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Agreed... I've been listening to metal since I could choose the music I listen to, and it has made me feel many things, but never negative emotions. Excitement,

Agreed... I've been listening to metal since I could choose the music I listen to, and it has made me feel many things, but never negative emotions. Excitement, wonder, elation, adrenaline rush, relaxation, etc... In fact, especially as a younger person, listening to metal got me through some hard times emotionally, and the friends I made through shared interest helped me as well. I'm not sure where this professor got this idea, but I'd say metal is identical to any genre in the feelings it can give you, except that it is considered "extreme" or "violent" or "negative" by some outside observers. Just watch any interview with someone like George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher and you'll see that even the most grotesque death metal practitioners are disconnected from the subject matter outside of the music.

slfnflctd 8y ago
Okay, this is the 2nd comment I've seen in the thread saying, "never" were negative emotions involved in the listening of this music, and I feel compelled to remind everyone that our experiences are all different. For me (and surely others), the negative emotions, dark imagery, sometimes downright disgusting lyrical content and other such trappings are fundamentally intertwined with many of my feelings about the worse aspects of life. It's totally part of the draw. There are many, many facts about human existence I am deeply sad or angry & horrified about, and art which reflects a shared understanding of these kinds of things offers camaraderie in misery-- sometimes it leads to catharsis, but not always. You can separate the music itself from these things, and there are artists who have done this, yet even then the pure music is has many loud, fast and/or violent-sounding sections, and if you're angry, it can act as a channel for that anger to feel expressed.
Applejinx 8y ago
Counterargument: Mayhem. counter-counter argument: but of course, that's Norwegian Black Metal, very much NOT Death Metal. And you'd be right, and not even all NBM acts welded themselves to the subject matter. But there've been some metal bands who were really passionate about embracing (not 'disconnecting' from) the subject matter, and always a few who sought to become the subject matter, and one or two did actually do that.
- 0ld 8y ago
  Well, as opposed to most other metal styles, BM in general has had this 'trve' trend in the 90s, but its practically non-existent nowadays
- jjjensen90 8y ago
  I'd say the handful of NBM/church-burny bands versus the tens of thousands of DM and BM bands who are just regular people makes them a statistical anomaly, and we only know their names because of their exceptional dedication to being trve black metal demons

slfnflctd 8y ago

Okay, this is the 2nd comment I've seen in the thread saying, "never" were negative emotions involved in the listening of this music, and I feel compelled to remind everyone that our experiences are all different. For me (and surely others), the negative emotions, dark imagery, sometimes downright disgusting lyrical content and other such trappings are fundamentally intertwined with many of my feelings about the worse aspects of life. It's totally part of the draw. There are many, many facts about human existence I am deeply sad or angry & horrified about, and art which reflects a shared understanding of these kinds of things offers camaraderie in misery-- sometimes it leads to catharsis, but not always. You can separate the music itself from these things, and there are artists who have done this, yet even then the pure music is has many loud, fast and/or violent-sounding sections, and if you're angry, it can act as a channel for that anger to feel expressed.

Applejinx 8y ago

Counterargument: Mayhem. counter-counter argument: but of course, that's Norwegian Black Metal, very much NOT Death Metal. And you'd be right, and not even all NBM acts welded themselves to the subject matter. But there've been some metal bands who were really passionate about embracing (not 'disconnecting' from) the subject matter, and always a few who sought to become the subject matter, and one or two did actually do that.

0ld 8y ago
Well, as opposed to most other metal styles, BM in general has had this 'trve' trend in the 90s, but its practically non-existent nowadays
jjjensen90 8y ago
I'd say the handful of NBM/church-burny bands versus the tens of thousands of DM and BM bands who are just regular people makes them a statistical anomaly, and we only know their names because of their exceptional dedication to being trve black metal demons