THE UNIVERSITY OF HULL Functions of Genre in Metal and Hardcore Music being a Thesis submitted for the Degree of PhD in Music in the University of Hull by Lewis F. Kennedy (MMus, BA) September 2017 Table of Contents List of Figures ........................................................................................................ iv List of Tables .......................................................................................................... v Acknowledgements ............................................................................................... vi Abstract .............................................................................................................. viii Introduction ........................................................................................................... 1 Chapter Outline ...................................................................................................... 3 Chapter One – Metal, Hardcore, and Discourse ...................................................... 6 Forging Metal Studies ..................................................................................................... 7 Early Metal Studies (1990s) .............................................................................................. 8 Metal Studies Expands (21st Century) ............................................................................. 11 Hardcore and/or Punk Studies ....................................................................................... 16 Metal Studies, Hardcore Studies, and the Non-Academic .............................................. 19 Metal and Hardcore Studies Going Forward .................................................................. 23 Researching Metal and Hardcore .................................................................................. 28 Key Terms .................................................................................................................... 29 Metal/Hardcore in the Twenty-First Century ................................................................. 29 Participants ..................................................................................................................... 32 Genre, Subgenre, Scene, Style ........................................................................................ 35 Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 36 Chapter Two – Historiography and Symbiosis ....................................................... 39 Tropes in the Historiography of Metal/Hardcore .......................................................... 40 History and/as Subcultural Capital ................................................................................. 40 Consequentiality ............................................................................................................. 44 Progression and Regression ............................................................................................ 47 Separation of Metal and Hardcore ................................................................................. 49 Generic Symbiosis ........................................................................................................ 52 Crossover ........................................................................................................................ 54 Metalcore ....................................................................................................................... 56 Notional Divide ............................................................................................................ 57 i Constructed to be Overcome ......................................................................................... 57 Constructed to be Maintained ....................................................................................... 61 Symbiosis in the 21st Century ........................................................................................ 63 Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 64 Chapter Three – Intra- and Intergeneric Relationships .......................................... 66 On the Relationship Between Small- and Large-Scale Phenomena ................................ 67 Performance Techniques and Compositional Devices ................................................... 68 Vocals ............................................................................................................................. 69 Guitars ............................................................................................................................ 79 Drums ............................................................................................................................. 86 Breakdowns .................................................................................................................... 88 Djent ............................................................................................................................... 94 Metal/Hardcore Genre Typology .................................................................................. 95 Heavy Metal .................................................................................................................... 96 Punk and Hardcore ......................................................................................................... 98 Extreme Metal ................................................................................................................ 99 Hybrid Genres ............................................................................................................... 101 Subgenre Connections ................................................................................................ 102 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 106 Chapter Four – Genre, Style, Scene ..................................................................... 108 Genre ......................................................................................................................... 109 Genre in Popular Music ................................................................................................ 110 Genre Worlds, Genre Cultures, and Metagenres ......................................................... 113 Rules, Dimensions, and Principles ................................................................................ 117 Genre in Metal/Hardcore Academia ............................................................................ 121 Genre in Metal/Hardcore Journalism ........................................................................... 127 Style ........................................................................................................................... 132 Genre vs. Style .............................................................................................................. 134 Genre as Style ............................................................................................................... 137 Implementing Style ....................................................................................................... 140 Genre/Style and Type/Token ........................................................................................ 146 Scene ......................................................................................................................... 152 Subculture, Tribe, Scene ............................................................................................... 152 Types of Scene .............................................................................................................. 156 ii Metal and Hardcore Scenes .......................................................................................... 163 Scenic Interaction ......................................................................................................... 174 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 184 Chapter Five – Creative Tensions ........................................................................ 186 Mainstream and Underground in Metal/Hardcore Discourse ..................................... 187 Defining Mainstream .................................................................................................... 189 Multiple Mainstreams .................................................................................................. 195 Mainstream Metal/Hardcore ....................................................................................... 197 Mainstreaming ............................................................................................................. 203 Selling Out .................................................................................................................... 211 Rhetorical Tensions as Creative Apparatus ................................................................. 216 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 222 Chapter Six – Metalcore ..................................................................................... 224 What’s in a Name? ......................................................................................................