The Culture of Heavy Metal

Two summers ago I found myself on the usually barren grounds of the Tweeter Center in Camden New Jersey. Three years before that day I would have never thought the reason I’d be here was to experience Ozzfest for the first time in my life. What I never could have known was how taken I would become with music like Atreyu, System of a Down, Disturbed, and Dragonforce.

The music itself was of course more fun than I could have imagined it would be, but what I was more taken with in the twelve hours I spent in Camden was the amazing culture surrounding heavy metal music. The amazingly caring and friendly culture apparent in heavy music was in stark contrast to what I believed would be true before I went on that 100+ degree day in August.

Before heading out to Camden I had no idea what I was getting myself into going to Ozzfest. All I knew about the festival was that scary metal people who wanted to kill everything went there, and I certainly wasn’t one of those people. The stereotype surrounding this genre of music was really all I had to go by. Thus, I was tremendously nervous that I would end up leaving the shows with a broken limb, a bleeding cranium, and bloody nose. I had no clue how wrong I was.

When I got to Camden I started to realize that beneath all of the black, metal chains, and spiked bracelets there was something so forgiving about this culture. In a subculture where the word “unforgiving” is as common as national debt in modern politics it seemed like everyone was there together. Not once did I feel out of place, threatened, or unsafe. I’m sure my parents would have … but I certainly didn’t. It was almost a communal experience where everyone was at the festival with each other; there were no social divisions, everyone loved metal. Not once did someone tell me I wasn’t “metal enough” nor did they even mutter anything negative about my admittedly “un-metal” appearance. The reason for this, I’ve come to find, is because it really didn’t matter how I looked that day or what other music I listened to because I was there. The only proof these people needed to realize I was like them was that I was at Ozzfest. If all communities were like the metal community there would not be the massive social divisions present in modern society.

It’s interesting to me how many of these people who are devoted to heavy music are subject to grossly unjust stereotypes. They are often looked down on by popular culture and other music cultures. But what I can’t understand is how elitism is so prevalent in other music societies and pop-culture overall while metal enjoys a decidedly communal atmosphere. Why then do people criticize metal for being barbaric and purely noise while it’s bringing people together more than many other styles of music? Metal people may look different than mainstream society, but they are certainly more understanding people than they are given credit for.

Modern society needs to wake up and realize that the metal subculture, while a little darker, initially scarier, and heavier than mainstream society is more than a positive model for the mainstream. If society were even a little less elitist and a little more communal we would be better off as a culture. Metal is not detrimental to society, it’s a misunderstood model for the perfect communal atmosphere.