Running with the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal Music (Music Culture) [Paperback]

Robert Walser (Author)

Book Description

Series: Music Culture | Publication Date: May 15, 1993

A Choice Outstanding Academic Book.

A musicologist and cultural critic as well as a professional musician, Robert Walser offers a comprehensive musical, social, and cultural analysis of heavy metal in Running with the Devil. Dismissed by critics and academics, condemned by parents and politicians, fervently embraced by legions of fans, heavy metal music attracts and embodies cultural conflicts that are central to our society. Walser explores how and why heavy metal works, both musically and socially, and at the same time uses metal to investigate contemporary formations of identity, community, gender, and power.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Heavy metal music, one of the most significant musical influences of the 1980s, has received little serious attention by academics. This ethnographic study goes a long way toward counteracting the disdain held by musicologists for heavy metal by presenting a solid, scholarly analysis of the power, meaning, musical structure. and sociopolitical contexts of the most popular examples of heavy metal. Along with consulting basic texts, Walsh read fan magazines, as well as interviewing and surveying fans and musicians, and his effort shows. This is a comprehensive, often engrossing study of heavy metal music and its followers. Recommended for academic and large public libraries.-- Debora Richey, California State Univ.
Fullerton Lib.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Walser belongs to a small but influential group of academics trying to reconcile 'high theory' with a streetwise sense of culture . . . an excellent book." --Rolling Stone

"Making surprising connections to classical forms and debunking stereotypes of metal's musical crudity, Walser delves enthusiastically into guitar conventions and rituals."--Washington Post

"Walser is truly gifted at doing what few critics before him have done: analyzing the music . . . In virtuoso readings of metal music that forge persuasive links between metal and particular classical music traditions, Walser reveals the ways that musical structures themselves are social texts." --The Nation

"Running with the Devil takes musicology where it has never gone before; I once saw the chapter on metal guitarists and the classical tradition performed live in a lecture hall, but even on paper it smokes."--SF Weekly

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 254 pages
• Publisher: Wesleyan; 1st edition (May 15, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0819562602
• ISBN-13: 978-0819562609
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #59,351 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heavy Metal Gets Its Due, December 7, 2004

By 

Brian Lynch "Reader, Writer, and Everything i... (Jersey) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Running with the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal Music (Music Culture) (Paperback)

I'm currently taking a class on cultural anthropology right now, and as a huge music buff / budding musician, I found this gem while searching the racks at my university. Not only did it help me to realize the cultural biases surrounding a type of music that I am fond of, but also expand my mind in terms of musical application, song construction, and the true inspiration for some of Heavy Metal's greatest classics.

Walser knows exactly what he's talking about, from the perspectives of a particpant in the culture, a trained and educated musician, and a cultural anthropologist. Great reading, would make a great reference for any study on cultural misunderstandings about music, or even something interesting to give you a break from working through all those instructional books and tablature.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fundamental, June 20, 2001

By 

Eric D. Gordy (Worcester, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Running with the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal Music (Music Culture) (Paperback)

This is one of the best books about popular music I have read. First of all, Walser avoids cliches: he is good at interpretation, and like all people who are good at interpretation he checks his ideas against the ideas that people who make and listen to the music have. PMRC supporters watch out. Second, he knows what he is talking about: the analysis is grounded in a good understanding of musicology, social theory, literary theory and evidence. So when he tells us where heavy metal "fits," we can believe him. All this, of course, is aside from the question of the reader or anybody else "likes" the music or not. As a model of how to do context-informed analysis of a genre, it rocks.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Overcomprehensive, yet a needed study., February 10, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Running with the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal Music (Music Culture) (Paperback)

Walser attempts to cover too much ground in this book. Still his treatments of gender and madness as content of Heavy Metal lyrics are worthwhile. He covers music and some imagery; these tend to distract from his central ideas rather than add. Yet, this may be the academic reference book on HM that others are judged by, simply because it has primacy and is comprehensive. It was a needed work in the field. A major criticism is that he does not adequately account for the various sub-genres of the music.