In metal culture, aggression is released through catharsis within the crowd.'ĭespite the perception of the heavy metal community 'as a brutish rite of passage for teenage boys' Bishop says that, it is a 'complex, inclusive and global community that now encompasses several generations. 'Metal culture doesn't have a history of aggression towards mainstream culture that, for example, punk has become synonymous for. The older generations teach mosh pit etiquette and newcomers learn that moshing is not a fight, it's a way to release tension and often create lasting bonds with people. There is a kind of… not a chain as such but guidance if you like, a kind of etiquette of things, it is kind of unwritten.' - Anonymous Bīishop said: 'Mosh pits, crowd surfing, circle pits - in an abstract sense epitomise the metal community. 'When somebody goes down, you get them straight back up 'you alright mate? All your earrings intact?' But it's like that in metal, its being in a huge club and you don't necessarily know everyone's name but you give each other a nod.' - Anonymous A Participants from Bishop's fieldwork comment: This includes an implicit understanding that the mosh pit is voluntary, that those who fall over should be picked up immediately and if someone is hurt they are taken to the bar by the person responsible.

The research finds that older generations of metal fans pass on mosh pit etiquette and behaviour to newcomers and younger generations to ensure an environment of 'controlled chaos'.

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.īishop'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. Footage captured while touring with industrial artist Jayce Lewis, has just been released in his new video single with Universal Music. She has carried out extensive interviews and documented bands including Fear Factory, 3Teeth, Mortiis, Pig and Combichrist. Forget wild and chaotic behaviour, heavy metal music culture is inclusive and governed by etiquette and codes of conduct, according to new UCL research.Īfter 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.īishop, 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.

Folk metal mosh pit