell University of Melbourne Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/pomh.v6i1/2.198

Keywords:

death metal, grindcore, heavy metal, misogynistic representation

Abstract

The article confronts the construction of gender within metal, particularly the violent misogyny that can be found in some types of death metal and grindcore. Drawing on a case study of grindcore music in Melbourne, Australia, the author explores the nature of ‘brutality’ that is identified by scene members as the essence of its affect. Grindcore offers an affective ‘intensity’ that partially transcends representations of gender, opening up possibilities for female scene members. While misogynistic rhetoric and representation may suffuse metal scenes, it is undermined and ironized in various ways.

Author Biography

  • Rosemary Overell, University of Melbourne

    Rosemary Overell is completing her PhD, titled Feeling Brutal/Feeling at Home: Grindcore Music and Affective Belonging in Melbourne and Osaka, at the University of Melbourne. Her research focuses on affective belonging and masculinities in extreme metal music.

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Discography

Blood Duster. 1996. Yeest. Dr. Jim’s.

—1998. Str8 Outta Northcote. Dr. Jim’s.

—2007. Lyden Na. Shock.

Hawthorne Heights. 2004. ‘Ohio is for Lovers’ [single]. Victory Records.

Filmography

Dunn, S., S. McFadyen and J. Wise (dir.). 2005. Metal: A Headbanger's Journey.

Fuller, Jason (dir.). 2005. Blood Duster: The Shape of Death to Come.

Hooper, T. (dir.). 1974. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Published

2012-05-14

Issue

Section

Countercultures

How to Cite

Overell, R. (2012). ‘[I] hate girls and emo[tion]s’: Negotiating masculinity in grindcore music. Popular Music History, 6(1-2), 198-223. https://doi.org/10.1558/pomh.v6i1/2.198