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Heavy Metal Music, Culture and Philosophy FAQ (Intro)


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Archive-name: heavy-metal/intro
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Last-Modified: 16-Mar-06

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          Heavy Metal FAQ:
          Introduction to Metal Music and Culture

Archive name: Frequently Answered Questions (FAQ) about Metal
FAQ Name: Introduction to Metal
Author: Hessian Studies Center (http://www.hessian.org/)
WWW: http://www.anus.com/metal/about/faq/

Version: 0.2
---
Newsgroups:
   Core: Periodic posting
      alt.rock-n-roll.metal, alt.rock-n-roll.metal.heavy,
      alt.rock-n-roll.metal.death, alt.music.black-metal, alt.thrash,
      alt.rock-n-roll.progressive, alt.fan.metal, alt.music.slayer,
      alt.music.underground.metal.death, alt.music.underground.metal
   Associated: Infrequest Posting
      alt.fan.metal, alt.rock-n-roll.metal.black,
      alt.rock-n-roll.metal.doom, alt.music.alternative,
      alt.fan.metal.{burzum|graveland|suffocation|demilich}
   Deprecated but occasional posting (intoxication)
      alt.music.black-metal.nazi,alt.homosexuality.death-metal

Introduction: This periodically posted article is designed as an
introduction to metal music (heavy metal, death metal, speed metal,
black metal, thrash, grindcore, ambient metal) by way of an
examination of the subculture which has produced this very distinctive
music for three generations. It includes but is not limited to:
history of metal music, philosophies of metal, metal musicians, metal
newsgroups, events, CD and tshirts purchasing, Hessian experiences.

Summary: This FAQ explores the development of heavy metal as a musical
movement through theory and ideology, the primary influences on its
growth, which seeks to overcome the negative through an existential
nihilism that leads to self motivated philosophies, a transformation
rooted in the self-dependent mythos of the culture and its association
with occultist post-moral behavioral structures. Metal as a pattern
of thought is a rebellion within postmodern ideology from structured
cyclicism to structuralist dynamicism, effectively extending the
principles of modernism to a post-relativity universe through a focus
on transcendental kineticism, individual participation in postmoral
experience, and chaotic mass destruction; it could be called an
information systems theory approach. Similarly the revolution in
music theory from metal is the extension of harmony from cyclic
theatricism (wagnerianism) into melody for artistic, pure, complex
experimentation. Subcultural genres such as metal are one of the few
ways postmodern and existential thought enter mainstream
life, as a meta-theory to politics and sociology.

About this FAQ: This FAQ is designed to answer questions ranging from
the purely quantitative to the metaphysical, and as such is divided
into four sections, of which the first one (I) is a loosely organized
collection of known questions and answers, the II and III are
analysis, and IV represents some attempt to categorize the genre as it
exists in shared virtual spaces.

Authorship: The Hessian Studies Center task group is part of an
organization dedicated to exploring and documenting metal as a
subculture and ideology. They can be found online at:
   Hessian Studies Center  http://www.hessian.org/
   Dark Legions archive    http://www.anus.com/metal/
   Grindcore Dept          http://www.grindcore.org/
   KCUF Metal Radio        http://www.kcuf.com/
   Death Metal Institute   http://www.deathmetal.org/

[ An up-to-date TEXT copy of this article may be found via http to
http://www.anus.com/metal/about/faq. ]

A. Meta-Outline

I. Frequently Answered Questions
   I. Procurement
   II. Ideology
   III. Music Making
   IV. Scene Inbreeding
   V. Overheard
   VI. About this FAQ
II. Metal as concept
   I. Music
   II. Culture
   III. Ideas
   IV. Applicability
III. Metal as physical manifestation
   I. Concerts
   II. Recordings
   III. Production
   IV. Gear
IV. Metal as virtual community
   I. Newsgroups
   II. Email Lists
   III. WWW
   IV. People
   V. AE's


B. Total Outline

   I. Frequently Answered Questions (Granular)
      1.1 Procurement
         1.1.1 how to find?
         1.1.2 distribution
         1.1.3 trading
      1.2 Ideology
         1.2.1 black metal crimes
         1.2.2 theology
         1.2.3 fascism
         1.2.4 christianity
         1.2.5 suicide/slayer lyrics?
         1.2.6 black metal disputes
         1.2.7 Research list
      1.3 Music making
         1.3.1 technique
            1.3.1.1 Blast Beats
            1.3.1.2 Fast strum
            1.3.1.3 Double bass
            1.3.1.4 Harmonics
         1.3.2 production
         1.3.3 as cultural event
      1.4 Scene inbreeding
         1.4.1 closed minded
         1.4.2 too serious
         1.4.3 connection to music
      1.5 Frequently Overheard Questions
         1.5.1 general public
            1.5.1.1 emperor/enslaved tracks
            1.5.1.2 swedish distortion
            1.5.1.3 blast beats
            1.5.1.4 discographies
            1.5.1.5 current prison totals
            1.5.1.6 origin of name "heavy metal"
         1.5.2 "intellectuals"
            see section II.
         1.5.3 totally granular
            1.5.3.1 drinking blood
            1.5.3.2 fire-breathing
            1.5.3.3 sodomy
      1.6 About this FAQ?
         1.6.1 authorship
         1.6.2 contributorship
         1.6.3 design
         1.6.4 affiliated sites

   II. Metal as abstract concept
      2.1 Music
         2.1.1 Sound
            2.1.1.1 Downtuned
            2.1.1.2 Convergent rhythms
            2.1.1.3 Tone centric
            2.1.1.4 Abstract
            2.1.1.5 Minimalist
         2.1.2 Theory
            2.1.2.1 Technique --> Structure
            2.1.2.2 Melody --> Harmony
            2.1.2.3 Tonality --> Dynamicism
            2.1.2.4 Chaotic
               2.1.2.4.1 Heisenbergian Chaos
               2.1.2.4.3 Relativism --> Dynamicism
               2.1.2.4.4 Absolutism --> Structure, Melody
         2.1.3 Genre
            2.1.3.1 Proto-metal
            2.1.3.2 Heavy metal
               2.1.3.2.1 "Black metal"
               2.1.3.2.2 "Doom Metal"
               2.1.3.2.3 "Power metal"
            2.1.3.3 Speed metal
            2.1.3.4 Thrash
            2.1.3.5 Death metal
            2.1.3.6 Black metal(2)
            2.1.3.7 Grindcore
            2.1.3.8 Ambient metal
            2.1.3.9 Styles and crossovers
               2.1.3.9.1 doom metal
               2.1.3.9.2 industrial
               2.1.3.9.3 black metal(1)
               2.1.3.9.4 power metal
               2.1.3.9.5 speed/death crossover
      2.2 Culture
         2.2.1 Meta-Rebellion
         2.2.2 Practical Implementation of Metaphorical Complexity
            2.2.2.1 Mythos
               2.2.2.1.1 Culture Mythos
               2.2.2.1.2 Subculture Mythos
               2.2.2.3 Living after Midnight
                  2.2.2.1 Activities
                  2.2.2.2 Intoxicants
                  2.2.2.3 Events
                  2.2.2.4 Dialogues
               2.2.2.4 Language
                  2.2.5.1 Relation to human animal
                  2.2.5.1.1 Gender pronouns
                  2.2.5.1.2 Self-reference
                  2.2.5.1.3 Abstract
      2.3 Ideology
         2.3.1 Ideals
            2.3.1.1 Romanticist
            2.3.1.2 Existentialist
            2.3.1.3 Postmodernist
            2.3.1.4 Mysticism
            2.3.1.5 Shamanism
            2.3.1.6 Nihilism
            2.3.1.7 Organicism
            2.3.1.8 Naturalism
            2.3.1.9 Individualism
         2.3.2 Influences
            2.3.2.1 Ideologies
               2.3.2.1 Rationalism
               2.3.2.2 Autonomism
               2.3.2.3 Existentialism
               2.3.2.4 Buddhism
               2.3.2.5 Classicism
               2.3.2.6 Structuralism
               2.3.2.7 Transcendentalist
            2.3.2.2 Thinkers
               2.3.3.2.2.1 Nietzsche
               2.3.3.2.2.2 Kant
               2.3.3.2.2.3 Deleuze
               2.3.3.2.2.4 Morrison
               2.3.3.2.2.5 Hitler
               2.3.3.2.2.6 Burroughs
               2.3.3.2.2.7 Blake
               2.3.3.2.2.8 Poe
            2.3.2.3 Counterculture
               2.3.2.3.1 Hippie
               2.3.3.1.5 Beat
               2.3.3.3.3 Biker
               2.3.3.1.6 Punk
               2.3.3.1.7 Horror Films
               2.3.3.1.8 Drugs
               2.3.3.1.9 Fascism
            2.3.2.4 History
            2.3.2.5 Drugs
            2.3.2.6 Natural Transcendentalism
         2.3.4 Methods
            2.3.4.1 Metaphor
               2.3.4.1.1 metapatterning: comparing event to whole
               2.3.4.1.2 subconscious communication
               2.3.4.1.3 more complex than symbology of quantitative
            2.3.4.2 Metacognitive thinking
               2.3.4.2.1 Fantasies
               2.3.4.2.2 Structure
               2.3.4.2.3 Autonomism
               2.3.4.2.4 Will
               2.3.4.2.5 Inertia
            2.3.4.3 Postmodernism
               2.3.4.3.1 Aesthetic
               2.3.4.3.2 Structure
               2.3.4.3.3 Artistry
               2.3.4.3.4 Philosophy
               2.3.4.3.5 Presence
            2.3.4.4 Cultural individualism
               2.3.4.4.1 Identity
               2.3.4.4.2 Ideology
               2.3.4.4.3 Politics
               2.3.4.4.4 Spiritualism
               2.3.4.4.5 History
         2.3.5 Events
            2.3.5.1 Atomic bomb
            2.3.5.2 Viet Nam
            2.3.5.3 Reaganification
            2.3.5.3 End of Cold War
            2.3.5.4 Internet
            2.3.5.5 Millenium
      2.4 Applicability
         2.4.1 Musically
            2.4.1.1 Heavy music
            2.4.1.2 Psychedelic/ambient
            2.4.1.3 Experimental violent
            2.4.1.4 Grunge
         2.4.2 Aesthetically
            2.4.1.1 Degraded
            2.4.1.2 Stark
            2.4.1.3 Structural
         2.4.3 Philosophically
            2.4.3.1 Hedonism
            2.4.3.2 Nihilism
            2.4.3.3 Romanticism
            2.4.3.4 Politics
         2.4.4 Decryptically
            2.4.4.1 Experiential Conception of Art
            2.4.4.2 Existential Gateway to Darkness

III. Metal as Physical Manifestation

      3.1 Concerts
         3.1.1 Information
            3.1.1.1 List of tour date sites
            3.1.1.2 Band homepage finder
            3.1.1.3 Venues by city
         3.1.2 Attendance
            3.1.2.1 Ear protection
            3.1.2.2 Social interaction
            3.1.2.3 Rules of evidence
         3.1.3 Merchandise
            3.1.3.1 Shirts and prices
            3.1.3.2 CD's
            3.1.3.3 Royalties breakdown
      3.2 Recordings
         3.2.1 Audio
            3.2.1.1 Live
               3.2.1.1.1 Acquisition
               3.2.1.1.2 Resources
            3.2.1.2 Studio
               3.2.1.2.1 Acquisition
               3.2.1.2.2 Resources
         3.2.2 Video
            3.2.2.1 Live
            3.2.2.2 Studio
      3.3 Production
         3.3.1 Techniques
            3.3.1.1 Swedish distortion
            3.3.1.2 Distortion mini-FAQ
            3.3.1.3 Vocal effects
         3.3.2 Studios
            3.3.2.1 Morrisound
            3.3.2.2 Grieghallen
            3.3.2.3 Sunlight
         3.3.3 Producers
            3.3.3.1 Harris Johns
            3.3.3.2 Tomas Skogsberg
            3.3.3.3 Pytten
            3.3.3.4 Tom Morris
            3.3.3.5 Scott Burns
      3.4 Objects
         3.4.1 Gear
            3.4.1.1 Clothing
            3.4.1.2 Patches
            3.4.1.3 Armor
            3.4.1.4 Weapons
         3.4.2 Distribution
            3.4.2.1 labels
            3.4.2.2 mail order
            3.4.2.3 net sales
            3.4.2.4 tape trading
            3.4.2.5 used sales
      3.5 Playing
         3.5.1 Guitar
         3.5.2 Drums
         3.5.3 Bass
         3.5.4 Vocals

   IV. Metal as virtual community

      4.1 Newsgroups
         4.1.1 extant groups
         4.1.2 history
         4.1.3 suggested futures
         4.1.4 etiquette/ethos
         4.1.5 objective communication
      4.2 Other net resources
         4.2.1 WWW
         4.2.2 IRC
         4.2.3 ICQ
         4.2.4 Email lists
      4.3 People
         4.3.1 Who listens to metal?
         4.3.2  How to find metal fans?
      4.4 Bands
         4.4.1 Listings
         4.4.2 Approaching
      4.5 AE's
         4.5.1 Metal AE

NOTE: Not responsible for reader _reactions_ to the contents or
implications of this FAQ.

================================================================

(c) Copyright 1994-2006 Hessian Studies Center @ www.hessian.org

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