TY - JOUR

T1 - Metal militia behind the iron curtain

T2 - Scene formation in 1980s East Germany

AU - Zaddach, Wolf Georg

PY - 2016/9/1

Y1 - 2016/9/1

N2 - The article offers results from a three-year Ph.D. research about the East German metal scene in the 1980s. Due to the political circumstances of a divided Germany, two separate German metal scenes arose. In focus will be aspects of politics and cultural transfer and flow as well as practices of the metal scene in socialist East Germany. The socialist state understood metal as a threatening western youth culture, though it quickly became one of the most popular youth cultures during the 1980s. The article explains how the scene developed partly unofficial and illegal ways of scene formation with domestic gigging bands, supra-regional trade-off networks and correspondence system, prospering black markets, and DIY practices. Therefore, the article further points out to the ambiguity of the 1980s East German socialism with the argument that simple concepts of confrontation and conflict between the state and youth culture are too simplistic.

AB - The article offers results from a three-year Ph.D. research about the East German metal scene in the 1980s. Due to the political circumstances of a divided Germany, two separate German metal scenes arose. In focus will be aspects of politics and cultural transfer and flow as well as practices of the metal scene in socialist East Germany. The socialist state understood metal as a threatening western youth culture, though it quickly became one of the most popular youth cultures during the 1980s. The article explains how the scene developed partly unofficial and illegal ways of scene formation with domestic gigging bands, supra-regional trade-off networks and correspondence system, prospering black markets, and DIY practices. Therefore, the article further points out to the ambiguity of the 1980s East German socialism with the argument that simple concepts of confrontation and conflict between the state and youth culture are too simplistic.

KW - 1980s

KW - dictatorship

KW - East Germany

KW - European metal

KW - GDR

KW - state socialism

KW - Music education

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85068185072&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1386/mms.2.3.357_1

DO - 10.1386/mms.2.3.357_1

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:85068185072

VL - 2

SP - 357

EP - 376

JO - Metal Music Studies

JF - Metal Music Studies

SN - 2052-3998

IS - 3

ER -