There are only a few reasons to why I took this class and, to be honest, heavy metal music was not one of them. I had a few friends who recommended Jarl as a good professor, and the class was open when I registered for my Advanced Seminar requirement. I am, by no means, an expert in the genre of music, and I don’t really listen to it. In fact, I was surprised to find out that The Runaways were considered metal, though, when I think on it now, I am not sure what else it would be considered. I am rather excited for what this class has to offer toward expanding my knowledge on not only music, but psychology, sociology, politics and world history.
The beginning of this class proved to be very thought-provoking and interesting because I had never considered the idea that the society in which we live is highly disenchanted. Looking at the world from this lens of disenchantment makes things rather boring and terrifyingly eye-opening to the effects of technology and science in society. It is very true that we live in a world of routines and lack of mystery. As a Christian, it is quite obvious that there is an ever-growing lack of gods and religion throughout all types of people. This is just one of many signs of the loss of the mystical and the mysterious in society. People never “stop to smell the roses” anymore, do they? It seems that we are just moving through life as another robot to the overall machine known as society rather than becoming their own individual personality; they choose routine over happiness and individuality.
However, with the rise of the youth’s interest in the unexplainable such as vampires and werewolves, it is quite obvious that there is an inherent need and desire to re-enchant life as we know it. Specifically, this class looks at the existence of heavy metal throughout the world and how it relates to the re-enchantment of an un-enchanted earth. In his novel, “Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge,” Keith Kahn-Harris delves into the study of extreme metal scene throughout the world.
In chapter 8, he specifically speaks to the scene of metal and how it can offer a transgression to escape the discomfort of modernity. He writes, “While modernity disempowers individuals within alienating systems and structures, transgression allows individuals to feel utterly in control, utterly ‘sovereign’ (Bataille 1993) over,” (158). In other words, the act of violating tradition and routine is truly the way to re-enchant one’s life. He offers the concept of the extreme metal scene as one type of transgression that breaks the norm.
Yet, he brings about the great question of the heavy metal scene’s existence in the future. Heavy metal is subject to change with time because it is “in a constant state of musical and discursive struggle and evolution,” (Kahn 163). However, one must ask if heavy metal will survive with any sort of dramatic change to its style; it is, in fact, the idea of rejecting the required and normal that makes the genre so attractive. So, wouldn’t it be subject to a disenchantment of its own if it were to go with the regularity of change and future? It’s just a thought to be considered.
