Combining insights from identity, gender and ethnicity studies while incorporating notions of the sacred, the death of guitar hero, Randy Rhoads, in a plane crash in 1982 is addressed to establish how maintenance of Rhoads’s reputation as a saintly, innocent character who died because of a mysterious accident has been constructed and maintained for over forty years. Situating his death in a comparative analysis with premature deaths of other guitarists, Tommy Bolin and Allen Collins, in addition to artists from other musical genres, Amy Winehouse, Whitney Houston and Donna Summer, frames of similarities and differences emerge to reveal how identity and reputation is achieved and maintained after death within heavy metal but also in other genres. Three specific tropes including accident equals innocence, transgression equals recklessness and transgression equals criminality are defined and applied throughout. These reveal that posthumous identity, be it positive or negative, is actively constructed and is imbued at times with gendered and racial elements. Via the application of criticality, the findings show how the posthumous consecration of Rhoads and other decedents is accomplished via selective emphasis on particular claims and the silencing of others, with locus of responsibility for a tragic death, either internal or external, being crucial.
{"title":"Death of a guitar hero: The art of metal reputation maintenance","authors":"Bernard East","doi":"10.1386/mms_00104_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/mms_00104_1","url":null,"abstract":"Combining insights from identity, gender and ethnicity studies while incorporating notions of the sacred, the death of guitar hero, Randy Rhoads, in a plane crash in 1982 is addressed to establish how maintenance of Rhoads’s reputation as a saintly, innocent character who died because of a mysterious accident has been constructed and maintained for over forty years. Situating his death in a comparative analysis with premature deaths of other guitarists, Tommy Bolin and Allen Collins, in addition to artists from other musical genres, Amy Winehouse, Whitney Houston and Donna Summer, frames of similarities and differences emerge to reveal how identity and reputation is achieved and maintained after death within heavy metal but also in other genres. Three specific tropes including accident equals innocence, transgression equals recklessness and transgression equals criminality are defined and applied throughout. These reveal that posthumous identity, be it positive or negative, is actively constructed and is imbued at times with gendered and racial elements. Via the application of criticality, the findings show how the posthumous consecration of Rhoads and other decedents is accomplished via selective emphasis on particular claims and the silencing of others, with locus of responsibility for a tragic death, either internal or external, being crucial.","PeriodicalId":36868,"journal":{"name":"Metal Music Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46273373","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Review of: Bezugnahmen auf den Nationalsozialismus in der populären Musik: Lesarten zu Laibach, Death in June, Feindflug, Rammstein und Marduk, Reinhard Kopanski (2022) Münster and New York: Waxmann, 528 pp., ISBN 978-3-83094-252-8, p/bk, €49.90 ISBN 978-3-83099-252-3, e-book, €44.99
评论：大众音乐中对国家社会主义的引用：Lesarten zu Laibach，《六月之死》，Feindflug，Rammstein und Marduk，Reinhard Kopanski（2022）明斯特和纽约：瓦克斯曼，528页，ISBN 978-3-83094-252-8，p/bk，49.90欧元ISBN 978-3-83099-252-3，电子书，44.99欧元
{"title":"Bezugnahmen auf den Nationalsozialismus in der populären Musik: Lesarten zu Laibach, Death in June, Feindflug, Rammstein und Marduk, Reinhard Kopanski (2022)","authors":"Anna-Katharina Höpflinger","doi":"10.1386/mms_00108_5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/mms_00108_5","url":null,"abstract":"Review of: Bezugnahmen auf den Nationalsozialismus in der populären Musik: Lesarten zu Laibach, Death in June, Feindflug, Rammstein und Marduk, Reinhard Kopanski (2022)\u0000 Münster and New York: Waxmann, 528 pp.,\u0000 ISBN 978-3-83094-252-8, p/bk, €49.90\u0000 ISBN 978-3-83099-252-3, e-book, €44.99","PeriodicalId":36868,"journal":{"name":"Metal Music Studies","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41413265","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In this article I will analyse how a widespread metaphor of Renaissance and Baroque literature, the comparison between the stages of life and the seasons of the year, is updated via a contemporary perspective and transformed through an intertextual relation with Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra in Vivaldi Metal Project’s The Four Seasons. I highlight the strong presence of Baroque aesthetics in symphonic metal and I aim to propose, from a literary perspective, a model for the analysis of the presence and transformation of Baroque elements in this subgenre.
{"title":"Baroque metaphors and Nietzschean influence in Vivaldi Metal Project’s The Four Seasons","authors":"Sara Santa-Aguilar","doi":"10.1386/mms_00106_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/mms_00106_1","url":null,"abstract":"In this article I will analyse how a widespread metaphor of Renaissance and Baroque literature, the comparison between the stages of life and the seasons of the year, is updated via a contemporary perspective and transformed through an intertextual relation with Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra in Vivaldi Metal Project’s The Four Seasons. I highlight the strong presence of Baroque aesthetics in symphonic metal and I aim to propose, from a literary perspective, a model for the analysis of the presence and transformation of Baroque elements in this subgenre.","PeriodicalId":36868,"journal":{"name":"Metal Music Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44217669","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nelson Varas-Díaz, Nedim Hassan, Ross Hagen, Niall Scott
Issue 9.2 sees the light following an active summer for the field of metal music studies. During 6–9 June 2023, the International Society for Metal Music Studies held its 6th Biennial Research Conference in Montreal, Canada. The event was organized by Dr Vivek Venkatesh and his team at Concordia University. The issue’s main section includes five articles addressing the topics of stadium rock, the identity construction of famous metal guitarists, the idea of heaviness, symphonic metal’s appropriation of the Baroque, and the creation of a metal scene in Bandung, Indonesia. The issue includes reviews for books on references to Nazism in popular music, the visual dimensions of metal battle jackets, and Mercyful Fate’s 1984 album Don’t Break the Oath.
在一个活跃的夏天之后，第9.2期看到了金属音乐研究领域的光明。2023年6月6日至9日，国际金属音乐研究学会在加拿大蒙特利尔召开了第六届双年研究会议。这次活动由康考迪亚大学的Vivek Venkatesh博士和他的团队组织。这期杂志的主要部分包括五篇文章，讨论了体育场摇滚、著名金属吉他手的身份建构、沉重的概念、交响乐金属对巴洛克风格的借鉴，以及印度尼西亚万隆金属场景的创造。这期杂志包括对流行音乐中涉及纳粹主义的书籍的评论，金属战斗夹克的视觉维度，以及mercy Fate 1984年的专辑《Don 't Break The Oath》。
{"title":"Editorial","authors":"Nelson Varas-Díaz, Nedim Hassan, Ross Hagen, Niall Scott","doi":"10.1386/mms_00102_2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/mms_00102_2","url":null,"abstract":"Issue 9.2 sees the light following an active summer for the field of metal music studies. During 6–9 June 2023, the International Society for Metal Music Studies held its 6th Biennial Research Conference in Montreal, Canada. The event was organized by Dr Vivek Venkatesh and his team at Concordia University. The issue’s main section includes five articles addressing the topics of stadium rock, the identity construction of famous metal guitarists, the idea of heaviness, symphonic metal’s appropriation of the Baroque, and the creation of a metal scene in Bandung, Indonesia. The issue includes reviews for books on references to Nazism in popular music, the visual dimensions of metal battle jackets, and Mercyful Fate’s 1984 album Don’t Break the Oath.","PeriodicalId":36868,"journal":{"name":"Metal Music Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48244269","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Since its inception, metal music has been on a quest for greater heaviness. However, despite its fundamental relevance to the genre, what actually makes metal music perceptually ‘heavy’ is still poorly understood. This article examines the musical, performative and production features that contribute to the heaviness of Lorna Shore’s ‘To the Hellfire’, Loudwire magazine’s metal song of the year 2021. The musicological analysis is supported by rich data from the provider Nail the Mix (NTM): the song’s original multi-track recordings; a Q&A and live mix session with the EP’s producer, Josh Schroeder, and community discussion in NTM’s Facebook group. The findings suggest that the song’s heaviness is mainly provided as a result of sonic weight, harmonic distortion, hyperreal performances, disruption and unpredictability, contrast and dynamic development towards a climax. Musically, blending metal subgenres to increase heaviness is deemed beneficial, and concerning production, automated and dynamic processing responsive to musical structures and performances is highlighted.
自成立以来，金属音乐一直在追求更大的厚重感。然而，尽管它与流派有着根本的相关性，但究竟是什么让金属音乐在感知上“沉重”，人们仍然知之甚少。这篇文章探讨了洛娜·肖尔（Lorna Shore）的《致地狱之火》（to the Hellfire）的音乐、表演和制作特点，这首歌是Loudwire杂志2021年度金属歌曲。音乐学分析得到了来自提供商Nail The Mix（NTM）的丰富数据的支持：歌曲的原始多音轨录音；与EP制作人Josh Schroeder进行问答和现场混音，并在NTM的Facebook群组中进行社区讨论。研究结果表明，这首歌的沉重感主要是由于声音的重量、谐波失真、超真实的表演、破坏性和不可预测性、对比度和向高潮的动态发展。在音乐上，混合金属亚流派以增加厚重感被认为是有益的，在制作方面，强调了对音乐结构和表演的自动化和动态处理。
{"title":"Lorna Shore’s ‘To the Hellfire’: A study in heaviness","authors":"Jan Herbst, M. Mynett","doi":"10.1386/mms_00105_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/mms_00105_1","url":null,"abstract":"Since its inception, metal music has been on a quest for greater heaviness. However, despite its fundamental relevance to the genre, what actually makes metal music perceptually ‘heavy’ is still poorly understood. This article examines the musical, performative and production features that contribute to the heaviness of Lorna Shore’s ‘To the Hellfire’, Loudwire magazine’s metal song of the year 2021. The musicological analysis is supported by rich data from the provider Nail the Mix (NTM): the song’s original multi-track recordings; a Q&A and live mix session with the EP’s producer, Josh Schroeder, and community discussion in NTM’s Facebook group. The findings suggest that the song’s heaviness is mainly provided as a result of sonic weight, harmonic distortion, hyperreal performances, disruption and unpredictability, contrast and dynamic development towards a climax. Musically, blending metal subgenres to increase heaviness is deemed beneficial, and concerning production, automated and dynamic processing responsive to musical structures and performances is highlighted.","PeriodicalId":36868,"journal":{"name":"Metal Music Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49356906","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Review of: Heavy Metal Armour: A Visual Study of Battle Jackets, Thomas Cardwell (2022) Bristol: Intellect Ltd, 248 pp., ISBN 978-1-78938-537-3, h/bk, £35.00
{"title":"Heavy Metal Armour: A Visual Study of Battle Jackets, Thomas Cardwell (2022)","authors":"Jan-Martijn Meij","doi":"10.1386/mms_00109_5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/mms_00109_5","url":null,"abstract":"Review of: Heavy Metal Armour: A Visual Study of Battle Jackets, Thomas Cardwell (2022)\u0000 Bristol: Intellect Ltd, 248 pp.,\u0000 ISBN 978-1-78938-537-3, h/bk, £35.00","PeriodicalId":36868,"journal":{"name":"Metal Music Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42294659","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
How and why did the lead guitarist as trickster become a trope of 1970s stadium rock? Rock and roll and its interpretation were influenced by blackface minstrelsy, African American Signifying, and European traditions of foolery, all featuring quasi-demonic, protean figures who amuse, challenge, subvert, shock, but from the margins – eternally shifty, ambiguous antagonists who ‘play’ on paradoxes of rock mythology: (non-)conformity, (in)articulacy and power(lessness). In the increasingly theatrical, spectacular arena of 1970s stadium/hard rock/metal, the trickster guitarist signified as part of a homosocial rock group, as a version of the Signifying Monkey or blues trickster and as an echo of minstrelsy. The essay seeks to understand onstage performances as dramatic spectacles marked by ‘trinary’, competitive, Signifying/mocking, homosocial relationships between trickster lead guitarists, singers and their audiences. These conflicts can also be read as exemplifying the postmodern ambiguity that Lawrence Grossberg identifies in the 1970s rock formation, via consideration of the singer as Logos (heroic voice) and trickster guitarist as mockery of the same. Examples are Angus Young (AC/DC) and Rick Nielsen (Cheap Trick). In conclusion, I argue that punk rock rendered tricksters temporarily redundant by making their trickery ubiquitous, although, thanks to generic/audience fragmentation and the ubiquity of classic rock, they continue to this day.
{"title":"Joker to the thief: Trickster guitarists in 1970s stadium rock","authors":"Matthew Bannister","doi":"10.1386/mms_00103_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/mms_00103_1","url":null,"abstract":"How and why did the lead guitarist as trickster become a trope of 1970s stadium rock? Rock and roll and its interpretation were influenced by blackface minstrelsy, African American Signifying, and European traditions of foolery, all featuring quasi-demonic, protean figures who amuse, challenge, subvert, shock, but from the margins – eternally shifty, ambiguous antagonists who ‘play’ on paradoxes of rock mythology: (non-)conformity, (in)articulacy and power(lessness). In the increasingly theatrical, spectacular arena of 1970s stadium/hard rock/metal, the trickster guitarist signified as part of a homosocial rock group, as a version of the Signifying Monkey or blues trickster and as an echo of minstrelsy. The essay seeks to understand onstage performances as dramatic spectacles marked by ‘trinary’, competitive, Signifying/mocking, homosocial relationships between trickster lead guitarists, singers and their audiences. These conflicts can also be read as exemplifying the postmodern ambiguity that Lawrence Grossberg identifies in the 1970s rock formation, via consideration of the singer as Logos (heroic voice) and trickster guitarist as mockery of the same. Examples are Angus Young (AC/DC) and Rick Nielsen (Cheap Trick). In conclusion, I argue that punk rock rendered tricksters temporarily redundant by making their trickery ubiquitous, although, thanks to generic/audience fragmentation and the ubiquity of classic rock, they continue to this day.","PeriodicalId":36868,"journal":{"name":"Metal Music Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42585267","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Review of: Don’t Break the Oath, Henrik Marstal (2022) London: Bloomsbury, 152 pp., ISBN 978-1-50135-438-0, h/bk, £60.00 ISBN 978-1-50135-437-3, p/bk, £16.99 ISBN 978-1-50135-439-7, e-book, £15.29
《不要打破诺言》书评，Henrik Marstal(2022)，伦敦:Bloomsbury出版社，152页，ISBN 978-1-50135-438-0, h/bk，£60.00 ISBN 978-1-50135-437-3, p/bk，£16.99 ISBN 978-1-50135-439-7，电子书，£15.29
{"title":"Don’t Break the Oath, Henrik Marstal (2022)","authors":"Wolf-Georg Zaddach","doi":"10.1386/mms_00110_5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/mms_00110_5","url":null,"abstract":"Review of: Don’t Break the Oath, Henrik Marstal (2022)\u0000 London: Bloomsbury, 152 pp.,\u0000 ISBN 978-1-50135-438-0, h/bk, £60.00\u0000 ISBN 978-1-50135-437-3, p/bk, £16.99\u0000 ISBN 978-1-50135-439-7, e-book, £15.29","PeriodicalId":36868,"journal":{"name":"Metal Music Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48790242","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Z. Alkatiri, Mochamad Aviandy, Fajar Muhammad Nugraha, Hawe Setiawan, Melisa Indriana Putri
Social segregation in Bandung, Indonesia, is the primary cause of stratification of youths in the city’s northern, southern and eastern regions. As a region filled with colonial legacy and inhabited by the upper-middle class, northern Bandung is equipped with infrastructures for youth activities. Southern and eastern Bandung, on the other hand, carries an image of rather undeveloped regions. This social, political and economic background has prompted Bandung youths to compete among each other, specifically in terms of expressing their identity through music. In particular, youths from Ujung Berung express their identity through metal music due to the genre’s perceived capability of conveying youth aspirations, marginality and identity expression in public space. Through djent and headbanging, these youths held onto a do-it-yourself (DIY) ethos to fight against political and capital-related power. Nonetheless, as the movement developed, these youths failed to compete with the capital of major record labels. With these issues as a background, this article aims to examine the youths’ rally against the power of politics and capital. We assume that their resistance against the contestation of identity space in 2010–22 Bandung consists of four layers. Based on the data we gathered during observation, we argue that the youths’ resistance was rather a pseudo act which granted them mobility to a higher social status. This article is a result of a six-month qualitative research project conducted from June to November 2022 in Bandung. The data were gathered from various relevant sources, including books, articles, media social news coverage and other internet sources. In addition, twelve informants actively involved in the Bandung metal scene were interviewed. A cultural studies approach was taken during the whole process of observation and analysis of the aforementioned data and phenomena.
{"title":"A pseudo-rebellion: Ujung Berung metalheads in the contestation of identity space in Bandung, 2010–22","authors":"Z. Alkatiri, Mochamad Aviandy, Fajar Muhammad Nugraha, Hawe Setiawan, Melisa Indriana Putri","doi":"10.1386/mms_00107_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/mms_00107_1","url":null,"abstract":"Social segregation in Bandung, Indonesia, is the primary cause of stratification of youths in the city’s northern, southern and eastern regions. As a region filled with colonial legacy and inhabited by the upper-middle class, northern Bandung is equipped with infrastructures for youth activities. Southern and eastern Bandung, on the other hand, carries an image of rather undeveloped regions. This social, political and economic background has prompted Bandung youths to compete among each other, specifically in terms of expressing their identity through music. In particular, youths from Ujung Berung express their identity through metal music due to the genre’s perceived capability of conveying youth aspirations, marginality and identity expression in public space. Through djent and headbanging, these youths held onto a do-it-yourself (DIY) ethos to fight against political and capital-related power. Nonetheless, as the movement developed, these youths failed to compete with the capital of major record labels. With these issues as a background, this article aims to examine the youths’ rally against the power of politics and capital. We assume that their resistance against the contestation of identity space in 2010–22 Bandung consists of four layers. Based on the data we gathered during observation, we argue that the youths’ resistance was rather a pseudo act which granted them mobility to a higher social status. This article is a result of a six-month qualitative research project conducted from June to November 2022 in Bandung. The data were gathered from various relevant sources, including books, articles, media social news coverage and other internet sources. In addition, twelve informants actively involved in the Bandung metal scene were interviewed. A cultural studies approach was taken during the whole process of observation and analysis of the aforementioned data and phenomena.","PeriodicalId":36868,"journal":{"name":"Metal Music Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46012229","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Although black metal would reach international notoriety with the actions of Varg Vikernes, who murdered his friend and fellow musician Øystein ‘Euronymous’ Aarseth in 1993, the foundation of the genre’s violent, misanthropic image was set several years earlier by the Swedish vocalist of Mayhem, Per ‘Dead’ Ohlin, whose onstage penchant for self-harm and eventual gruesome suicide earned him almost mythical status within the realm of metal music. The fact that Dead’s influence on metal music has remained so strong in the 30 years following his suicide has significant artistic implications, especially considering that he never managed to record a studio album with his band. Although Dead’s suicide colours his self-harm with obvious elements of mental illness and trauma, his role as an artist warrants a deeper analysis of his onstage theatrics, viewing them from the perspective of intense devotion to his art. By reading Dead’s artistic endeavours within the context of performance art involving self-harm, his actions become an aesthetic expression of that pain, which, when combined with the atmosphere of the music and his lyrics, creates an intense portrait of Dead’s quest for an expressive outlet in his performance. Dead’s self-inflicted performative violence echoes the work of pioneering artists such as Chris Burden, Yoko Ono and Marina Abramovic, and although Dead undoubtedly suffered from serious mental illness, viewing his self-harm alongside other visceral artistic expressions of pain and trauma helps refigure his aesthetic contributions to black metal as a unique synthesis of destruction and creation.
{"title":"Pure fucking art: Self-harm and performance art in Per ‘Dead’ Ohlin’s musical legacy","authors":"Joshua Carey","doi":"10.1386/mms_00096_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/mms_00096_1","url":null,"abstract":"Although black metal would reach international notoriety with the actions of Varg Vikernes, who murdered his friend and fellow musician Øystein ‘Euronymous’ Aarseth in 1993, the foundation of the genre’s violent, misanthropic image was set several years earlier by the Swedish vocalist of Mayhem, Per ‘Dead’ Ohlin, whose onstage penchant for self-harm and eventual gruesome suicide earned him almost mythical status within the realm of metal music. The fact that Dead’s influence on metal music has remained so strong in the 30 years following his suicide has significant artistic implications, especially considering that he never managed to record a studio album with his band. Although Dead’s suicide colours his self-harm with obvious elements of mental illness and trauma, his role as an artist warrants a deeper analysis of his onstage theatrics, viewing them from the perspective of intense devotion to his art. By reading Dead’s artistic endeavours within the context of performance art involving self-harm, his actions become an aesthetic expression of that pain, which, when combined with the atmosphere of the music and his lyrics, creates an intense portrait of Dead’s quest for an expressive outlet in his performance. Dead’s self-inflicted performative violence echoes the work of pioneering artists such as Chris Burden, Yoko Ono and Marina Abramovic, and although Dead undoubtedly suffered from serious mental illness, viewing his self-harm alongside other visceral artistic expressions of pain and trauma helps refigure his aesthetic contributions to black metal as a unique synthesis of destruction and creation.","PeriodicalId":36868,"journal":{"name":"Metal Music Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43401926","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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