Norm-Related Sonic Knowledge in Heavy Metal Culture

In 1980, British band Judas Priest released their song Breaking the Law on their album British Steel. This piece of music became an anthem which expressed heavy metals identity for musicians, fans and critics. In the lyrics to the song, law-breaking forms the central topic. For the jobless protagonist, breaking the law becomes his choice to point out his situation and express his individual identity. He views law as a deeply conservative institution, which threatens to paralyze him socially. By breaking laws norms, he reaches attention, identity and personal empowerment. Being deemed as defining 1980s heavy metals style and identity, the song used a specific imagination of law and law- breaking, and a specific attitude to legal norms, to in the first place create metal music and its culture. Already this example shows that such imaginations of law, justice, dealing with law- and rule- breaking, played an important role in metals history. Yet, there currently is no research which explicitly asks whether and how such imaginations became important in local histories of metal scenes. Especially for the historical period since the 1980s (a decade often referred to as the golden age of metal which brought its stylistic diversification and globalization), this remains a desideratum of research. This is where the present projects research comes in. The aim is to write a first and broad history of the metal scene in Graz and Styria, also in its national and international entanglements, since the 1980s. In the project, the mentioned desideratum in research is focused on. It will be investigated whether and how imaginations of law and law-breaking, of justice and injustice, as scene-laws played a role in the Styrian scenes history. The projects interdisciplinary team uses methodologies from cultural history, musicology, semiotic discourse analysis and culturally-oriented legal studies integrally. Centrally, the researchers will lead interviews with older and younger scene members (fans, musicians, owners of concert facilities etc.). Also, the textual (i.e. lyrics to songs or music journals), visual (i.e. record covers), and compositional aspects (in a musicological analysis of law-themed songs and albums) will be equally addressed. Hence, the projects novelty lies in the first use of methodologies from most recent theoretical research in cultural history, musicology, visual studies and legal studies to investigate a local and regional metal scene, and, at the same time, asking for the historical role of imaginations of law and law-breaking, and attitudes towards law in the scenes history.

The history of the heavy metal classic "Breaking the Law" by Judas Priest (1980) is paradigmatic for the project. In the lyrics to the song, the breaking of laws plays the central role. This one example alone shows that themes like law, justice and morality play an important role in the history of metal. Yet there was a lack of relevant research that specifically asked about such aspects in the history of local metal scenes. The overall aim of the project was to write a history of the metal scene in Graz and Styria since the 1980s - in doing so, the aforementioned research gap for this scene was closed. The project results show that the history of the Styrian metal scene can be divided into three phases. A pioneering phase between 1980 and 1990, in which the first structures of the scene (youth centres, bands, marketing networks, studios, etc.) emerged, was followed by a phase of pluralisation (1990 to 2000), in which new metal sub-styles such as thrash, death and black metal gained influence. Since 2000, the Styrian metal scene has been shaped by the radical transformation effect of digitalisation (e.g. in the marketing and production of music). The most important results can be summarised in three points that applied consistently in all phases. Firstly, the Styrian scene was closely interwoven with the surrounding social and legal structures. Thus all major historical developments and crises (e.g. the environmental movement of the 1980s, the final phase of the Cold War, the Yugoslavian wars of the 1990s and most recently the Covid19 pandemic) were processed. Secondly, the liberal-democratic legal system and the state-supported Styrian art and cultural policy (such as in the form of public funding for metal clubs and youth centres) contributed significantly to the development of the individual characteristics of the scene. Thirdly, law, justice and morally right behaviour had been constant themes of Styrian metal. Critical thinking, self-determination and striving for freedom became central values of the scene identity. These results contribute to the further development of the research field on several levels: They are the first comprehensive findings on the role of law in the history of a heavy metal scene. Then they address the lack of historiographical research on metal. Finally, through the research on the Styrian metal scene they meet the need for more intensive research into the local aspects of metal.