Last updated on October 1, 2025
Violence, screaming, fire and brimstone, Satan. You can probably guess what I’m talking about. That’s correct, I am talking about my favorite genre of music, heavy metal! You’re probably thinking, what?!?! You?!? Where’s your mohawk or long luscious locks? Where’s your spike bracelet? Black leather jacket? But that’s not at all what heavy metal is. Heavy metal provides you with an outlet for your emotions and experiences, it sends out empowering vibes to get you ready for whatever challenges you may face, and it inspires you to do anything. In fact I regularly listen to heavy metal before any of my basketball tournaments or before I start a big school assignment. Unfortunately, people don’t see heavy metal in the light that I do. Many see heavy metal as just a bunch of screaming middle aged men in makeup violently striking their guitars. So if anybody out there is holding your back from listening to heavy metal, listen in, as there is a lot more to heavy metal than what meets the eye. So today, let’s first grab our guitars to discuss both what heavy metal is as well as the history of it, then smash those drums as we learn about the controversies surrounding the genre, and finally scream those lyrics to look at the positive effects of heavy metal.
The New World Encyclopedia defines heavy metal as a genre of music typically characterized by a distorted guitar, drum dominated sound, strong rhythms, and blues-like, or symphonic styles. It is a subgenre of a bigger genre called metal. Metal has several other subgenres that each omit or alter the original characteristics of heavy metal. Examples include thrash metal, black metal, and death metal. Oftentimes, many people use the term heavy metal to describe all subgenres of metal but that’s not exactly accurate as each sub genre is unique from heavy metal. According to Preston Cram in 2021 all of the confusion around the name heavy metal stems from the fact that it is the original form of metal music.
So how exactly did heavy metal become the original form of metal music? Well, the previously cited Preston Cram explains that it all began in the 70’s where a band by the name of Black Sabbath released their first album Black Sabbath. They decided to focus their songs on guitars with heavy distortion and grinding which eventually set the foundation for heavy metal, but at the time, their music was closer to a subgenre of metal called doom metal. As the name suggests, doom metal attempts to evoke a sense of despair and impending doom into the listener. Then in 1973, Black Sabbath started backing away from doom metal and shifted towards a more fanciful and acid-washed rock. Luckily, bands like Rainbow and Judas Priest picked up where Black Sabbath left off and started paving the road to modern heavy metal.
Now that we know the history of heavy metal, let’s move into some controversial issues that surround this genre of music. Heavy metal is often blamed for inciting violence, suicide, and even mass school shootings, however, that’s not always the case. One of the main reasons that heavy metal is constantly being blamed is perfectly described by anthropologist and documentary filmmaker Sam Dunn. He says, “heavy metal is often used as a scapegoat to distract from the thoroughly more complicated societal problems surrounding such incidents.”
An example of heavy metal being blamed for inciting violence is described by History.com in 2009. According to them, a 19 year old boy named John McCollum was supposedly prompted to commit suicide from Ozzy Osbourne’s song “Suicide Solution”. People such as John’s parents believe there were hidden lyrics designed to prompt someone to commit suicide so they brough the issue to court. The songwriter Ozzy Osbourne responded by saying the song has no hidden lyrics and is actually an anti-sucide song about a musician who drank himself to death. In the end, the court ruled against John’s family saying that John’s death was not a foreseeable result of Osbourne’s song.
Another unfortunate incident where heavy metal was blamed, was at a school shooting at Columbine High School. According to Kerrang in 2020, two teenage boys named Eric Harris and Dylan Kelbold planned to detonate bombs at the school. They also planned to shoot and stab the remaining survivors. On April 20, 1999, they executed their plan, but their explosives failed to detonate. Unfortunately, they ended up killing 12 students, one teacher, and injuring 24 others. At the end of their spree, they both commited suicide. Many believe this was one of the most deadly school shootings in history. Nobody knows why the two teenagers did this, but because they were wearing T-shirts with Marilyn Manson on them, a famous heavy metal singer, and once again heavy metal was blamed.
Although the true causes of both of these tragic instances are still ambiguous, heavy metal is still blamed for promoting violent acts and probably will continue to be for years to come.
Now let’s move on to the positive effects of heavy metal. Millions believe that heavy metal influences people to be violent as we just discussed. But this belief is still popular even when scientific research proves otherwise. One of many studies involving heavy metal have found that the genre has several health benefits, such as its ability to calm you down. According to Frontiers in 2015, Leah Sharman and Genevieve A. Dingle conducted a study where they got participants angry and had them listen to heavy metal music. They found that listening to heavy metal helped participants regulate their anger and enhance their positive emotions. People also became more active and inspired after listening to the music. This is why I love to listen to heavy metal whenever I want to be productive. In fact, when writing this speech, I was listening to heavy metal!
Additionally, heavy metal can also reduce anxiety and blood pressure. According to Audacy in 2021, researchers recorded participant’s heart rate and blood pressure as they listened to heavy metal. Researchers found heavy metal music to be one of the most effective genres at reducing anxiety as 89% of participants reported a decrease in blood pressure.
Finally, another study conducted by researchers at Macquarie University tried to discover the correlation between heavy metal and violence. According to The Royal Society in 2019, to find this correlation, researchers presented participants two photos while either playing a heavy metal song or a pop song. One of the two photos was violent and the other neutral. They asked participants which photo they saw first while listening to a specific song. In the end the researchers found no correlation between listening to heavy metal and becoming more violent.
We’ve all been told, “Don’t judge a book by its cover” ever since we were little children. I know it’s cliche and all, but it’s incredibly relevant in today’s discussion as heavy metal is often seen as violent, satanic, and dangerous, but when we dig deeper, we see that it’s quite beneficial to our health. So after learning about what heavy metal is as well as its history, some controversial issues, and major health benefits of the genre it is vital that we change our view for the better.
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