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Acknowledgments

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I am grateful for the generosity of the nearly two hundred heavy metal fans from Minnesota, California, Michigan, and Illinois who discussed their music and their lives with me. Through interviews, casual conversations, and questionnaires, their assistance was invaluable in helping me to understand heavy metal. In contrast to the common stereotype of metal fans as sullen and inarticulate, I was surprised by the friendliness and enthusiasm I found among fans and musicians alike. Most fans were pleased to find someone taking their music seriously; they were eager to fill out the questionnaires I circulated at concerts, and far from having to persuade people to let me interview them, I received many more requests to do interviews than I could accommodate. In particular, I thank Peter Del Valle for helping me to set up my first interview with a group of fans.

I have learned from conversations about heavy metal and popular culture with many other people, particularly Chris Kachian, Csaba Toth, and Metal Mark of GMS. I thank Gary Thomas and the members of his Gay Studies class for an evening spent discussing heavy metal videos and gender construction. My work has benefited from the ideas and criticisms of my students at the University of Michigan, the University of Minnesota, and Dartmouth College, especially those in my Contemporary Popular Music Studies course at Michigan. Thanks also to my metal guitar teacher, Jeff Loven, and to the many other rock musicians I have performed with and learned from, especially Gene Retka, Steve Cekalla, James Capra, Dave Michel, John Helgen, and Gregg Ramseth.

William Schurk at Bowling Green State University is the knowledgeable curator of an enormous archive of popular music, including heavy metal recordings and fan magazines (many confiscated from fans by parents or police). I thank him for his assistance and for granting me access to materials that I found useful. For travel funds that enabled me to carry out that research and to present papers on heavy metal at a number of academic conferences, I thank the University of Minnesota, especially Vern Sutton and the School of Music, as well as the School of Music at the University of Michigan, and Dartmouth College. And I am pleased to have an opportunity to acknowledge the influence of Bruce Lincoln, who introduced me to cultural criticism and changed my life nearly fifteen years ago.

Several non-metal-fan friends were brave enough to overcome strong misgivings and accompany me to heavy metal concerts; I thank Bruce Holsinger, Chris Kachian, George Lipsitz, Susan McClary, and John Mowitt for the pleasure of their company and for their insights concerning what they saw and heard. It is regrettable that the only violence I ever witnessed at a heavy metal concert was committed by one of these people.

For their helpful comments on drafts and portions of this book, I thank Andrew Goodwin, Wendy Kozol, Carolyn Krasnow, Richard Leppert, John Mowitt, and Christopher Small. I am particularly grateful to those who read the entire book and provided much-needed corrections, provocations, and encouragement: Simon Frith, Dave Marsh, Terry Cochran, Charles Hamm, and Ross Chambers.

Finally, I owe my largest intellectual debts to Susan McClary and George Lipsitz. To put it simply, Susan taught me how to think about music, and George taught me how to think about popular culture. I feel proud and fortunate to have been their student and friend, and it is to them that I dedicate Running with the Devil.

November 1992

R.W.