The Fans

In the article Heavy Metal Carnival by author Karen Bettez Halnon, she describes a mutual dislike among the general public for heavy metal. "For example, whereas millions 'like or strongly like heavy metal,' many more 'strongly dislike it' (Halnon). This is something that I can strongly relate to. Some of my friends like heavy metal and even darker death metal. But overall, I would say that most of my friends extremely dislike it to the point where they cannot even listen to one second of it. It is funny to see how polarizing a musical genre can be. I think it has to do with what Hanlon talks about as devil music. People hear the songs with the singers either screaming or singing in low, inaudible voices. People are so used to hearing popular music and do not want to broaden their horizon.

Carnival metal is such a different genre than any other genre of heavy metal. In a way it is a more extreme version of glam or hair metal. It is all about the show that they put on and the outfits that they wear. Artists like Ozzy Osbourne and Alice Cooper are good examples of this because of their onstage antics such as bat chomping, fire breathing, and blood spitting. Other bands such as GWAR, Insane Clown Posse, and Slipknot all have similar qualities to Ozzy and Alice. They have insane and outrageous outfits often taking things a step further than most bands. I feel like with their outfits and songs, their musical "scene" almost has a humorous aspect to it.

The article by Jeffrey Arnett describes the type of crowd that attracts metal crowds and how they are usually all young white males. It is almost like a type of religion or cult following, everyone wearing the same outfits. "They wear black t-shirts with (often violent) heavy metal logos depicted on them; black is the color of mourning and it reflects their dark view of what the world is like and what society's prospects are for the future" (Arnett). I have only been to one metal concert in my life, Rage Against the Machine, and the demographic at that concert was exactly what Arnett describes in the article.

In one of the videos we watched in class, one artist talked about how metal is the music and the scene for needs or not popular students. I think that is not always the case, but I do think that metal is a good outlet for misunderstood kids. I also liked how in one of the movies watched in class it described how the people at metal concerts are very nice even though the music which they listen to can be very mean. It is a good crowd that can all get along because they share the same musical taste and everything that goes along with that including politics, clothing, and personality.