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Volume 11, Issue 2
  • ISSN: 2052-3998
  • E-ISSN: 2052-4005

Abstract

This article pioneers an exploration of the child and childhood in metal music. Using a grounded-theory approach, it examines the prevalence of ‘the child’ in metal music lyrics. The findings reveal a strong correlation between childhood imagery and specific metal subgenres, indicating that children’s representation in metal serves both aesthetic and social diagnostic purposes. These representations of the child reflect broader cultural constructs. They engage with common topics associated with the child, such as hope or despair for the future, the idealization of nostalgia and childhood innocence, and the impact of trauma over generations. The child is used to create pathos across genres; she is named in passing and used to shock. Ultimately, however, metal music does not challenge dominant constructs of the child. This article offers a brief introduction to the constructivist turn in childhood studies and highlights aspects of the common mythos of childhood. Metal music uses unquestioned norms around childhood to support its genre expression and emotional affects. The child thus plays an integral role in defining the cultural and aesthetic essence of metal music.

Funding
This study was supported by the:
  • Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Award DFG – SFB 1391 – project no. 405662736)
This article is Open Access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-ND), which allows users to copy, distribute and transmit the article as long as the author is attributed, the article is not used for commercial purposes, and the work is not modified or adapted in any way. To view a copy of the licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
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2025-09-15
2026-04-13

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