Is metal (still) a subculture? Considerations from the perspective of cultural history

Abstract

Any discussion about whether metal is or ever was a subculture is always also a discussion about metalness as an identity construction. From the perspective of a cultural historian, the author would like to introduce some possibly clarifying arguments into the debate about metal and subculture. To this end, three topics will be discussed. The first step is to look at the term subculture and its use in metal research from the perspective of cultural history. This is followed by a second step in which the author suggests that from such a perspective we should always ask about metal as a subculture in the context of a fundamentally pluralistic understanding of ‘metal as cultures’. As the third topic, this proposed conceptual sharpening will be illustrated by an empirical example from the author’s research.