| Contemporary heavy metal rock bands are displaying and giving voice to postmodern qualities which are similar to those described in critical works such as Jean Baudrillard's Simulacra and Simulation. The ubiquitous presence of today's communications media has caused popular culture to be permeated and defined by simulacra---reproductions of reproductions. In my thesis I argue that the music of Korn, Deftones, Limp Bizkit, Marilyn Manson, and Rob Zombie demonstrate the pervasiveness of the postmodern phenomena identified by critics such as Baudrillard and, equally importantly, point to the paradoxes inherent in the condition of postmodernity. My study begins with an examination of the history of new heavy metal and proceeds to a close analysis of the lyrics and the music, pointing the way to a better understanding of this particular form of popular culture. |
