A funny thing happened to me awhile back. I was hanging out with some folks at work, talking about music and bands and what-not. One of them just got some new album and the conversation inevitably led to her asking everyone about the different types of music that they liked.

I wasn’t really paying attention that much, as they were talking about some singer I’ve never heard of (a number that grows larger by the day). I mean, let’s face it – I listen to metal like 8 hours a day and don’t have time to cloud my mind with music that I’m going to hate anyways.

When my coworker asked me what kind of music I liked, I replied, “The louder, the faster, the better!”

Usually people reply back with something stupid like, “Oh, so do you like Metallica?” Or, “Oh, you’re one of those.” This time I got a different response:

“Oh, you like that angry music? Are you angry?”

(Ok, so Mustaine looks a little angry with that ridiculous mustache.)

I had to stop and think about that for a second. I wasn’t angry, but her asking me that question kind of pissed me off. I kept cool, lest I fall into her trap of ignorance.

“Actually, I feel pretty happy listening to metal. Music doesn’t really ‘make me angry’.” (Although, this and this come kind of close.)

I tried to rationalize my opinion, “I guess it’s like when you watch a horror film: people are dying and there are blood and guts everywhere, but you don’t go around killing people, you’re just entertained by how the filmmakers put it all together.”

That seemed to be a good enough explanation, although it basically ended any further music discussions. I wondered though, what made her think that people that listen to metal are angry? She must’ve had some exposure to it to know that at least there are some elements of anger involved, or maybe she used to listen to it herself for a short period of time?

I know someone that used to listen to Master of Puppets when she was going through a bad time in her life, and I’ve heard other folks say that listening to metal makes them feel “pissed-off”, but I would describe my experience more as a combination of adrenaline, euporhia and enlightenment – accompanied by occasions of friendly violence.

How does listening to metal make you feel?