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Research and Scholarship Highlights
Heavy metal resonates with listeners worldwide
Music has been described as the “universal language,” even apparently the harsh sounds of heavy metal. This seems to be borne out by the pervasive popularity of the genre over the last four decades. A new book co-written and edited by popular culture faculty member Dr. Jeremy Wallach, Metal Rules the Globe: Heavy Metal Music Around the World, traces it from Easter Island to Nepal and China to Madagascar, Brazil and beyond.
Published by Duke University Press, Metal Rules the Globe is the first academic book to bring together metal scholars in an examination of what is common and what is unique about the way in which heavy metal is interpreted in such disparate environments. Wallach and his co-editors Drs. Harris Berger, a professor of music at Texas A&M University, and Paul Greene, an associate professor of musicology and integrative arts at Pennsylvania State University, Brandywine, are themselves fans in addition to being scholars of the genre.
Wallach was prompted to write Metal Rules the Globe after the ongoing success of his first book, Modern Noise, Fluid Genres, about the popular music scene in Indonesia. His research there and elsewhere revealed a potent subculture of metal fans that had never been documented. His scholarship has resulted in his recently being invited to the Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations conference as a panelist on “The Rise in Asian Popular Culture and Its Impact on International Diplomacy."
Characterized by loud, distorted guitars, aggressive drumming, emotionally extreme singing and musical complexity, heavy metal appeals largely to males. “Heavy metal is outsider music no matter where it is. Its fans see themselves as proud pariahs,” Wallach said. However, there is a fair amount of scholarship by women on metal music, which is well represented in the Metal Rules the Globe.
“This book is a small slice of what has become an important cultural phenomenon,” Wallach said.
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Freshman Leah Oliver changes a light bulb in a campus office to a more energy efficient bulb.
Reduce your ‘net impact’ with free CFL bulb
Bowling Green campus offices may be getting a visit from Net Impact students in the coming weeks. The group is offering to swap new compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL) for incandescent bulbs, in an effort to save energy and money.
Net Impact member Brooke Mason, an environmental policy major, explained that the bulbs were left over from a project with Greek organizations coordinated by Dr. Nick Hennessy, campus sustainability coordinator.
“We’re partnering with the Office of Campus Sustainability on the project. Two of our members will calculate how much energy and emissions we are saving by switching to CFLs,” Mason said. “Other campuses in Ohio do a light bulb exchange. The bulbs we have give a pleasant light; people probably will not even notice the difference in their desk lamps, but it will save on energy costs.”
Net Impact plans to create a mosaic or other art project from the used incandescent bulbs. “We want to make a visual statement with the bulbs we’ve switched,” Mason said.
Alumni success In Brief
Journalism alumnus Mizell Stewart will be in charge of shaping the content of all the newspapers owned by the E.W. Scripps Company. Read it In Brief.
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