Bücher der Reihe Emerald Studies in Metal Music and Culture Book Set (2018-2019)

For over four decades, scholars have been investigating male dominance - both symbolically and numerically -within popular music. The heavier genres of popular music, metal music in particular, have been male dominated spaces, which are difficult to navigate for women participating as fans, musicians, or both. Studies on gender inequality in metal music have convincingly demonstrated how gender dynamics shape the reception of metal music and metal scenes all over the globe. Yet, they shed relatively little light on the extent of and reasons for metal music's male domination from a production perspective. This book fills this gap, offering is a systematic and large-scale overview of gender inequality in metal music production. In other words: how many women - compared to men - are participating in metal bands and what are the causes for the differences in participation?

Drawing on repeat interviews with metal youth, the book examines why they were first attracted to metal during high school; how they used metal music and identities as coping strategies; and ways that their metal affiliations took on further significance for helping them make important decisions about what to do with their lives post-school.

This book explores heavy metal music in Australia, engaging with the nuanced ways in which metal music, scenes and cultures are experienced. Leading metal scholars and active scene members examine the diversity of practices, histories and identities within Australian metal music, and question what it means to be Australian in the context of metal.