Power! High Energy! Pyro! Shredding guitar riffs! Machine gun drumming! Crazy pounding bass riffs! The long hair, tattoos, and piercings... You have them, and bond with others that have them too!!!

Check out the movie: "Decline Of The Western Civilization Pt. 2 - The Metal Years"

metal is more than music. metal is a way of life and a culture. and its a way of saying youre different, because metal can define who you are. not to mention, metal is a way of saying that you don't care what people think of you, and that you aren't scared of what you don't understand.

metal is not always screams and dark themes but you are right about everything else

Metal was a genre that soon actually became like a cultural. people in chains metal studs leather and long hair is usually when i think of metal. Metal is music genre that really never gets respect and the fans are one of the most dedicated people around when it comes to it while other genres of music fans are easily lost and gain. Metal on the other hand fans are there for the toughest times for the bands and the relationship between fan and metal band is very powerful one. Neither would be great without the other counter part.
Metal to me gotta be heavy guitar riffs..dark themes..growling..gut busting screams and makes you wanna explode or smash something...sadly though there is some issues with different metal genres that defines the different metal heads in the cultural. The thrash metal fans hate glam/hair metal band for example. The bands that made huge impact on metal gotta be motley crue cannibal corpse motorhead, the old metallica and slayer etc..metal has always been over generalize by society as evil music or just not music. metal been attack in the 80's as source of evil and way too sexual themes. Almost what happened to elvis. Now there is battle what metal is good or evil..what bands give metal good names and bad names..Metal though is both good and evil..it is something that can survive and it did. metal is life and life is metal to a lot of people and to me.

anbody that uses metallica's battery for there metal moto needs to look at who actually wrote those songs

Metal is like a culture, or the language spoken between a certain population. I think it is like a signal, that reaches out to those people, to let them know that they are not alone, or to guide them to where they should go. It's not meant for everybody, but it doesn't discriminate against anybody. It's the friend that will still be standing there, covering your back, after all the rest fade away.

Metal is a badass music genre which draws people with dark lyrics, for ex.
Iron Maiden's "The Evil that Men Do"

"Love is a razor and I walked the line on that silver blade
Slept in the dust with his daughter, her eyes red with
The slaughter of innocence
And I will pray for her
I will call her name out loud
I would bleed for her
If I could only see her now..."

and non-passive anti-emo style, and appeals to those flashy hipsters with the black clothes, long haired intellectuals who talk about how much they hate the movie PASSION OF THE CHRIST so much and say hail satan and hail hittler from time to time(lol YOU HEAR THAT **** A LOT DON'T LIE), are juvenal satyrists who tell you everyday "DONT BE BUTTHURT", love music about "cumming blood" (lmao I once told my metalfan friend a joke about cherrypopping and he replied "you are a sick ****er") and It also appeals to egotistical whiteboys a lot who think they are badasses and play Fallout 3 all ****ing day.(My friends are honky metal fans I am going to castrate them some day and add them to my mass murder list, my cousins like metal too and they love singing that song "jizz in my pants", they also like playing super smash brothers and say the word ni**er alot (they aren't black, and for protection purposes i will not reveal their names but i will tell you they are 2 years younger than me ????????????? )


I like metal. (: But metal FANS.....? ):

Metal is a music genre with many types, each with a unique sound, that is addicting to its fans.

Metal helps me express myself in an undescribable way

Alright I totally agree with you on this topic metal to me is not the looks but the feeling. When i say that I mean their has to be passion in it and not just some fools that are put on as a basic side show by a music company it has to have the anger the attitude and passion behind it to truly mean something.

Well to put it simply Metal is my life, before I got into metal I was depressed and even suicidal at one point. Oh not to mention I listened to terrible pop/rock bands like My Chemical Romance and that kind of crap. But Then I heard Iron Maidens song Number of The Beast when i was 16 and was converted to the ways of Metal. I threw out all my terrible music after hearing that song and started getting really into metal.

To me metal is more then just a music style, its practically a way of life and outsiders may not get it but who cares what they think....because Metal will never die!

metal takes feelings out, expressions of heavy deep emotions that people tend to bottle up and hide. Metal tends to make my deep emotions go away when im feeling them takes away all my thoughts and i just focus on the music.I love it for how i can do that ,and for the enjoyment of the music as well!!!

It's Rock-N-Roll alittle faster and little darker

Metal,
...how do you explain Love, or believe in a higher power? Metal to me is an aggressive statement in the world we live in, a slice of life, a fantasy or the harsh realities, can be the worst nightmares of the mind to what humans are capable of cruelty to others. Metal tells a story in a way that demands to be heard, much like "Folk" Music. The kind of Metal I love is the highest form of musicianship and lyrics, and the voice can be melodic or "cookie monster", anger is an emotion just like compassion and Metal has all the heart and Soul of any music, but the Lyrics don't have to be angry, they can be compassionate, spiritual, enlightning and profound.
But its the brutality of the Drums and Guitars that make it what it is. Either a heavy groove or machine gun staccatos with the pounding of a Drum Kit, and especially someone who can do complicated syncopations on Double Kick Drums.
Metal is about an integrity that no one, no label, no popularity will make or break, but is made by the composer to break barriers and to offer the world something new, with or without media exposure, it is made for the pure craft of making aggressive statements to the world we live in that gets ignored or forgotten about.
I am 45, I've been into Metal since the early 70's, but became a collector in the late 70's and discovered many sub-genres up till now. And saw the birth of Thrash and Death Metal and the many Prog Metal Bands that come from all over the World.
Many want to stigmatize us, tell us what Metal is, and say we are mindless and a bunch of "Hair Metal" idiots stuck in the 80's, well the stuff I heard in the 80's almost had no exposure. But I can tell you it will last the test of time because it is timeless. Its not about hits, its about creating Art but with aggressive yet complicated compositions, its all about musicianship with something to say, if you agree with it or not but it will be YELLED at you to be heard!
I can feel it when I headbang, when I play guitar or just listen on headphones, the Guitars have the energy that speaks to me, but how do you explain that, how do you explain the Guitarist making those strained faces when he stretches those strings, or does a staccato/chugging riff and is headbanging with the beats?
Its pure emotion, but with alot of energy and knowledge behind it. Chances are that a Metal Musician can play ANY type of music, when that arm chair challenge says "I can play that ****"/"it sounds like pure noise" . . . . well play it.
Most Metal musicians own experiences and influences gather from all kinds of music.
Because we are not mindless, and the best musicians don't listen to 1 kind of music, because the more you know the more you can add to your repretoir.
Yes Metal is a way of life but it doesn't mean you have to look mean or wear leather, you can be a person with a clean-cut Family, a 9 to 5 or be White Collar, its the philosophy, the "spirit" and integrity to live life honest and as an individual, to no one but yourself.
(Whew!) Another Film you should definately watch is "Global Metal", I identify more with the people coming from unusual countries, they see it "purely" for what it is, especially if they are down trodened. You can find it on YOUTube.
Thanks for asking us Headbangers what it means to us, its been interesting reading all the entries. Though I must emphasise that there is ALOT of un-tapped Heavy Metal and Prog Metal to be found out there.

Did you watch the documentary called " Metal, the story of Metal" or the one called " A Headbanger's Journey." ? Those are two very good films I would recomend. They aired a few times on VH1 classic ... They answer alot of smart questions about what is Heavy Metal Music and why are fans of this genre more die-hard than fans of other musical forms. I think you ought to check these films out.

Metal to me, as I am from the 80's, is not just a musical genre, but metal is a place i can go to be among others like me. Metal is what I bang my head to instead of doing it against the wall literally or metaphorically. To be metal your balls must be made of it, even for the gals. To play it you must have the courage to reach for something other metal bands have not done, yet stay true to the genre. You can play songs with intelect or songs that are simple, but you must do it with an edge and a disregard for societies view on your effort. Metal is about the energy and the ability to transfer that energy from the guitar to the listener. As I am now 41 years old, metal makes me remember how it felt to bang my head with the long flowing locs that I used to have. Though my hair is short, I still bang my ever-loving head.

I think that outsiders from the "Metal" scene have an askew view of metal. They see it as a random sea of violence with no purpose. If you've never listen to the songs and really pay attention to the lyrics and instead only concentrate on the superficial (ie the make up or masks, etc.) then you won't get it. I have been to a few Metal shows and been in a few mosh pits. More times than not, if I've been knocked down, that guy that had just "violently" pushed me to the ground will pick me up, dust me off, and ask if I'm alright, and then go back to participating in our "barbaric" display of enjoyment. I view moshing as this, there is this ball of energy that is bounced back and forth between the band on stage and the crowd. With all that energy bouncing around moshing just seems the obvious outlet, And that is Metal to me

Oh, and my favorite bands are Korn, Slipknot, Metallica (their older stuff), Disturbed, Tesla, Five Finger Death Punch, Black Sabbath, Ozzy, Deep Purple, Aerosmith (although I think they are more hard rock than Metal), Van Halen (again, sometimes called Metal, but I think they are hard rock), Saliva, Jackyl, Flybanger, Hell Yeah, Pantera, and tons more.
I think a band is Metal when they use a combination of hard, fast guitars and drums, and lyrics that speak about the harsh truths of reality. It's not all about drugs and getting laid, or hearts and flowers, but sometimes it can be about those things and still be metal depending on how a band presents it. It's not about telling what you want to hear, rather things you need to hear