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aren't commercial pap.

And yes, there is screaming. However, not all metal is screaming. Some of it can even be quite gentle - I often point people who express an interest in the direction of the female-led and newbie-friendly bands Evanescence, Lacuna Coil and Nightwish. They're all (especially Evanescence) light on the screaming, but serve to introduce these new recruits to the genre. Then we have the greats - Metallica and Iron Maiden, to name my personal favourites. Where is the screaming there? Okay, Slipknot take a little getting used to, but I'll argue Corey Taylor as a vocal genius any day of the week. My dad was very surprised to learn that he can both scream AND sing - have a listen to his more recent band, Stone Sour, if you don't believe me. Screaming is only a part of it, and works with the onslaught of guitar, heavy drumming and intelligent (for the most part) lyrics to create music that is unique to each band, rather than the sameishness common to modern pop. I treasure the variety.

Metal has often been accused of being depressing 'music to slit your wrists by', as well as violent, angry and antisocial. As someone who has experience with depression, I think that finding and listening to music that 'understands' how I feel has really helped me to conquer my depression. Far from making me worse, it comforted me and inspired me to help myself. Listening to metal, I thought 'these guys know', and that helps. I wasn't on my own, and that was good to know.

As for violence, anger and antisocial content - well, yeah. It's not mainstream, it's not edited for delicate ears and it deals with real human emotions and impulses. That is not to say that it encourages them. Again, speaking from experience, I have anger problems not related to heavy metal, and listening to some of my favourite 'angry' bands such as Slipknot, Godsmack or Disturbed helps me face my temper (which is surely preferable to taking it out on others?). And none of those bands condone violence in their music - in fact, they are very vocally against it. What they do advocate is individuality, thinking for oneself and learning to accept who you are. Which can only be a positive thing. I know heavy metal has been linked to various high school shootings in the US, wielded as an excuse or explanation by those who really should know better. I would submit that the fault lies not with the musicians those teenagers listened to, but with the schools and doctors for not picking up on their disorders until it was too late. Metal doesn't make you go out and kill people, mental illness makes you go out and kill people.

I would take the variety, complexity and power of metal over the bland soullessness of pop and the violence and gang culture idolised in rap any day, and I would rather my children (were I to have any) listen to metal than rap. Much better that they listen to music with skill and a depth that explores the range of human emotion from love to hate and everything in between - or new worlds of imagination, or epics recounting great deeds from history - than a three-minute pop song extolling the virtues of a one-night stand with a complete stranger the singer picked up in a club. Or, worse, a drive-by at the local gangsta bar. Like I said at the start - I'm sure all music has something to say, and everyone has different tastes, but... no thanks.

Learn more about this author, Becky Mason.
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