Burakku Metaru (ブラック・メタル): Japanese Black Metal Music And
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BURAKKU METARU (ブラック ・メタル): JAPANESE BLACK METAL MUSIC AND THE ‘GLOCALIZATION’ OF A TRANSGRESSIVE SUB-CULTURE By Alexander Paul Coulombe ______________________________________ Copyright © Alexander Paul Coulombe A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF EAST ASIAN STUDIES In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2018 1 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR The thesis titled Burakku Metaru (): Japanese Black Metal and the ‘Glocalization’ of a Transgressive Sub-Culture prepared by Alexander Paul Coulombe has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for a master’s degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this thesis are allowable without special permission, provided that an accurate acknowledgement of the source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder. SIGNED: Alexander Paul Coulombe APPROVAL BY THESIS DIRECTOR This thesis has been approved on the date shown below: Defense date Dr. Nathaniel M. Smith 04/23/2018 Assistant Professor, East Asian Studies, University of Arizona). 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................................... 4 LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................................................... 4 ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................................. 5 PREFACE .................................................................................................................................................... 6 Section 1. Thesis Introduction and Focus ..................................................................................... 8 1.1 Scenes and Spaces of Music Culture in Japan: Globalization, Localization, and Underground Imagined Communities ...................................................................................................................... 13 1.2 Literature Review............................................................................................................................................... 21 1.3 Research Questions and Thesis Structure ............................................................................................... 24 Section 2. Background ........................................................................................................................26 2.1 What Is Heavy Metal? ................................................................................................................................................ 27 2.2 What Is Black Metal? ................................................................................................................................................. 29 2.3 Transnational Satanism, Black Metal’s Roots in Japan ............................................................................... 37 2.4 Black Metal Was Always in Japan: Crowley, Sabbat .................................................................................... 43 2.5 Three Important Characteristics of Black Metal: Static Venom, Bathory Acceleration, and Severance ............................................................................................................................................................................... 44 Figure 1. Evolutionary Flow Chart of Heavy Metal (The ‘Metal’s’) .....................................51 2.6 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................................................... 52 Section 3. Methodology ......................................................................................................................54 3.1 Participants ................................................................................................................................................................... 55 3.2 Instruments ................................................................................................................................................................... 58 3.3 Procedures ..................................................................................................................................................................... 59 Section 4. Results: Ethnography .....................................................................................................60 4.1 Influences and Interactions: Other Scenes, Other Lands, Other Bands............................................... 61 4.2 Localization: Religion, Christianity and Satan to the individual (“BLACK METAL = PERFECT SATAN WORSHIP”) ............................................................................................................................................................ 71 4.3 What Black Metal Is; What Black Metal “Should Be” ................................................................................... 76 4.4 Discussion ...................................................................................................................................................................... 83 Postface: SoMniuM ..............................................................................................................................94 Appendix A: E-Mail Interview ..........................................................................................................97 Appendix B: Glossary of Terms .......................................................................................................99 Works Cited: Glossary of Terms .................................................................................................. 101 Personal Interviews ......................................................................................................................... 104 WORKS CITED ..................................................................................................................................... 105 3 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Evolutionary Flow Chart of Heavy Metal (The ‘Metal’s’) ........................... 51 LIST OF TABLES Table 1: INFLUENTIAL HEAVY METAL AND BLACK METAL BANDS (PROGRESSION OF BLACK METAL) .................................................................................................................................................. 30 Table 2: Participants ................................................................................................................. 57 4 ABSTRACT This thesis will demonstrate how Black Metal music became established in Japan, how it evolved, and how musicians situate themselves in a globalized form of community. It is a study of how Japanese Black Metal functions in the tensions between globalization and localization, a term called “glocalization” (Victor Roudometof 10). Japanese Black Metal is globalized around a set of rules and ideas, a term Deena Weinstein uses to describe Heavy Metal music called “codes” (Heavy Metal the Music 100). Additionally, as this music is localized, it reveals how many Japanese musicians express uniquely cynical viewpoints of religion and established authority using these globalized codes. Due to its anti-Christian and brutal history in other countries, Black Metal is seen as transgressive against mainstream society. Through electronic ethnographic research with Japanese Black Metal artists, this thesis finally examines how Black Metal is at once desirable yet also transgressive in Japanese society, a country with a comparatively low population of Christians. 5 PREFACE While on study abroad in summer 2011, I met a man in a café who typifies the Black Metal (Appendix B) fan. At that time, his hair was long and dark. He wore a black colored Black Metal t-shirt and a bullet belt. I gave him the devil horns greeting, a hand gesture used by Heavy Metal (Appendix B) fans to indicate camaraderie. He reciprocated the horns, and we instantly shared a deep connection, deeper than many people form through common musical tastes. We sat at the wooden counter discussing the characteristics of Black Metal a fast, furious and angry genre of music known for lyrics about Satanism, anti-Christianity, anti-religion and the occult. On a wall of the café hung a poster advertising a live rock show featuring a Japanese Black Metal band called Sigh, which sparked more conversation. I asked the man about Satanism, religion and how these traits function in the context Japanese of Black Metal and how they were introduced to him through other Heavy Metal bands. Within these parameters, we turned the conversation into a discussion of what Black Metal “should be.” At that time, I had already been listening to and creating Black Metal music for two- thirds of my life, but there in the cafe I realized there was much about this singular music genre that I did not know. I had discovered this music in my early teens: it resonated with me both emotionally and musically. The music by Japanese Black Metal bands such as Kanashimi, Sigh, Sabbat, and Cataplexy resonated with me in the same way. Prior to beginning this thesis, I listened to a lot of Japanese Black Metal, my new favorite being the release “Inori” by the