Mauduit Pierre

History of Popular Culture in the West (1880-2000)

British heavy metal practices in the 1970s-80s: moving away from a subcultural background.

Defined by the first works of British bands like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath or Judas Priest, heavy metal emerged as a musical genre in the beginning of the 1970s and enjoyed a massive popularity during the 1980s. However, until the 1990s, there was a lack of academic interest concerning heavy metal music despite the worldwide success of the genre and the millions of fans it attracted. “Running with the Devil: Power, Gender and Madness in Heavy Metal Music” published in 1993 and written by Robert Walser embodies the first important study of heavy metal music. Since then, academic work has grown constantly, although slowly.

It appears that most of the literature considered the cultural formation of heavy metal from a subcultural point of view. Indeed, heavy metal is broadly acknowledged as a working class, white and male dominated youth culture. This idea follows a conception of culture belonging to the Cultural Studies for which young people inherit cultural and social values from their class that contribute to “weight, shape and signify the meanings they then attach to different areas of their social life”1. Moreover, this movement claims that post-war youth cultures reformulated and asserted their working class identity through their leisure styles. Several scholars therefore analyze the construction and meanings of heavy metal as a reflection of the socio-economic conditions of its production. For instance, Leigh Michael Harrison describes the influence of the industrial and working class environment of the city of Birmingham on the music of Black Sabbath and Judas Priest2 or Ryan M. Moore explores the “reification of class consciousness”3 in the lyrics of British heavy metal bands as dominated youth subcultures.

1 Roberts et al., «Subcultures, Culture and Class» in Jefferson, Tony & Hall (ed): Resistance through rituals. Youth subcultures in post-war Britain, London 1975, pp. 29

2 Harrison, Leigh Michael, Factory Music: How the Industrial Geography and Workign-Class Environment of Post-War Birmingham Fostered the Birth of Heavy Metal, Journal of Social History, 2010 Fall, Vol.44, pp 145- 158

3 Moore, Ryan M., «The Unmaking of the English Working Class: Deindustrialization, Reification and the Origins of Heavy Metal» in Gerd Bayer(ed): Heavy Metal Music in Britain, Erlangen 2009, pp.147 Class socialization is obviously important in understanding the construction of heavy metal. However, such consideration has overlooked the fact that heavy metal is also a product of musicians’ agency. Indeed, many British heavy metal bands have proved a capacity to borrow from cultural references outside their working class background and to adopt strategies that redefined the legitimate meaning of heavy metal music.

Therefore, we would like to ask the following question: How the construction of heavy metal in Britain in the 1970s and 1980s was featured by musicians’ cultural practices and performances that operated outside the working class subcultural framework of the genre?

The aim of this paper is to show that the construction of heavy metal as genre was not only based on the socio-economic conditions of its production as it is often explained in existing literature but that it also dealt with cultural practices of borrowings and conscious strategies redefining the definition of “heavy metal legitimacy”. In other words, it allows us to consider heavy metal as a performance that relies on bands’ agency. Thus, our understanding of culture is linked to that of Sewell and William as we consider heavy metal as autonomous because its meanings are shaped and reshaped by a multitude of contexts and practices other than the originals4. Therefore, we will analyze heavy metal practices and strategies through sounds, lyrics, covers, choices of production, etc. of British heavy metal bands from the 1970s and the 1980s that enjoyed popularity. In order to to so, this paper will be mainly based on research literature about heavy metal bands in Britain during the 1970s and the 1980s.

In the first part of this paper, I will study the evidence of classical borrowings in the music of British heavy metal bands and show how it contributed to their differentiation and empowerment in regard with their audiences. In the second part, I will address the issue of the relationship between heavy metal and the mainstream by analyzing how this relationship shifted because of some band’s “position taking strategies”5 that aimed at redefining the authenticity of the genre in order to gain recognition in the “metal field”6. I expect to demonstrate that British heavy metal of the 1970s and the 1980s was featured by an important creativity that was not only determined by the conditions of its production.

4 Sewell, William. «The Concept(s) of Culture» in Bonnel and Hunt (red): Beyond the Cultural Turn: New directions in the Study of Society and Culture, Berkeley: University of California Press 1999, pp. 35-61 5 Earl, Benjamin; «Metal Goes «Pop»: The Explosion of Heavy Metal into the Mainstream» in in Gerd Bayer(ed): Heavy Metal Music in Britain, Erlangen 2009, pp. 35 6 Ibid,pp.36 Classical references as elements of differentiation an empowerment.

In his article “From Achilles to Alexander: The Classical World and the World of Metal”, Iain Campbell underlines the allusive nature of heavy metal. Indeed, the genre has been strongly featured by references to movies, fiction, history or mythology. For instance, borrowings from Norse and Tolkienian mythologies are widespread in the lyrical content of many heavy metal songs. However, we would like here to focus on the appropriation of elements of the classical world by British heavy metal bands. As at it has been stated, most of heavy metal musicians which started their career in the 1970s came from a working class subcultural background while classics were traditionally related to the culture of the elite. This was especially the case in Britain, as Campbell reminds us, where academic studies of the classical world have always been embedded in a closed circle defined by expansive and selective public and grammar schools7, institutions that few working class youngsters of the 1970s had the chance to attend.

Therefore, the evidence of classical elements in British heavy metal bands, sometimes pushed to a certain extent of details, is interesting as it challenges the commonly asserted cultural border between the working class and the ruling class and deconstructs the idea of heavy metal as an inclusive genre. However, the aim of this part is not to celebrate such allusions in themselves, but to demonstrate that the unexpected elitist dimension of the genre is not neutral. Indeed, the appropriation of the classical world resulted in a differentiation that fostered the “authority or mystique”8 of the bands in regard with their fans. We will argue that this process, surprisingly, does not create a rupture between the bands and their audience but rather reinforces the loyalty of the latter towards the former. In order to sustain this argument, we will study references to the classics in the lyrics of Led Zeppelin and Iron Maiden on the basis of Campbell’s analysis. Moreover, we will pay attention to the reactions of the fans about these borrowings as well as the discourse of Iron Maiden members about them. The choice of these bands is supposed to be relevant because both of them are considered as influential and enjoyed great popularity within the genre.

First of all, we would like to focus on the song called “Achilles Last Stand” by Led Zeppelin, which is one of the most acclaimed of their repertoire. The title immediately informs us of a classical reference to Homer’s Iliad as Achilles is the subject of the song. By analyzing the lyrics and the sounds of the song, we become aware that this is more an

7 Iain Campbell 8 Iain Campbell appropriation rather than a loyal adaptation of the story of Achilles. On the one hand, there are indeed elements that seem to respect the message of the Iliad. Campbell shows for instance how Robert Plant’s narrative voice, telling a monologue addressed to an unknown listener, fits with the requirement of the myth. As for the lyrics, they grasp the idea of a journey (“they told us we should go”) that refers to the travel of the heroes to Troy while the thematic of friendship (“As I turned to you, you smiled at me”) reflects the tight links between Achilles and Patroclus. There are also the ideas of homecoming and act bravely (“Oh the songs to sing when we at last return again”) that are central in heroes’ motivation to fight in the Iliad.

On the other hand, the title of the song suggests that Achilles died in a glorious way in a final epic combat whereas in the Iliad his last moments don’t take a central place and are depicted as the result of a random battle injury (an arrow-shot). Then we can see how Led Zeppelin tends to reconstruct the meaning of the myth by fostering the epic dimension of the death of Achilles in the title, which gives some severity to the song. Moreover, Campbell shows that other references in the song contribute to undermine any coherence with Homer’s epic9 and this is why he warns that “it is difficult to find the bulk of the lyrics thematically lucid in any extent”10. The lyrics even introduce some ambiguity as the thematic of the travel and the reference to Atlas (“The mighty arms of Atlas, hold the heavens from the earth”) could embody an allegory to the band’s voyage to Greece at the time of the song’s composition. In addition, the title could be interpreted as the allusion to an injury Plant received in car accident during the travel. Campbell states that this interpretation belongs to the many that are produced by fans on internet conversations11. Some of them also perceive the appropriation of the imagery of the conquering warrior as a metaphor of touring foreign countries, since the idea of stage performance seems clear (“Oh to laugh aloud, dancing as we fought the crowd”). Therefore, we can see that lyrics are featured by enough ambiguity so that each fan can make his own interpretation. This characteristic allows us to consider here the “performance” of Led Zeppelin. The classical allusion to the Iliad, as a part of the inspiration and the imagery, contributes to the differentiation of the song but its lack of coherent or unifying meaning impedes the band’s practice to be perceived as “elitist”. Indeed, Campbell underlines that the audience has no problem with the use classical references, “viewing it as a

9 For instance, the “reference to “Albion” [in the song] is both geographically and chronologically out of step with the epic” 10 Iain Campbell 11 Campbell relies on three websites: songfacts.com, songmeanings.co and maidenfans.com reasonable starting point for song-writing”12. Thus Led Zeppelin manages to foster their mystique through mythical references that are loose enough to be freely interpreted and positively received by the fans.

The use and the reconstruction of classical references has also been acknowledged in the songs of Iron Maiden whose lyrics often rely on many kinds of inspirations (literature, movies, historical events and even current affairs). “Flight of Icarus”, one of their most successful singles13, draws on the famous Greek myth of Daedalus and his son who attempted to fly away from the palace of Knossos on Crete by making wings with feathers and wax. As it is commonly known, Icarus didn’t listen to his father as he flew to close to the sun. Thus the warmth melted the wax that sustained the feathers and Icarus died falling in the sea. However, Campbell underlines that the classical inspiration is not carefully respected in order to construct a new meaning. Indeed, Bruce Dickinson (lead singer and lyricist of the song) confessed that he altered the myth in order to create a metaphor of “teenage rebellion against adult authority”14. This is confirmed by the scene depicted in the song, where a “boy” going out of a “crowd” is publicly challenging his “father” by trying to fly away. The idea of ascension contained in the refrain “Fly on your way, like an eagle, fly as high as the sun” can be subject to open interpretations such an allegory a teenage quest for autonomy.

Moreover, the mention of a crowd, departing from the secrecy of the escape present in the original tale, refers quite obviously to the public of a heavy metal show and demonstrates that the myth is reshaped to convey a new message. Indeed, through the metaphor of Icarus, Iron Maiden deals with as generational conflict that concerned many heavy metal fans in the 1980s, which is parent’s lack of understanding towards the music listened by their children. This conflict led for instance in the US to the creation of the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) in 1985, an organization designed to foster parental control over the access to musical content suspected to encourage violence, drug abuse or referring to sex15. Therefore, Iron Maiden appropriates freely the myth of Icarus to address an issue experienced by several of their fans, strengthening rather than weakening the links between both of the parties as it would be expected from the use of references belonging to an elitist background. On the contrary, Campbell emphasizes that fan’s commentaries reflect globally no problem with the

12 Iain Campbell 13 Chart references used by Campbell 14 As cited by Campbell, p.119 15 Power, Gender and Madness Robert Walser classical borrowing; they are even aware of the song’s approximations and perceive it as “artistic”16, giving credit to the performance of the band and reinforcing its authority.

Furthermore, “Alexander the Great” from Iron Maiden’s album Somewhere in Time (1986) allows us to consider the complexity that underpins fan’s reactions in regard with classical content in British heavy metal. The song appears as a simple and linear summary of the of life of the well-known historical character. As Campbell states, fan’s commentaries seem not impressed by the lyrics and are keen to point out the shortcomings of the song. For instance, one says that “lyrics are at best in the league of a better children’s encyclopedia article”17. However, we should not understate the effects of the lyrics within the community of fans. On the one hand the same commentator acknowledges that the content is “more than most people would expect from a metal band anyway”18. Here we can see again how the appropriation of classical references contribute to differentiate Iron Maiden from other heavy metal performers in the eyes of the fans, thus strengthening their mystique. On the other hand, the fact that the song provokes hundreds of commentaries on community websites, with sometimes passionate and detailed critical reactions19, gives support to the weightiness of the band’s lyrics as the subject is perceived as “important” by the fans who are not indifferent.

To conclude, we have seen that classical borrowings in British heavy metal contribute to differentiate and foster the aura of the bands using this process. However, these appropriations are loose enough so that their elitist dimension is not perceived by the fans as bothering. To quote Walser speaking about Iron Maiden (but it would also apply to Led Zeppelin), “the loss of monovocal, hegemonic history enables other constructions and connections to be formed”20. The reformulation and adaptation of some classical myths or references offer new meanings which can receive several interpretations from enthusiastic fans. As Led Zeppelin and Iron Maiden are not strict on their references, they don’t appear as elitist bands. In fact, they foster their links with their fans as the latter praise classical appropriations as a fair homage and inspirations for song-writing.

16 As cited by Campbell 17 As cited by Campbell 18 As cited by Campbell 19 Campbell 20 Walser, p 160 British heavy metal and the mainstream: the redefinition of musical authenticity through the transition between the 1970s and the 1980s

Despite increasing studies about heavy metal music, most of scholars have overlooked bands like Rainbow or Def Leppard that gather traditional metal aesthetics with commercial elements, focusing on works embodying the subcultural dimension of the genre. As for Weinstein21, this lack of interest in the academic field comes from a willingness to gain some credibility by differentiating the “good” from the “bad” and avoiding musical content without political potential. Because many heavy metal bands have been categorized as “mainstream” in opposition to the “authenticity” of others by rock criticism, scholars have considered that it does not worth analyzing them.

However, sociologist Benjamin Earl underlines that both categories of authenticity and mainstream are constructed and that the relation between heavy metal and the mainstream has never been fixed22. British heavy metal, as a subcultural genre, has been characterized by permanent negotiations between resistance and incorporation, subversion and correctness, which led to processes of mainstreaming and fragmentation. In order to conceptualize those mechanisms, Earl relies on Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of cultural fields. Earl explains that the conception of authenticity within the “metal field” changed according to the repartition of the symbolic capital, the main stake in the field. The symbolic capital can be defined as particular properties that determine success in the field which is measured by symbolic profits.23 Concretely, we will argue that in the beginning of the 1980s, those symbolic profits in the metal field shifted from emphasize on virtuosity, rebellion and escapism to elements of mainstream pop. In this perspective, some heavy metal bands adopted strategies to gain symbolic profits and recognition by orienting artistic, commercial and lyrical choices in regard with this definition of success. As those “position-taking strategies”24 allowed British heavy metal to gain popularity, musical authenticity in the field took a mainstream dimension. In this manner, we can consider the performance of some British heavy metal bands as they managed to reformulate the values attached to the genre, taking away from its subcultural feature what was conceived as legitimate in the metal field.

21 As cited by Earl, p. 33 22 Earl 23 Earl 24 Earl, In order to understand the mainstreaming of British heavy metal’s authenticity in the 1980s, we will first analyze some of the values that surrounded and shaped the borders of the genre as a subcultural style in the 1970s.

To begin with, three British bands come first in mind as the main contributors to the definition of heavy metal’s values as a subculture: Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath. But for Earl, it is Led Zeppelin that became mainly associated with the way heavy metal must look and sound like, given the fact that they reached a higher degree of success and legitimation than the two others. Even if there are conflicts to label Led Zeppelin as heavy metal, we must remember that what is meaningful in the music of a band is constructed differently according to listeners that integrate several and specific expectations25. Thus, heavy metal fans have been “reading” Led Zeppelin through the prism of traditional features of the genre that were all gathered by the band: guitar riffs, virtuosity of the solos, heavy drumming and high-pitched singing. Even if Led Zeppelin fits the requirements of heavy metal aesthetics, Earl shows that the band never accepted this categorization in order present itself “as more creative, more imaginative and more distinctive than the average metal band”26. In this matter, the influence of blues, folk as well as references to fantasy and mythology (as described above) in the band’s music also appeared to shape and define the authenticity of British heavy metal in the 1970s.

As a result, Led Zeppelin’s position-taking strategy was followed by bands like Uriah Heep, Rainbow or Magnum which in their beginnings adopted an imagery embedded with fantasy in order to get recognition within the metal field. It becomes obvious while looking at the title of Magnum’s debut album Kingdom of Madness (1978) or Rainbow’s song “Temple of the King” (1975). On its first two debut albums, Magnum even used a flute in addition to the balance of acoustic and electric parts, giving a folk dimension to their music. The choice of Magnum to use multiple musical identities enabled the band to distinguish itself from the commodified and standardized form of pop music, contributing to orient heavy metal’s authenticity against the mainstream27. Moreover, fantastic and dreamlike features of album covers gave the clear signal that the bands had integrated what was at stake in the field of metal production28. For instance, Roger Dean’s artwork on Uriah Heep’s Demons and Wizards (1972) reflects the strong appropriation of fantasy in heavy metal, featuring an alien

25 Earl 26 Earl, p. 37 27 Earl 28 Earl landscape with uncommon forms, the light of an eclipse on a stellar blue sky fostering the strange atmosphere. With last but not least a magician on the center of the cover, potential listeners can have a clear idea about the content of the album. The same pattern is encountered in the artworks of Rainbow, whose 1975’s debut album cover represents a mysterious castle perched in the clouds, and Magnum whose album sleeve Chase the Dragon (1982) depicts futuristic creatures, plants and buildings.

Therefore, we can see how some 1970s British heavy metal bands, following the strategy of Led Zeppelin, adopted an imagery of fantasy that contributed to shape heavy metal’s authenticity in opposition to commodified pop music. Fantasy thus was constructed as a boundary of the metal field, embodying a means for new comers to get recognized as a metal band. We will now see how the definition of heavy metal’s legitimacy shifted at the edge of the 1980s as a result of the agency of bands that opted for new position-taking strategies.

Those “innovative” choices were featured by the emergence of what Earl qualifies as “melodic rock”29, a heavy metal subgenre that merged characteristics of both metal and mainstream pop to create a hybrid form which commercial dimension strongly departed from heavy metal standards of the 1970s. Indeed, this new musical style reflected some British band’s conscious endeavor to distinguish themselves from other bands by creating their own space within the field of production so that they could get recognition and consecration. Consequently, these position-taking strategies adopted by new-comers (or former artists as we will see) contributed to restructure the metal field. Indeed, the merging of heavy sounds and rhythmic inherent to heavy metal with “catchy” choruses typical of pop music had the effect of increasing their commercial potential and enlarging their fan’s profiles beyond a subcultural background. This phenomenon loosened the binary opposition between commodified and “subcultural art music”30 that determined the prevailing way heavy metal was conceptualized in the 1970s.

As for Earl, the mainstreaming of the metal field already began in England in the late 1970s with the new stylistic choices made by Rainbow. In 1979, guitarist and lead songwriter Ritchie Blackmore excluded vocalist Ronnie James Dio and recruited Graham Bonnett in place. As a result, medieval, epic and fantasy references dear to Dio and obvious in songs like “Man on Silver Mountain” (1975) or “Gates of Babylon” (1978) were substituted by more

29 Earl, p. 39 30 Earl, p. 39 chart-friendly love songs such as “Since You Been Gone” (1979), the single of the album Down To Earth (1979). Rainbow then departed from the traditional canons that shaped the definition of authenticity in the field. Therefore, the band gained recognition in the metal sphere because they became considered as distinctive from other performers that just followed and reproduced musical standards defined by Led Zeppelin. It is interesting to see that mainstreaming, commonly asserted as a process of uniformization, worked here as a differentiation.

“Since You Been Gone” is emblematic from several perspectives about Rainbow’s departure from norms and values surrounding the production of heavy metal. First of all, the lyrical content showed an important shift as simple pop romanticism replaced the complexity of fantasy allegories which could be found in songs like “Stargazer” (1976) that criticized the effects of man’s vanity through a pseudo-legendary tale. Moreover, the musical structure of the song was simpler and more repetitive with a catchy chorus, thus closer to stylistic features encountered in pop music. Finally, “Since You Been Gone” was a song originally written by Russ Ballard, which meant that Blackmore got away from “the heavy metal tradition that saw band members writing and performing their own work”31 and moved towards a production process consisting in hiring a songwriter, something typical fo pop bands. Therefore, Rainbow got into a commercial dependence where success was no longer determined by artistic creativity, prevailing in traditional heavy metal’s authenticity, but by the number of sales.32

With “Since You Been Gone” reaching #6 in the British charts in August 197933, Rainbow’s commercial success proved that Blackmores’s strategy aiming at merging its metal with pop elements was gainful. But Rainbow’s consecration in the field was also asserted by the fact that other British heavy metal bands started to reproduce their style and that Ballard himself became asked by other metal bands to cover his songs. This was for instance the case of Magnum and Uriah Heep which covered respectively Ballard’s works on “Rockin’ Chair” (1990) and “On the Rebound” (1982). Consequently, with this act, both bands followed and thus gave credit to Rainbow’s strategy of appropriating rather than creating one’s own material as a marker of a new authenticity. Therefore, we can argue that Rainbow’s choices

31 Earl, p. 41 32 Earl 33 Earl had an important influence on the metal field as they contributed to shift heavy metal’s definition of authenticity, “imposing the concept of mainstream metal as authentic metal”34.

With Rainbow, mainstream orientation became a viable option to enter the metal field. But while Blackmore’s band kept strong metal elements such as an emphasize on guitar riffs and solos, other British performers as Def Leppard fostered this commercial position-taking strategy by opening melodic rock to the field of large-scale production. Indeed, Def Leppard hired producer Robert ‘Mutt’ Lang, which led to a division of the creative work as he participated to the composition of most of the songs together with the band. In this manner, the musical orientation of the band shifted through a creative process related to popular mainstream music production, as songwriting became the result of team rather than individual contributions. This went through more time spent in the recording studio, with emphasis on sound effects, vocal multi-tracking and keyboards as means to increase the commercial potential of the band. As for Whiteley et al., the fact that the compositional process gravitates around the recording studio “blurs the distinction between artist and producer”35, thus reinforcing the commodified aspect of the music. The explosion Def Leppard’s record sales with the album Hysteria (1987), both in the US and England, confirmed that a strategy perceiving success as the position of singles in the charts was now culturally valued in the metal field. As Earl reminds us, it sharply contrasts with Led Zeppelin’s choice to not release singles to keep their “artistic integrity”36 intact.

Thus, we can witness again the performance of some British heavy metal bands like Rainbow or Def Leppard. They contributed to shift the conception of heavy metal’s authenticity as opposed to commercial music towards a closer relation to the mainstream, with the introduction of simplified musical structures, romantic lyrical themes typical of pop and less emphasis on performers’ authority in the creative process. All those features embodied position-taking strategies that helped those bands to promote their differentiation and thus enjoy consecration in the metal field, despite some inevitable resistances37. Moreover, despite their working class background, Def Leppard’s members achieved greater recognition by moving away from norms of authenticity valued by their original subcultural audience and milieu. Thus their music was not just a merely reflection of the condition of its production, but also the result of a conscious strategy.

34 Earl, p. 40 35 As cited by Earl 36 Earl 37 Talk about press critics

Conclusion: reconsidering heavy metal bands’ agency

In this paper, we have demonstrated the importance and the effects of band’s performances and practices in the construction of British heavy metal in the 1970s and the 1980s. It has allowed us to assert the agency of some metal performers as both classical borrowings and commercial position-taking strategies embodied norms of production that were not the property of their working class subcultural background. Such stylistic choices and strategies created a positive differentiation in that they fostered their popularity and improved their authority among fans and other heavy metal artists.

This finding suggests that future research should focus on the interactions between heavy metal and other cultural elements operating outside the subcultural framework of the genre. It should improve our understanding of band’s choices in how they affect the definition of heavy metal in a field featured by constant processes of negotiations and differentiations.

Bibliography:

Bardine, Bryan A.; “Elements of Gothic in Heavy Metal: A Match Made in Hell” in Gerd Bayer(ed): Heavy Metal Music in Britain, Erlangen 2009, pp. 125-139 Campbell, Iain; “From Achilles to Alexander: The Classical World and the World of Metal” in Gerd Bayer(ed): Heavy Metal Music in Britain, Erlangen 2009, pp. 111-124 Earl, Benjamin; “Metal Goes «Pop»: The Explosion of Heavy Metal into the Mainstream” in Gerd Bayer(ed): Heavy Metal Music in Britain, Erlangen 2009, pp. 33-51 Harrison, Leigh Michael, Factory Music: How the Industrial Geography and Workign-Class Environment of Post-War Birmingham Fostered the Birth of Heavy Metal, Journal of Social History, 2010 Fall, Vol.44, pp 145-158 Moore, Ryan M., “The Unmaking of the English Working Class: Deindustrialization, Reification and the Origins of Heavy Metal” in Gerd Bayer(ed): Heavy Metal Music in Britain, Erlangen 2009, pp.143-160 Roberts et al., “Subcultures, Culture and Class” in Jefferson, Tony & Hall (ed): Resistance through rituals. Youth subcultures in post-war Britain, London 1975, pp. 9-57 Sewell; William. “The Concept(s) of Culture” in Bonnel and Hunt (red): Beyond the Cultural Turn: New directions in the Study of Society and Culture, Berkeley: University of California Press 1999, pp. 35-61 Taylor, Laura Wiebe; “Images of Human-Wrought Despair and Destruction: Social Critique in British Apocalyptic and Dystopian Metal” in Gerd Bayer(ed): Heavy Metal Music in Britain, Erlangen 2009, pp. 89-110 Walser, Robert. Running with the Devil: Power, Gender and Madness in Heavy Metal Music. Hanover, NH: Weysleyan University Press, 1993