Running with the Devil: power, gender, and madness in heavy metal music

A comprehensive musical, social, and cultural analysis of heavy metal music, with a new foreword and afterword

Winner of the 1994 Irving Lowens Book Award from the Society for American Music

Dismissed by critics and academics, condemned by parents and politicians, and fervently embraced by legions of fans, heavy metal music continues to attract and embody cultural conflicts that are central to society. In Running with the Devil, Robert Walser explores how and why heavy metal works, both musically and socially, and at the same time uses metal to investigate contemporary formations of identity, community, gender, and power. This edition includes a new foreword by Harris M. Berger contextualizing the work and a new afterword by the author.