Characterizing Rock Music Cultures: The Case of Heavy Metal

Abstract

One of the questions central to the sociology of popular music at the moment concerns the applicability of subcultural theory, developed principally in Great Britain, to the study of North American rock music culture(s). While it may be observed that American academic writing on rock music places considerable emphasis on the institutions producing and disseminating it, and that British research has focussed primarily on the processes of consumption and appropriation carried out by audiences, the extent to which this divergence is the product of differences between North American and British rock cultures remains a point of contention.