Leeds Beckett University
Browse

'The Barghest o' Whitby' : (a genealogical study of) death/doom metal music(al) network in Northern England

Download (4.41 MB)
thesis
posted on 2022-11-15, 12:11 authored by Mehmet Yavuz
Metal music has existed in one form or another for about half a century. While the musical style and the culture started out in a relatively unified way, with the ‘extreme turn’ of late 80s and 90s, metal culture stratified. Doom metal, being one of the oldest styles in this newly formed structure, became even more fragmented. Through amalgamations with other music styles or as further alterations on these amalgamations. I call these styles extreme doom. Death/doom is such a style. These smaller styles in metal culture have so far been investigated hierarchically. However, the implication that a hierarchy has is problematic in this context. Metal music studies is a budding field, so, we need to think more critically about the way we conceptualise the history of metal academically in these early years. Yet, so far, this stratification, with its hierarchy, has not been challenged or even discussed in detail. Scholarship often mentions these so-called ‘sub-genres’ uncritically. In order to challenge this idea, there needs to be a new model. However, because of the size and breadth of metal culture, one single work cannot come even close to covering the styles existing today. In this thesis, I attempt to draw boundaries around only death/doom to propose a way of modelling a new metal history. To achieve this, I define these newer and smaller styles as marginal styles using marginality idea of Park. Following this idea, sociology of music comes to rescue with Crossley’s music worlds. Music worlds, because of its emphasis put on the musical style -it is central-, is an intriguing perspective to look at the fragmented nature of metal music. A metal music world is a social construction performed by the participants, including musicians, fans, engineers, managers, label executives, and the press, around a metal musical style. These smaller styles, then, become ideal candidates for the application of this theory. This thesis treats death/doom in such a way using ethnographic, historical, and musicological methods.

History

Qualification name

  • PhD

Supervisor

Holland, Samantha ; Spracklen, karl

Awarding Institution

Leeds Beckett University

Completion Date

2018-02-01

Qualification level

  • Doctoral

Language

  • eng

Publisher

Leeds Beckett University

Usage metrics

    LBU Theses and Dissertations

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Licence

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC