Heavy metal is healing teens on the Blackfeet Nation

pdpi

Not surprised.

The imagery and the aggression involved in the music can make it seem daunting and somehow damaging, but the metal community is surprisingly chill and friendly, and, sometimes, just so damned silly.

E.g. here's Slipknot's singer live in concert singing the SpongeBob Squarepants theme song, because the audience really wanted him to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5OLtoY70AI

Or, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the Devin Townsend signing this thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6z1isK2MYWI is not the same Devin singing this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsd4ZkFVOHY

Insanity

If you want some more humorous metal, check out the band “NanoWar of Steel”. It’s great.

All their songs are humorous, but for example they have a song with Joachim from Sabaton called Pasadena 1994. It fits the “war metal” style of Sabaton, but instead the song is about football. (https://open.spotify.com/track/65i7HQAWy3ZlSTEyWWFoPN?si=kUm...)

pdpi

If we're doing Nanowar of Steel, there's a more seasonally appropriate track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9WWz95ripA

Or, because this is HN: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yup8gIXxWDU

jl6

First he went to Rome to see the pope, now SpongeBob. I’m beginning to like him.

mariusor

Metal music offers a sort of catharsis for people that can't scream into the void, but feel a need to. It's not about manifesting violence, but containing it and directing it into a creative outlet.

lawgimenez

I remember hearing for the first time Dillinger Escape Plan's Calculating Infinity over 20 years ago, life changing record indeed.

platevoltage

I had the absolute privilege of seeing them live during that era.

lawgimenez

Man I envy you, I live in Southeast Asia and there were only like 50 of us who's into hardcore in my whole country. This was late 90s I think.

belZaah

A moshpit is the only consensual form of non-sexual violence outside of sports.

leipert

I dunno. There is always this one, little overweight, sweaty guy without a shirt. Makes it a little bit sexual, doesn’t it?

platevoltage

> “Your homework tonight, and I’ll remind you of this later, go listen to the song ‘43% Burnt.’”

Why weren't my teachers this cool? I would have assigned the entire album though.

jaggederest

When I was in school, before the turn of the century, we were reading Johnny Got His Gun in English class and discovered that Metallica's One is about a very similar situation (though not apparently originally inspired by Johnny Got His Gun), so we got to play it in class and do a report on the two. Received some minor kudos from the class and a reasonable grade from the teacher.

It got slightly awkward as I believe that was just before the Columbine shooting, and after that metal had a more negative reputation for a while.

rsingel

The video for that song uses excerpts from the movie version of Johnny Got His Gun. I don't know if the songwriting was inspired by it but the video certainly was. Because the video relied so much on the excerpts the band ended up buying the rights to the movie just to not pay royalties.

Hilariously, I won a writing prize about this connection as a teenager in 1989. Fun to see you had a similar experience

PunchyHamster

I'd imagine it could backfire as anything school or parents recommend is automatically less cool

platevoltage

If all you knew was Slipknot and a teacher hands you a Dillinger Escape Plan song, you would have the opposite reaction.

foxglacier

Because it's not regular class. It's an extra-curricular club. If you joined the heavy metal club, you might have had similar activities.

megamix

Why no one talks about the real issue (root cause) of why they feel this way? And where’s Sitting Bull

rdtsc

> And where’s Sitting Bull

Gentle correction: you meant Crowfoot, or maybe John Two Guns White Calf? Because Sitting Bull, was a Lakota chief.

megamix

Excuse my ignorance, I was sincerely trying to understand the background, and had little knowledge about the different chiefs. I wanted to point to the fact “remember your roots”. Thanks!

eucyclos

Talking about why one feels a particular way requires trust in the interlocutor, so I'm not surprised outsiders don't hear anyone taking about it. As for insiders, is it a given they aren't?

PunchyHamster

plenty of talking about that. Not all that much doing.