Recently, my brother and I were watching some MTV2, and a commercial for Headbanger’s Ball or something similar came on. He made some kind of statement about how he couldn’t get into metal or harder rock because it’s “about being angry.” I tried unsuccessfully to argue that it wasn’t about that at all. Unable to really put my argument to the contrary into words, I soon gave up altogether.

In light of some of that stuff I read last night though, I’d like to give it another go here. First off, I think that kind of music isn’t about anger so much as it is about power, and tapping into power. I think the reason it comes out looking like anger to the uninitiated, is because it’s not very “processed”. It’s power that’s tapped into directly and released without a lot of analysis and transformation. I hesitate to use the word “raw” but it certainly applies.

Also, looking back to highschool, most of the kids I knew who were really into metal were actually super-duper chilled out. Like some of the most relaxed, least angry-seeming people I’ve known. I’ve never personally felt “angry” while listening to metal. It’s always an amped up feeling, just really energetic. I also find that if I have it on loud enough and for long enough, then I start to get oddly focused and relaxed - as thought distration is just being washed out of me. I think this effect relates more or less exactly to what I read last night about the arousal and quiescent systems in the body. Basically, the arousal system initiates fight-or-flight responses, and expends energy, and the quiescent system conserves energy and maintains equilibrium. The theory goes that intense overstimulation of either system will result in a “spillover” which activates the opposite system. And I think this is exactly what’s going on when I listen to really loud aggressive metal, and then end up feeling really calmed and centered by the time I’m done with it.