Phew ΠWhat a Blizzard! Black Metal and the UK Popular
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MMS 4 (2) pp. 329–341 Intellect Limited 2018 Metal Music Studies Volume 4 Number 2 mms © 2018 Intellect Ltd Article. English language. doi: 10.1386/mms.4.2.329_1 Metal Music Studies Intellect 10.1386/mms.4.2.329_1 4 ALEXANDER HAY Independent Scholar 2 329 341 Phew – What a blizzard! Black © 2018 Intellect Ltd metal and the UK popular 2018 press ARTICLES ABSTRACT KEYWORDS The second wave of black metal, with its most notorious moments emanat- black metal ing from the Oslo-centred scene of the early 1990s, was somewhat inevitably a UK media phenomenon in its native Norway, as the extensive television and news- newspaper paper coverage of the time demonstrates. This article will focus on one particular Norway nation’s coverage, however – that of the United Kingdom, and how it covered and media responded to the antics of the Norwegian black metal scene up to and including tabloid the trial of ‘Varg’ Vikernes in 1994. An initial study provides a disparate picture. The niche media of the United Kingdom (such as Kerrang!, Terrorizer and other extreme metal publications) could certainly be trusted to provide coverage of this provocative and indeed often dangerous fringe musical movement. How it was covered by the politically influential UK popular press, however, is another matter. If the discourse of early 1990’s black metal with its aggressively transgressive and aesthetically rigid approach made good tabloid fodder, the UK popular press with its own traditions, hobbyhorses, aesthetics and vitriolic right wing politics might at first seem a good combination. What, then, did UK press coverage reveal not just about black metal at this time, but also its own mores and attitudes? Was black metal seized upon by the UK press or ignored, and why? Finally, what does this reveal about UK journalism and black metal itself? www.intellectbooks.com 329 Alexander Hay Introduction – A blaze in the Daily Mirror It is certainly hyperbole to say that certain subjects are made for one another, but if any such genuine example exists, it must surely be black metal – in particular the notorious second wave of black metal – and British tabloid jour- nalism. In many ways, black metal and British tabloid journalism ought to be a winning mix, at least in terms of compatibility. What, however, do I mean by black metal? For the benefit of those not already familiar with this heavy metal sub-genre, I will use five definitions. Black metal focuses on satanic, transgressive and misanthropic themes though to what extent depends on each band. Its sound is often deliberately low fidel- ity and harsh, with a suitably fierce, cold, rumbling and ominous quality to the treble. Its politics are transgressive, confrontational and often sinister, though unlike punk, the intention is not Dadaist provocation for its own sake, but often sincere, or at least, taken seriously, albeit to various degrees. The look is based on ‘corpsepaint’: white face make-up with black patterns, lipstick and eye shadow, ostensibly to resemble a plague victim. Black leather, spikes, chainmail and even medieval weaponry, alongside the more usual metal garb are also clear signifiers. Finally, the aesthetic is uncompromising and dark, or even nihilistic, with grotesque and profane imagery, and yet also host to a perverse romanticism or idealized relationship with nature and heritage (sometimes to the point of far right nationalism). It is also a sub-genre with strong links to Norway. While the first wave, with its roots in the early 1980’s thrash and NWOBHM scenes was spread across the world, the second wave was focussed in Oslo, centred around the ‘Inner Circle’ and the metal record store Helvete. Here, much of the aesthetic now commonly associated with black metal was developed and, for want of a better word, codified. To understand black metal in the modern sense, there- fore, one must take into account the Norwegian (and broader Scandinavian) context in which the sub-genre developed. However, how can this possibly relate to British tabloids? How they covered the second wave of black metal is, of course, important from the perspective of the latter’s history and study. Yet what this would reveal about the British popular press itself is, of course, highly significant. As such, this article argues that the discussion is relevant for both these reasons. Indeed, black metal with its emphasis on transgression, horror, nihilism and larger than life personalities (even the ones that have died), certainly appeals to the main tabloid news values of the United Kingdom. As Gekoski et al. have observed (2012: 1216–22), a good ‘Red Top’-friendly murder has ‘perfect victims’, in the form of celebrities (consider the murder of Oystein ‘Euronymous’ Aarseth in 1993 by ‘Varg’ Vikernes), the sensational and the unpredictable, all of which perfectly describe the second wave and its excesses. How then, did the British red top press cover black metal? In order to address that question, this article will approach the topic from three angles. Firstly, a historical contextualization of occult/horror stories in the red tops. Secondly, a study of newspaper coverage in this context between the periods of 1990 and 1995 – the heyday of the second wave. Finally, I will argue that tabloid news values in a British context serve a particular purpose albeit one some may find surprising, and it is how the tabloids cover black metal, and by extension, its primarily Norwegian milieu, which allows us to draw this conclusion. I should, however, explain why other newspapers are excluded from this study. While middle market tabloids such as The Daily Mail, The Express and, 330 Metal Music Studies Phew – What a blizzard! until its closure in 1995, Today were certainly not above lurid exposes, and indeed, in the case of the first two, remain so at the time of writing, this arti- cle must, for reasons of space and focus, focus only on the red tops. Likewise, ‘quality’ or broadsheet coverage is for the most part left out for these reasons. Certainly a study of the other two markets would be instructive, but let us begin, at least for now, with the tabloids. To the devil, a page 3 girl – Red tops and occult horror Yet why do black metal and red top news values seem so compatible? The answer lies in the central dynamic of tabloid journalism – its rampant, yet compelling hypocrisy. Perhaps the most notable recent expression of this comes in the form of the 2011 phone-hacking scandal, where it was revealed that red tops such as The News of the World, amongst others, were actively accessing the voicemail inboxes of murder victims, such as Milly Dowler (Freedman 2012: 17) through dubious means, and yet were striking up a rather mawkish and sanctimonious tone in their coverage at the same time. As Kellner has argued (2012: 1172), the power of the tabloid press, in particular those parts of it controlled by Rupert Murdoch, both thrive on scandal and yet pose a corrupting influence on the societies they claim to inform, and certainly entertain. Of course, his claim that the Murdoch empire has led to ‘the vulgar- ization and tabloidization of the media’ (2012: 1191) rather misses the point that it was vulgar and tabloidized long before Rupert Murdoch arrived on the UK media scene in the late 1960s. For example, consider the racist cover- age of immigrants in the 1950s (Bingham 2015: 213) or how there was little difference in terms of how murdered prostitutes in 2006 were described, and denigrated, in the popular press than Jack the Ripper’s victims were 118 years earlier (Warkentin 2010: 44). Nonetheless, the UK media as a whole, and the tabloids in particular, not only reflects the political hypocrisy of the nation, but also a deep distrust and prejudice towards ‘the other’ (Cross 2014: 206–07). On the one hand, this makes it easy for it to attack/inadvertently promote unfashionable subcultures (Thornton 2005: 389), but it also allows it to show a strangely black metal attitude towards the ‘weak’ and the ‘undeserving’ (Barton and Davis 2016: 15–16). Yet the fact that the best-selling papers in the United Kingdom have been for a very long time red tops, and The Daily Mail, says a great deal about the public palate, and the red tops’ success in appealing to it. This compelling if not entirely savoury commitment to vicarious enjoyment of the shocking while ostensibly condemning it is, of course, a matter of public record. The Sun, being the United Kingdom’s top-selling tabloid since 1978 (McNair 2003: 180) until it was finally eclipsed by the mid-market Daily Mail in 2013 (Deans 2013: 2013), is of course the perfect exemplar of this principle. Its obsession with the serial killer Myra Hindley up to and including her death in 2002 is a case in point, with lurid rhetoric using words such as ‘EVIL’, ‘VILE’ and ‘ROTTING IN HELL’ as a matter of course, alongside headlines such as ‘THE DEVIL’ (Kay and Saxty 2002). This did not, of course, prevent The Sun positively revelling in the detail of her crimes, the impact on the families of her victims, or, indeed, reporting from outside the crematorium on the day of her funeral to a point that verges on salacious self-parody (Hunter 2002). One cannot read about horror in a tabloid, or indeed coverage of black metal, without at least a certain vicarious, if morbid thrill – or at least, that is the implied audience in both cases. www.intellectbooks.com 331 Alexander Hay What the Hindley case also demonstrates, however, is the use of occult or infernal language to describe her.