Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Garrett, Ryan D

Titel

Breaking the Shell: Masculinity in Rock and Metal Music in America, 1990-1995

Ort / Verlag

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses

Erscheinungsjahr

2023

Quelle

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Breaking the Shell investigates entanglements between masculinity and musical genres that rose to popularity in America in the early 1990s. I explore how three different genre-defining bands expressed masculinity in three different ways. Nirvana's founder Kurt Cobain--representing grunge--shaped his lyrics to be more personable, therefore affecting Generation X, in opposition to lyrics from 1980s metal bands that exhibited confidence, sexual fantasies, and political commentary. I suggest that Tool, a band that helped establish a genre known as alternative metal, diverted expectations of the gaze established by 1980s hair metal videos by refusing to show the band members in their videos. Finally, Korn established nu-metal, and by choosing to forgo the studio perfection of 1980s metal albums that showcased power, recorded a cathartic, visceral performance with the help of producer Ross Robinson that granted listeners the assumption of access into the authentic life of the band. I argue that the members of these influential bands not only challenged the popularity of mainstream rock and metal from the 1980s, but they also sought to redefine masculinity in relation to their predecessors of the 1980s.