finding that google are providing content warning on music blogs, I decided to do some research on the historyof censorship in rock music. What I was thrilled to find in the ss&h library is a copy of Heavy Metal, Rap, and America's Youth: Issues and Alternatives a special report of the free congress foundation. The Free Congress Foundation describe themselves on their website as a think tank whose "main focus is on the Culture War."and ask the question "Will America return to the culture that made it great, our traditional, Judeo-Christian, Western culture? Or will we continue the long slide into the cultural and moral decay of political correctness?"
Their report is a fascinating look at the way so called conservative or moralist groups view music such as heavy metal. It includes lists of band names they find offensive(Sore Throat, Anthrax), the names of bands and songs that deal with themes that thef oundation find innapropriate( including lesbianism, masturbation, murder and suicide.), and for the benefit of anyone who should care to read it reproductions of explicit and offensive lyrics. The report then goes on to comment on the introduction of parental advisory labels on music and video products. Althogh this report was released in 1990 the agenda behind it can still be seen in the treatment of music today.

Death Metal News Reports

Way back when I began this blogging task, I set up some news alerts for death metal. Now that we've neared the end of the task I figured it was time I collate the information. The two alerts that I found the most useful were Chad Bower's (from About.com) and the newsletter from metalunderground.com. The first sends out updates about twice a month but metal underground sends out email alerts every day.
The news is global letting fans know when bands move from country to country, where and when they are going on tour and when they announce that they're taking a break to record an album. Also common are public releases of the album covers of upcoming albums. One email I was sent offered me the opportunity to vote on choices of cover art for a bands upcoming release.
One element of these alerts that I found surprising was the very high rate of turnover in the members of bands, it seemed that almost everyday I would recieve a notification that a guitar player had left bandA and was going to create bandB with the drummer and bass player from bandC. I also found it confusing that metal musicians are often refered to in terms of bands that they are no longer in for example they may say; Antton - drummer ex-Venom. It seems to serve as a way of giving credibility or authenticity to a musician by providing them a history. What has been really helpful from the updates is the information they provide about new inteviews or posts from bands themselves, because I have found it more difficult to find direct quotes from the bands, rather than the opinions of fans.

CENSORSHIP

I just went back to check on one of the blogs I've been following and found that google have put a content warning on it. When I tried to enter I was informed that users had complained about the content and asked if I was sure I wanted to enter as the site contained nudity and extreme violence. I guessed someone must have taken offence to some of the album covers, but they would have had to be looking pretty intently because in general the pictures of album covers aren't that big. I know that many people object to the images many metal band choose as their album covers but I didn't really expect to see censorship present on a blog. It's not as though a blog is right out in mainstream media where everyone can see it. I had to search quite specifically to find this one, I didn't just come across it while I was looking for something else. I guess what I really want to know is if people object to the content so much then why were they looking at it in the first place?

What are death metal-ers blogging?

When I set up this blog went searching the net to see what fans of death metal were writing about. Along the way I set up some alerts to follow blogs from metal fans, I wanted to know what they were saying to each other, what kind of information do they share, how often are they communicating?
What I found is a staggering amount of peer to peer file sharing. Blogs such as "Death Metal Trip Archive" and "Brutal Death Metal" both offer extensive lists of albums and dvds that are available for download. Most often the bloggers make use of the filesharing sites: rapidshare.com, megaupload.com, and depositfiles.com. The aim behind the filesharing doesn't seem to be simply getting the music for free, but to make other users aware of new or obscure music that they may not be aware of. The author of "Brutal Death Metal" writes

"Enjoy my death metal selection only for sharing my passion of brutal killing noise. I am sure you will like it ;-)If you like it you buy it ! If not DELETE it !Download Albums YOU Have.That's the best way to support bands...Don't support disc industry support independants labels !"

The blogs also feature forums where users can request uploads of albums that they are unable to find themselves, and live chat rooms where users can talk to each other in realtime.
Something else I found interesting is that many of the blogs are written in two languages, some in english and spanish or portuguese, others in english and nordic? languages that I wasn't quite able to figure out. So this is truly a form of music that is global, coming from and going to different areas of the world.

This website randomly generates you the name of your very own Death Metal band plus an album full of songs. Highly useful.
http://www.deathmetalgenerator.info/
This is one it generated for me

Cut Glorification : Torchbearer
1.Softly Undeceived
2.Thy Stop
3.Magnified (War to the Comedown)
4.Crushing the Tasteless Renaissance of the Urethra
5.Quietus of the Deathtemptation
6.Temporal Deserts Pissing
7.Auctioned into Ammunition
8.Production of Pilgrimage

www.morbidangel.com

Today I went to have a look at the Morbid Angel website. I'm a little bit confused, they have links to Deepak Chopra and Tony Robbins on there. Why? is there some kind of in joke that I don't understand going on, or do they just really get into the whole idea of self development. Also are Deepak Chopra and Tony Robbins aware that they are being advertised by Death Metal musicians? An interesting fact, in their biography Morbid Angel claim that to this day they are the only Death Metal band to secure a major label release. If this is true then basically all Death Metal is released on independent labels which makes me wonder exactly how much profit there is in making Death Metal. Are the bands making this type of music just because they really really love doing it? Morbid Angel also have a pretty cool art gallery on their site, most of it by Ikon V from Khaos Art www.myspace.com/KhaosART who also does the overall web design for the band, the picture on the left is one theirs.

Satan?

The first 30 seconds of this clip just really get me. It's Gaahl from Gorgoroth talking about his 'influences'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQJqZFUell8

A headbanging film

Allright so a couple of weeks ago I was at a loose end in the library, just looking around as you do when I came across a DVD entitled 'Metal: A Headbangers Journey'. I took it home to watch it thinking it might be helpful to gain an understanding of the metal genre as a whole;I'll be the first to admit that I am almost completely ignorant on the subject. This was a fun way to ease into the study of metal. The documentary is informative, very passionate and quite often absolutely hilarious- although I'm not sure that was always intentional. There is one interview with Gaahl from Gorgoroth, that just makes me cry with laughter every time I see it-I'll see if I can put a link up a bit later. The writer/narrator/interviewer Sam Dunn is a young anthropologist so he specialises in the study of cultures, and the documentary is structured in a way that allows him to apply his skills to the culture of Metal. What is interesting about this is that Sam himself is quite obviously- and he openly admits this at the start of the film- a huge huge metal fan, so he is in effect studying a culture that he is part of. Studying the culture from the inside like this has both pros and cons; I found some of the best parts of the film were when Sam was able to meet and interview his childhood idols, the way his face lit up when he got to talk to Iron Maiden was so sweet! On the other hand the view of Metal that the film offers is often so upbeat that it rings slightly false. I know Metal has gained a negative image that is mostly undeserved, but I'm still not sure if its quite a nice as it is make it out to be here. That being said there has obviously been a great effort made to show both positive and negative aspects of metal culture, a whole section is devoted to the series of Murders and church burnings associated with Norwegian Black Metal and in no way does the film try to explain away or condone the events. Experts or specialists from outside of the Metal world are also consulted throughout the film to give the viewers a better understanding of how and why Metal culture appears so different and often dangerous to those who are not a part of it. Anyway, overall I thought it was a really useful film, no great depth on any particular issue but it covers a lot of metal history and offers an interesting 'Metal is my family' point of view. There is a sequal called 'Global Metal' which was released late last year, it focusses on the Spread of metal around the world to places such as Asia and the Middle East. You can check them both out at www.metalhistory.com

MSTU2000 Pick a subculture or die!

When it was suggested students of MSTU2000 would be best to pick a single subculture to study this semester, I was stumped. Having notoriously broad muscial tastes, I had trouble pinning down the one that I wanted to study for a whole 13 weeks (I know its forever right!). Then a moment of inspiration, I would study the one type of music that I had always steered clear of. The one that used to terrify me as a small child, when my older brother and sister would play it in their bedrooms late at night, the muted screaming slipping into my dreams through the vented heating system. Metal, more specifically Death Metal. It is the perfect fit, I get to study for uni and possibly gain some deeper understanding of my perpetually long haired, black cloaked brother Damian at the same time. Who knows? maybe he isn't really the son of the devil. So over the next couple of weeks I'll be looking around to see what I can find and then reporting back here, sounds fun.
Hannah