After watching a couple of documentaries about Norwegian black metal (which is often erroneously associated with Satanism) I began listening to different types of metal (doom, black, death, etc). One of my friends, Meda, who is a connoisseur of metal, told me that black metal is often quite racist and anti-Semitic, which is an enormous turn-off. That’s not a big enough word, though. It’s unacceptable-I can’t listen to it, even though the lyrics are unintelligible.

One of my friends, shadowman explained how the bands get to the point of Nazism thusly, “Thematically, they’re often dealing with nature, and folk culture, and such (some subtypes more than others, black metal can blur into folk-metal sometimes), and while they don’t all take it in this direction, it can be easy to go from there… to some kind of Romantic Nationalism… to some kind of ‘blood-and-soil’ ideology…to some kind of fascism…which can get racialized i.e. Nazism, or something Nazi-esqe.”

Whilst knowing (and understanding) how it formed is interesting, I could never listen to black metal with those sorts of lyrics. In that instance, the substance overrides the style.

A music reviewer friend of mine Amanda Farrah made a salient point, as well: “look at david cameron, who claims the smiths are his favorite band. if ever there was a band who hated tories, it’s them. johnny marr is enraged by it. morrissey doesn’t even like it when non-vegetarians listen to his music, and called out david cameron for stag hunting . i suspect certain extremist metal musicians who believe what they write (as opposed to going for shock value) probably wouldn’t be down with nazi victims or their descendants [which applies to friend listening to the music. i’m sure there are lots of african american rappers who get pissed off at middle class white suburban kids misappropriating their culture. hell, for all i know, anyone who goes for violent imagery would hate it if a pacifist listened to their music. obviously in every case you have to either be missing the point, or choosing to ignore it. that must be frustrating to an artist, no matter how backwards his or her view.”

This is a point I hadn’t taken into account, but I recall Kurt Cobain once saying that he didn’t want homophobes and misogynists listen to his music or going to their shows. I’ve also heard of a stand up comedian (I can’t recall who is was) who started his show with virulently homophobic jokes and when several people walked out he said, ‘That usually gets rid of them.’

It makes sense that some artists don’t wish to appeal to those they dislike rather than trying to use their art to communicate their beliefs. The only people I wouldn’t want to read my writing would be those who can’t be civil.

This made me consider my tolerance for different types of media.

Hip hop is another area where substance versus style comes into play. I used to be capable of forgiving a lot if it was danceable, but I do usually reach a point where I can’t listen to the song anymore. (Nelly’s ‘Hot in Herre’ is one.) I can deal with violent lyrics because that’s mostly macho posturing-I don’t think the artists are shooting people on a regular basis. Whereas, they have every opportunity to be flaming misogynists. They are encouraged to treat women like interchangeable objects and they, in turn, encourage others to treat women in that way. I’m at the point where if I feel like dancing, I find something that has lyrics that I don’t find offensive.

In a similar vein, style is more important than substance in that I can read a very well-written book with no plot (Hello, Pinkerton’s Sister by Peter Rushforth) but I am incapable of reading a badly-written, but rip-roaring plot. The only two exceptions to this are the Dexter books and Harry Potter. Dexter is my kind of guy and HP isn’t that badly written. And even then, the third Dexter book was just too poorly written for me to get through.

In terms of films, I can watch things that are pretty to look at but has a plot I can’t really follow, but I cannot watch films that have characters I despise. There are certain actors that can be brilliant in any p.o.s. (Emma Thompson, Helen Mirren, Anthony Hopkins) but I’m at the point where, if I can see them in something that’s brilliant across the board then why waste my time on something that’s 90% dreck? It’s not as though there’s not enough fantastic media in the world.

With TV shows, it’s more about atmosphere for me because I spend my TV time working in my notebooks so I don’t pay full attention to the show. Therefore, I like gritty British mystery shows like Wire in the Blood and Waking the Dead . I doubt I could tell you the plot of any episode once it was over, but I love having those on in the background. I also like lighter British mysteries like Midsomer Murders , Inspector Morse and Inspector Lyndley. (I think mysteries are the chief English export.) And these interest me so much more than U.S. crime/law and order shows. The writing and acting is on par with the U.K. shows, the only difference is atmosphere and tone.

Acknowledging these value systems has helped me accept others value systems as valid. I’ve been a die hard book snob for years whilst feeling that music snobs were pretentious, which isn’t at all hypocritical. I’ve been able to let go of that unproductive bigotry-one of my goals in life.

What do you focus on in media-substance or style?