Ronnie Hummel - The Legacy of Heavy Metal

Heavy metal is a genre of music created in the mid to late 1970's. The exact beginnings of the genre are debated among musicians and scholars, but a mild consensus has agrees that the first heavy metal band to emerge was Black Sabbath, hailing from the UK. Since then, Heavy metal has had it's many rises and falls in the realm of pop culture, more specifically it's "golden age" during the 1980's. Every huge metal band that even those not versed in metal emerged during this time, bands such as Metallica, Motley Crue, Guns & Roses, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest among the plethora of other hair metal and heavy metal bands of the time. Metal is not short of it controversies, though. Throughout these same years metal has been the target of many "parent organizations" targeting it's often violent lyrics. 

Now decades later, metal has fallen in general popularity on the pop culture spectrum but it remains as a subculture of extremely dedicated fans who are die hard about their love of metal. This type of close-knit environment is best explained by the functionalist perspective. (Star this clip at :54)

Although, heavy metal can't be all good for the fans and non-fans alike. Some of the critical reactions of metal aren't too far from the truth. When taking a look at metal culture, I am also going to be taking a view of it from the critical perspective looking at the misogyny, racism, and heterocentrism. Many metal bands produce lyrics that are incredibly misogynistic, particular hair metal bands of the 80's but also death metal bands such as Cannibal Corpse who take misogynistic lyrics to extremes. Since the late 80's and early 90's many bands in Scandinavian Europe, and also around the world, began springing up who would become known as the metal subgenre "Black metal." These bands are mostly known for their lyrics about anti-religion (particularly anti-christianity), and glorification of Satanism. These bands are also breeding grounds for National Socialist ideals, which breeds many bands who are incredibly racist.