‘How Many Divisions Does Ozzy Osbourne Have?’ Some Thoughts on Politics, Heavy Metal Music, and the ‘Clash of Civilizations’

Abstract

The title of this chapter is an adaptation of a famous remark attributed to Josef Stalin. When, in 1935, the French prime minister asked him to adopt a policy favourable to Russian Catholics, so as to win favour with the Pope, Stalin is said to have replied: ‘How many divisions does the Pope have?’ This remains one of the definitive evocations of the concept of realpolitik; I return to the idea of realpolitik towards the end of the chapter. The purpose of the chapter is to outline, and to comment tentatively upon, the growing debate about the social implications of, and political possibilities posed by, the growth in popularity of heavy metal music in the cities of the Middle East. It is written from the standpoint of an outsider — I’m not a ‘metalhead’ and have neither experienced much metal music nor travelled in the social world of metal — but it is written, a measure of scepticism notwithstanding, out of intellectual and political sympathy with those who see metal as a means to progressive social change in the Middle East and North Africa.