Master thesis in Sociology, 30 higher education credits
”If you don’t like the old Darkthrone records… Fuck off!” - Nostalgia and subcultural capital as gatekeeping incentives in the black metal community
Alf-Tore Tyft
Supervisor: Åsa Wettergren
Spring 2021 Abstract This study uses the concept of subcultural capital and community boundaries to explore which features of black metal from the past that are in peril in the late modern mainstream appropriation of the genre. Through in-depth interviews, this study reveals emotional and cognitive incentives for the gatekeeping practice performed by self-identified black metal fans to resist mainstream appropriation. The mainstream is divided into a strictly musical dimen- sion and an ideological dimension. Fans express concerns about the music developing a less compelling sound and that their live experiences will be affected negatively due to insincere participation. The mainstream ideology, for instance commercial interests and wokeism, will interfere with the genre’s transgressive qualities. Black metal gives fans a sense of reality in a society they perceive as dishonest, acknowledges feelings of resentment and alienation, help- ing them to process their own negative emotions.
Keywords: black metal; nostalgia; community boundaries; subcultural capital; authenticity
Introduction For our second date, I asked my partner to accompany me to a Myrkur concert. Myrkur is marketed as a black metal band fronted by Amalie Bruun, former model and pop music sing- er. The band combines Scandinavian folk music with old school black metal. After the show, it struck me how unthinkable it should have been to ask someone unfami- liar with the aesthetics which traditionally constitutes black metal to come along to see a black metal artist. Personally, I have been listening to metal since I was 11, thus acquiring the understanding and liking for the genre the larger part of my life. The countless hours of record listening and attending shows has made the vulgarity, the noise and the other aspects of metal music like second nature to me. Black metal resides within the spectrum typically denoted as ”extreme metal” and achieves its extremeness through gory and often sexist imagery, anti-re- ligious thematics and a distinct soundscape many people are repelled by (Kahn-Harris 2007: 5). With her feminine appearance and occasional mild musical passages, Myrkur has achieved popularity and attention in the metal music scene as well as in more mainstream areas. My personal appreciation of Myrkur aside however, black metal fans are not undivided in their