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?
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