Metal

I believe in Heavy Metal. Not in a subset of elements that exhibit metallic properties such as iron and cobalt, though I acknowledge their existence as well. I’m talking about the Heavy Metal of Black Sabbath, Pantera, Iron Maiden, and millions of kids like me.

Heavy Metal is intimidating, angry, dangerous, and wonderful. Its roots, like most modern popular music, are in the blues. It’s characterized by fast rhythm, virtuostic leads, and angst-driven lyrics. It’s a response to the whimsical, the un-musical, the mainstream.

Followers of Heavy Metal, “metalheads,” have created a subculture of outward symbols like leather jackets, long hair, and middle fingers. To the outsider they’re scary, intimidating. They form huge mosh pits at concerts where they appear to bounce around and hurt one another. No normal person would do this!

Right. Metalheads are alienated from society. Not because we like metal, that puts the cart before the warhorse. We were alienated before we discovered metal, and we have absolutely no desire to be accepted into the mainstream. Instead, we’re perfectly content with growing our hair, playing our guitars, greeting each other with dirty gestures, and scaring the sh*t out of your mother.

And to share a secret, we’re not really that dangerous. I love a good mosh pit, not because I’m a masochist, but because it’s an escape from the bureaucratic, systematic, automatic world of non-metalheads. When we’re in a mosh pit, we’re giving the system a big middle finger by engaging in a practice you wouldn’t witness on Wall Street, the Washington Mall, or the shopping mall. If one of us goes down, five more of us are there to pick him up, because we’re not there to hurt each other. We love each other and the music (but don’t dare call us hippies)!

We mosh, we swear, we play fast music. We hate the

“system” and don’t mind being excluded. We’ve created, subscribed to, grown, and expanded a worldwide movement boasting more members than the Republican Party, far less cowardly than any terrorist organization, and prouder than any fraternity or sorority. We’re not barbarian, satanic, sexist, fascist criminals; but we LOVE that you think we are. We may look like we’re going off the rails on a crazy train, but we’re really just some back street kids who society makes a little paranoid.