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6-30-2016 Heavy South: Identity, Performance, and Heavy Music in the Southern Metal Scene Michael A. Mcdowell University of South Florida, [email protected]
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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
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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