Heavy metal subculture
Fans affirm their membership in the subculture or scene by attending metal concerts (an activity seen as central to the subculture), buying albums, growing their hair long (although some metalheads do wear their hair short; one very famous example is late 70s to 80s-era Rob Halford), wearing jackets or vests often made of denim and leather adorned with band patches and often studs, and by contributing to metal publications since the early 1980s.
While the aforementioned labels vary in time and regional divisions, headbanger and metalhead are universally accepted to mean fans or the subculture itself.
"[10] While the audience for metal is mainly "white, male, lower/middle class youth," this group is "tolerant of those outside its core demographic base who follow its codes of dress, appearance, and behavior.
[11] Metal magazines help the members of the subculture to connect, find information and evaluations of bands and albums, and "express their solidarity.
"[11] The long hair, leather jackets, and band patches of heavy metal fashion help encourage a sense of identification within the subculture.
The term poseur (or poser) is used to describe "a person who habitually pretends to be something he/she is not,"[12] as in adopting the appearance and clothing style of the metal scene without truly understanding the culture and its music.
The metal bands that earned this epithet are those "who adopt the visible aspects of the orthodoxy (sound, images) without contributing to the underlying belief system.
"[17] In 2002, "[m]etal guru Josh Wood" claimed that the "credibility of heavy metal" in North America is being destroyed by the genre's demotion to "horror movie soundtracks, wrestling events and, worst of all, the so-called 'Mall Core' groups like Limp Bizkit."
[20] A small number of Norwegian black metal bands have threatened violence (and, in extremely rare instances, exhibited it) towards Christian artists or believers, as demonstrated in the early 1990s through occasional church arsons throughout Scandinavia.
Around the mid-2000s, a renaissance of younger audiences became interested in 1980s metal, and the rise of newer bands embracing older fashion ideals led to a more 1980s-esque style of dress.
[22] At concerts, in place of typical dancing, metal fans are more likely to mosh[23] and headbang (a movement in which the head is shaken up and down in time with the music).
[24] Fans in the heavy metal subculture often make the corna hand gesture formed by a fist with the index and little fingers extended.
"[28]Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante admitted that hardened members of the heavy metal subculture "are not the most open-minded people when it comes to music.
"[29] Hardened thrash metal fans reacted negatively to Megadeth venturing into rock-oriented musical territory on their album Super Collider.
[30] Opeth frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt also alleged that most members of the subculture are resistant to the musical evolution of artists within the genre, stating that it "doesn't seem to be that important" to those listeners.
Fenriz of Darkthrone is also a techno DJ,[34] and Metallica's Kirk Hammett is seen wearing a T-shirt of post-punk band The Sisters of Mercy in the music video for "Wherever I May Roam".
[39] All That Remains vocalist Phil Labonte has stated he is a fan of the artists Prince, Fall Out Boy, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Eminem, Jay-Z and Nickelback.
