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Have you ever listened to Manowar’s song “The Gods Made Heavy Metal”? It’s an example of a lyrical meme that has been circulating through metal since time immemorial. I started thinking about the purpose of such songs and came to conclusion that while I greatly enjoy them, there are numerous aspects of songs like “The Gods…” that bother me.
I love songs like “The Gods…”, “The Book of Heavy Metal”, and Rocka Rollas’ recent masterpiece, “Metal the Posers to Death”. These songs are fun. They’re cheesy, but in a good way, like a classic B movie. They always have an energy that taps directly into what makes metal great. They celebrate metal, and on the face of it, I see no downside to celebrating metal.
The most obvious complaint people seem to have is the cheesiness and shallowness of meta-metal anthems. However, taste is subjective and shallowness is endemic in metal lyrics, especially in certain genres. Perceptions of shallowness are also subjective, but these are minor complaints. My major complaints about songs like “The Gods…” are that they are empty meta-commentary, that they celebrate metal, and that they tend to push an ‘us vs. them’ mentality. The songs are also dumb, but they’re so dumb as to preclude the need for discussing why they are dumb.
Art about its own artistic medium (meta) is interesting and vital to understanding the art form in question. Meta-art can also be integral in conveying a particular message. The Neverending Story relies on the reader understanding that the main character is a real boy reading and experiencing a fantasy novel. However, meta-art can be abused. It can become narcissistic, masturbatory, purposeless, or parodic.
I linked to some meta-metal songs below. I love all of the songs wholeheartedly, but I am forced to see them all as empty meta-commentary. They speak about heavy metal’s history, about why it is great, but they achieve no artistic goal that I can discern. (In all fairness, other musical genres produce meta-music too, so heavy metal is no worse for it).
There is valid meta-commentary on metal, but metal cheerleading anthems are not it. Songs that lecture about why metal is great or lecture about the genre’s techniques will not help us understand the genre better, so they serve no real purpose. Heavy metal’s strengths will make themselves known by listening to any good song. Manowar’s “All Men Play on 10″ is valid meta-commentary. It says ‘fuck you, we’re gonna play how we want, and we don’t care about record sales or public perceptions’. It rejects selling out and hair metal, one of ’80s metal’s bogeymen. Helloween’s “Heavy Metal Hamsters” addressed the band’s disgust with the way a former record label treated them. Finally, All Shall Perish’s “Songs for the Damned” takes the serious route to praising metal, ending with this line: “I don’t care if you get it, these songs still scream your name”. In other words, metal observes even those who don’t want its scrutiny.
Most meta-metal concerns itself with clumsily celebrating heavy metal. Again, on the face of it, I didn’t see a problem, but then I started thinking about why anybody would want to celebrate metal. Heavy metal is praiseworthy, but it doesn’t intrinsically need praise or celebration. Heavy metal’s merits are obvious to those who like it, and it has no merit to those who don’t. Non-metalheads will view the songs below as childish, delusional puffery. The songs won’t change their opinions and will probably reinforce them.
On a purely personal level, I don’t need to have heavy metal affirmed to me. It’s not my religion or moral code. It’s a hobby, but I like it, so why would I give a shit about what anybody else thinks of it? If I don’t need to have my belief system or my morals affirmed on a daily basis, why would I need to have something less important affirmed either?
At this point, I can’t conceive of myself not being a metalhead. I’m white and male through no choice of my own. Lacking any other perspective, I can’t conceive of personally being anything else. Likewise, Metal has worked its way into my identity so thoroughly that it’s just a part of me at this point. I’m neither proud nor ashamed of being white, male, or a metalhead, because I didn’t actually choose to be any of them. I am metal, therefore I am!
Because metal is such a part of me, I see no need to celebrate it. Since heavy metal’s merits are so obvious to me, songs that praise heavy metal strike me as heavy metal cheerleading. They push metal’s merits in my face, demanding acknowledgement. They preach to the choir. They’re awkward propaganda. They push a viewpoint that listeners should evaluate based on other criteria instead. This strikes me as a lack of confidence, something for which metal should never lack. Because metal’s merits are obvious to its fans, the genre perpetuates itself. We like it, so we pump money into it and recruit new metalheads. We can’t cheerlead people into liking it anymore than we can cheerlead ourselves into liking it more. Our best recruiting tools are enthusiasm and the music itself.
And if we’re recruiting new members into our genre, how much of an “us vs. them” mentality do we really want to create? Metal’s bar of entry is already high. The last thing we want to do is freeze interested parties out by appearing conformist, elitist, cartoonish, or close-minded. And Gods forbid we appear stupid. ‘Stupid’ is a major mainstream perception of our genre, and we do not want to perpetuate it. At best, it will bring in temporary fans and scorn. At worst, it will draw in the people we actually don’t want: the trolls, and the dishonest, and the uncreative. “Us vs. them” sends the message that we can’t rely on our genre’s strengths to speak for itself and that it needs to be defended. You can see this everywhere in society: “Hockey’s not just fighting!” “Chess is a sport!” “Video games aren’t mindless!” The best defense to attacks on merit is openness: “Door’s open, come in and see before you judge. We’ve got nothing to lose, and we can’t be persuaded that what we have lacks merit. If we have faults, we’re proud of them, because it is what it is. You have everything to gain, for you know not of what you speak”.
The “us vs. them” mentality also betrays a lack of self-confidence. If we’re as into metal as we claim in these songs, the songs are moot. Our dollars and our participation will affirm the genre, grow it, and defend it against outside threats. Remember the Parents Music Resource Center? Many of you won’t, but Judas Priest, Twisted Sister, Dead Kennedys, Wasp, and others do. The PMRC wasn’t defeated by legislation or debate or heavy metal songs about heavy metal. It was defeated by commerce and by the raw power of the dollar. Labels and bands weren’t scared, because they knew there was too much money in metal. Metal won and the PMRC lost.
Why, then, do bands keep writing these silly meta-metal anthems? I can’t help but feel unsettled that bands continually write these songs and that these songs seem to have no productive purpose. Manowar wasn’t serious about being serious (or were they?), but what about other bands? When Rocka Rollas want me to “metal poseurs to death”, should I take that seriously? Is it a joke or parody? The band’s delivery strikes me as earnest, so what does that say about Rocka Rollas? And would I want an outsider’s early exposure to metal to be that kind of silliness?
How is it that I can reject this heavy metal cheerleading and feel unsettled by it, and yet love the songs and hope that bands keep writing them? How can I approve of the message and yet find so many philosophical faults with it? Calling it hypocrisy shuts down any meaningful discussion. There’s something else going on here, and I want it examined. I want you to honestly think about it and come up with a deeper response. I see an issue with something that I love, a problem I can’t explain away but also can’t ignore. If somebody takes these songs seriously, what does that say about them? If somebody ignores them altogether, what then? And what does self-aware enjoyment of the songs say about the rest of us?
Oh, and one last thing…that Rocka Rollas album? It really is a masterpiece.
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Manowar – “The Gods Made Heavy Metal”
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Exodus – “Toxic Waltz”
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Darkthrone – “Raised on Rock”
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Rob Halford – “Made of Hell”
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Dream Evil – “The Book of Heavy Metal”
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Manowar – “All Men Play on 10″
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Helloween – “Heavy Metal Hamsters”
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All Shall Perish – “Songs for the Damned”
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Hip-hop is far mor meta than metal. There you’ve got rappers rapping about how good they can rap.
Would be funny to hear a metal lyric like “My grunts are the deepest, I grim the reapest” or something like that.
It happens in metal, too. This is “Splatterthrash” from Ghoul. Lots of their songs are like this. But, Ghoul to me is a band that thrives on cheesiness for its own sake.
“Splatterthrash”
Nightfall, and you head to the show
A ticket is clutched in your hand
Wearing a vest made of denim
With patches of your favorite bands
You get to the club
And the first band is totally lame
These posers are into the nu-school
They have t-i-o-n in their name!
Our riffs decapitate them, our solos shred their skin
My drums obliterate them, let the massacre begin!!!
Up from the pit
We launch an assault on the stage
Hatchets are buried in craniums
In a frenzy of psychotic rage
Killing machines
Necks are all broken and slashed
We came here to conquer, we came here to rule
WE CAME HERE TO SPLATTERTHRASH!!!!!
[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/g/ghoul/splatterthrash.html ]
Our riffs decapitate them, our solos shred their skin
My drums obliterate them, let the massacre begin!!!
SPLATTERTHRASH!!! BANG YOUR FUCKING HEAD!!!
SPLATTERTHRASH!!! SLAY THE LIVING, EAT THE DEAD!!!
SPLATTERTHRASH!!! MOSHING LIKE A FOOL!!!
SPLATTERTHRASH!!! LIVE FOR METAL, DIE FOR GHOUL!!!
End of the show
And on to the next shitty dive
The scenesters who got on the guest list
Paid with their poserish lives
But you survived
Your metal turned out to be True
You slammed in the pit and you didn’t take shit
A Numbskull, through and through
Our riffs decapitate them, our solos shred their skin
My drums obliterate them, let the massacre begin!!!
Along those same lines, one of the things I always hate at live shows is when a band stops right before the breakdown and reminds the crowd that “this is the heavy part”. I actually heard a pretty popular band say those exact words right before a breakdown “Alright, here comes the heavy part!”
dude, you just killed it… Give me a heads up when you start the outro of your finale and I’ll get excited.
Morbid Angel kind of did this on their recent abomination. I AM MORBID!
Can’t lie; “My grunts are the deepest, I grim the reapest” is a pretty ill rhyme.
I think these types of songs can be fun because they are meant to be celebratory, but I do see your point about how they can come off as preaching to the choir. I enjoy them despite their cheesiness unless they come off as trying too hard, which can seem disingenuous. At the same time it seems like it is obligatory for every band to have one. My favorites are “Whiplash” by Metallica and “Deadly Sinners” by 3 Inches of Blood. It is kind of like a genre in and of itself, similar to songs about “the road.”
Enemy’s of metal, your death is our reward! Triumphant victory when you bring the steel to life!
This article is a perfect example of empty meta-commentary.
You stole words from my mouth: Couldn’t agree more.
There we go! THIS is the kind of commentary and critique this site needs more of! Well written, balanced and insightful – good job!
I generally don’t like cheerleading songs because the self-awareness tends to take me out of the experience a little, but that’s true of a lot of things. I generally prefer my art earnest, or at least sincere. But that’s just me.
The larger issue that makes me feel more icky is the way these songs can contribute to a feeling of ironic distance – they stop being metal songs, or even songs about metal, and start being songs about “metal” – the often-stereotypical idea of metal itself. And that’s how you get people co-opting a culture they neither completely understand or appreciate. Affectionate parody (e.g., Steel Panther) is one thing, but when you get assholes like Sum 41 tagging fake metal (guttural vocals and squealing guitar) onto the end of a shitty pop-punk song, it’s not affectionate or celebratory, it’s just a bunch of people laughing at the stupid metalheads. And, I dunno, fuck that.
I understand your point about self-awareness taking me out of an experience. I think that well done fantasy or fiction will automatically pull the listener/viewer/reader out of that self-awareness and into the fiction being spun.
I also think you’ve made an important point, too: these songs knock people out of the moment, which is part of why they shouldn’t be written in the first place. At some point, I just ‘learned’ to enjoy these songs and somehow, for a few minutes, buy into the goofy fantasies they create.
That said, “Black Metal”, “Metal Gods” and “Whiplash” get a pass from me under a grandfather clause from before I cared about irony.
I’m surprised to not see Venom on that list – “lay down your soul to the gods rock ‘n’ roll”, wot?
I am relieved that generally black metal manages to avoid that, for the very reasons you dislike it (and the ones Mr. Evans mentions above).
(I mean, sometimes it’s still worthwhile – that Venom song is, despite all that, fun. But it’s usually less effective.)
“On a personal level, I don’t need to have heavy metal affirmed to me. It’s not my religion or moral code. It’s a hobby, but I like it, so why would I give a shit about what anybody else thinks of it?”
“We like it, so we pump money into it and recruit new metalheads.”
“‘Stupid’ is a major mainstream perception of our genre, and we do not want to perpetuate it. At best, it will bring in temporary fans and scorn.”
“We’ve got nothing to lose, and we can’t be persuaded that what we have lacks merit. If we have faults, we’re proud of them, because it is what it is.”
What a mess.
what would Cosmo think about this…?
What else would German/Italian/Spanish metalers listen too?
I always go out of my house with my bullfighter suit on and singing a Manowar tune. “Heavy metal or no metal at all/Wimps and posers leave the hall!”.
All I know is that if I put on Exciter’s Heavy Metal Maniac (album and song), I will bang my head and play air guitar. Cheesy or not, if I’m going out, I want that to be my requiem.
Cheerleading songs speak to the fans of the above bands a lot more than they do to me, to put it kindly.
To put it less kindly, bands write these songs because they’re catering to the lowest common denominator: pub-going average joes who get excited by anything that remotely relates to their lives.
“Metal? Shit yeah, I LIKE THE THING YOU’RE SINGING ABOUT!”
Anytime I go to a mainstream metal concert these folks are inescapable, usually moshing or setting fire to trash. Bless their stupid hearts.
Are you royalty?
Im only half joking; I mean, “pub going average joes” just sounds like….I dunno, a normal human being. What does that make you?
I don’t think Wash is saying that enjoying these songs means you’re the LCD. If anything, self-aware enjoyment says otherwise. I do wonder about some of the bands and their motivations for these songs, and catering to the LCD is certainly possible. But were Metallica catering to the LCD with Whiplash? What about that Helloween song?
Back in the day, I can see why, say, Saxon and Judas Priest wrote cheerleading anthems: there was a chance the masses would hear them. But how many people are going to hear Rocka Rollas or Pegazus or any band today that writes these goofy songs? I feel like the obscurity is a partial safeguard against stupidity. You kinda have to want to explore metal and get into the underground to encounter some of this stuff.
My phrasing was tossed off, but I just meant the kinds of usually-drunk lowbrow dudes (and occasional ladies) you run into at big metal shows who get stoked on anything that they think relates to them. That they somehow fell into the metal subculture makes these songs a rallying cry, stupid lyrics and all. Having seen Devildriver open for Arch Enemy last year, I’m all too familiar with the type.
Didnt mean to sound defensive btw, I was genuinely confused at what you were getting at. Actually, I still am somewhat.
Those kinds of dudes are at any kind of large music show, metal or otherwise. I think I can relate to what you are saying. Like how Ive met many a Bro who might think “Im hardcore, I mosh at Disturbed shows!!
On one hand the silliness of that is evident, but on the other I have to reflect on myself and say “well shit, why the fuck was i at that same show ? If I just came here to have a good time are we really that different?”
Which is to say, I sincerely feel like just because I listen to some mind bending HydraHead records shit, it doesnt make me any more or lesss a “real metal” than dudebro in the pit with me who payed money to see disturbed and all the other “real metal bands on the same tour bill. Perhaps I’m in the minority in that regard.
I don’t think the dudebro’s are any more or less metal than me, you, or anyone else, I just think they’re stupid. About as deep as my thought process goes on that one. Liking metal-anthems-about-metal doesn’t make you a mouth-breather, but there sure seems to be a lot of crossover.
I think these songs are really made for the live experience. Sure, we’re metalheads and we don’t necessarily need to affirm that when we’re listening at home. But for the majority of us who came to metal because it fit our misfit hearts, and for those of us who see the larger metal world as a kind of tribe, it can feel AWFULLY good to sing one of those songs with an audience of 500, 5,000 or 50,000 fellow fans.
You lost me somewhere along the reference to The Neverending Story.. this intellectual crap doesn’t capture me, I’m all too busy banging the head the doesn’t bang and telling my friends that if they don’t like metal, they’re not my friends.
The Steel Panther song, “Death to All But Metal” really ought to be on this list.
“Let each note I now play be a black arrow of death, sent straight into the heart of those who play false metal”. Cue horrible Joey DeMaio piccolo-bass solo.
Gawd I’m so happy I found this site! Metal and an intellectual debate, I thought it wasn’t possible. Great stuff.
BTW… God gave rock ‘n’roll to you…
Never wanted to “recruit” anyone into metal. Much as I feel of everything, I always felt it’s something for the elect. Don’t think of metal listeners as superior or inferior. Simply those who have been called strongly enough, despite “common sense” they’ve grown into via modern society who’d have them believe metal is something strange and abnormal.
On one hand, yeah, the whole self-referential thing is tired and groan inducing. On the other hand, I think metal really wouldn’t be metal without the antagonizing aspect to it. I’d say this is the crucial point. When you add too much socialization and herd mentality into an antagonizing culture, it’s bound to grow into ‘us vs. them’. However, metal is not ‘us vs. them’, it’s “us vs. everything’, including ‘us vs. us’. Think of that what you will, but it’s true. If metal is any kind of a real culture, it’s first and foremost, a code of honor. You can’t consider someone a “brother” just because of a Slayer t-shirt, likewise, you can’t consider someone inferior just because of a Slipknot t-shirt. That’s not behavior worthy of an actual “culture”, that’s just laziness and a superiority complex masquerading as a cultural movement.
When you start looking at it this way, you quickly stop giving a shit about the whole social aspect of metal because there is no such thing as a real metal culture. Yeah, there is honor surrounding metal, there are quality individuals sprinkled throughout countless scenes, there are life-long ties formed through this music — but come on, they’re pretty fucking rare. Rare enough to disqualify “metal culture” as anything special, let alone an actual culture with actual pillars to rest on. You’re just as likely to form said bonds with non-metal people, so why even identify with metal in particular?
Actually, more often I’ve found qualities I came to associate with “metal” in people who don’t have anything to do with the music than people who swear by Kreator and sleep in their kutte.
I’ll admit that recruit is a strong word with martial/group-oriented connotations. (That I want to avoid) How about cultivate? But regardless of the word you use, if you introduce somebody to metal, loan them a record, recommend something, if you help to create a fan, you’ve recruited them in a fashion, as a fan if not a member of a culture if nothing else.
If metal is us vs. everything but not us vs. them, what else are we pushing back against? Them means people and movements (PMRC etc) but those are ultimately people with agendas. It’s an honest question, I’m not trying to say you’re wrong and I’m right. The ‘more metal than you’ attitude is tiresome.
I’ve heard of metal defined in many ways, but never as a code of honor. I’m interested in hearing more of how it’s a code of honor.
I don’t bother much with the social aspect of metal. I’ve had a total of three friends who considered themselves metalheads, and that’s down to one. I wish I knew more quality individuals who were metalheads in real life. I do think that metal is a culture. If you look at wikipedia’s definition of a culture, it arguably fits two of the definitions (it’s not high culture)
I like to think that the dedication and intelligence necessary to get into metal would weed out stupidity but this is a fantasy on my part. It also assumes there’s an absolute definition of being into metal or whatever. I do find that the further underground you get with metal, the less stupid you tend to see.
When I define myself as a metalhead, I mean that one day, I just realized that I preferred listening to metal more than any other genre and that the bulk of my music was metal. The social aspect has nothing to do that determination.
Since this article makes multiple mentions of Manowar, I’m gonna use the occasion to express my confusion and annoyance at how much this band is rejected by a huge number of metalheads. Manowar kicks ass and is one of the finest metal acts that the US has had to offer. Most of the criticisms of the band are pretty ridiculous, misdirected and hypocritical, and are made by sad, sad individuals. Denying the musicality, expressivity, and power of their music is a worrying indication of low musical intelligence and perceptivity.
A lot of metal bands that have eventually made a big name for themselves, even though they will never admit it, have been influenced by Manowar, but have been unable to copy them, due to the fact that they’ve lacked a vocalist that possesses that powerful and driving character of the voice that Eric Adams has. By the way, piss on the usual suspects like Bruce Dickinson and Rob Halford when it comes to choosing the best vocalist in metal. It’s Eric Adams.
Even though Manowar is not my favorite metal band, I am inclined to justify their self-proclaimed title of “The Kings of Metal”, solely based on the fact that they managed to preserve a core “metality” without compromising or becoming retrograde. They made it big and gained a huge following without having to rely on a “scene” or association with any sub-genre, but fought and earned a place for themselves on their own terms
A greeting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mji0aIGqR7U
Come at me.
I think you meant ‘come at me, bro.’
You’ll get none of that from me on this subject, because I like Manowar.
Exhibit A in why bands don’t need to bother with metal cheerleading much is Manowar: Manowar does it so well that the bar is really, really high.
Exhibit B in why bands don’t need to bother with metal cheerleading is also Manowar: their image puts people off. As I mentioned above, I’ve trained myself to either ignore or temporarily accept some of their goofiness in favor of just having fun.
People not listening to Manowar because of their image is sad. People poke fun at the bass solos, but damnit, the band can really play. Eric Adams can indeed fucking sing like a champ. I wish people could suspend their need for seriousness long enough to enjoy Manowar’s music. I prefer serious lyrics, but sometimes we need to have fun or be sold on an act. (I’m not sure how much of Manowar is an act. Kudos to them for that)
It does bother me that so much intelligence and instrumental talent goes into this stuff, but I can live with it. There are plenty of totes for reals serious bands to make up for it.
Interesting article. I’ve always loved the Manowar meta(l) songs. It does come off corny, but I don’t go to Manowar for a serious time.
Nice post, man. Manowar gets beat up a lot but I consider them above criticism, they’re on another level, where the whines and jeers of critics cannot reach. That place is called “The Hall.”
Also, I steal melodies and riffs from them all the time and re-purpose them for grindcore. The second song on the Cretin album starts with a Manowar riff, and I’ve used some Manowar stuff on TCME records. Fuck it. Their shit is awesome.
I want to hear Manowar repurposed for grind. I’m completely serious. I hope you can post a link to a sample or something. I’m sick like that.
KMFTOTS-J. I’m sick like that, bra.
I just like listening to music. Mostly metal music. Sometimes I want it to be fun, other times I want to rage or be transported away. I just choose the right band and right album to suit a mood on a whim. I’ve never given too much thought to lyrical content, although I usually admire and heap praise on those with insightful and meaningful lyrics. Other times I just enjoy knowing what the words are so I can scream/sing along without feeling like a tool.
I’m in the same boat as far as a lack of metal-minded friends. The few who have heavy tastes have tastes that are pretty different from mine. I guess we kind of find common ground in the thrash arena, but that’s about it. I like it slow and oppressive or scathing and black for the most part. Pretty tough to find friends who can fit into those narrow confines of metal taste. Luckily I’m not a metal die-hard purist. I have tastes outside that help shape my tastes inside. Without jazz and classic R&B and obviously rock n’ roll, my yastes in metal wouldn’t be what they are today. And it allows me to share tastes and influences with friends who don’t operate on the same musical wavelength as me. That’s crucial for me. It’s also helped with “recruitment”.
i find if a band puts ‘metal’ in the title, it probably rules, see: “Metal Lust” (Usurper), “Forces of Metal” (Perversor), “Metal Never Bends” (Cianide), “Heavy Metal Bulldozer” (Metalucifer – though most all their songs have ‘metal’ in the title, skewing the results somewhat).
That’s simple music for simpletons. It’s not primitive or instinctive on purpose, just simple. It’s watering down everything to the lowest common denominator in hopes of generating some “anthem” chorus for people to remember and pass around. It’s very close to selling out but to your already converted fan-base. Useless garbage, if you ask me.
Alright, this is my first post on this blog, which is one of the most interesting blogs I have come across so far. I hope it is ok to hear another a point of view from the other side of the world:
First of all I think there is a need to distinct between two major kinds of “meta-metal” I do not see at all “Whiplash” and “Heavy Metal Hamsters” in the same line as “The Gods Made Heavy Metal”, I think for example Helloween’s “Heavy Metal is the Law” falls more into the Cheerleading side. While “Whiplash” is more of a personal fans and band thing, it is a song about the band’s live shows, and so is “Seek and Destroy”, this comes more from the 80s and the whole relationship between the band and their fans, back then internet didn’t exist and the bands fanclub was something to boost about, as much as the cold war between Hair Metal and what later became Thrash Metal. Heavy Metal Hamsters is more of a giving-the-figure to a record label, so these songs are related to subjects fixed in space and time, I would scratch these from the Cheerleading list.
Now, when I read the post I did fully understand the point, but let me defer with a major point: Heavy Metal is what I call a sub-culture, it is a counter-culture, just like the beat movement in the late 40’s, the hippy movement in the 60’s, Punk and Anarchist movement in the 70’s, Metal became the next level of counter-culture, and thus like all counter-cultures it was demonized, attacked, prejudged… etc. the difference is that Metal did not fade away, but became a classical genre of music, but that is another issue. But it was this out-casting of music that created those “Anthems” in my opinion, and the ego and macho related to Metal in the 80’s, especially when it was facing the Hair Metal (anyone remember the Hard Rock/Kiss against Disco/Abba war? This is similar)
I come from Beirut Lebanon, where hippies use to dance on the streets of Beirut in the 60s, Punks assaulted Beirut in the 70s and Metal was all over the radios in the 80s, yet today and starting from mid 90s we have been put in jail, harassed, mocked, outcast, we live today the “Parents Music Resource Center” of our own, but this time, and in this part of the world, no dollar power or commerce can defeat it! Here Metal can become an identity fight!
So Metal is a sub-culture, a counter-culture, it is something that has all the element of a worldwide tribe. So it has all the elements of Identity, and like everything, there is the good and the band the clever and the less clever, but still within the same unite.
Anyway, since this is an individual and subjective thing, some people think of metal as a hobby others take it too personal as a lifestyle… I am of the latter, but that is not related to “true metal, and not-metal” issue, indeed one of my friends who is a PhD holder, university professor and chairwoman of a university department, and who does enjoy some Metal but is mainly a classical music fan, said to me once: “I am a metalhead at heart, for I identify with what Metal stands for.” So what does it stand for? For us in Lebanon, it stands for Freedom of expression, intellect, arts, and taboo breaking! In that sense it is some form of elitist music, that doesn’t mean it is elitist, for one of the main subjects metal criticize is elitism!
For us Metal is a brotherhood, our “traditions” of headbanging, moshpitting and stage diving is a form of expression of this brotherhood, let out your stress, but abide by the code of honour. Definitely this is not an objective matter, but it has some common grounds at least to us in Lebanon. In that regard, many Metal Anthems were relevant to Lebanese Metalheads, definitely songs like “Kings Of Metal” and “Heavy Metal Hamsters” and the sort were always taken with a sense of humour, to the point where we mock those that take them too seriously and for me personally the main reason why Manowar fell from my favourite band down to a band I skipped watching is that what we thought was just humour turned out to be serious, thus childish. It has gotten to their heads to the point that once Joey DeMaio refused to sign a white shirt that one diehard fan wanted to get signed simply because it was not a Manowar shirt (it was a simple white shirt!) now this is childish, and thus made Manowar really look stupid to me, when Metal loses its sense of humour it is not metal , I so much enjoy deep lyrics the likes of Dream Theater and old Metallica songs, but that doesn’t overshadow the fun humour and cult like meta-metal songs, unless it is taken far too serious.
Sorry this was long
Cheers from Beirut