Music can do a great many things. It has the power to bring about social changes, has the power to bring about changes in ones self and most importantly – it has the power to draw an unsuspecting listener in. More often than not, popular music styles (before being watered down for mass consumption) start out as underground music forms (hell, even trance and rap were violently underground once, believe it or not). These underground music forms are usually centered around a certain subculture and/or niche and like every subculture and/or niche, they become reflective of the state of the country. But to set themselves apart, the people involved (or, those who claim to be involved) engage in a type of sheep mentality that not only separates them from the majority of society, but also makes them appear no different from every other random fucker. These are superficial masks, they are not real, and inside most of us are the same and it doesn’t matter if I’m a metalhead and you’re a political worker.

Metal in Pakistan, as it is with the rest of the world, is a niche. It is full of self-centered and pretentious wankers like you and me. And the metal scene here is reflective of the state of our society. We have our disagreements, we have our little internal conflicts and there are some delusional fucktards “involved” in the scene who think that they can make money out of it. But when there’s the occasional gig, it doesn’t matter who’s playing and it doesn’t matter if they’re playing Lamb of God or Cryptopsy, Iron Maiden or Children of Bodom, most of us will bang our heads in a strange sort of unity. Just like how most Pakistanis will drop our personal fights to unite against a common foe before going back to our old ways again. Yes, believe it or not, us metalheads aren’t much different from the average Pakistani. Some of us will eat up anything popular abroad that features heavy guitars and double bass drumming, which alludes to following trends shamelessly and mindlessly, you know. Same as how the average Pakistani eats up the Jal/Atif crap on the TV.

If metalheads are no different from every other random fucker on the street, why are we treated so differently? Why do people feel uncomfortable with people headbanging to heavy music, wearing metal t-shirts and whatnot? The answer is obvious. Like every subculture within society there are a lot of misconceptions concerning metal. We’ve all heard the “metal = noise” rant before, and there are more than a few people in our god-forsaken excuse for a country who equate metal with drugs and devil-worship as well. Still, it isn’t as severe as it is in Iran, where gig-goers and headbangers are accused of blood drinking, bowing before the throne of satan and homosexuality, among other, equally atrocious, things. But then again, all that is to be expected, more so in conservative societies as opposed to liberal ones, even though the bias against music centered subcultures exists there too. Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that all this is to be expected, because that’s the way the founding fathers of metal intended it to be, and with the repeated crossbreeding between Punk and Metal, the controversy became as natural to metal as the heavy riffs. The metal subculture is unlike any other, and musically it contains several different genres that borrow from each other and from outside sources. This interbreeding and taking influence from genres as diverse as Punk, Gothic, Bluegrass, Jazz etc makes metal a strange beast and the subculture even stranger. And both conservative and liberal societies don’t react well to “strange” subcultures, unless it’s in fashion, in the case of liberal societies (like supporting gay rights and other related stupidity).

I realize I’ve dragged on a bit too much and maybe just missed the point entirely. What I’m trying to say is that the main reason why the public tends to look at metalheads here in a negative light is not because of the misconceptions, but because of the way we present ourselves. And society, being naturally resistant to change, will always look at us in a negative light. (Unless, of course, you have one of those internally conservative parents who think it’s in fashion to be liberal and don’t give a fuck if you have long hair and a Burzum shirt displaying a burnt church. Hell they probably wouldn’t care if you ran around stark naked, because, like, so what huh?)

Maybe I’ve missed the point entirely, maybe you’ve missed the point entirely. Maybe we’re all mad. Maybe we just need to calm the fuck down and listen to some Cryptopsy. Yes, that’s it. Cryptopsy. None So Vile. EXACTLY. I need to listen to Cryptopsy and post this crap instead of starting over and rewriting it again. Hopefully, it’s in fashion to be incoherent cuz I want to be the khewlz. But seriously, the general public will always have a thing against subcultures based around supposedly underground forms of music and it always will. Unless, again, that music style is watered down enough and given enough media attention to be force fed to the mass market, and I sincerely hope that such a thing will never happen in our country (not that it ever will).

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