Can I Play with Madness? Metal, Dissonance, Madness and Alienation

207 Pages·2011·4.17 MB·English

by  Colin A. McKinnon

Edited by
Colin A. McKinnon, Niall Scott and Kristen Sollee
Can I Play with Madness?
Critical Issues
Series Editors
DrRobert Fisher
DrDaniel Riha
AdvisoryBoard
DrAlejandroCervantes-Carson DrPeterMarioKreuter
ProfessorMargaretChatterjee MartinMcGoldrick
DrWayneCristaudo RevdStephenMorris
MiraCrouch ProfessorJohnParry
DrPhilFitzsimmons PaulReynolds
ProfessorAsaKasher ProfessorPeterTwohig
OwenKelly ProfessorSRamVemuri
RevdDrKennethWilson,O.B.E
ACriticalIssuesresearchandpublicationsproject.
http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/critical-issues/
TheEthosHub
‘HeavyFundametalisms’
2011
Can I Play with Madness?
Metal, Dissonance, Madness and Alienation
Edited by
Colin A. McKinnon, Niall Scott and Kristen Sollee
Inter-Disciplinary Press
Oxford,UnitedKingdom
© Inter-DisciplinaryPress 2011
http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/publishing/id-press/
The Inter-Disciplinary Press is part of Inter-Disciplinary.Net – a global network
for research and publishing. The Inter-Disciplinary Press aims to promote and
encourage the kind of work which is collaborative, innovative, imaginative, and
which provides an exemplar for inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary
publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior
permissionofInter-DisciplinaryPress.
Inter-Disciplinary Press, Priory House, 149B Wroslyn Road, Freeland,
Oxfordshire.OX298HR,UnitedKingdom.
[phone]
ISBN:978-1-84888-057-3
FirstpublishedintheUnitedKingdomineBookformatin2011.FirstEdition.
Tableof Contents
Introduction ix
PART1 AnalysingInsanity
Goethevs.Rammstein:WhoisAllowedtoPlay                  3  
withMadness?TheInfluenceofMusicalTaste
onPrejudiceagainstHeavyMetalLyrics
JuliaKneer,DianaRieger,LenaFrischlich
andDanielMunko
DeathandLife:TheRoleofMusicandOthers 15
RuteRodriguesandAbílioOliveira
TextualAnalysisofSongLyricsAdoptinga 25
MentalHealthDiagnosticStandardasMethod
RichardE.WilsonandMikeThomas
PART2 DisparateDisciplines:TheoreticalApplications
ofMadnessinHeavyMetal
TwoSteps pastInsanity:TheExpressionof  35
AggressioninDeathMetalMusic
DanielFrandsen
CanProgressiveMetal’sNarrativeInformSocial 41
StigmaTheory?PainofSalvation’sThePerfect
ElementParts1and2asExamples
NelsonVaras-Diaz
HystericDesire:SexualPositions,SonicSubjectivity 51
andGenderPlayinGlamMetal
KristenSolee
PART3 MoreMadnessintheMetalMethod:ASpectrum
DisorderofTheoreticalandAppliedResearch
Approaches
NoMethodintheMadness?TheProblemofthe 63
CulturalReadinginRobertWalser’sRunningwith
theDevil:PowerMadnessandGenderinHeavy
MetalMusicandRecentMetalStudies
AndyR. Brown
QualitativeResearchinUnderstandingthe 73
MetalCommunity
IgorGafarov
HeavyMetal,Identity WorkandSocialTransitions:          79
ImplicationsforYoungPeople’sWellBeing
intheAustralianContext
PaulaRowe
PART4 Rippingit Up:MetalasaSymptomofaCivilised
andAggressiveDisorder
HeavyMetalRitualsandtheCivilisingProcess 93
GarySinclair
CyclesofMetalandCyclesofMaleAggression: 101
AgeingandtheChangingAggressiveImpulse
SamirPuri
MetalDisorder,MetalDisturbance 111
NiallScott
PART5 ChallengingPerceptionsonMetalandSuicide
WarinsideMyHead:Metal,MentalIllness 121
andPsychicEnergy
ColinA.McKinnon
Suicide,MetalMusicandExpectancyTheory 133
AlickKay
EmoSavedMyLife:ChallengingtheMainstream 143
DiscourseofMentalIllnessaround
MyChemicalRomance
RosemaryHill
DoesDeathandSuicideSoundLiketheMusic 155
YouHear?
AbílioOliveiraandRuteRodrigues
PART6 PositivelyMad:BlackMetalHealthandthe
ConstructionofIdentity
PlayingwithMadnessintheForestofShadows: 169
Dissonance,DevianceandNon-Comformityinthe
BlackMetalScene
KarlSpracklen
LordSatan’sSecretRitesandSatanismasSelf- 177
Therapy:TheCreationofaMasculinityGender
IdentitywithinBlackMetal
SannaFridh
‘AFuroreNormannorum,LiberaNosDomine!’ 185
AShortHistoryofGoingBerserkinScandinavian
LiteratureandHeavyMetal
ImkevonHelden

Introduction
ColinA. McKinnon,Niall Scott and KristenSollee
Madness has been one of the prevailing themes in metal from the very outset,
not only in the lyrical and musical expressions of the artists and bands and the
genre’s fascination with insanity, but also as an important feature in how metal
itselfisperceivedbyothers,whetherthroughtheaggressiveexuberanceofmusical
andfanexpression,initsalienation,inthechaotictheatreofthepit,orthelinksin
the mainstream mind between metal and suicide or mental illness. This eBook
gathers together contributions presented at the 3rd Global Conference on Heavy
Fundametalisms:Music,MetalandPolitics,heldinPragueinNovember2010.The
conferencedrewtogetherscholarsfromaroundtheworldtodiscussandpresenton
varioustopicsofmetalandmadness,includingrepresentationsofaggressioninthe
music and fans, concepts and portrayals of madness in sub-genres such as black
and death metal, gender roles and the subversion of those roles, perceptions and
prejudices,heavymetalasself-therapy,anddepressionandsuicidality.Theeditors
are proud to present this collection of chapters; all of those included demonstrate
the sociological, philosophical and psychological depth of metal and raise
importantquestionsandinsightsintothefutureofmetalmusicstudies.
Weopenthisvolume withananalysisofinsanity.Twoareasstillratherunder-
utilised in metal studies are empirical and psychological research. Traditionally,
both these areas have been difficult to approach when it comes to studies of
musical genres and fans, but recent evidence suggests that this is beginning to
change. A good example is the empirical study on perceptions and prejudices
concerning metal lyrics by Julia Kneer, Diana Rieger, Lena Frischlich and Daniel
Munko in, ‘Goethe versus Rammstein: Who is Allowed to Play with Madness?
The Influence of Musical Taste on Prejudice against Heavy Metal Lyrics’. They
examined howlyricalinterpretation maybe biased dependingonthe perceptionof
the fans or non-fans. They demonstrated this using excerpts from a song by
Rammstein and a poem by Goethe on which it was based. Their results showed
how perception influences interpretation, leading to biased judgement. Rute
Rodrigues and Abílio Oliveira show empirical research framed through social
representation theory from a study of 1226 adolescents. In their essay ‘Death and
Life: The Role of Music and the Others’ they show how social representations
differ according to musical preferences and the opinions of others. In particular,
they show the differences in the understanding and representation of death and
suicidebetweengirlsandboys,andbetweenyoungerandolderadolescents.Inthe
final chapter in this section Richard E. Wilson and Mike Thomas examine the
representationofmentalillnessinrockand metalusingthe DSM-IVmanualasthe
reference standard. Their research presented in: ‘Textual Analysis of Song Lyrics
Adopting a Mental Health Diagnostic Standard as Method’ focuses on lyrics from