Heavy metal music is inclusive and governed by rules of etiquette

Forget wild and chaotic behaviour, heavy metal music culture is inclusive and governed by etiquette and codes of conduct, according to new UCL research. After several years on the road, touring with a variety of metal bands from UK, USA and Europe, UCL Anthropology PhD student Lindsay Bishop has found that the global heavy metal community is complex and transgenerational with elders passing on rules of etiquette, such as most pit behaviour, to younger members. Bishop, whose study is the first ethnography of its kind to focus on the significance of live heavy metal performance from the perspectives of both the audience and the musician, examines heavy metal from a strictly anthropological perspective.  She has carried out extensive interviews and documented bands including Fear Factory, 3Teeth, Mortiis, Pig and Combichrist. Footage captured while touring with industrial artist Jayce Lewis, has just been released in his new video single with Universal Music. The study finds that far from the popular perception of 'angry teenage males', heavy metal is culturally inclusive, with a rich and varied audience - including many women and older adults - that embraces an array or religions, sexual orientations and political leanings. Bishop's research will culminate in an open-source documentary, which will be made available via her website, and a book exploring the capacity of musical performance to create metal communities that have sustained through several generations and have now spread across the globe.