Metal is my favorite music genre; many people believe that all metal music is related to worshiping demons and Satan, that it has no meaning and that metal is simply loud noise. However, as someone who listens to metal all the time, I find these stereotypes disappointing and almost offensive, and they can ultimately change how people perceive me when I tell them that I enjoy heavy metal.
These Satanic claims are built on old wives’ tales and presumptions. The truth is, Satanism is not a topic in 99% of metal music. Most metal music talks about tough topics in life or takes you into the mind of a character like any other genre. For example, I’d like to bring up Metallica, a band that’s globally acclaimed but has gotten some heat in the past for claims of being “supporters of Satan.” However, this couldn’t be farther from the truth. If we look at one of their most popular songs, “Master of Puppets,” the song’s lyrics talk about what happens to people as they fall down the rabbit hole of drug addiction. The lyrics show this in abundance.
“Taste me, you will see, More is all you need,”
In these lyrics, the band mentions the face of addiction of always needing more. This is a personal struggle of lead singer James Hetfield. While the song may have been released in the 1980s, it wasn’t until 2001 when Hetfield put himself in rehab to seek assistance with his drinking and drug problems.
Not all bands are this lucky however, like my favorite band, Avenged Sevenfold, who lost their drummer and dear friend, James “The Rev” Sullivan, to an accidental overdose in 2009. This prompted the band to create their fifth album, “Nightmare,” as a tribute to Sullivan. They added the song “So Far Away” to the album as well as the last song Sullivan ever wrote, “Fiction.” They would also later release the song “St. James” as a single in 2013 as another tribute.
Both examples of Metallica and Avenged Sevenfold show that most metal has meaning. Most of the Satanism accusations come from the early days of metal as it was an almost brand-new genre that scared those who were accustomed to the more relaxed rock and roll of years past. And one of the first heavy metal bands, Black Sabbath, was no stranger to the accusations.
Black Sabbath was one of the first true heavy metal bands in the late 1960s, and early 1970s, producing such hits as “Iron Man,” “Paranoid” and “War Pigs.”
Black Sabbath was called out during its tenure as the worst offender of promoting Satanic thinking and ideologies. However, all of the members of the band were, and still are, devoted Christians. Black Sabbath’s bassist, Geezer Butler, even opened up about this in an interview with Lifeminute.
“A lot of the stuff was misinterpreted, I think, just because of the name of the band, Black Sabbath,” Butler said.
I think that nowadays misinformation is everywhere, and everything can and will be misinterpreted. In the metal world, there are 100% Satanic bands like Slayer, Ghost and Judas Priest. But these few shouldn’t taint the many. To me, it doesn’t matter what music you listen to or what hobbies you enjoy, as long as you don’t force it on others, you should have the right to indulge in whatever you please.
