The general public often looks down on metal music. People connect satanic and nefarious ideas to metal, when in reality the genre discusses tough subjects, like broken families or addiction. Metalheads tend to distract themselves from the lyrics and only listen to the heavy sounds of the music. People frequently correlate bad music taste and the metal genre. People also correlate demonic music to bands such as Metallica, Black Sabbath and Motörhead. The song endorsed by Stranger Things and Master of Puppets also possesses poetic lyrics about someone addicted to cocaine, and how it destroys their life. The lyrics in the song talk about the drug as the addict’s master, and how once they try the drug, it becomes all they crave.

“Metal music is like riding a roller coaster: The loud noise and the high energy gives the same thrill. Metal music gets the adrenaline pumping, and while not everyone loves it, it can be a real mood booster for the people that do,” sophomore Nicolas Fusaro said.

The fast beats and rhythms exhilarate the audience to a point that may seem unhinged, which leads people to believe it promotes satanic values. Most metal artists do not participate in satanist groups or worship the devil, but simply draw inspiration from the idea of a devil or malicious figure to garner attention or for shock value. The belief of metal music controlling your body, and the false perception that one worships Satan if they listen to it stems from the Satanic Panic of the ‘80s. The rise of metal music and other forms of entertainment, such as Dungeons and Dragons in the ‘80s scared the majority of the public. The misinformation from that period still lingers now and continues to influence the unearned negative perception of metal music.  

“It’s diverse and musical with its difficult and complicated music and the different sounds bring the music together. People who don’t listen to metal, tend to think it’s just loud and obnoxious noise. They don’t understand the beauty and complexity of the music. They think it’s all yelling,” sophomore Josiah Woodall said.

People would rather listen to hip hop, even though rappers like Playboi Carti, Lil Darkie and others, obtain their inspiration for their heavy rap songs from heavy metal. Metal became a diverse genre in the ‘80s when artists released songs closer to classical music.

Metal can go from soft and rhythmic with symphonic metal to dark and aggressive death metal. The classical, more rhythmic side of metal, present in the band Black Sabbath shows the diversity of metal. The riffs and lyrics do not share the aggressiveness of other metal bands such as Motörhead. Black Sabbath’s songs explain and ridicule different topics. Their song “Paranoid”, explains the mental struggles of a paranoid and anxious person. Their song “War Pigs”, ridicules the pain and destruction brought to the world by man, as an anti-war song.

The rougher rhythms and riffs attract metal enthusiasts. The intense topics–those topics that other genres will not talk about–draw the attention of metal enjoyers. Other genres do not have the courage, so they do not tread into the tougher subject metal listeners like to listen to.