University of South Florida Scholar Commons Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 6-30-2016 Heavy South: Identity, Performance, and Heavy Music in the Southern Metal Scene Michael A. Mcdowell University of South Florida,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd Part of the American Studies Commons, Film and Media Studies Commons, and the Music Commons Scholar Commons Citation Mcdowell, Michael A., "Heavy South: Identity, Performance, and Heavy Music in the Southern Metal Scene" (2016). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/6319 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Heavy South: Identity, Performance, and Heavy Music in the Southern Metal Scene by Michael A. McDowell II A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of Humanities and Cultural Studies College of Arts and Sciences University of South Florida Major Professor: Andrew Berish, Ph.D. Maria Cizmic, Ph.D. Daniel Belgrad, Ph.D. Date of Approval: June 20, 2016 Keywords: American South, popular music, scene, American Studies Copyright © 2016, Michael A. McDowell II Table of Contents Abstract ii Introduction 1 Chapter One: “Break it Down for Me” What is Southern Metal? 11 Southern Metal as Extreme Metal 18 Why Southern Metal? 23 Chapter Two: “You got the South and you got everybody else” The “narrating class” and Southern Metal 27 NOLA, Trauma, and Bearing Witness to the South’s “Heavy Blues” 42 Chapter Three: “Good Lord the South is Blind” The Blues, Southern Gothic, and the Performances of Southern Identity in Down’s “Eyes of the South” 54 Southern Metal and the Sound of the (Heavy) South 58 Conclusion 65 Bibliography 73 !i Abstract The Southern Metal scene depends heavily on the performance of a Southern Identity.