Not a Metallurgy class! This veteran crash-course is coming back in full force and will have you head banging, air guitaring, and devil horn raising in no time! Learn everything you ever wanted to know about Heavy Metal, including how Metallica tries too hard to be cool, why Lemmy IS God (RIP), how the genre tackles some of today's biggest sociopolitical challenges, why metal bands exist in every country on Earth, and why you're probably already a metalhead without even knowing it.
WARNING: This series most definitely goes to 11! Earplugs optional.
We'll look at metal cultures, explore the fringes of the most extreme forms of metal, and, of course, listen to some SCREAMING HEAVY METAL! This is guaranteed to be the most BRUTAL class ever offered at MIT! Anyone is welcome to join, and since we're remote this year, seating isn't limited.
This year's flyer design was created through a combination of inputs into the WOMBO Dream AI. Check out more at wombo.art!
Full 2022 Schedule of Events (All events start at 6:30 PM ET, and links to the Zoom rooms that will be used are listed below. Keep in mind these times may shift depending on outside factors.)
Feel free to learn more about this series' past in the class archive!
Heavy Metal 101: Music and Culture
Monday January 10, 2022
An introduction to Heavy Metal. Topics include the musicology of Heavy Metal as well as an examination of Heavy Metal culture. This multimedia extravaganza covers everything you ever wanted to know about Heavy Metal!
History of Heavy Metal, Part I
Tuesday, January 11, 2022
A seminar examining the history of Heavy Metal from the late 1960s through the early 1990s. Topics will include Hard Rock, Archetypal Heavy Metal, the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM), Power Metal, Thrash Metal, and the Big 4.
MIT Heavy Metal 101: The GUTS of Metal - Music Theory and Songwriting with Colin Brumley
Wednesday January 12, 2022
MIT Heavy Metal 101 is pleased to present guest lecturer, Colin Brumley. Titled "The GUTS of Heavy Metal: Metal Music Theory," join us for an evening of metal music theory and songwriting with Colin Brumley of Dormivore and Noctobre. This presentation will be a deep dive into how metal is made and how it works, from the granular to the bird’s-eye view. Topics will include foundations in classical music theory (no prior knowledge needed), scales and modalities utilized in different types of metal, how to expand your listening, and — new this year! — apply these ingredients, augmented with other musicological factors, towards songwriting via analysis of full original songs. We wouldn’t show you how to make the world’s greatest grilled cheese without actually dissecting one!
MIT Heavy Metal 101: Panel About Stage Lighting at Metal Concerts with Shannon Knotts and John Santos
Thursday January 13, 2022
MIT Heavy Metal 101 is pleased to present guest panelists, John Santos and Shannon Knotts. What does it take to build the atmosphere of a live show with light and staging? This panel will feature two light and staging artists/engineers, John Santos and Shannon Knotts, who will discuss the process and challenges of creating successful shows and what sorts of thinking go into their production. Come with questions!
MIT Heavy Metal 101: Feminism and Motherhood with Joan Jocson-Singh
Tuesday January 18, 2022
MIT Heavy Metal 101 is pleased to present guest lecturer, Joan Jocson-Singh. Joining us to discuss her research surrounding Feminism in Metal/Extreme Metal, Vigilante Feminism, and Motherhood's role within metal, Joan will also open a discussion around the larger questions about metal music in academia and the importance of "academicizing" the genre.
MIT Heavy Metal 101: Heavy Metal Electronics 101 with Dr. Gore
Wednesday January 19, 2022
MIT Heavy Metal 101 is pleased to present guest lecturer, Dr. Görebläster Körpse-härvest Lunden. In this session, MIT alum and physicist Dr. Gore will present an overview of the complete chain of electronic circuits that makes the heavy metal guitar sound the way it does. The class will cover pickups, effects pedals, amplifiers, and speakers, focusing especially on what happens to the electronic waveform each step of the way. There will also be live demonstrations to accompany the theoretical explanations.
History of Heavy Metal: Part II
Thursday January 20, 2022
A seminar examining the history of Heavy Metal from the early 1990s to the present. Topics include New American Metal, Metalcore and Grindcore, Black Metal, Death Metal, and Extreme Metal.
No Zoom Recording due to an error, Recording from 2021 Available Here
MIT Heavy Metal 101: Metal Makeup and Fashion with Wacky Jacky
Tuesday January 25, 2022
MIT Heavy Metal 101 is pleased to present guest lecturer, Wacky Jacky. We've looked a lot at how metal formed and took shape over the years. Though, how can you better look the part, and what do the aesthetics say about the genre as a whole? Come by as Jacky explores various metal fashions and how they've evolved over time and across genres. P.S. Bring your battle vests, cuffs, and best corpse paint for this lecture.
MIT Heavy Metal 101: Vocals with Paul Buckley
Wednesday January 26, 2022
MIT Heavy Metal 101 is pleased to present guest lecturer, Paul Buckley. This talk will discuss some background information regarding harsh vocals, how to develop and maintain a harsh vocal style, and examples of how harsh vocals are applied in metal.
History of Heavy Metal: Part III, Rescheduled to 1/31
Monday January 31, 2022
This will be a seminar examining the many of the remaining genres of Heavy Metal. Topics will include more obscure genres of Metal Fusion, Experimental and Avant-Garde Metal, and really whatever else we missed so far. It's going to get weird.
MIT Heavy Metal 101: Extreme Decolonial Dialogues and Decolonial Heavy Metal with Nelson Varas-Díaz and Daniel Nevárez Araújo
Tuesday February 1, 2022
MIT Heavy Metal 101 is pleased to present guest lecturers, Nelson Varas-Díaz and Daniel Nevárez Araújo. Nelson and Daniel will discuss the topic of Extreme Decolonial Dialogues and Decolonial Heavy Metal. Throughout their research, they have revealed that metal as practiced, performed, and promoted in Latin America has a decolonial inflection whereby many bands in the region highlight their respective country’s colonial history and offer ways to challenge the conditions and ideologies inherited from said history. They will also discuss how their work in Latin American metal has inspired and informed a growing interest in the topic of metal in the Global South.
History of Heavy Metal: Part IV
Thursday February 3, 2022
An extra class? We'll have a couple extra surprises before we close this year out!