Progressive Metal as a Social Construction

Music influences many people throughout their lives. Many find personal connections to particular songs, or relation to their own lives in lyrics. However, as with much of the new or up-and-coming music that is prevalent in our society, they mostly focus on the personal aspect as this is what people look for in music to relate to themselves. What is rare to find however (in our day and age) are not just one song that may cover an ideology, but for music groups to devote their music toward a particular social construction and compel the audience or individual to truly consider the lyrics spoken. In essence music (like many other arts) has the ability to play a large role in shaping individuals in society, and thus cause social change throughout time. This is what has become to be known as Progressive Metal, and while it cannot be pinned on any one music group for the beginnings of this movement, there are certainly particular groups which have made significant contributions.

Metallica I have chosen here in particular because I feel that many are turned away by the kind of music produced by metal bands; particularly in the creation of songs in which are influenced by social construction and not simply a single emotion (or nothing at all). Taking into example, the image posted is a more symbolic view of Justice, with the image of Liberty being torn and damaged, or otherwise defaced. We can examine this as a social commentary on the justice system in general, and the songs contained within the album ...And Justice For All are all related to various forms of injustice, whether freedom of speech, atrocities of war, or corruption of government.

Songs such as One refer to the novel Johnny got his gun written by Dalton Trumbo in 1939, where a soldier is horrifically maimed and crippled in war yet remains intact in his mind. Yet this song is not the typical 'thrash metal' as produced by metal bands in the past or today, and takes a more somber and serious tone. Other songs such as The Unforgiven have been attributed to novels such as Anthem by Ayn Rand. The ideology presented relates to a society without individuality where a single person finds it possible to break away from the social construction, and reveals 'ego' in the end.

Progressive metal has been tagged to many bands over the years, including Alice in Chains particularly for their song Down in a Hole which deals with the writer's father during the Vietnam war, as well as to Disturbed for the attention given to the current war in the Middle East (Sacred Lie).

Cultural and ideological movements come in many forms, and this is simply one of many ways in which it may be brought about. Spiegelman's work in the underground comix movement in the late sixties and early seventies has had a similar effect, but simply for a different audience. Thus, we can generate a Grand Narrative of what society should strive for based upon artistic expression, one that is carried through into every individual who bothers to sit and actually listen to the lyrics of a song and comprehend the true meanings behind them. It has a profound effect on the individual, and thus we can say that social evolution occurs as the values of a population change over time.