So here we are in 1985; again, a group of people is decrying the negative
   and potentially harmful affects [sic] of an abrasive musical style.  Is this
   current debate just more of the same, or is it really something different?
   Is it just a matter of degree or is it a difference in kind?

   Both!  We all know that differences in degree can be so extreme that they
   become differences in kind.  Zero and 120 are differences in degree on the
   Fahrenheit scale; but the difference in degree is so great that we per-
   ceive them as opposites ("cold" and "hot" respectively).  When we drive
   a car a [sic] 90 mph, that is just a difference in degree from 10 mph; but we
   call one speed "slow" and the other one "fast."  As we move along any
   continuum, we reach a point where the characteristics of one end are
   categorically different (opposite) from the characteristics of the other
   end.

   Rock and roll has always been a rebellious music.  It has often had
   sexual overtones.  In fact the terms "rocking" and "rolling" were
   euphemisms for sexual intercourse in rhythm and blues music (the style
   from which rock emerged).

   So, is heavy metal just a difference in degree from Elvis, Little Richard,
   Jerry Lee Lewis, etc.?  Or is it categorically different?  Greg Stevens
   (former Program Director for San Antonio heavy metal station KISS-FM)
   says, "It's the typical rebellion of rock.  It's just the modern day ver-
   sion of that same rebel in black leather that Elvis Presley expressed in
   the '50s."5

   But why, then, do so many reasonable, fairly "hip" people (even staunch
   rock and roll fans) sense that there is something really different about
   heavy metal--that it is more than a simple extension of good old rock
   and roll?  Dwight Silverman, a writer for the San Antonio Light, may
   have put his finger on it best when he wrote, "Heavy Metal rock 'n' roll
   is a different beast from the music that ruled the late '60s and early
   '70s, the music that was supposed to bring a generation together.  Heavy
   metal is a mean-spirited music.  In it, women are abused, parents are
   objects of derision and scorn and violence, education is a foolish waste
   of time.  Rock 'n' roll always has been a music of rebellion and frustra-
   tion, but never of hatred."6

   Hatred.  A mean-spirited music.  To my knowledge, their [sic] has never been
   a popular style of music which had as a central characteristic the element
   of hate.  This is something new and different.  Its seeds may be found
   back in the mid-1960s.  It was nourished and developed in the late '60s
   and throughout the '70s.  It has burst upon the 1980s as a full-grown
   force.

   To understand the difference between earlier rock and current heavy metal,
   it is useful to make direct comparisons of songs from each period which
   address similar topics.  For example, compare two songs about school and
   the educational experience.  In the late 1950s, Chuck Berry released a
   song called "School Days."  In it, he describes a typical school day
   ("the teacher is teaching the Golden Rule," and "Your [sic] studyin' hard and
   hopin' to pass").  Note particularly the reference to school dismissal:
   "Soon as 3 o'clock rolls around, you finally lay your burden down." 
   He goes on to say that our typical teenager leaves school, goes to a
   "juke joint," listens to some rock and roll and dances.  Now compare
   that to "School Daze" by WASP.  They refer to school as "a textbook
   madhouse," "a juvenile jail," "a blackboard jungle," and " a homework
   hellhouse."  And what do they say about school dismissal?  "Tick, tock,
   3 o'clock, I'm sitting' [sic] here counting off the days; a fire bell ringing
   hell and I'd sure love to see it blaze--Burn it down! [screamed]."8