Seeking female emo fans!

For those who aren't familiar yet, I am doing a project about women in emo music. I have been looking at shows, bands, lyrics, everything trying to come to some conclusions about women in this genre and scene. If you are fan, I would love to hear from you! If you could leave me a comment, I would love to know...

- Are you male or female? (Feel free to comment regardless of gender, but I am looking for female fans)
- Which emo bands do you like? Why?
- How familiar are you with the lyrics and the meanings of the songs?
- What do you think about the fact that so many emo lyrics make men seem to be the victim of women? Do you notice this at all? Do you even think that is a true statement?
- Do you think women have a chance to respond to what the guys are singing about them?
- Do you like Paramore? Do you know of any other emo bands with women in them?

It's a lot of questions, so feel free to comment on any of them. Thank you so much for your help!

Ethnography Fieldwork - Part 2

This time around, I have focused on a book I am reading about emo music and teenage culture, as well as looking more closely at the lyrics of Paramore, Brand New, and Fall Out Boy to see if there are similarities between female and male fronted bands and mark where there are differences.

I read parts of the book I was looking for: Nothing Feels Good - Punk Rock, Teenagers, and Emo. The author, Andy Greenwald, is a senior contributing writer at Spin and has written this book to look at emo culture as a youth right of passage. The intro talks about the various stages emo has gone through over the years and how confusing and convoluted the term is. It means different things to different people and even when it is a cherished type of music, the term is mildly derisive. As Greenwald puts it, “It’s been the next big thing twice, the current big thing once, and so totally over millions of times.” (Pg.2)

In his chapter on chapter on women and emo, Sad Girl Stories, he talks about the content of songs and how it can range from antifemale and violent to a more simple sexism that looks at women in very static ways. Girls are either the object of desire, that make boys pine and feel pathetic; or they are heart breakers who they wish did not exist because they want them to hurt like they do because of them. It seems that regardless of the role women play, the boys wear their love, devotion, and pain on their sleeve as if they are the victims of their own emotions toward girls.

There is a huge lack of female viewpoint in these songs, so while these images are very polar, there is no response that girls care about boys too. Or that they are distraught about the break up, or wishes he was dead for cheating on her. They are emotionless shrews while the boys are full to the brim with emotional angst due to the actions of girls.

If there were more female emo band members, it is possible this would be countered, since they would have the chance to respond. They could note that they too feel that way when a relationship goes sour, or pine for that popular boy who will never notice them. Emo music is notorious for ripping on girls as much as themselves, and I think that is why many teenage girls relate to the music. But if they were given a mic, would they respond?

He references this mysterious Jessica Hopper a lot, and so far I've found she is a blogger who made a splash with the post she wrote that I referenced in part 1 of my fieldwork. She is outspoken on her feminist views in the music industry and I've found only one other post in which she laid out evidence for the lack of female perspective in the music world, specifically in zines. She is apparently noted as the authority though.

In looking at band lyrics, I tried to pick earlier songs from Paramore, Brand New, and Fall Out Boy(lyrics and analysis posted in each link). I did look at Paramore's I Caught Myself since Anit had mentioned it in our interview as an example of a more introverted, thoughtful song by a female emo singer. I also looked at Paramore's Misery Business and FOB's Sugar, We're Going Down, which were both later but were the first massive hits for each band.

I found that Paramore's lyrics were different in that I came upon different types of topics more frequently. I Caught Myself seemed to be about an inner struggle, figuring out what Hayley Williams wants and whether or not it is right. She wants to figure out what she wants and should want. This type of soul search can be found in male emo bands, but it seems to be much more like they are trapped in some type of forced decision - the girl is making him want her, the media is trying to hate on them, etc. Emergency is about bad relationships and the death of love, but it turns out the song is external to the singer: it's about her parents' divorce.

Misery Business poses an interesting contrast. The song is reminiscent of a usual male emo song - two girls both want the same boy, and the girl has felt stabbed in the back and blames the other girls sexual tempting to creating a false relationship that the boy inevitably gets trapped by. But the moral of the song is that the singer gets him in the end, and she feels great bragging about her victory. The boy is an unemotional prop, like women in many male emo songs, but I think it is less common to find a celebration of victory in the usual male emo song.

To compare, I looked at Brand New's Seventy Times 7, which was written about Jesse Lacey's feelings after his friend basically stole his girl. There is no storyline or action to the plot in the song. Instead, Jesse sees his friend for what he really is and hopes that he crashes his car on the way home and thinks of him as his "head goes through the windshield." This song seems much more about instantaneous emotion than about the results.

The examples I chose to look at for Brand New and Fall Out Boy exhibit the views on women I expected to see based on Greenwald's book. They demonize women by treating them as sirens who constantly command boys attention while not giving a thought to whether the boys are idolizing them or heartbroken by them. Magazines is a crucial example of idolatry, about some famous woman from a magazine and how the boy agonizes over this perfection even though he knows he can never have her. FOB's Sugar, We're Going Down is much more active on the part of the boy. In part, he has dominated her by having sex with her and reducing her to "a line in a song." At the same time, he is the victim because he was "just a notch in your bedpost" who still wishes to "be the friction in your jeans." The girl does have more personality in that he addresses her directly and they are both experiencing the tumultuous ending, but in the end, the boy is still the martyr and the dominant male.

Moving forward, I hope to put together my analysis of lyrics with the presence of women in this scene - in both the bands and in the crowd. I will address why this appeals to young girls and how that shapes the fan base. Also, I hope to address that fact that I don't think this means women should turn away from emo. If they can find a way to become active respondents and participants in the lyrics, music, and scene.

Ethnography - Fall Out Boy

Fall Out Boy's Chicago Is So Two Years Ago deals with the push and pull of rocky relationships. The boy is someone who is easily hurt and pushed around, and yet he cannot avoid the girl he knows is going to knock him around. He can't seem to get away from her, making the woman out to be some kind of siren who is capable of dropping him and constantly commanding his attention at once. In the end, he does not want to apologize, he wants her to hurt like he does, and let the pain end.

Chicago Is So Two Years Ago:

my heart is on my sleeve
wear it like a bruise or blackeye
my badge, my witness
that means that i believed
every single lie you said

cause every pane of glass that your pebbles tap negates the pains i went through to avoid you
and every little pat on the shoulder for attention fails to mention i still hate you

but there's a light on in chicago
and i know i should be home
all the colors of the street signs..
they remind me of the pickup truck out in front of your neighbor's house

she took me down and said:
"boys like you are overrated. so save your breath."
loaded words and loaded friends
are loaded guns to our heads

cause every pane of glass that your pebbles tap negates the pains i went through to avoid you
and every little pat on the shoulder for attention fails to mention i still hate you

but there's a light on in chicago
and i know i should be home
all the colors of the street signs..
they remind me of the pickup truck out in front of your neighbor's house

you want apologies
girl, you might hold your breath
until your breathing stops forever, forever
(...every pane of glass) the only thing you'll get
is this curse on your lips:
(every pane of) i hope they taste of me forever

and there's a light on in chicago (every pane of glass)
and i know i should be home (every pane of)
all the colors of the street signs.. (every pane of glass!)
they remind me of the pickup truck out in front of your neighbor's

with every breath i wish your body will be broken again, again
with every breath i wish your body would be broken again, again
with every breath i wish your body will be broken again, again
with every breath i wish your body would be broken again

The Pros and Cons of Breathing shows Pat Stump (or songwriter Pete Wentz's) basically inflicting pain on himself by constantly crawling back to a woman who has used him and moved on. The woman is already forgetting about this forlorn boy who wants to "hate you half as much as I hate myself." The woman seems so much less feeling and involved in their relationship, and has simply moved on while the boy deals with the agony of post-relationship.

The Pros and Cons of Breathing:

Bury me standing under your window with the cinder block in hand
Yeah cause no one will ever feel like this again
And if I could move I'm sure it would only be to crawl back to you
I must have dragged my guts a block... they were gone by the time we {talked}...

[Chorus: x2]
Whoa, I want to hate you half as much as I hate myself
{But} you know that I could crush you with my voice

Stood on my roof and tried to see you forgetting about me
Hide the details I don't want to know a thing

I hate the way you say my name like it's something secret
My pen is the barrel of the gun.
Remind me which side you should be on

[Chorus x2]

Stood on my roof and tried to see you forgetting about me
Hide the details I don't want to know a thing

I wish that I was as invisible as you make me feel [x2]

(Whoa, I want to hate you half as much as I hate my) [x2]
(1..2..3..4..)

I wanted to find an example that was not focused on girls. Though it was hard to come by, I found a much friendlier song that deals with missing someone. The ending of Homesick At Space Camp mentions friends, but there is not telling if he is referring to any specific gender. In contrast to the other songs though, this may refer to his crew of great male friends, kind of a "Bros before Hos" ideal in comparison to the rest of the album. But in the context of the song, it could simply be about missing someone/people in general.

Homesick At Space Camp:

Landing on a runway in Chicago and I'm grounding all my dreams
of ever really seeing California, because I know what's in between
is something sensual in such non-conventional ways.
Tonight the headphones will deliver you the words that I can't (say).

Tonight the headphones will deliver you the words that I can't say.
(Tonight I'm writing you) a million miles away

Tonight is all about "We miss you" (We miss you) "We miss you" (We miss you)
Tonight is all about "We miss you"
And I can't forget your style or your cynicism,
somehow it was like you were the first to listen to everything we said.
My smile's an open wound without you...and my hands are tied to pages inked to bring you back.

Tonight the headphones will deliver you the words that I can't say.
(Tonight I'm writing you) a million miles away

Tonight is all about "We miss you" (We miss you) "We miss you" (We miss you)
Tonight is all about "We miss you now"

These friends are, new friends are golden [x3]
These friends are, new friends are...

Tonight the headphones will deliver you the words that I can't say.
Tonight the headphones will deliver you the words that I can't say.
Tonight the headphones will deliver you the words that I can't say.
These friends are, new friends are golden

FOB’s Sugar We’re Going Down:

Am I more than you bargained for yet
I've been dying to tell you anything you want to hear
Cause that's just who I am this week
Lie in the grass, next to the mausoleum
I'm just a notch in your bedpost
But you're just a line in a song
(A notch in your bedpost, but you're just a line in a song)

Drop a heart, break a name
We're always sleeping in, and sleeping for the wrong team

We're going down, down in an earlier round
And Sugar, we're going down swinging
I'll be your number one with a bullet
A loaded God complex, cock it and pull it
[x2]

Is this more than you bargained for yet
Oh don't mind me I'm watching you two from the closet
Wishing to be the friction in your jeans
Isn't it messed up how I'm just dying to be him
I'm just a notch in your bedpost
But you're just a line in a song
(Notch in your bedpost, but you're just a line in a song)

Drop a heart, break a name
We're always sleeping in, and sleeping for the wrong team

We're going down, down in an earlier round
And Sugar, we're going down swinging
I'll be your number one with a bullet
A loaded God complex, cock it and pull it
[x2]

Down, down in an earlier round
And Sugar, we're going down swinging
I'll be your number one with a bullet
A loaded God complex, cock it and pull it

We're going down, down in an earlier round (Take aim at myself)
And Sugar, we're going down swinging (Take back what you said)
I'll be your number one with a bullet (Take aim at myself)
A loaded God complex, cock it and pull it

We're going down, down (down, down)
Down, down (down, down)
We're going down, down (down, down)
A loaded God complex, cock it and pull it

We're going down, down in an earlier round (Take aim at myself)
And Sugar, we're going down swinging (Take back what you said)
I'll be your number one with a bullet (Take aim at myself)
A loaded God complex, cock it and pull it

Ethnography - Brand New

Brand New's Jude Law and A Semester Abroad is about the hateful, vengeful wishes people have when someone leaves them. The female character has basically poisoned him and left him for dead, and as he drinks away his sorrows, he hopes that she remembers him. Though it would disappoint the boy if she didn't die a horrific death, he also wishes that she would spend as much time thinking about him as he is pining, hating, and feeling disappointed by her.

Jude Law And A Semester Abroad:

Whatever poison's in this bottle will leave me broken sore and stiff.
But it's the genie at the bottom who I'm sucking at. He owes me one last wish.
So here's a present to let you know I still exist.
I hope the next boy that you kiss has something terribly contagious on his lips.

But I got a plan (I got a plan)
Drink (drift) for forty days and forty nights.
A sip for every second-hand tick.
And for every time you fed me the line, "you mean so much to me...".
I'm without you.

[Chorus x2]
So tell all the English boys you meet, about the American boy back in the states.
The American boy you used to date.
Who would do anything you say.

(And even if her plane)
And even if her plane crashes tonight she'll find some way to disappoint me,
by not burning in the wreckage, or drowning at the bottom of the sea.
"Jess, I still taste you, thus reserve my right to hate you."
And all this empty space that you create does nothing for my flawless sense of style.

It's 8:45 (it's 8:45). The weather is getting better by the hour.
(Rains all the time) I hope it rains there all the time.
And if you ever said you miss me then don't say you never lied.
I'm without you.

[Chorus x2]
So tell all the English boys you meet, about the American boy back in the states.
The American boy you used to date.
Who would do anything you say.

Who would do anything you say

Never gonna get it right, you're never gonna get it [x7]

[x2 (previous singing continues in the background)]
No more songs about you
After this one, I am done
You are, you are, you're gone

[Chorus x2 (previous singing continues in the background)]
So tell all the English boys you meet, about the American boy back in the states.
The American boy you used to date.
Who would do anything you say.

Magazines describes a boys idolization of a famous woman. He only knows her through magazines and TV and yet he is such a love sick, heartfelt type of boy, that he still lies in wait for her. He idolizes her and their potential relationship, believing that women may be interested in "broken hearted losers," and he hopes that that kind of over-emotional devotion is something his crush will take pity on so that they will be together.

Magazines:

Laetitia, you destroy me,
so I can't see why I feel so lonely
when you and me could be forever
perfectly perfect together. I know.
Broken down in my dead bedroom,
stuttering to pictures of you.
I know that you can always see me.
I saw you staring through my TV last night.

So I'll leave the door open all night,
in case you decide you want to stop on by.
Because you got to know who's been singing that song on the radio.
The one that goes...(the one that goes...)

My friends all call me crazy cause I
stay up late anticipating,
and planning for the day I sweep you
off your feet, I'd never leave you alone.
Laetitia, you got my hand shaking,
I'm begging you oh baby please stop breaking
my heart because I got the feeling
that you and I will never really get it on.

So I'll leave the door open all night,
in case you decide you want to stop on by.
Because you got to know who's been singing that song on the radio.
The one that goes...(the one that goes...)

Girl, come to me.
The only broken-hearted loser you'll ever need,
or I'll be left alone forever with my magazines.

Come to me.
The only broken-hearted loser you'll ever need,
or I'll be left alone forever with my magazines.

Girl, come to me.
The only broken-hearted loser you'll ever need,
or I'll be left alone forever with my magazines.

Girl, come to me.
The only broken-hearted loser you'll ever need,
or I'll be left alone forever…

Laetitia, you destroy me,
so I can see why I feel so lonely
when you and me could be forever
perfectly perfect together. I know.

In Seventy Times 7, Jesse Lacey sings about how a friend betrayed him by taking his girl. Suddenly their friendship seems to be nothing but a sham, and he feels so hurt and angry he hopes his friend dies. He finally sees him for what he really is, but instead of feeling clarity, feels hurt, betrayed, and foolish. But it is the friend who has been lowly and deserves to crash his car. I will contrast this song about two people fighting over someone of the opposite gender with Paramore's Misery Business.

Seventy Times 7:

Back in school they never taught us what we needed to know,
like how to deal with despair, or someone breaking your heart.
For twelve years I've held it all together but a night like this is begging to pull me apart.
I played it quiet, left you deep in conversation.
I felt uncool and hung out around the kitchen.
I remember I kept thinking that I know you never would,
and now I know I want to kill you like only a best friend could.

Everyone's caught on to everything you do
Everyone's caught on to.

As if this happening wasn't enough I got to go
and write a song just to remind myself how bad it sucked.
Ignore the sun, the cover's over my head.
I wrote a message on my pillow that says, "Jesse, stay asleep in bed."
So don't apologize. I hope you choke and die.
Search your cell for something with which to hang yourself.
They say you need to pray if you want to go to heaven
but they don't tell you what to say when your whole life has gone to hell.

Everyone's caught on to everything you do
Everyone's caught on to
And everyone's caught on to everything you do (And I can't let you, let me down again.)
Everyone's caught on to (And I can't let you, let me down again)

So, is that what you call a getaway?
Tell me what you got away with.
Cause I've seen more spine in jellyfish.
I've seen more guts in eleven-year-old kids.
Have another drink and drive yourself home.
I hope there's ice on all the roads.
And you can think of me when you forget your seatbelt,
and again when your head goes through the windshield.

And is that what you call tact?
You're as subtle as a brick in the small of my back.
So let's end this call, and end this conversation.
and is that what you call a getaway?
well tell me what you got away with.
cause you left the frays from the ties you severed
when you say best friends means friends forever

So, is that what you call a getaway?
Well tell me what you got away with.
Cause I've seen more spine in jellyfish.
I've seen more guts in eleven-year-old kids.
Have another drink and drive yourself home.
I hope there's ice on all the roads.
And you can think of me when you forget your seatbelt,
and again when your head goes through the windshield.

Everyone's caught on to everything you do (And I can't let you, let me down again)
Everyone's caught on to (And I can't let you, let me down again)
And everyone's caught on to everything you do (And I can't let you, let me down again)
Everyone's caught on to (And I can't let you, let me down again)

Ethnography - Paramore

I looked at Paramore's I Caught Myself since Anit referred to the song in our interview. He suggested that Paramore might be a more introverted band, that deals with personal issues of the self rather than simply instances and events in time that caused certain responses. The lyrics seem to suggest it is about turmoil, but it could be interpreted as a battle with the self over what the singer is thinking, wanting to say, and knowing what she wants. It could also be external - dealing with a friend, parent, lover, etc.

I Caught Myself :
Down to you
You're pushing and pulling me
Down to you
But I don't know what I

Now when I caught myself
I had to stop myself
From saying something that
I should have never thought

Now when I caught myself
I had to stop myself
From saying something that
I should have never thought

Of you, of you
You're pushing and pulling me
Down to you
But I don't know what I want
No, I don't know what I want

You got it, You got it
Some kind of magic
Hypnotic, Hypnotic
You're leaving me breathless
I hate this, I hate this
You're not the one I believe in
When God is my witness

Now when I caught myself
I had to stop myself
From saying something that
I should have never thought

Now when I caught myself
I had to stop myself
From saying something that
I should have never thought

Of you, of you
You're pushing and pulling me
Down to you
But I don't know what I want
No, I don't know what I want

Don't know what I want
But I know it's not you
Keep pushing and pulling me down
When I know in my heart it's not you

Now when I caught myself
I had to stop myself
From saying something that
I should have never thought

Now when I caught myself
I had to stop myself
From saying something that
I should have never thought

Of you, I knew
I know in my heart it's not you
I knew
But now I know what I want
I want
I want
Oh no, I should have never thought

Hayley Williams wrote the song Emergency about relationships and love, but it was based on her parents divorce:
"I remember actually walking out the door with my mom that night and standing in between my parents and screaming, 'Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" she recalls, adding that songs like "Emergency" from the band's first album were inspired by her parents' disintegrating relationship.” (http://altpress.com/features/168.htm)

It is interesting to find that her song about rocky relationships is external to her and is more observant about relationships and love in others.

Emergency :
I think we have an emergency
I think we have an emergency
If you thought I'd breathe then you were wrong
Because I won't stop holding on
So are you listening?
So are you watching me?
If you thought I'd breathe then you were wrong
Because I won't stop holding on
This is an emergency
So are you listening?
And I can't pretend that I don't see this
It's really not your fault

Chorus:
And no one cares to talk about it
To talk about it
Cause' I've seen love die way too many times
When it deserved to be alive
I've seen you cry way too many times
When you deserved to be alive
Alive...

So give up every chance you get
Just to feel new again
I think we have an emergency
I think we have an emergency
And you do your best to show me love
But you don't know what love is
So are you listening?
So are you watching me?
Well I can't pretend that I don't see this
It's really not your fault

And no one cares to talk about it
To talk about it
Cause' I've seen love die way too many times
When it deserved to be alive
I've seen you cry way too many times
When you deserved to be alive
Alive...

The scars they will not fade away

And no one cares to talk about it
To talk about it
Cause' I've seen love die way too many times
When it deserved to be alive
I've seen you cry way too many times
When you deserved to be alive
Alive...
Alive...

Hayley’s Live Journal article explaining the origins of Misery Business: http://paramoreband.livejournal.com/31376.html

Misery Business, as Anit pointed out, is a great example from a female fronted band about fighting over someone of the opposite gender. The girl wants to steal a boy back and has no qualms about the other girl. She's in the business of misery and thinks the other girl is acting like a whore, abusing the boy she will actually care for and make happy. It is different in that, rather than feeling backstabbed and dwelling on her pain, as in Brand New's Seventy Times 7, she takes action and sings about her triumph.

Misery Business:
I'm in the business of misery,
Let's take it from the top.
She's got a body like an hourglass that's ticking like a clock.
It's a matter of time before we all run out,
When I thought he was mine she caught him by the mouth.

I waited eight long months,
She finally set him free.
I told him I can't lie he was the only one for me.
Two weeks and we had caught on fire,
She's got it out for me,
But I wear the biggest smile.

[Chorus:]
Whoa, I never meant to brag
But, I got him where I want him now.
Whoa, it was never my intention to brag
To steal it all away from you now.
But god does it feel so good,
Cause I got him where I want him now.
And if you could then you know you would.

Cause god it just feels so...
It just feels so good.

Second chances they don't ever matter, people never change.
Once a whore you're nothing more, I'm sorry, that'll never change.
And about forgiveness, we're both supposed to have exchanged.
I'm sorry honey, but I'm passing up, now look this way.
Well there's a million other girls who do it just like you.
Looking as innocent as possible to get to who,
They want and what they like it's easy if you do it right.
Well I refuse, I refuse, I refuse!

Whoa, I never meant to brag
But, I got him where I want him now.
Whoa, it was never my intention to brag
To steal it all away from you now.
But god does it feel so good,
Cause I got him where I want him right now.
And if you could then you know you would.

Cause god it just feels so...
It just feels so good.

I watched his wildest dreams come true
Not one of them involving you
Just watch my wildest dreams come true
Not one of them involving.

Whoa, I never meant to brag, but I got him where I want him now.

Whoa, I never meant to brag
But, I got him where I want him now.
Whoa, it was never my intention to brag
To steal it all away from you now.
But god does it feel so good,
Cause I got him where I want him now.
And if you could then you know you would.

Cause god it just feels so...
It just feels so good.

Dudrah Critical Review

Dudrah's article deals with British Bhangra and hopes to extend the way the genre has been looked at by previous authors in order to show that this musical style is much more complex, political, and meaningful than has earlier been suggested. In summarizing the arguments of other authors, he notes that they often think of British South Asians as a very static, monolithic group. Dudrah makes a good point in contrasting Punjabi tradition weddings and South Asian gay, lesbian, and bisexual clubs in England. Instead, Dudrah believes that British Bhangra is about identity formation for a group in diaspora in a then more racist society. The music fuses with other minority groups by bringing in influences from the black sound systems, reggae, and soul, while also including some Western styles of music.

Question: We've now looked at Bhangra music in the British and American context. Do we see any differences in how the music that is mixed affects the identity of the groups? Is there a difference negotiating being a British South Asian and an American South Asian? Can we find evidence in the different styles and scenes of Bhangra?

Back (Part 1) Critical Review

"'Inglan, nice up!': black music, autonomy, and the cultural intermezzo" takes the reader through various aspects of a certain musical type and scene heavily tied to the black diaspora. Back looks at the Afro-Caribbean culture that was creating music in post-war, urban Britain and how black communities began a tradition of leading sound systems. These sounds were composed of a set that required multiple people to run the performance, some working synthesizers and records and some playing the role of MC or mike chanter. Back stresses the need for originality and the confrontations between different styles, especially as hip hop and rap came on to the scene in the 1980s. As in many genres, debates sprung up between different styles - faster rapping was disliked at first, slackness was early but considered crude, political MCing had its place, and dealing with issues of gender and sexuality all created different aspects of the style and chant.

Question: Back quotes hooks in this chapter as he argues that some of the homophobia and misogyny in rap and Afro-Caribbean musical styles is an expression of black subjugation by "more powerful, less visible forces of patriarchal gangsterism." I am confused by this argument. Is he saying that black men create their own patriarchy in music since they are lower in the white capitalism patriarchy? Is it that since this community feels subjugated, the automatic response is to do it to someone else, in this case women?

Walser Critical Review

Walser covers a lot of ground on the background, politics, and debates on and within heavy metal in "Running With the Devil." He begins by qualifying the study of heavy metal and defining what bands and music he intends to explore and how. The first chapter attempts to give an all encompassing background of heavy metal, not just looking at the early bands but looking at the first uses of the term "heavy metal" not even pertaining to music. The genre seems to be fraught with debate - where "heavy metal" came from, the musical origins, what bands count. This is true of so many genres, but Walser takes us though the various bands and points out that it is a part of music culture to debate it and define what type of heavy metal the fan likes and which bands will make their cut. That is why he points to the failure of the "Monsters of Rock Tour" that showed that the diversity within the genre is distinct and dividing. He also explores the fans, the bands, and the "music itself."

Question: Walser said that he looks at metal as "social signifying system rather than an autonomous set of stylistic traits." Do you think all music is actually a system of social signifying? All types of music is influenced from something before, couldn't all music be paying some tribute to what has come before knowingly or not? Or is it important to purposely signify?