The Law Of The Metal Scene

Metal Studies is a genuinely interdisciplinary research field. However, different specialist traditions, differing theoretical and methodological approaches, and also terminological "translation difficulties" make collaboration within the field difficult. This volume aims to explore the potential and limitations of interdisciplinary work by examining an example area - the laws of Heavy Metal - from the point of view of central disciplines. Laws are regarded as social conventions - i.e., rules that are made by human beings and are culturally stable. Examples of laws include conventions of musical language, the dress code in the metal scene, behavioural norms, and conventions in writing song lyrics. The volume includes contributions from the fields of law, social ethics, art history, religious studies, musicology, sociology, linguistics, and cultural history.

Die Heavy Metal Studies sind ein genuin interdisziplinares Forschungsfeld. Dabei erschweren unterschiedliche fachliche Traditionen, Ansatze in Theorie und Methodik aber auch terminologische Ubersetzungsschwierigkeiten die Zusammenarbeit. Der vorliegende Band mochte die Moglichkeiten und Grenzen der Interdisziplinaritat ausloten, indem exemplarisch ein Teilbereich - die Gesetze des Heavy Metal - aus der Sicht zentraler Disziplinen untersucht wird. Gesetze werden als soziale Konventionen, d.h. als menschengemachte und kulturell stabilisierte Regeln verstanden. Beispiele fur Gesetze sind Konventionen der Musiksprache, der Dresscode der Metal-Szene, Verhaltensnormen und Konventionen beim Schreiben von Songtexten. Der Band enthalt Beitrage aus Rechtswissenschaft, Sozialethik, Kunstgeschichte, Religionswissenschaft, Musikwissenschaft, Soziologie, Linguistik und Kulturgeschichte.

The definition of 'heavy metal' is often a contentious issue and in this lively and accessible text Andrew Cope presents a refreshing re-evaluation of the rules that define heavy metal as a musical genre. Cope begins with an interrogation of why, during the late 1960s and early 1970s, Birmingham provided the ideal location for the evolution and early development of heavy metal and hard rock. The author considers how the influence of the London and Liverpool music scenes merged with the unique cultural climate, industry and often desolated sites of post-war Birmingham to contribute significantly to the development of two unique forms of music: heavy metal and hard rock. The author explores these two forms through an extensive examination of key tracks from the first six albums of both Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, in which musical, visual and lyrical aspects of each band are carefully compared and contrasted in order to highlight the distinctive innovations of those early recordings. In conclusion, a number of case studies are presented that illustrate how the unique synthesis of elements established by Black Sabbath have been perpetuated and developed through the work of such bands as Iron Maiden, Metallica, Pantera, Machine Head, Nightwish, Arch Enemy and Cradle of Filth. As a consequence, the importance of heavy metal as a genre of music was firmly established, and its longevity assured.

'Absolutely hilarious' - Neil Gaiman 'One of the funniest musical commentators that you will ever read . . . loud and thoroughly engrossing' - Alan Moore 'A man on a righteous mission to persuade people to "lay down your souls to the gods rock and roll".' - The Sunday Times 'As funny and preposterous as this mighty music deserve' - John Higgs The history of heavy metal brings brings us extraordinary stories of larger-than-life characters living to excess, from the household names of Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy, Bruce Dickinson and Metallica (SIT DOWN, LARS!), to the brutal notoriety of the underground Norwegian black metal scene and the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal. It is the story of a worldwide network of rabid fans escaping everyday mundanity through music, of cut-throat corporate arseholes ripping off those fans and the bands they worship to line their pockets. The expansive pantheon of heavy metal musicians includes junkies, Satanists and murderers, born-again Christians and teetotallers, stadium-touring billionaires and toilet-circuit journeymen. Award-winning comedian and life-long heavy metal obsessive Andrew O'Neill has performed his History of Heavy Metal comedy show to a huge range of audiences, from the teenage metalheads of Download festival to the broadsheet-reading theatre-goers of the Edinburgh Fringe. Now, in his first book, he takes us on his own very personal and hilarious journey through the history of the music, the subculture, and the characters who shaped this most misunderstood genre of music.

This multi-disciplinary book explores the textual analysis of heavy metal lyrics written in languages other than English including Japanese, Yiddish, Latin, Russian, Hungarian, Austrian German, and Norwegian. Topics covered include national and minority identity, politics, wordplay, parody, local/global, intertextuality, and adaptation.

Since its beginnings over fifty years ago, metal music has grown in popularity worldwide, not only as a musical culture but as a recognised field of study. This Companion, grounded in recent research, explores the various musical styles and cultures of metal, providing a reliable resource for students and researchers.

Law and Outsiders is a collection of 13 essays from leading young scholars covering five important areas of legal scholarship: adjudication, European law and politics, migration, vulnerable minorities and legal values. The recurring theme in the volume is the way in which rules and processes are contributing to the creation of twenty-first-century 'others' in areas such as domestic constitutional systems, international security and migration, and global human rights discourses. The essays are drawn from the second International Graduate Legal Research Conference, held at King's College London in June 2008.