Hellfest: The thing that should not be?

Local perceptions and Catholic discourses on metal culture in France

Authors

  • Gérôme Guibert University Paris III (La Sorbonne Nouvelle) Author
  • Jedediah Sklower Freelance Researcher Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/pomh.v6i1/2.100

Keywords:

governmentality, heavy metal, Hellfest, popular music festivals, public sphere

Abstract

This article is an account of how one metal festival—the Hellfest organized in western France—struggled with legitimacy under pressure of condemnation from representatives of the Catholic Church, but managed to win the hearts of the local community despite initial reservations. The authors use the case to discuss how the ‘controversiality’ of metal is dependent on the social and cultural context and the interpretations that that context allows and enables.

Author Biographies

  • Gérôme Guibert, University Paris III (La Sorbonne Nouvelle)

    Gérôme Guibert is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University Paris III (La Sorbonne Nouvelle). His main areas of expertise are economic sociology and popular music. He is the author of several books, including La Production de la Culture: Le Cas des Musiques Amplifiées en France (Irma, 2006) and has co directed the issue of the French peer review VOLUME! about metal scenes (Mélanie Séteun, 2007).

  • Jedediah Sklower, Freelance Researcher

    Jedediah Sklower is a member of the editorial team of the French journal of popular music studies, VOLUME! He published Free jazz, la catastrophe féconde (L’Harmattan, 2006) and will be editing two issues of VOLUME! with Antoine Hennion on ‘listening to popular music’. He works in movie production, is a professional translator and does freelance research on the cultural and political history of twentieth-century music.

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Published

2012-05-14

Issue

Section

Controversies

How to Cite

Guibert, G., & Sklower, J. (2012). Hellfest: The thing that should not be? Local perceptions and Catholic discourses on metal culture in France. Popular Music History, 6(1-2), 100-115. https://doi.org/10.1558/pomh.v6i1/2.100