This week’s reading dealt with experiencing the scene. The scene is very important to heavy metal and extreme metal because it allows individuals who are into the music to interact with others who are also into the same music. The scene also allows members of the scene to escape the mundane monotony of everyday life.
For example most individuals in the United States work 40 hours a week at a job that they most likely do not like but they do it just to pay the bills. They wake up every morning and go to work then go home and go to sleep. The weekend is time off but I think that most people are still stuck doing things they really don’t want to do during their time off too. But if a person is involved with a scene, more specifically a metal scene, they have the opportunity to break away from the boring existence of everyday life.
To participate in the metal scene usually means that you need to go to a metal show. This is where the outlet takes place. A person can dress differently, act differently, and partake in actions that otherwise would not be allowed in most places and situations in society.
This escape from reality that the scene provides can be healthy and productive. But the danger lies in when the scene itself becomes just as mundane as everyday life. Then the excitement of the scene is gone and the boundaries are pushed even further.
I would like to take a step back and suggest that it is not wholly dangerous that the scene becomes mundane because that is when new innovations come to be. We can take the New Wave of British Heavy Metal and the scene in the United States. There were tons of young people who were listening to the NWOBHM and there was a certain scene that was associated with that. But at some point the NWOBHM scene became mundane in itself and the boundaries were pushed. The result in the United States was the formation of Thrash Metal. So in this sense the fact that a scene became mundane resulted in musical innovation and the creation of a new genre.
But getting back to how it can be dangerous. If the most extreme scenes like black/death metal are becoming more and more mundane for those who are seeking an escape or a thrill then where else is there to go? I would suggest the video we watched in class is a good example of where it can go. I may sound like an old man but what they hell was that festival about? To me it just looked like a bunch of kids getting together to listen to bad music and get wasted and high. Which is fine I guess but how is it any less mundane than doing it in your parent’s basement?
To me, the kids in the video are all dis-enchanted and they are sick of their mundane lives. So they go to a festival seeking thrills and excitement, anything to make them feel alive, but they have reached a point where there really isn’t any other level of experiencing a scene to be had. There may be initial excitement and anticipation of the event but soon the realization sets in that the scene is just as mundane as everything else. The end result is not the feeling of being empowered, or a sense of community, or a sense of being a unique individual, but rather even more anomie. So the individual, feeling alienated and hopeless, gets wasted on drugs or alcohol, or engages in other activities like fighting and wresting, pretty much anything that will give them a sensation.
Getting back to metal. The metal scene is in a state of constant tug of war if you will. You have one side of metal that is exciting and that allows members of the scene to escape life for a while, but on the other side you have members of the scene who may find the scene becoming more mundane so they push the envelope to make it more exciting. But at the core of it all is metal itself. So the metal scene will probably never deteriorate into what we saw in the film because metal music is all about maintaining control, empowerment, strength, survival of the fittest, etc. It is all about pushing boundaries but never at the expense of becoming too self destructive or self wallowing, there are the exceptions but when those occur they are short lived or no longer a member of the scene.
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