In the age of Obama, will heavy metal suck again?
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I am a heavy metal fanatic. Well, I suppose I should say that I was a heavy metal fanatic when I could afford to be a fanatic about something other than library books. I recognize there is a rather stark contradiction between my conservative beliefs and demeanor, and my impulse to remove the sleeves from all my t-shirts, headbang to the point of whiplash, and air guitar until dawn. I can’t read Richard Weaver’s description of his era’s popular music (jazz was “a triumph of grotesque, even hysterical, emotion over propriety and reasonableness.”) without getting a little uncomfortable. If he hated jazz, I’d rather not hear his opinion of melodic death metal.
My CD collection required an update because long car rides require distorted guitars, and I was about to embark on an excellent road trip through Utah, Wyoming and Idaho. Before leaving, I decided it was time to buy some new music; my own collection has stagnated since I left the Beltway and began my penurious life as a PhD student. I was not particularly optimistic when I recently started looking for new bands, and assumed I would have to order off the internet anything worth buying. To my surprise, a substantial number of really good albums were released in the final years of the Bush administration and were available at Best Buy. This spurred an examination of my own collection, leading to an epiphany: during the last 30 years or so, the popularity of good, fun metal was associated with Republican electoral strength. Although I was pleased to finally have a good reason to support one of the major political parties, it saddens me to think that the apparently permanent Democratic majority will lead to the genre’s demise.
(A sidenote: were I writing this post about ten years ago, this is the paragraph where I would pretend I enjoyed Dark Funeral, or some other icon of extreme metal, in order to avoid being castigated on some metal forum for only liking wimpy, mainstream metal that in no way “hails.” Alas, I don’t really care for the stuff, and am no longer perturbed by such criticisms. Perhaps this is a sign of nascent maturity on my part.)
Headbangers are notorious for creating “rules” for heavy metal. I have only two: heavy metal should be fun, and a self-indulgent guitar solo is always a good thing. During the 1980s, these rules followed religiously by popular metal acts. Then, as Reagan’s time in office came to an end, things began to go horribly wrong.
Grunge acts like Nirvana and Alice in Chains brought the demise of glam (hair) metal. This was not necessarily a negative development, as hair metal had become utterly buffoonish by the end of the 1980s. Unfortunately, when hair metal fell victim to its own excesses, it was not immediately replaced by anything good. During the first years of the Clinton Administration, it appeared that most Americans were finished with heavy metal.
The metal that found a mainstream audience a few years later was unrecognizable from that which prevailed a decade earlier. “Nu Metal,” which was really just hip-hop and funk combined with electric guitars, can barely be described as metal at all. Heavy metal lyrics also took a strange turn. Whereas popular metal was previously about cheap beer, loose women, and unnecessary brawls, metal lyrics in the 1990s were dominated by very different themes: whining about high-school bullies and whining about strict parents. See every Korn song ever written for examples. As far as I’m concerned, heavy metal was better off dead.
I see now that things largely turned around by the middle of the Bush years. Ozzfest 2001 (which I had to drive eight hours in my clunker in order to attend) represented Nu Metal’s high water mark, with rap-metal acts such as Slipknot, Papa Roach, Linkin Park, and Crazy Town on the main stage. Almost immediately thereafter, Nu Metal began a welcome decline. By 2005, Ozzfest was headlined by Iron Maiden, which represented a triumphant return to roots.
My most recent investigation into the last several year’s popular metal revealed a tremendous amount of really good albums, mostly by European bands. Dragonforce, which is clearly influenced by popular 80s metal, is one of the most entertaining metal acts I’ve ever encountered and has enjoyed much-deserved commercial success in the United States. Epic power metal acts like Nightwish also found a large American audience. Bands like Sister Sin sound more like Motorhead than Papa Roach. Ronnie James Dio and Judas Priest (with Rob Halford back in the band) were again headlining major North American tours. I am less thrilled with most of the new American bands, but even popular American “metal-core” music is pretty good — though much of it sounds ripped off from what In Flames and other Swedish bands were writing fifteen years ago.
There has also been a decine in the puerile satanism that once dominated metal lyrics. I wish I could ascribe this to an increased reverence for Christianity. I think it more likely that anti-Christian themes have waned because Christianity itself has waned; the number of people who can plausibly claim that Christianity oppressed them is now so small that songs on that subject no longer have much of an audience. Lately, when good metal deals with religious themes at all, it is usually advancing some variety of chest-thumping paganism.
I don’t really have a good explanation for why America’s taste in metal seems to change along with the nation’s political trends. One possibility is due to the fact that both heavy metal and the Republican Party are primarily favored by white men (which is not to say that everyone who likes one will also like the other). A Democrat in the White House suggests that the political and cultural power of white guys is on the decline, and the political tastes of American white guys may change accordingly. This results in either efforts to shed a little bit of their “whiteness” (hence the hip-hoppification of metal in the Clinton years), or outright despair (hence the glut of popular songs during that same period that can only be enjoyed by the type of people who cut themselves in the dark). If this is true, however, it seems similar trends should prevail in country music. This does not appear to be the case (though I admit to knowing hardly anything about country). Perhaps this is because country fans are more confident and comfortable in their own, um, skin.
Whether surges of Republican popularity are good for the nation I leave for another time. I am increasingly convinced, however, that Republican presidents are good for heavy metal. Since we probably won’t have another one of those for a good, long while, we are probably doomed to another long period of crappy metal dominating the ariwaves. This does not appear to have happened yet, but the fact that Limp Bizkit and Primer 55 appear poised to release new albums seems to confirm this intuition.
Had I recognized this trend a year ago, maybe I would have voted for McCain.
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This is the most important thing ever written for The American Conservative.
Very insightful, I can only hope you are wrong.
Heck yeah it is! This is an excellent post! A+++++++!
You mentioned European bands – it’s possible to say that great metal never left Europe. Well, they never had Democrats. At any rate, “The Death of the West” thesis is false in the context of metal. Europe is absolutely carry the torch for the culture, imagining and executing all kinds of great new ideas that stay true to core principles, while America obviously falls behind and staggers off into new forms that don’t represent real progress. Not to mention, there are still people in Italy who un-ironically love Scorpions. Yes! Hang in there, Europe!
Don’t forget Mike Judge’s role in this (obviously an agent for the Democrats).
For all the good things he’s done, he can never be forgiven for destroying popular heavy metal with his cartoon impostors. When Justin Timberlake or Tina Fey or whoever makes devil horns, blame Mike Judge. He destroyed the culture. My fave example: when Beavis and Butthead – whose show frequently preempted Headbanger’s Ball in the early 90s – made fun of a Death video (would anyone who likes metal make fun of Death? Ever?), then danced to a Snoop Dogg video one segment later. Yeah, OK. Buttface turned the culture into a joke. That show was the most egregious case of cultural usurpation to occur in our lifetimes. I want Pat Buchanan to write a book about THAT.
Also, Mike Judge killed the word “butthead”, a good word.
a self-indulgent guitar solo is always a good thing
That’s how I feel about trombones.
What an odd theory, considering the themes of heavy metal are so frequently the polar opposites of conservative values–although the power-metal howls of glory and freedom might have some basis.
Anyways, I’m no conservative, but an insightful message. And hooray for melodic and true metal over rap and nu filth.
[...] In the age of Obama, will heavy metal suck again? American Conservative Magazine “Nu Metal,” which was really just hip-hop and funk combined with electric guitars, can barely be described as metal at all. Heavy metal lyrics also took a … See all stories on this topic [...]
[...] Does a Conservative majority have some kind of chi that powers country music or heavy metal popularity? A conservative blogger thinks the Democratic victory of 2008 will doom metal for good. In a post on American Conservative, blogger George Hawley wrote about how he voted for President Ob… [...]
First off, its nice to see other “Conservatives” who are Metal fans.Not to many of us around. Hell, when I was at this years C-PAC I had my ipod on while I was typing up something. Person next to me asked what I was listening to, told them the new Cannibal Corpse album. You would have thought they just saw the Devil himself.
Interesting points you bring up. And to some extent, you are very right. At the sametime I would only apply this to the more mainstream “Metal” bands. The more underground bands arent all that political so to speak. Sure they touch on some themes, War, Government sucks, things like that.
But to answer the question “Will Metal suck, with Obama in office?” If this years releases mean anything..Lamb of God’s “Wrath”..Cannibal Corpse “Evisceration Plague” ..Behemoth “Evangelion”.. Job for a Cowboy “Ruination” and the EPIC new album from Dream Theater “Black Clouds and Silver Linings”…I dont think metal needs any Political changes to survive.
Infact, if any musical gerne is going to stay strong it will be Metal. \m/
RegurlarRon, you are of course correct that good metal will continue to be released no matter who is in office. Some of my all-time favorite albums were released in the 1990s. My main point was in regard to what kind of metal manages to find a mainstream audience.
I wasn’t surprised that good new stuff was out there, but I was surprised to find so much of it on the shelves at Best Buy, and later to discover that so many of these bands had well-produced music videos. I don’t think good metal will go away, but I am concerned that fewer Americans will listen to it.
Really? Somebody wrote an article about how better music comes out when Republicans run the white house? Right, as if we couldn’t live without all those PHENOMENAL Bon Jovi, Winger, Whitesnake, Warrant, etc. records that emerged during the Reagan / Bush dominated 1980s. Wow.
Of course much of this boils down to personal taste. If you thought nu metal was awesome, then this post makes no sense to you. As for me, I’ll take Bon Jovi (or, better yet, old Metallica) over Hed PE and Incubus any day.
Hair metal was gay. And death metal is a wrong turn off thrash.
The only good metal was from 1980-85, henceforth, the high point of Reganism. It’s been downhill ever since although a band like Wolfmother comes along once and a while who “gets” it.
The rest just doesn’t rock. That’s all one can say.
Alright, I understand now. Sorry I missed that point, just got excited to see someone writing about Metal on my favorite magazines blog.
You know, thinking back on it. I can see why “Hair Metal” did so well in the 80s. It was a prosperous time for a lot of folks, and they were tired of the singer/songwriter crap and Jimmy Carter (Sorry Sean), so in came Motley Crue, Def Leppard and Poison. Nothin but a good time for all.
And with the 90’s nu-metal/crap I can see why. Most of the kids who listen to this were the children of the late 80’s, early 90s MTV. Headbangers Ball to Yo MTV Raps. For some reason Metal got a conscious all of the sudden. And it sucked. (Thank God for Death Metal in the 90s)
But towards the end of the 90s people got real tired of this whiny crap. So, in came Kid Rock, Motley Crue and Poison got back together. Buckcherry hit it big. This has been it for the past 10 years. I think we will see a more Aggressive Metal to become more mainstream.
Now does any of this have to do with the Political winds of change? In a way, sure. When people are doing well, they listen to fun uplifting rock and roll. When people are pissed, bands like Slayer do better.
Politics and Metal. Gotta love it..\m/
Uhm… I agree with the above poster, except I liked death metal in the 90’s and more and more black metal as the decade progressed. So the 90’s where my “golden years” for Metal; of course I entered the decade age 12 and ended it at 22.
But I have been reading Lew Rockwell.com since around ‘00 and also subscribed to the first issues of amconmag. I am becoming more and more of a libertarian/anarchist. Just read the Road to Serfdom for the first time, also.
I don’t know about the christian/conservative angle though. Even though my family is very religious (Reformed Pres. Church), I do not consider myself christian, and have found somethings spiritual in the neo-pagan scene, as well a growing desire to understand the origins of my people, and the great anglo-saxon legal traditions that were bequethed to us. I do believe that Christianity, particulary the catholic church when Islam threatned to overwhelm christendom, was a major pillar or even the cornerstone of our western civilization that our parents and grandparents inherited and we are watching the last vestiges of disappear. Not to mention right-wing christian support of Bush or left-wing christian support of Obama. So I take my heavy metal with a good deal of anti-christian rhetoric, and when I think upon all the end-timers with their fixation for Israel, USA chants, support for endless war abroad, etc… ad naseum… I for one don’t feel bad about it. And I am a heavy metal musician who is about to do a 10 day tour in Europe starting on Sept. 7th, although my band doesn’t do the anti-christian bit.
(I can and do tolerate christians; much as I tolerate anyone who can defend their position rationaly. Hell I voted for Chuck Baldwin. How many “christians” voted for that sinner McCain?)
And let us all hope that in the age of Obama unlike in the age of Clinton hip-hop has seen its heyday!!! I think any fan of “true” metal will support that.
Hmmm…Randy Blythe, the sionger from Lamb of God wondered the same thing, but for different reasons. Metal is rebellious, anti-war and anti-establishment. Blythe asserts that metal (and Punk) was popular in the 80’s and under Bush for the same reason…hatred for the ultra-conformist, ultra-religious and ultra-nationalist strain of conservatism espoused by the GOP. I agree with this analysis and metal might indeed wither under the current admin.
For the poster who makes the excellent point that Europe has managed to maintain an excellent metal scene because they don’t have to deal with the Dem’s….all I can say is this: in Europe the Dems would be a right of center party compared to the true socialist, communist and green parties that have a great deal of clout over there.
Good article though… \m/ !
I’ve noticed something that I think is an alarming trend (it might just be a coincidence, though). . .
The worse our education system performs, the less real education students get, the more popular rap becomes. . .
I just don’t know if rap makes people stupid, or if the undereducated just naturally gravitate toward it. . . I haven’t had the time of financing to do any extended research into the matter
I do know that I can *feel* brain cells die when I’m exposed to that crap. . . .and its an eerie feeling. . .
A good friend of mine put it best – RAP = Retards Attempting Poetry. *EG*
I’ll start with AC/DC and VH, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest. . . a lot of the hair metal I never much cared for until I was in my late 30s-early 40s (gonna be 45 in a few weeks).
Wooo too much metal for one hand!
\mm/
/hey if Democrats bring in ska then bring on the change
[...] know that much. But how will his reign of pinko-ness affect the quality of American heavy metal? Post Right In the age of Obama, will heavy metal suck again? [...]
It’s funny to see this article here as this was somewhat of a worry for me with Obama getting elected. The reason metal does so much better during a Republican administration is easy to point out though. Republicans are typically complete and utter hypocrites who want to shove their own backward moral agenda down your throat. We’ll let Tipper Gore into that crows too. Hypocrisy is spotted fairly easily by younger people. Young people also have a tendency to get pissed and disillusioned but don’t have to skills to channel that into something productive so seek out things like metal. When you having someone telling you you’re going to some miserable hell, and that you’re a piece of crap, and that god hates fags, and you need to find Jesus, and then everyone they look up to gets busted with drugs, hookers, or turn out gay on a regular basis, it’s hard to take them the least bit seriously as rational human beings. Oh, not to mention that starting especially with Reagan that Republicans like to waste our money even faster than Democrats. Republicans can’t win by just making scared overly religious white people afraid of everyone else anymore. What is sad is that most people in this country would really like to have fiscally conservative party. Some people still think Republicans stand for that and some know better. Unfortunately the Libertarian Party seems hell bent on scaring away as many people as they can, not realizing they need to ease people back into freedom rather than campaign on nuking the system overnight. So far though, I’m pretty sure Obama is going to keep metal going strong. The new trend in music and media in general is apocalyptic material. I think the reasons why are obvious.
What has been said about Europe keeping the metal flame alive in the 1990’s is very true. As an 80’s metalhead and traditional conservative, I hated 90’s grunge and was thrilled when the internet came along. It allowed me to learn about great European power-metal bands I had never heard of like Helloween, Gamma Ray and Grave Digger. They played a melodic, sophisticated but aggressive style and had songs which could appeal to a traditional conservative-historical epics and criticism of modern society. Heck, Helloween did the most powerful “Christian metal” song ever on their 1998 album Better Than Raw. The cool thing is its in Latin! Metal can be a very conservative genre of music in many ways, an idea I’m sure surprizing to older members of our brood. But, its true.
Agreed, Europe has some very good metal still…. refer to bands like Amon Amarth. Even some bands like ‘doom’ metal band Tristania have lost their emoness. And Rhapsody of Fire (formerly known as Rhapsody) is simply amazing epic melodic fantasy metal.
However, there are some Christian metal bands that are worth listening to…. Living Sacrifice, which has a very dark, almost black metal sound at times…. Demon Hunter, who are a metalcore band, had some very sucky rappish lyrics until about their third album, The Triptych, which had a more pure metal sound… and The Great Commision, a comparitivley new band that actually plays “Heavy freaking worship” (I.E. lyrics like “The Way, the Truth, the Life”… sung in death metal style.)
However, bands like Godsmack do seem a bit… weak compared to the old…
However, hopefully, Christian metal and bands like Amon Amarth will still thrive, even if (as some liberals treat him) Our Father Who Art In The White House, Obama, IS in power.
Well looking at this year’s releases so far I don’t think so. Metal in the US is taking a turn towards experimentation. Sunn 0))), who I originally found to be very boring and inaccessable, just released one of the best metal albums of the year with Monoliths and Demensions. You have Nadja and Pyramids, two of the best ambient metal bands, collaborating on what should be an amazing album. Slayer, the only one of the big four thrash metal bands who don’t suck, are releasing an album and from the few songs I’ve heard it’s pretty solid. Then you have Pelican who are just so fucking good. Wolves in the Throne Room’s latest album was good. I think Metal will continue to flourish even though Obama is in power as long as the wars are still going.
I don’t see much to disagree with as to the central thesis: I’ve always thought of Heavy Metal to more of a right-wing political form. To be sure, Metal doesn’t really have much of a political slant, but to the extent there is one, it’s decidedly not left-wing.
All the hippy nonsense of the ’60s — and all it’s awful leftish love-in tripe. In fact there have been accusations that Metal acts had a fascistic aspect to it, with imagery and dark subject matter. While fascism has nothing to do with conservatism, they do both reject this one-world U.N. sort of mentality where the America really is the evil of the world.
Metal bands are far more likely to be patriotic flag wavers than the artsy stuff spewing out of the mindset of the Don Henley and Neil Young crowd. In the last gasp of the Bush years we have seen albums from AC/DC and Ozzy. Metal the way metal is supposed to be.
I confess, I’m a Reagan era metal fan, the 90’s saw a splintering of metal into dozens of genres. Don’t think any of them really captured the genius of early Metallica or Megadeth. Hair Metal was a more female oriented genre, but until it devolved into Mr. Big and White Lion, there were even some good natured hedonistic songs, Def Leppard, Motley Crue, and some Ratt and Whitesake. Whether they all qualify as Hair, or developed into or out of it is of question. Still had some good songs.
Just another great aspect of the Reagan Era.
Infernal Hailz George!
Hell, even Metallica has made some sort of veiled comeback… the last good thing to come out of 2008.
The author and subsequent commentators have ignored a relatively new source of great metal: the East, and in particular, Japan. Acid Mothers Temple is one of the best bands I’ve heard in ages… They appropriate Hawkwind’s trippiness and take it to absurd lengths. Abigail has to be one of the fastest, meanest bands on the Earth. Boris is both very experimental and truly, truly headbanging. I could name more bands, but it’s up to you to find out about them.