The Devil in Heavy Metal
Popular culture can have a strong impact on society and endorse social change. An important issue regarding this topic is the distinction between legitimized and subversive culture. Indeed, both young people and older people try to single themselves out, and these attempts are present in every field of popular culture. Music is an important example of this strong reaction towards the “legitimized” popular culture. One of the most criticized types of music is Heavy metal, as it is often correlated to the devil and to Satanism. As James R Lewis claims in his “Encyclopedia of Religion, Folklore, and Popular Culture”: “According to some conservative Christians who dislike the genre, rock music companies routinely incorporated …show more content…
Certainly, people are influenced by music producers, media and sometimes even religious belief in the way they perceive heavy metal music. These factors do not always have real influence on popular culture and social change, but sometimes they only create divisions in social groups. This division is, first of all, caused by the concept of “the other”. Specific types of music are more likely to be addressed to specific social groups. As Asbjørn Dyrendal argues in the article “Devilish Consumption: Popular Culture in Satanic Socialization”, “Society and social identities are constructed through the continual activity of society's members in groups and as separate individuals acting with the internalized audience of ‘the Other(s)’ in mind” (Asbjørn 68). As Asbjørn aims to demonstrate, mass media plays a role in socialization in the same way it plays a key role in the shaping of certain beliefs, which may include the idea of contemporary Satanism (Asbjørn 69). The Christian religion has linked the idea of Satanism to adolescents through horror movies and, of course, rock and heavy metal music which combined demoniac images and lyrics to the famous statement “sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll”. This kind of music was attractive for young people and the demonization of the genre only made it more
Popular culture can have a strong impact on society and endorse social change. An important issue regarding this topic is the distinction between legitimized and subversive culture. Indeed, both young people and older people try to single themselves out, and these attempts are present in every field of popular culture. Music is an important example of this strong reaction towards the “legitimized” popular culture. One of the most criticized types of music is Heavy metal, as it is often correlated to the devil and to Satanism. As James R Lewis claims in his “Encyclopedia of Religion, Folklore, and Popular Culture”: “According to some conservative Christians who dislike the genre, rock music companies routinely incorporated …show more content…
Certainly, people are influenced by music producers, media and sometimes even religious belief in the way they perceive heavy metal music. These factors do not always have real influence on popular culture and social change, but sometimes they only create divisions in social groups. This division is, first of all, caused by the concept of “the other”. Specific types of music are more likely to be addressed to specific social groups. As Asbjørn Dyrendal argues in the article “Devilish Consumption: Popular Culture in Satanic Socialization”, “Society and social identities are constructed through the continual activity of society's members in groups and as separate individuals acting with the internalized audience of ‘the Other(s)’ in mind” (Asbjørn 68). As Asbjørn aims to demonstrate, mass media plays a role in socialization in the same way it plays a key role in the shaping of certain beliefs, which may include the idea of contemporary Satanism (Asbjørn 69). The Christian religion has linked the idea of Satanism to adolescents through horror movies and, of course, rock and heavy metal music which combined demoniac images and lyrics to the famous statement “sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll”. This kind of music was attractive for young people and the demonization of the genre only made it more