Editing Heavy metal music (section)

==Characteristics==
Heavy metal is traditionally characterized by loud distorted guitars, emphatic rhythms, dense bass-and-drum sound and vigorous vocals. Heavy metal subgenres variously emphasize, alter or omit one or more of these attributes. In a 1988 article, ''[[The New York Times]]'' critic [[Jon Pareles]] wrote, "In the taxonomy of popular music, heavy metal is a major subspecies of hard-rock—the breed with less [[syncopation]], less blues, more showmanship and more brute force."<ref name=JP>Pareles, Jon. [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE2DB113DF933A25754C0A96E948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all "Heavy Metal, Weighty Words"] ''[[The New York Times]]'', 10 July 1988. Retrieved on 14 November 2007</ref> The typical band lineup includes a drummer, a bassist, a rhythm guitarist, a lead guitarist and a singer, who may or may not be an instrumentalist. Keyboard instruments are sometimes used to enhance the fullness of the sound.<ref name=W25>Weinstein (2000), p. 25</ref> [[Deep Purple]]'s [[Jon Lord]] played an overdriven [[Hammond organ]]. In 1970, [[John Paul Jones (musician)|John Paul Jones]] used a [[Moog synthesizer]] on ''[[Led Zeppelin III]]''; by the 1990s, synthesizers were used in "almost every subgenre of heavy metal".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/synthesizers-impact-heavy-metal/ |title=Instigate Sonic Violence: A Not-so-Brief History of the Synthesizer's Impact on Heavy Metal |last=Hannum |first=Terence |date=18 March 2016 |website=noisey.vice.com |publisher=Vice |access-date=7 January 2017 |quote=In almost every subgenre of heavy metal, synthesizers held sway. Look at Cynic, who on their progressive death metal opus Focus (1993) had keyboards appear on the album and during live performances, or British gothic doom band My Dying Bride, who relied heavily on synths for their 1993 album, Turn Loose the Swans. American noise band Today is the Day used synthesizers on their 1996 self titled album to powerfully add to their din. Voivod even put synthesizers to use for the first time on 1991's Angel Rat and 1993's The Outer Limits, played by both guitarist Piggy and drummer Away. The 1990s were a gold era for the use of synthesizers in heavy metal, and only paved the way for the further explorations of the new millennia.}}</ref>

[[File:Judas Priest Retribution 2005 Tour.jpg|thumb|alt=The band Judas Priest are onstage at a concert. From left to right are the singer, two electric guitarists, the bass player, and the drummer, who is seated behind a drumkit. The singer is wearing a black trenchcoat with metal studs.|[[Judas Priest]] performing in 2005]]
The electric guitar and the sonic power that it projects through amplification has historically been the key element in heavy metal.<ref name=W23>Weinstein (2000), p. 23</ref> The heavy metal guitar sound comes from a combined use of high volumes and heavy [[fuzz (electric guitar)|fuzz]].<ref>Walser, Robert (1993). ''Running with the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal Music''. [[Wesleyan University Press]]. p. 10. {{ISBN|0-8195-6260-2}}</ref> For classic heavy metal guitar tone, guitarists maintain gain at moderate levels, without excessive preamp or pedal distortion, to retain open spaces and air in the music; the guitar amplifier is turned up loud to produce the "punch and grind" characteristic.<ref name="Hodgson">{{cite web |url=http://iheartguitarblog.com/2011/04/metal-101-face-melting-guitar-tones.html#sthash.10w443jx.dpbs |title=METAL 101: Face-melting guitar tones |last=Hodgson |first=Peter |date=9 April 2011 |website=I Heart Guitar |archive-date=13 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110413235946/http://iheartguitarblog.com/2011/04/metal-101-face-melting-guitar-tones.html |access-date=24 January 2022 }}</ref> Thrash metal guitar tone has scooped mid-frequencies and [[Dynamic range compression|tightly compressed]] sound with multiple bass frequencies.<ref name="Hodgson"/> Guitar solos are "an essential element of the heavy metal code&nbsp;... that underscores the significance of the guitar" to the genre.<ref>Weinstein, p. 24</ref> Most heavy metal songs "feature at least one guitar solo",<ref>Walser, p. 50</ref> which is "a primary means through which the heavy metal performer expresses virtuosity".<ref>{{cite book |last=Dickinson |first=Kay |date=2003 |title=Movie Music, the Film Reader|publisher=Psychology Press |page=158 }}</ref> Some exceptions are [[nu metal]] and [[grindcore]] bands, which tend to omit guitar solos.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.revolvermag.com/lists-2/final-six-the-six-best-worst-things-to-come-out-of-nu-metal.html |title=Final Six: The Six Best/Worst Things to Come out of Nu-Metal |last1=Grow |first1=Kory |work=Revolvermag |date=26 February 2010 |publisher=Revolver magazine |access-date=21 September 2015|quote=The death of the guitar solo[:] In its efforts to tune down and simplify riffs, nu-metal effectively drove a stake through the heart of the guitar solo}}</ref> With rhythm guitar parts, the "heavy crunch sound in heavy metal&nbsp;... [is created by] [[palm muting]]" the strings with the picking hand and using distortion.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070819035422/http://www.marshallamps.com/images/web%20tuition/lesson4.html "Lesson four- Power chords".]}} Marshall Amps</ref> Palm muting creates a tighter, more precise sound and it emphasizes the low end.<ref>''Damage Incorporated: Metallica and the Production of Musical Identity''. By Glenn Pillsbury. Routledge, 2013</ref>

The lead role of the guitar in heavy metal often collides with the traditional "frontman" or bandleader role of the vocalist, creating a musical tension as the two "contend for dominance" in a spirit of "affectionate rivalry".<ref name=W25/> Heavy metal "demands the subordination of the voice" to the overall sound of the band. Reflecting metal's roots in the 1960s counterculture, an "explicit display of emotion" is required from the vocals as a sign of authenticity.<ref>Weinstein (2000), p. 26</ref> Critic [[Simon Frith]] claims that the metal singer's "tone of voice" is more important than the lyrics.<ref>Cited in Weinstein (2000), p. 26</ref>

The prominent role of the bass ‍is also key to the metal sound, and the interplay of bass and guitar is a central element. The bass provides the low-end sound crucial to making the music "heavy".<ref name=W24>Weinstein (2000), p. 24</ref> The bass plays a "more important role in heavy metal than in any other genre of rock".<ref>Weinstein (2009), p. 24</ref> Metal basslines vary widely in complexity, from holding down a low [[pedal point]] as a foundation to doubling complex [[riff]]s and [[lick (music)|licks]] along with the lead or rhythm guitars. Some bands feature the bass as a lead instrument, an approach popularized by [[Metallica]]'s [[Cliff Burton]] with his heavy emphasis on bass ‍solos and use of chords while playing the ‍bass in the early 1980s.<ref>[http://www.bassplayer.com/article/the-king-metal/Feb-05/164 "Cliff Burton's Legendary Career: The King of Metal Bass".] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151106164523/http://www.bassplayer.com/article/the-king-metal/Feb-05/164 |date=6 November 2015 }} ''Bass Player'', February 2005. Retrieved on 13 November 2007</ref> [[Lemmy]] of [[Motörhead]] often played overdriven [[power chord]]s in his bass lines.<ref>Wall, Mick. ''Lemmy: The Definitive Biography''. Orion Publishing Group, 2016</ref>

Heavy metal drumming is defined by a loud, consistent beat that drives the band, relying on the "trifecta of speed, power, and precision."<ref>Dawson, Michael. [http://www.moderndrummer.com/site/2006/08/chris-adler/ "Lamb of God's Chris Adler: More than Meets the Eye"], 17 August 2006. ''Modern Drummer Online''. Retrieved on 13 November 2007</ref> Heavy metal drumming "requires an exceptional amount of endurance", and drummers have to develop "considerable speed, coordination, and dexterity&nbsp;... to play the intricate patterns" used in heavy metal.<ref name=Berry>Berry and Gianni (2003), p. 85</ref> A characteristic metal drumming technique is the [[cymbal choke]], which consists of striking a cymbal and then immediately silencing it by grabbing it with the other hand (or, in some cases, the same striking hand), producing a burst of sound. The metal drum setup is generally much larger than those employed in other forms of rock music.<ref name=W24/> Black metal, death metal and some "mainstream metal" bands "all depend upon [[double bass drumming|double-kicks]] and [[blast beats]]".<ref>{{cite book |last=Cope |first=Andrew L. |date= 2010|title=Black Sabbath and the Rise of Heavy Metal Music |publisher=Ashgate Publishing Ltd. |page=130 }}</ref>

[[File:Girlschool enid and lemmy-2.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.9|alt=Female musician Enid Williams from the band Girlschool and Lemmy Kilmeister from Motörhead are shown onstage. Both are singing and playing bass guitar. A drumkit is seen behind them.|Enid Williams from [[Girlschool]] and [[Lemmy]] from [[Motörhead]] live in 2009. The ties that bind the two bands started in the 1980s and were still strong in the 2010s.]]
In live performance, loudness – an "onslaught of sound", in sociologist [[Deena Weinstein]]'s description – is considered vital.<ref name=W23/> In his book, ''Metalheads'', psychologist Jeffrey Arnett refers to heavy metal concerts as "the sensory equivalent of war".<ref>Arnett (1996), p. 14</ref> Following the lead set by [[Jimi Hendrix]], [[Cream (band)|Cream]] and [[the Who]], early heavy metal acts such as [[Blue Cheer]] set new benchmarks for volume. As Blue Cheer's [[Dickie Peterson|Dick Peterson]] put it, "All we knew was we wanted more power."<ref name=vdqxbw>Walser (1993), p. 9</ref> A 1977 review of a Motörhead concert noted how "excessive volume in particular figured into the band's impact".<ref>Paul Sutcliffe quoted in Waksman, Steve. {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070618140351/http://www.echo.ucla.edu/volume6-issue2/waksman/waksman3.html "Metal, Punk, and Motörhead: Generic Crossover in the Heart of the Punk Explosion".]}} ''Echo: A Music-Centered Journal'' 6.2 (Fall 2004). Retrieved on 15 November 2007</ref> Weinstein makes the case that in the same way that [[melody]] is the main element of [[pop music|pop]] and rhythm is the main focus of [[house music]], powerful sound, timbre and volume are the key elements of metal. She argues that the loudness is designed to "sweep the listener into the sound" and to provide a "shot of youthful vitality".<ref name=W23/>

Heavy metal performers tended to be almost exclusively male<ref name="Brake 1990 87–91">{{cite book |last=Brake |first=Mike |editor1-last=Frith |editor1-first=Simon |editor2-last=Goodwin |editor2-first=Andrew |title=On Record: Rock, Pop and the Written Word |publisher=Routledge |date=1990 |pages=87–91 |chapter=Heavy Metal Culture, Masculinity and Iconography }}</ref> until at least the mid-1980s,<ref>{{cite book |last=Walser |first=Robert |date=1993 |title=Running with the Devil:Power, Gender and Madness in Heavy Metal Music |publisher=Wesleyan University Press |page=76 }}</ref> with some exceptions such as [[Girlschool]].<ref name="Brake 1990 87–91"/> However, by the 2010s, women were making more of an impact,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Eddy |first=Chuck |date=1 July 2011 |title=Women of Metal |journal=Spin |publisher=SpinMedia Group}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Kelly |first=Kim |date=17 January 2013 |title=Queens of noise: heavy metal encourages heavy-hitting women |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]]}}</ref> and PopMatters' Craig Hayes argues that metal "clearly empowers women".<ref>Hayes, Craig. "[https://www.popmatters.com/a-very-dirty-lens-2495726632.html A Very Dirty Lens: How Can We Listen to Offensive Metal]". ''PopMatters''. 20 September 2013</ref> In the power metal and symphonic metal subgenres, there has been a sizable number of bands that have had women as the lead singers, such as [[Nightwish]], [[Delain]] and [[Within Temptation]].

===Musical language===

====Rhythm and tempo====
[[File:Heavy rythmic pattern2.png|upright=2|thumb|An example of a rhythmic pattern used in heavy metal. The upper stave is a [[palm mute|palm-muted]] [[rhythm guitar]] part. The lower stave is the drum part.{{Listen|title=Rhythmic Pattern Audio|filename=Heavy rythmic pattern audio.ogg|plain=yes|style=float:right}}]]
The rhythm in metal songs is emphatic, with deliberate stresses. Weinstein observes that the wide array of sonic effects available to metal drummers enables the "rhythmic pattern to take on a complexity within its elemental drive and insistency".<ref name=W24/> In many heavy metal songs, the main groove is characterized by short, two- or three-note rhythmic figures – generally made up of [[eighth note|eighth]] or [[sixteenth note|16th notes]]. These rhythmic figures are usually performed with a [[staccato]] attack created by using a [[palm mute|palm-muted]] technique on the rhythm guitar.<ref>"Master of Rhythm: The Importance of Tone and Right-hand Technique", ''Guitar Legends'', April 1997, p. 99</ref>

Brief, abrupt and detached [[rhythmic cell]]s are joined into rhythmic phrases with a distinctive, often jerky texture. These phrases are used to create rhythmic accompaniment and melodic figures called [[riff]]s, which help to establish thematic [[Hook (music)|hooks]]. Heavy metal songs also use longer rhythmic figures such as [[whole note]]- or dotted quarter note-length chords in slow-tempo [[power ballad]]s. The tempos in early heavy metal music tended to be "slow, even ponderous".<ref name=W24/> By the late 1970s, however, metal bands were employing a wide variety of tempos, and as recently as the 2000s, metal tempos range from slow ballad tempos (quarter note = 60 [[beats per minute]]) to extremely fast [[blast beat]] tempos (quarter note = 350 beats per minute).<ref name=Berry/>

====Harmony====
One of the signatures of the genre is the guitar power chord.<ref>Walser (1993), p. 2</ref> In technical terms, the power chord is relatively simple: it involves just one main [[interval (music)|interval]], generally the [[perfect fifth]], though an [[octave]] may be added as a doubling of the [[Root (chord)|root]]. When power chords are played on the lower strings at high volumes and with distortion, [[Resultant (organ)|additional low-frequency sounds]] are created, which add to the "weight of the sound" and create an effect of "overwhelming power".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Walser |first1=Robert|date=2014|title=Running With the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal Music|page=43 |publisher=Wesleyan University Press}}</ref> Although the perfect fifth interval is the most common basis for the power chord,<ref>See, e.g., [http://www.melbay.com/guitarglossary.asp Glossary of Guitar Terms]. Mel Bay Publications. Retrieved on 15 November 2007</ref> power chords are also based on different intervals such as the [[minor third]], [[major third]], [[perfect fourth]], [[diminished fifth]] or [[minor sixth]].<ref>"Shaping Up and Riffing Out: Using Major and Minor Power Chords to Add Colour to Your Parts", ''Guitar Legends'', April 1997, p. 97</ref> Most power chords are also played with a consistent finger arrangement that can be slid easily up and down the [[fingerboard|fretboard]].<ref>Schonbrun (2006), p. 22</ref>

====Typical harmonic structures====
Heavy metal is usually based on riffs created with three main harmonic traits: modal scale progressions, [[tritone]] and chromatic progressions, and the use of [[pedal point]]s. Traditional heavy metal tends to employ modal scales, in particular the [[Aeolian mode|Aeolian]] and [[Phrygian mode]]s.<ref>Walser (1993), p. 46</ref> Harmonically speaking, this means the genre typically incorporates modal chord progressions such as the Aeolian progressions I-♭VI-♭VII, I-♭VII-(♭VI), or I-♭VI-IV-♭VII and Phrygian progressions implying the relation between I and ♭II (I-♭II-I, I-♭II-III, or I-♭II-VII for example). Tense-sounding [[chromatic]] or [[tritone]] relationships are used in a number of metal chord progressions.<ref>Marshall, Wolf. "Power Lord—Climbing Chords, Evil Tritones, Giant Callouses", ''Guitar Legends'', April 1997, p. 29</ref><ref name=MH>Dunn, Sam (2005). {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20180807081407/http://metalhistory.com/ "Metal: A Headbanger's Journey".]}} Warner Home Video (2006). Retrieved on 19 March 2007</ref> In addition to using modal harmonic relationships, heavy metal also uses "[[Pentatonic scale|pentatonic]] and blues-derived features".<ref name="Lilja 2009">{{cite journal |last=Lilja |first=Esa |date=2009 |title=Theory and Analysis of Classic Heavy Metal Harmony |journal=[[Advanced Musicology]] |publisher=IAML Finland |volume=1 }}</ref>

The tritone, an interval spanning three whole tones – such as C to F# – was considered extremely [[dissonant]] and unstable by medieval and Renaissance music theorists. It was nicknamed the ''diabolus in musica –'' "the devil in music".<ref>The first explicit prohibition of that interval seems to occur with the "development of [[Guido of Arezzo]]'s [[hexachord]]al system which made B flat a [[diatonic]] note, namely as the 4th degree of the hexachordal on F. From then until the end of Renaissance the tritone, nicknamed the 'diabolus in musica', was regarded as an unstable interval and rejected as a consonance" (Sadie, Stanley [1980]. "Tritone", in ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', 1st ed. MacMillan, pp. 154–155. {{ISBN|0-333-23111-2}}. See also Arnold, Denis [1983]. "Tritone", in ''The New Oxford Companion to Music, Volume 1: A–J''. [[Oxford University Press]]. {{ISBN|0-19-311316-3}}</ref>

Heavy metal songs often make extensive use of [[pedal point]] as a harmonic basis. A pedal point is a sustained tone, typically in the bass range, during which at least one foreign (i.e., dissonant) harmony is sounded in the other parts.<ref>Kennedy (1985), "Pedal Point", p. 540</ref> According to Robert Walser, heavy metal harmonic relationships are "often quite complex" and the harmonic analysis done by metal players and teachers is "often very sophisticated".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Walser |first1=Robert|date=2014|title=Running With the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal Music|page=47 |publisher=Wesleyan University Press}}</ref> In the study of heavy metal chord structures, it has been concluded that "heavy metal music has proved to be far more complicated" than other music researchers had realized.<ref name="Lilja 2009"/>

====Relationship with classical music====
[[File:Ritchie Blackmore 1977.jpg|thumb|left|alt=A guitarist, Ritchie Blackmore, is shown playing a Fender electric guitar onstage. He has long hair.|[[Ritchie Blackmore]], founder of [[Deep Purple]] and [[Rainbow (rock band)|Rainbow]], known for the neoclassical approach in his guitar performances.]]
Robert Walser stated that, alongside blues and R&B, the "assemblage of disparate musical styles known&nbsp;... as '[[classical music]]'" has been a major influence on heavy metal since the genre's earliest days, and that metal's "most influential musicians have been guitar players who have also studied classical music. Their appropriation and adaptation of classical models sparked the development of a new kind of guitar virtuosity [and] changes in the harmonic and melodic language of heavy metal."<ref>Walser (1993), p. 58</ref>

In an article written for ''[[Grove Music Online]]'', Walser stated that the "1980s brought on&nbsp;... the widespread adaptation of chord progressions and virtuosic practices from 18th-century European models, especially [[J. S. Bach|Bach]] and [[Antonio Vivaldi]], by influential guitarists such as [[Ritchie Blackmore]], [[Marty Friedman]], [[Jason Becker]], [[Uli Jon Roth]], [[Eddie Van Halen]], [[Randy Rhoads]] and [[Yngwie Malmsteen]]."<ref>{{cite web|author=Walser, Robert|title=Heavy metal|publisher=Grove Music Online|access-date=6 March 2010|url=http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/public/book/omo_gmo}} {{subscription required|date=June 2018}}</ref> Kurt Bachmann of [[Believer (band)|Believer]] has stated that "if done correctly, metal and classical fit quite well together. Classical and metal are probably the two genres that have the most in common when it comes to feel, texture, creativity."<ref>Wagner, Wilson, p. 156</ref>

Although a number of metal musicians cite classical composers as inspiration, classical and metal are rooted in different cultural traditions and practices – classical in the [[art music]] tradition, metal in the [[popular music]] tradition. As [[musicologists]] Nicolas Cook and Nicola Dibben note: "Analyses of popular music also sometimes reveal the influence of 'art traditions.' An example is Walser's linkage of heavy metal music with the ideologies and even some of the performance practices of nineteenth-century [[Romanticism]]. However, it would be clearly wrong to claim that traditions such as blues, rock, heavy metal, rap or dance music derive primarily from "art music.'"<ref>See Cook and Dibben (2001), p. 56</ref>

===Lyrical themes===
{{For|a more descriptive list|Heavy metal lyrics}}
According to David Hatch and Stephen Millward, Black Sabbath and the numerous heavy metal bands that they inspired have concentrated lyrically "on dark and depressing subject matter to an extent hitherto unprecedented in any form of pop music." They take as an example Black Sabbath's second album, ''[[Paranoid (album)|Paranoid]]'' (1970), which "included songs dealing with personal trauma—'[[Paranoid (Black Sabbath song)|Paranoid]]' and '[[Fairies Wear Boots]]' (which described the unsavoury side effects of drug-taking)—as well as those confronting wider issues, such as the self-explanatory '[[War Pigs]]' and '[[Hand of Doom (Black Sabbath song)|Hand of Doom]].'"<ref>Hatch and Millward (1989), p. 167</ref> Deriving from the genre's roots in blues music, sex is another important topic – a thread running from Led Zeppelin's suggestive lyrics to the more explicit references of glam metal and nu metal bands.<ref>Weinstein (1991), p. 36</ref>

[[File:King Diamond live 2006 Moscow 02.jpg|thumb|alt=Two members from the band King Diamond are shown at a concert performance. From left to right are the singer and an electric guitarist. The singer has white and black face makeup and a top hat. Both are wearing black.|[[King Diamond (band)|King Diamond]], known for writing conceptual lyrics about horror stories]]
The thematic content of heavy metal has long been a target of criticism. According to [[Jon Pareles]], "Heavy metal's main subject matter is simple and virtually universal. With grunts, moans and subliterary lyrics, it celebrates&nbsp;... a party without limits&nbsp;... [T]he bulk of the music is stylized and formulaic."<ref name=JP/> Music critics have often deemed metal lyrics juvenile and banal, and others<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wjRSmEjs8ZcC&pg=PT245 |year=2007|title=The Rock History Reader |author=Gore, Tipper|chapter=The Cult of Violence|editor=Cateforis, Theo |access-date=30 August 2015|pages=227–233|isbn=978-0-415-97501-8|publisher=Taylor & Francis|author-link=Tipper Gore}}</ref> have objected to what they see as advocacy of [[misogyny]] and the [[Occult|occult]]. During the 1980s, the [[Parents Music Resource Center]] petitioned the U.S. Congress to regulate the popular music industry due to what the group asserted were objectionable lyrics, particularly those in heavy metal songs.<ref name="See, e 2006 pp. 104">See, e.g., Ewing and McCann (2006), pp. 104–113</ref> Andrew Cope stated that claims that heavy metal lyrics are misogynistic are "clearly misguided" as these critics have "overlook[ed] the overwhelming evidence that suggests otherwise".<ref>Cope, Andrew L. ''Black Sabbath and the Rise of Heavy Metal Music''. Ashgate Publishing Ltd., 2010. p. 141</ref> Music critic [[Robert Christgau]] called metal "an expressive mode [that] it sometimes seems will be with us for as long as ordinary white boys fear girls, pity themselves, and are permitted to rage against a world they'll never beat".<ref>{{cite news|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|date=13 October 1998|url=http://www.villagevoice.com/1998-10-13/music/nothing-s-shocking/1/|title=Nothing's Shocking|newspaper=[[The Village Voice]]|location=New York|access-date=22 June 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100912045843/http://www.villagevoice.com/1998-10-13/music/nothing-s-shocking/1/|archive-date=12 September 2010}}</ref>

Heavy metal artists have had to defend their lyrics in front of the U.S. Senate and in court. In 1985, [[Twisted Sister]] frontman [[Dee Snider]] was asked to defend his song "[[Under the Blade (song)|Under the Blade]]" at a U.S. Senate hearing. At the hearing, the [[PMRC]] alleged that the song was about [[sadomasochism]] and [[rape]]; Snider stated that the song was about his bandmate's throat surgery.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Ostroff |first=Joshua |date=18 September 2015 |title=Twisted Sister's Dee Snider Blasts Irresponsible Parents On PMRC Hearings' 30th Anniversary |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/09/18/dee-snider-twisted-sister-pmrc-senate-hearings_n_8020706.html |journal=Huffington Post |access-date=3 February 2016}}</ref> In 1986, [[Ozzy Osbourne]] was sued over the lyrics of his song "[[Suicide Solution]]".<ref>{{cite book |last=Elovaara |first=Mika |editor1-last=Abbey |editor1-first=James |editor2-last=Helb |editor2-first=Colin|title=Hardcore, Punk and Other Junk: Aggressive Sounds in Contemporary Music|publisher=Lexington Books|date=2014 |page=38 |chapter=Chapter 3: Am I Evil? The Meaning of Metal Lyrics to its Fans}}</ref> A lawsuit against Osbourne was filed by the parents of John McCollum, a depressed teenager who committed suicide allegedly after listening to Osbourne's song. Osbourne was not found to be responsible for the teen's death.<ref>''VH1: Behind The Music—Ozzy Osbourne'', VH1. Paramount Television, 1998</ref> In 1990, Judas Priest was sued in American court by the parents of two young men who had shot themselves five years earlier, allegedly after hearing the subliminal statement "do it" in the band's cover of the song "[[Better by You, Better than Me]]".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ultimateclassicrock.com/judas-priest-suicide-trial/|title=Revisiting Judas Priest's Subliminal Lyrics Trial|date=24 August 2015 }}</ref> While the case attracted a great deal of media attention, it was ultimately dismissed.<ref name="See, e 2006 pp. 104"/> In 1991, U.K. police seized death metal records from the British record label [[Earache Records]], in an "unsuccessful attempt to prosecute the label for obscenity".<ref name="Kahn-Harris">Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', Oxford: Berg, 2007, {{ISBN|1-84520-399-2}}. p. 28</ref>

In some predominantly Muslim countries, heavy metal has been officially denounced as a threat to traditional values, and in countries such as Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon and Malaysia, there have been incidents of heavy metal musicians and fans being arrested and incarcerated.<ref>{{cite web|author=Whitaker, Brian|date=2 June 2003|title=Highway to Hell |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/jun/02/worlddispatch.brianwhitaker|work=Guardian| access-date=3 March 2009}} {{cite news|date=4 August 2001|title=Malaysia Curbs Heavy Metal Music |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1473198.stm|work=BBC News|access-date=3 March 2009| location=London}}</ref> In 1997, the Egyptian police jailed many young metal fans, and they were accused of "devil worship" and blasphemy after police found metal recordings during searches of their homes.<ref name="Kahn-Harris"/> In 2013, Malaysia banned [[Lamb of God (band)|Lamb of God]] from performing in their country, on the grounds that the "band's lyrics could be interpreted as being religiously insensitive" and blasphemous.<ref name="Weber, Katherine 2013">Weber, Katherine. "Malaysia Bans 'Lamb of God', Grammy-Nominated Heavy Metal Band, Says Lyrics are Blasphemous". ''The Christian Post''. 5 September 2013</ref> Some people consider heavy metal music to be a leading factor for mental health disorders, and that heavy metal fans are more likely to suffer poor mental health, but a study from 2009 suggests that this is not true and that fans of heavy metal music suffer from poor mental health at a similar or lower rate compared to the general population.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Recours|first1=R|last2=Aussaguel|first2=F|last3=Trujillo|first3=N|date=2009|title=Metal music and mental health in France|url=https://hal.umontpellier.fr/hal-01712122/file/2009%20CMP%20Metal.pdf|journal=Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry|volume=33|issue=3|pages=473–488|doi=10.1007/s11013-009-9138-2|pmid=19521752|s2cid=20685241 | issn=0165-005X }}</ref>

===Image and fashion===
{{Main|Heavy metal fashion}}
[[File:KISS in concert Boston 2004.jpg|thumb|alt=The band Kiss is shown onstage at a concert. From left to right are the bassist Gene Simmons, two electric guitarists and the drummer, who is at the rear of the stage. Simmons is wearing spiked clothing and his tongue is extended. All members have white and black face makeup. Large guitar speaker stacks are shown behind the band.|[[Kiss (band)|Kiss]] performing in 2004, wearing makeup]]
For many artists and bands, visual imagery plays a large role in heavy metal. In addition to its sound and lyrics, a heavy metal band's image is expressed in album cover art, logos, stage sets, clothing, design of instruments and [[music video]]s.<ref>Weinstein (2000), p. 27</ref>

Down-the-back long hair is the "most crucial distinguishing feature of metal fashion".<ref>Weinstein (2000), p. 129</ref> Originally adopted from the hippie subculture, by the 1980s and 1990s, heavy metal hair "symbolised the hate, angst and disenchantment of a generation that seemingly never felt at home", according to journalist Nader Rahman. Long hair gave members of the metal community "the power they needed to rebel against nothing in general".<ref>Rahman, Nader. [http://www.thedailystar.net/magazine/2006/07/04/musings.htm "Hair Today Gone Tomorrow"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071206171850/http://www.thedailystar.net/magazine/2006/07/04/musings.htm |date=6 December 2007 }}. ''Star Weekend Magazine'', 28 July 2006. Retrieved 20 November 2007</ref>

The classic uniform of heavy metal fans consists of light-colored, ripped, frayed or torn blue jeans, black T-shirts, boots, and black leather or denim jackets. [[Deena Weinstein]] wrote, "T-shirts are generally emblazoned with the logos or other visual representations of favorite metal bands."<ref>Weinstein (2000), p. 127</ref> In the 1980s, a range of sources – from punk rock and [[goth music]] to horror films – influenced metal fashion.<ref name=Umelec>Pospiszyl, Tomáš. [http://www.divus.cz/umelec/en/pages/umelec.php?id=13&roc=2001&cis=1 "Heavy Metal".] ''Umelec'', January 2001. Retrieved on 20 November 2007. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080603034818/http://www.divus.cz/umelec/en/pages/umelec.php?id=13&roc=2001&cis=1 |date=3 June 2008 }}</ref> Many metal performers of the 1970s and 1980s used radically shaped and brightly colored instruments to enhance their stage appearance.<ref name="Thompson (2007), p. 135">Thompson (2007), p. 135</ref><ref name="Blush">{{cite web|first=Steven|last=Blush|author-link=Steven Blush|title=American Hair Metal – Excerpts: Selected Images and Quotes|date=11 November 2007|publisher=[[Feral House]]|url=http://feralhouse.com/press/mini_sites/american_hair_metal/excerpts.php|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071111141800/http://feralhouse.com/press/mini_sites/american_hair_metal/excerpts.php|archive-date=11 November 2007|access-date=25 November 2007}}</ref>

Fashion and personal style was especially important for glam metal bands of the era. Performers typically wore long, dyed, hairspray-teased hair (hence the nickname "hair metal"); makeup such as lipstick and eyeliner; gaudy clothing, including leopard-skin-printed shirts or vests and tight denim, leather or spandex pants; and accessories such as headbands and jewelry.<ref name="Thompson (2007), p. 135"/> Pioneered by the heavy metal act [[X Japan]] in the late 1980s, bands in the Japanese movement known as [[visual kei]], which includes many non-metal groups, emphasize elaborate costumes, hair and makeup.<ref>{{cite web|author=Strauss, Neil|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D00EFD7103DF93BA25755C0A96E958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all|title=The Pop Life: End of a Life, End of an Era|date=18 June 1998|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=9 May 2008}}</ref>

===Physical gestures===
[[File:Metsatöll at Tuska 2006.jpg|upright|thumb|alt=Image shows a band onstage with fans visible in the front of the picture. Some fans are raising their fists and others are raising their hands with the index finger and pinky extended.| Fans raise their fists and make the [[Sign of the horns|"devil horns"]] gesture at a [[Metsatöll]] concert]]
When performing live, many metal musicians – as well as the audience for whom they're playing – engage in [[headbanging]], which involves rhythmically beating time with the head, often emphasized by long hair. The [[corna|''il cornuto'']], or "devil horns", hand gesture was popularized by vocalist [[Ronnie James Dio]] during his time with the bands Black Sabbath and [[Dio (band)|Dio]].<ref name=MH/> Although [[Gene Simmons]] of [[Kiss (band)|Kiss]] claims to have been the first to make the gesture on the 1977 ''[[Love Gun]]'' album cover, there is speculation as to who started the phenomenon.<ref>Appleford, Steve. {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20040912024146/http://www.mk-magazine.com/news/archives/000929.php "Odyssey of the Devil Horns"]}}. ''MK Magazine'', 9 September 2004. Retrieved on 31 March 2007</ref>

Attendees of metal concerts do not dance in the usual sense. It has been argued that this is due to the music's largely male audience and "extreme heterosexualist ideology". Two primary body movements used are headbanging and an arm thrust that is both a sign of appreciation and a rhythmic gesture.<ref>Weinstein, p. 130</ref> The performance of [[air guitar]] is popular among metal fans both at concerts and listening to records at home.<ref>Weinstein, p. 95</ref> According to [[Deena Weinstein]], thrash metal concerts have two elements that are not part of the other metal genres: [[moshing]] and [[stage diving]], which "were imported from the [[punk subculture|punk/hardcore subculture]]".<ref name="Weinstein 2009 228–229">{{cite book |last=Weinstein |first=Deena |date=2009 |title=Heavy Metal:The Music and its Culture |publisher=Da Capo Press|pages=228–229 }}</ref> Weinstein states that moshing participants bump and jostle each other as they move in a circle in an area called the "pit" near the stage. Stage divers climb onto the stage with the band and then jump "back into the audience".<ref name="Weinstein 2009 228–229"/>

===Fan subculture===
{{Main|Heavy metal subculture}}
It has been argued that heavy metal has outlasted many other rock genres largely due to the emergence of an intense, exclusionary and strongly masculine subculture.<ref>Weinstein, pp. 103, 7, 8, 104</ref> While the metal fan base is largely young, white, male and blue-collar, the group is "tolerant of those outside its core demographic base who follow its codes of dress, appearance, and behavior".<ref>Weinstein, pp. 102, 112</ref> Identification with the subculture is strengthened not only by the group experience of concert-going and shared elements of fashion, but also by contributing to metal magazines and, more recently, websites.<ref>Weinstein, pp. 181, 207, 294</ref> Attending live concerts in particular has been called the "holiest of heavy metal communions".<ref>Julian Schaap and Pauwke Berkers. "Grunting Alone? Online Gender Inequality in Extreme Metal Music" in ''IASPM Journal''. Vol.&nbsp;4, no.&nbsp;1 (2014) p. 105</ref>

The metal scene has been characterized as a "subculture of alienation" with its own code of authenticity.<ref name=JQS>"Three profiles of heavy metal fans: A taste for sensation and a subculture of alienation", Jeffrey Arnett. In ''Qualitative Sociology''; Publisher Springer Netherlands. {{ISSN|0162-0436}}. Volume 16, Number 4 / December 1993. pp. 423–443</ref> This code puts several demands on performers: they must appear both completely devoted to their music and loyal to the subculture that supports it; they must appear uninterested in mainstream appeal and radio hits; and they must never "[[selling out|sell out]]".<ref>Weinstein, pp. 46, 60, 154, 273</ref> [[Deena Weinstein]] stated that for the fans themselves, the code promotes "opposition to established authority, and separateness from the rest of society".<ref>Weinstein, p. 166</ref>

Musician and filmmaker [[Rob Zombie]] observed, "Most of the kids who come to my shows seem like really imaginative kids with a lot of creative energy they don't know what to do with" and that metal is "outsider music for outsiders. Nobody wants to be the weird kid; you just somehow end up being the weird kid. It's kind of like that, but with metal you have all the weird kids in one place."<ref name="Sam Dunn">Dunn, "Metal: A Headbanger's Journey" B000EGEJIY (2006)</ref> Scholars of metal have noted the tendency of fans to classify and reject some performers (and some other fans) as "[[poseur (music)|poseurs]]" "who pretended to be part of the subculture, but who were deemed to lack authenticity and sincerity".<ref name=JQS/><ref>Arnett, Jeffrey Jensen (1996). ''Metalheads: Heavy Metal Music and Adolescent Alienation''</ref>