Dust and metal: Men of the American West in heavy metal music.

摘要

The way American popular culture, as well as worldwide popular culture, has interpreted the West has changed in the last 160 years. Many ideas about the region and the people who inhabit it have flipped over time, from Native Americans being seen as savages to helpless victims, to white settlers being heroic models of progress to foreign invaders that spread death and disease, to the land being one of vast opportunity to a land full of shady characters eager to take your money and your life. The West is a canvas for people of all cultures and nationalities to project their ideals and fears upon in a safe environment that seems distant to their own lives. It is a painting that is reinterpreted with each generation to fit that generation's needs. Popular culture seemingly uses the West as its default background to work out its own generational attitudes, with each generation disagreeing on what the West truly represented to American history as well as what it means in the modern world. The purpose of this study is to show that heavy metal is inundated with historical references, source material, and themes. This study will focus exclusively on how heavy metal portrays famous and infamous men of the American West, including the Earp brothers, the Dalton Gang, and Geronimo in its lyrics. It will serve to connect and contextualize the history referenced in the songs with the actual historical events, people, and places as well as analyze where the bands might have garnered their understanding of these historical figures. This study also serves the broader purpose of educating both the academic and public realms on history in heavy metal. Academics will learn ways in which non-academics use, portray, and understand history, whether good or bad, and how these bands make history relatable to their audience and their lives. The public will learn the academic side of the history they hear in the metal songs and how to analyze what makes a song historically accurate as well as challenge cultural historical stereotypes and misconceptions.