Books || LebMetal’s Recommended Reading list for Metalheads

The misconceived image of a Metalhead is a drunken and possibly stoned individual, a high school drop out with limited IQ, lack of purpose in life and an aggressive violent attitude. Some online explanations include “Metal fans formed an “exclusionary youth community” which was distinctive and marginalized from the mainstream” society”, “Metal head – Group of musical listeners that are often described as drunkards, partiers, and fighters, but this is a bit of a stereotype.”.

Well, that is utterly untrue! Metalheads are truly society”s elite (some societies nevertheless), ones who understand others and accept them for who they are, ones who relate to every form of art and enjoy reading. Indeed, I”ve taken the initiative of collecting some statistics on the matter: I”ve asked 30 people, young and old, band members and dedicate fans, and I got the following results:

Some quick observations: 6 out of 30 (20%) don”t read at all, most of the readings happen online (ebooks, online news, etc), the average number of books read per year is 30, most of the 80 % read 100+ science/art/general information articles per year and 4 out of 30 (7.5%) read more than 300 articles per year (at least 1 article per day!).

Having seen that, I”m sure that most of you are aware of your appreciation for ”intriguing” subjects, the same way great bands express their love for myths and concept albums about unexplainable events, talk about philosophy, life and death, corrupt politics, ignorant social issues and taboos. Therefore, I don”t see any reason not to share this following reading list for all of us to check out. I”m looking forward to your suggestions in the comments!

• LebMetal”s Recommended Reading List

• Beyond Good and Evil by Nietzsche

Countless black metal bands have cited Nietzsche as a major influence (check our article on Nietzscheism here)

• Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri

Dante”s masterpiece also influenced many bands (Iced Earth”s “Dante”s Inferno”, Sepultura”s “Dante XXI”, Him”s “Venus Doom”, etc).

• Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Brave New World”s society changing messages naturally appealed to metal bands such as Iron Maiden and Motorhead.

• H.P Lovecraft”s The Call Of Cthulhu

Lovecraft”s horrid fiction / philosophy affected the likes of Metallica, Nile, Septic Flesh, Hypocrisy and more (check our Lovecraft and Metal article here)

• Dracula by Bram Stoker

Dracula, what can be said here? Countless Gothic tales revolving around vampires, immortals and outcasts who live at night (check the Dracula article on LebMetal here)

• The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe

Murders and morgues, can it get any Metal than that? Aside from the famous Iron Maiden song, it turned out that not too many bands have inspired songs from this subject, which is pretty weird. Nevertheless, a must read tale by one of the main fiction writers of the 19th century.

• The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

A case to be admired, two sides of one person collide in this magnificent imaginative tale by Stevenson. From The Who to Iced Earth, Jekyll and Hyde has always been a subject of admiration for Metalheads.

• The Shining by Stephen King

Psychic powers, clairvoyance, horror and supernatural powers. A recipe for Metal and of course, for the freaks out there.

• The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by JRR Tolkien

Battle themes, horde, trolls and elves: Folk Metal at its best. The rings have captivated the minds of hundreds of Metal bands such as Dimmu Borgir, Enslaved, Helloween, Unholy and many more!

• Heavy Metal Islam by Mark Levine

Mark Levine talks about the Middle East and Heavy Metal, he visits Lebanon and watches the Chordz, he attends a Death Metal live show in Egypt to be appalled by female fans in Iron Maiden and Cannibal Corpse t-shirts. A must read for all Arabs, Islam or not, since we know that repression, resistance and struggle represents us all.

I”m waiting for your feedback people!