Heavy Metal under Scrutiny: The Controversial Battle for the Protection of America’s Youth

Persistent URL of this record https://hdl.handle.net/1887/54371

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North American Studies (MA)

Papazoglou, Chrysanthi (2017)

Heavy Metal under Scrutiny: The Controversial Battle for the Protection of America’s Youth

Master thesis | North American Studies (MA)

Since its emergence, heavy metal music met with serious opposition. Accused of promoting violence, suicide, drug abuse and distorted images of sex, heavy metal artists were considered a threat to the well-being of America’s youth. These accusations were major arguments in the 1980s religious conservatives’ crusade to establish family values. Trying to raise parents’ awareness of the music’s alleged catastrophic effects, these conservatives campaigned to restrain or eliminate heavy metal music. In 1985, the then newly-formed Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) condemned several artists for advocating violence and substance abuse and for their predilection of the occult in their songs’ lyrics. PMRC created an agenda that was later used in court cases against heavy metal artists.

American studies

North American studies

heavy metal

1985 Labeling Hearing