HELLBOUND IN EL SALVADOR: HEAVY METAL AS A PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE IN CENTRAL AMERICA by Christian Pack A dissertation submitted to Johns Hopkins University in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Baltimore, Maryland October, 2018 © 2018 Christian Pack All Rights Reserved Abstract Heavy Metal in El Salvador has been a driving force of the underground culture since the Civil War in the 1980s. Over time, it has grown into a large movement that encompasses musicians, producers, promoters, media outlets and the international exchange of music, ideas and live shows. As a music based around discontent with society at large, Heavy Metal attempts to question the status quo through an intellectual exploration of taboo subjects and the presentation of controversial live shows. As an international discourse, Heavy Metal speaks to ideas of both socio-political and individual power based around a Philosophy of Life that exalts personal freedoms and personal responsibility to oneself and their society. As a community, it represents a ‘rage’ group, as defined by Peter Sloterdijk, that questions Western epistemologies and the doctrines of Christian Philosophy. This is done in different ways, by different genres, but at the heart is the changing of macro- (international) discourses into micro- (local) discourses that focus on those issues important to the geographic specificity of the region. In the case of Black Metal, born in Norway, it is interpreted in El Salvador through the similarities between the doctrines of Hitler and those of the most famous dictator in the country’s history – General Maximiliano Hernandez – and then applied, ironically, to the local phenomena of the Salvadoran Street Gangs (MS-13 and 18s) and their desired extermination. It is also done through the re-interpreting of folk metal in the local phenomenon of tribal metal that reinterprets the indigenous through the lens of modern society and heavy metal’s ideas of power. Finally, the Salvadoran metalhead adapts the genre’s vulgarity and dark humor to fuel their own systems of dealing with harsh repression and existing within a society that seems to have no place for them. At ii the bottom though, much more than a community, Heavy Metal in El Salvador is a source of fraternalismo that utilizes the Philosophy of Life to bind its members together and to provide them a means by which to express their personal freedoms within a society that would happily see them limited. iii Acknowledgments In order for a project like this to come together, many different things have to miraculously come together – out of the ether and into life. But for that to happen, it is necessary to surround oneself with those people that make achievements like these possible. There are so many people that I could thank. So many, in fact, that I could probably write another book on just those people that have helped to make this happen. I would like first, however, to thank those that helped me to realize that studying Heavy Metal at a place like Johns Hopkins was an actual possibility and not just a silly dream (as many have called it). First and foremost, I would like to thank Christopher RayAlexander not only for being the first to tell me, “Oh yeah, you could totally do that”, but also for being the person who stuck with me over my years at Johns Hopkins and supported me both academically and emotionally through many hard and difficult times – your kind words will never be forgotten. I would also like to thank my co-conspirators, or “colleagues” as some call them, from the 2012 cohort: Matteo Cantarello, Mary Speer and Francisco Gomez-Martos. If it wasn’t for your constant support and belief in me, I would never have even made it through the first two years of the program. I would like to thank Sara Castro-Klaren for supporting, and correcting, my writing and helping me to become the writer that I am today. Of course, my advisors William Egginton and Eduardo Gonzalez. Professor Egginton, your grace as a person and your ability to express a confidence in my abilities, that I have many times been unable to see on my own, has kept me sane and on the right track throughout the researching and writing of this thesis. Professor Gonzalez, I thank you for always including me in literally anything that had to do with my interests, for supporting a thesis topic that originally received some resistance, for iv inspiring me creatively as a writer and as a thinker and, most of all, for putting up with my own eccentricities and personality flaws. I would like to thank Nelson Varas- Díaz for supporting me on the ground in Puerto Rico, but most importantly, for helping me to publish my first academic paper in the International Metal Music Studies Journal. But, most of all, academically, professionally, emotionally, and personally, I would like to thank Kathy Loehmer for not only being my own personal bodyguard, watchdog and personal therapist, but most of all for being a good friend when I needed one the most and for making me feel at home when I no longer had one. In El Salvador, there are hundreds of people that I could thank. Many of them are featured in this thesis, and many I was not able to include do to the scope of the paper and limits on my own time, talent and abilities. Nonetheless, I would like to thank both Alex “el Negro Centenario” Palacios and “Mala Vida” for supporting me with a place to live, cold beer in my belly, access to the local scene and, more importantly, a brotherly friendship that I hope will last forever – or until all three of us crash and burn at a young age, hopefully (Live Fast! Die Young!). I would like to thank Edwin Marinero for admitting on national radio that I am the only gringo that he has ever liked but also for giving me access to Metalfest, to various rural concerts, music, videos, contraband, and everything that I ever needed and/or asked for. I hope that this thesis does your 30 years of experience in the scene justice and that it somehow opens a door that will justify each and every one of them. I would like to thank Vicente “Chente” Sibrian for your always kind words, for sharing your experience, for bragging about me and calling me “six-pack”, but also for always remembering me and never giving up on me. As an extension, I would have to thank Radio Astral for their kind invitations to speak on air and for putting me in touch with v the majority of bands that I now know – without this door being opened my circle of friends would be much, much smaller. A special thanks to my friends from SinsoLoft who, even though the Loft and some of you are gone, I will never forget and am immensely in your debt for the brotherhood that you offered me and also for quite a few bar tabs: Roberto “Mad” Rosales, Roberto “Ula Ula” Ardon, Giovanni Rosales, Francisco “Chele Dismember” Villalta, Iosif Najarro, Saul Armando “Gallina” Martínez Audon, and, especially, José “Chepe” Solomon – who I will miss greatly and wish I had given you a copy of this work before your early departure, hopefully some day we will rock together in whichever end of the great beyond you are in. A very special thanks to Rodrigo “Fatality” Artiga for being my “brother from another mother”, for inviting me on tour, for trusting in my abilities at live shows (despite my constant complaining) and mostly for always being there when I need someone to tell me to “stop being a culero”. And finally, a hearty thank you to the bands Araña, Dreamlore, Virginia Clemm, Social S.S. and Indezoquixtia who not only helped with my studies but made me feel like a part of their bands and their community – I consider all of you close friends and hope to continue to join you for concert after concert until this body will no longer allow it. On a much more personal note, however, I must thank my kids for their constant patience, their support, their kindness, their love and affection and for not ever giving up on me; even though many people had many things to say about my decisions, you all stuck with me: Salvador Lopez, you have always stuck by me even when you had no reason and you taught me that there are so many things more important than blood to make a real relationship; Gloria Sarai Pack, your love, your music, your drawings and most of all your undying encouragement through tough times; Jack Pack, my favorite athlete and comedian, laughing with you has always vi been one of my favorite things and I hope to do it forever; David “Jonny” Pack, your intelligence and amazing character, even from a young age, have always been inspirational to me; and Elizabeth Pack, who loves her Daddy, you brighten my world and ‘turn it up to 11’ with every one of your little mannerisms and especially when we throw up the devil horns together; Xavier Elian Avila-Hernandez, mi papi, I love playing with you and feel honored to be a recipient of your love and affection; and Angelique Verenice Pack, my daughter, your ability to encourage me, to make me feel special, has turned my world around and I count it as a blessing to be your father, your friend and your confidant. Without any of you, I would be completely lost and I love each and every one of you with the entirety of my being.