I like heavy metal. I don't really LIKE the fact that I like it. In fact I've decided to stop listening to it 3 or 4 times. But "headbanger" is in my DNA, probably somewhere near "heterosexual" and "sucks at bowling". I think it was the Scorpions' "Rock me like a hurricane" that first hooked me.
A lot of people don't like metal, and that's part of the appeal. It can be hard to listen to, which I like. It takes some work to appreciate the best metal, a little bit like it takes some work to appreciate opera or modern dance. Except that metal sucks a lot less. It's more like the effort required to appreciate good scotch (not that I do).
When I was in high school, I was interviewed by a newspaper at the Heavy Metal Shop (http://www.heavymetalshop.com) about why I liked metal. I proclaimed the awesomeness of metal, and employed some vulgarity to emphasize said awesomeness. There was a big picture of me in the newspaper with my (censored) remarks accentuated in the margins. Kind of in the "look what our children have become" style.
My life has been downhill ever since.
Metal doesn't fulfill me spiritually or intellectually, so why do I like it? I guess it’s that metal is thoroughly anti-establishment, and I that appeals to me immensely.
