Is Metal Truly A Bad Influence?

I routinely get questions from non metal fans that sound something like this:  “How can you stand all the negativity that metal portrays?” My usual response is something like: “I don’t know where you got your information on metal but it’s not all negative.” Sure, metal is aggressive and angry a lot of the time, but what is wrong with that? I would rather people have an outlet for the anger and frustration they have pent up inside then have them venting that frustration in violent ways against innocent and unsuspecting victims. I have been in plenty of mosh pits where people were slamming into each other and going crazy but if someone falls down everything stops until that person is back on their feet, in fact I would say that is more the norm than the exception.

I recently went out and bought Suicide Silence’s latest release entitled “The Black Crown” after being introduced to their music at Mayhem Fest. I was stoked to find that the main theme of the album is that if you are not happy with your life and the world around you then get off your couch and go out there and do what you can to affect change. The lyrical themes range from lead singer Mitch Lucker’s personal demons and how he has worked through them, as displayed on “Witness the Addiction”, to rally cries to get people to step up and take hold of their lives, as displayed on “You Only Live Once” and “Smashed.”  This album is a perfect example of the greatness of metal, it fully acknowledges the crap we all deal with on a day to day basis but instead of embracing it and giving in to it Lucker calls us to be bigger than the crap, to stand up against it and defeat it. He calls us to stop complaining about the stuff we detest and get out and do something to change the world! Now how is that a bad influence?

Most people have a hard time understanding the draw of metal music; they say it’s too loud or that much aggression is unhealthy. I wholeheartedly disagree and the quote that has really encompassed my feelings on metal music and why it speaks to me is from Ryan Clark, the lead singer of the Seattle-based metal band Demon Hunter:

I have just clung to heavy music from a very young age. As a male I think it fulfills so part of my inner workings to be able to express some kind of angst or anger or frustration. It's also just a passionate way to get your point across, to share your mindset. Not every song is about something I detest or about some problem that I have with someone or myself or anything like that. Some songs are very positive, but it's all about the heart behind it and heavy music is a great platform for something really heavy-hearted. Even though it's hard for a lot of people to understand I think young people really cling to it because it rings a little truer when you are able to put a little back bone into it.

-Ryan Clark from the Demon Hunter tour DVD entitled “45 Days”

The part I love about Ryan’s quote is that he explains that not every song is angst ridden or negative but heavy music is great for portraying something that is heavy-hearted in nature, be that positive or negative emotion. I for one have found a lot of solace in metal music, it gave me a great deal of hope to know there were other people out there that felt the same angst and frustration with life and were willing to vent it in a constructive and often positive way. Before I found metal I was prone to lash out in very negative ways, the reason I did this was because I knew of no other way to release the rising aggressive emotion I was feeling inside. Now if I feel that anger and frustration building I crank up the metal and head bang until the negativity is gone. 

I can honestly say I don’t know where I would be today if I had never discovered hard music but I know it wouldn’t be pretty. I am not trying to say that everyone should listen to metal because god knows I don’t want to be subjected to all styles of music out there, I just wish people wouldn’t look down on metal fans as somehow beneath them just because the like to vent their anger. If you don’t like it because it’s not your cup of tea that’s cool, but please stop spreading the lies that metal is a bad influence because it’s not! Until next time, Rock On!

-Clay