Becoming metal

Narrative reflections on the early formation and embodiment of heavy metal identities

Bibliographic Data

ID12601232
AuthorsPaula Rowe (University of South Australia, corresponding author)
Year2016
Volume20
Issue6
Pages713-731
Publication date2016-11-30
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Youth Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1367-6261 • E-ISSN: 1469-9680
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13676261.2016.1260696
OpenAlexW2557816088
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited50

Heavy metal music has long been researched as a risk factor for youth development. Over the last decade, however, there has been a significant shift towards studies that are more sympathetic to metal fans, but still we know very little about young people’s pathways to forming metal identities. What is the allure of metal as an identity choice? What can be gained from the early embodiment of metal identities? To explore these questions, this paper reports on findings from qualitative research with metal youth in Australia that captured rich, narrative reflections on ‘becoming’ metal. The results show that metal was vitally important when participants felt vulnerable to bullying and exclusion by popular peers at school. But crucially, the young ‘metalheads’ were able to disrupt power relations at school by embodying ‘chosen’ heavy metal identities as a strategic response for countering ‘unchosen’ marginal school-based identities. The politically transformative properties of subculture at the level of the individual are revealed through ways that the metal youth, as self-described outsiders, were able to act alone to challenge dominant school norms and enter into social relationships on their own terms, protecting themselves from social threats to their mental health and well-being in the process

Aesthetics · Identity (music · Narrative · Pedagogy · Power (physics · Sociology · Transformative learning · Diverse Music Education Insights · Gender Studies · Music History and Culture · Psychology · Social Psychology · Youth Education and Societal Dynamics

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