Customer Reviews

Heavy Metal: The Music And Its Culture, Revised Edition

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4 star:		(1)
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2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Deena Weinstein's updated edition of her 1991 monograph "Heavy Metal: A Cultural Sociology" remains, to this day, probably the most widely available academic work on the subject of heavy metal. While it is mostly well-written (a bit heavy on jargon perhaps, but without the suffocating tsunami of subclauses that usually plague academic writing in the social sciences). While it is always gratifying to this Hessian to find an academic work taking metal seriously, this is, unfortunately, a very flawed work.

Like many contemporary academics, Weinstein is overly wedded to social science theories at the expense of a genuine engagement with the subject at hand. As a result, she tends to treat metal - both the music and its culture - as a form of semiotic play, symbolically creating and re-creating a self-referential narrative of 'the Proud Pariah.' Professorial prose, however, is an inadequate patch to cover an ugly truth: Weinstein never really gets beyond the 'rock as rebellion' metanarrative to bring any new insight to bear on the subject of metal. Not surprisingly, she fails to understand metal or its fans at anything beyond the most superficial level, though, occasionally, moments of lucidity creep in, as with Weinstein's recognition of heavy metal's fundamentally neo-Romantic character.

Where this work is strong, however, is in its analysis of the underlying social and political biases that have left metal marginalized, despite its manifest artistic superiority to, well, pretty much anything the contemporary world is producing. In particular, Weinstein has honed in, as few commentators have, on the unreasoned and unreasoning rejection of metal by mainstream rock journalists, and she effectively lays bare the institutional assumptions and prejudices that have crippled the objectivity of the wider music press when faced with outsider forms that do not conform to the expected 60s counterculture norms of social and political discourse.

While this may be of some interest to specialists, it is likely to leave ordinary readers with no better understanding of metal music or culture than they had before picking it up. There have, unfortunately, been no truly excellent academic studies of metal, but if you feel compelled to pick up something on the subject, Natalie Purcell's Death Metal Music: The Passion and Politics of a Subculture is probably a better bet.

If you're like me and have spent hours reading "Heavy Metal: A Cultural Sociology", or if you are at all interested in the Metal community and the roots, styles, and spirit of Heavy Metal, then this book is a must have. This edition is less a revision, and more a republishing of "HM: A Cultural Sociology" with an additional chapter acting as a rather large update on what happened in the decade since "HM: ACS" came out. Dealing with the development, enemies, fans, artists, outlets, community, subgenres, positives and even negatives of Heavy Metal, this should be read by every Metalhead and rock fan. Highly recommended, especially in the cheaper paperback format.

This is by far the most intellectual book ever written on the subject of Heavy Metal! This book goes into great depths regarding the birth of the stlye, both in terms of its musical roots, as well as the image associated with this genre. It has an almost sociological evaluation of the fans of metal and what their lifestyle consists of. This book also enlightens us as to why critics - both from the liberal left as well as the conservative right - detest this style of music. It later goes on into the fragmentation of the genre (regarding the Thrash metal scene and glam rock). There is a final chapter which deals with the genre during and after the nineties, but the vast majority of the book deals with the '70s and '80s. There is a slight (North) American bias, concentrating more on bands that are from English speaking countries (namely the U.S., the U.K. & Canada) but some European bands are also mentioned. It was an enjoyable read and there are many examples illustrated by the author to make the reading less dry. Highly recommended for fans of the genre and for those who are trying to understand the genre.

Poorly written, boring, and extremely dated in 2010. Weinstein sucks the life out of metal by over-analyzing it, and offering up her opinions as facts. There is nothing here for fans of rock and roll literature. This book reads like a long, and boring text book, written by someone who clearly does not understand their subject... Maybe she understood metal back in the 1970's and 1980's, but there is nothing here that remains relevant. This book is, unfortunately, a tragic waste of paper, and I regret wasting my time reading it.

I read this book expecting a harsh critique of something the author knew little about. Instead I was pleasantly surprised by how much Ms. Weinstein knew and actually enjoyed heavy metal. She actually took the time to attend concerts and listen to the albums. It is a little dry and descriptive at times but overall very interesting. I recommend it for fans and those who are simply interested in being educated in a phenomenon that refuses to die.

Possibly a relevant guide for a space alien wishing to do cultural research on the planet earth but for anyone who lives here and has the slightest awareness of heavy metal the academic phrasing of the text won't conceal how redundantly obvious most of the statements are. When the book isn't stating the obvious in it's dry elaborate way it's making some unsupported ignorant seeming claim. I'm sure there's plenty I could stand to learn about the genre, in the form of both insider commentary and intellectually rigorous outside observation, but neither is present in this book.

This book is fantastic & completely nails what needed and needs to be said, and the updated text (regarding the 1990's) is right on as well. Writing from a sociological perspective, the author is extremely thorough in her approach, offering her own observations and experience since the music began in addition to a plethora of source texts, interviews and case studies with differing viewpoints for extremely effective descriptions regarding the music itself as well as its impact. An enjoyable, genuinely informative read, two qualities which have rarely been bridged together in the past concerning heavy metal music. I wish I had known about this book several years ago, it would have helped make trying to "explain" heavy metal to authoritive figures a far easier task. Those who enjoyed the recent "Lords of Chaos" book should read this, it's not as sensationalist oriented, it's about the general genre of heavy metal. Also people who value the research of Jeffrey Arnett, Keith Roe, etc would be doing themselves a favor to pick this up.

the book is intended for serious discussion on the sociological aspect of being a metal fan, the social codes an mores of the subculture, definetly not light reading material, but does have some intresting points, though it is outdated in the year 2000

This book is a relic of the past and is not worth the paper it was printed on. The author tries to make a connection between the rock 'n' roll of the 1960s to the trash of the 1980s. As a former music critic who read this book years ago I can honestly say that this book did little to enrich my knowledge of music.

Better than most, this is a great tomb for all those metal-heads out there inculding myself. Accurate and up to date info. in depth informtion that usually takes two or three books to fully locate. Very impresive, highly recommended.