Global metal in local contexts: Questions of class among heavy metal youth and the structuring of early metal identity formations

The globalization of metal music and culture has broadened the accessibility of metal for more young people than ever before. But in this article, I argue that access to participating in the global metal subculture is not equal for all youth, which, in turn, can shape early metal identity formations in local contexts. Drawing on narrative research with metal youth in South Australia, I will highlight ways that participants’ metal identity ‘choices’ were constrained or augmented by the resources they had at their disposal, and further, I will show how this came to bear on their ‘choice’ of metal subgenre affiliations. Of particular interest was finding how some of the more socio-economically advantaged metal youth narratively constructed the constrained ‘choices’ of poorer participants as inauthentic metal identity formations. Through this, I will argue that notions of authenticity can manifest as displacements of class distinctions on to individuals arising from the resources they are able to invest in ‘becoming’ metal, and the consequent approval, or disapproval, by their metal peers.