Running with the Devil: Poetry and Partiality

by Robert Walser and Robert Walser

Book Overview

A comprehensive musical, social, and cultural analysis of heavy metal music, with a new foreword and afterwordWinner of the 1994 Irving Lowens Book Award from the Society for American MusicDismissed... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0819562602
• ISBN13: 9780819562609
• Release Date: May 1993
• Publisher: Wesleyan
• Length: 254 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.9" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

A sorely needed historical document

Anyone passingly familiar with heavy metal will know that it is the kind of thing that very few are ambivalent about; you either love or hate it. Unfortunately, historically heavy metal has been twice cursed. At one side, it's glory days were in the 70s and 80s, a time when popular music studies were only starting out. At the same time, the genre was despised by music journalists (serious/litterate or not), resulting in a genre who had a disproportionately small amount of serious books and articles written about it compared to it's popularity. This book is one of the extremely few exceptions. I will attempt to do this review two-fold, catering both to the musicologist and heavy metal fan who migth read it. First of all, it is important to notice it's original publication. The book was released in 1993: In the two previous years the genre had pretty much dissapeared from the hit lists in the western world. The research work for this book, however, seems to have been done mainly in the 1980s. This is extremely important, as it is one of an extremely small amount of serious litterature on the genre written at the same time as it experienced it's commercial peak. With such a small selection, every book is naturally a godsend, but this is, to my knowledge, the only one written by a musicologist. While Deena Weinstein's book is certainly useful, it studies the heavy metal sub-culture in a sociological light, which is fine by itself, but I'd wager that most people (musicologist or music fan) would find a book actually discussing the music more interesting. In either case, both books must today be considered historical documents: Heavy metal have undergone a tremendous amount of change since the early nineties, so much that many people with a knack for historical revisionism would object to the use of the term "heavy metal" in a lot of the music discussed here (therefore, the critique of another reviewer, that the book doesn't explain genre differences enough, isn't really valid in my view, as most of these happened later on. However, the schism between "glam" and "thrash" bands that were indeed alive at the time is extensively covered). To me, this is the biggest strength of the book; it is a glimpse of a point in time in heavy metal history that very few others were willing to put to paper, let alone discuss with the insight and knowledge of Walser. As a music fan, I was delighted that he was able to discuss even bands such as Poison, Bon Jovi and Dokken, so often ridiculed in our age, in a serious, musicological manner, acknowledging a musical value so often overlooked both by scholars, journalists and post-80s heavy metal fans. As another reviewer mentioned, the potential pitfall of the book is that it is trying to much. Over the course of less than 200 pages it covers heavy metal history, characteristic traits, appropriation of classical virtuosity (focusing on Ritchie Blackmore, Eddie van Halen, Randy Rhodes and Yngwie Malmsteen: A must read for

Heavy Metal Gets Its Due

I'm currently taking a class on cultural anthropology right now, and as a huge music buff / budding musician, I found this gem while searching the racks at my university. Not only did it help me to realize the cultural biases surrounding a type of music that I am fond of, but also expand my mind in terms of musical application, song construction, and the true inspiration for some of Heavy Metal's greatest classics. Walser knows exactly what he's talking about, from the perspectives of a particpant in the culture, a trained and educated musician, and a cultural anthropologist. Great reading, would make a great reference for any study on cultural misunderstandings about music, or even something interesting to give you a break from working through all those instructional books and tablature.

Fundamental

This is one of the best books about popular music I have read. First of all, Walser avoids cliches: he is good at interpretation, and like all people who are good at interpretation he checks his ideas against the ideas that people who make and listen to the music have. PMRC supporters watch out. Second, he knows what he is talking about: the analysis is grounded in a good understanding of musicology, social theory, literary theory and evidence. So when he tells us where heavy metal "fits," we can believe him. All this, of course, is aside from the question of the reader or anybody else "likes" the music or not. As a model of how to do context-informed analysis of a genre, it rocks.

Heavy Metal art-form explained through social & artful view.

As many people in the general populus consider Heavy Metal as more entertainment than art, this book tends to bring to light more of the social & artful aspects of the music. As the title suggests, there's much to do with sociological issues of power, gender, and emotional views. But there was also a large undercurrent of the musical talent and influences of those who make H.M. music. Moreover, the view that H.M. is/not dominantly popular due to lyrical content alone was another interesting topic discussed (among other topics). It is true that some of the topics lack the proper explaination they ought, but for the most part, the details given are good & helpful. If you are a musician, this is a MUST HAVE book! For those trying to understand H.M. (parents, teachers, etc) - open your mind and open this book. Includes indepth looks at musical styles of: Eddie Van Halen, Randy Rhodes, and others.

Overcomprehensive, yet a needed study.

Walser attempts to cover too much ground in this book. Still his treatments of gender and madness as content of Heavy Metal lyrics are worthwhile. He covers music and some imagery; these tend to distract from his central ideas rather than add. Yet, this may be the academic reference book on HM that others are judged by, simply because it has primacy and is comprehensive. It was a needed work in the field. A major criticism is that he does not adequately account for the various sub-genres of the music.