Editing Heavy metal music (section)

===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>