by Russ Austin

Created on: March 11, 2009   Last Updated: March 13, 2009

You'll see in this piece below the stars how the description of Heavy Metal music by Robert Duncan can get your blood boiling. I know when I first read it, I was pissed. But, as I'm sure many of you know, it's all too typical. Duncan is just more articulate and wordy than your average ignorant scum. At the time, I thought it would be a good "Introduction" to my book.

This piece is from my 1996/1997 writing sessions when I was trying to write a book on Heavy Metal. A lot of my writings from that time originated from an English Final I did in the 1993 Spring Semester at the University of Northern Colorado describing and defending it These writings remind me of what metal meant to me as a 21 year old college student and a 25 year old ex-college student living in my parents basement, and how much music in general means to me as a balding 37 year old who is once again living in my parents basement...

I'll have more to say on the other side of this piece.

"Let the metal flow." - Chuck Schuldiner (Death)

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"Heavy Metal: pimply, putrid, un-chic, unsophisticated, anti-intellectual (but impossibly pretentious), dismal, abysmal, terrible, horrible, and stupid music, barely music at all; death music, dead music, the beaten boogie, the dance of defeat and decay; the huh? sound, the duh sound, ... Music made by slack-jawed, alpaca-haired, bulbous imbeciles in jackboots and leather and chrome for slack-jawed, alpaca-haired, downy-mustachioed imbeciles in cheap, too-large T-shirts with pictures of comic-book Armageddon on the front."(1) This is a stereotypical description of Heavy Metal music given by Robert Duncan, a Rock critic. This guy was obviously not a fan. This quote also begins chapter one of Deena Weinstein`s book, "Heavy Metal: A Cultural Sociology."

Deena Weinstein goes on to say, "The term 'Heavy Metal' may have originated with William Burroughs' 1959 novel, 'Naked Lunch,' but its sound doesn't have much to do with literature. By the late 60`s, Hard Rock had spawned a new, darker form of music, built on heavy distortion and pounding rhythms. And although they may not have known it at the time, as the new decade dawned, performers like Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath had already become Metal's founding fathers."(482) Of course, those artists were much more than Heavy Metal, and have inspired much literature.

In the 1994 report by the R.I.A.A. (Recording Industry Association of America), the first paragraph states: "There's no simple way to categorize or even

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