72 lines
5.3 KiB
Plaintext
72 lines
5.3 KiB
Plaintext
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They see themselves playing and living on the edge with a defiant fury -
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the punk "rockers" and the more aggressive heavy metal "stoners" who glory
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in their tight black leather pants, boots and black gloves, often speckled
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with studs and filed spikes. They dance with a frenzy and worship the
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angry music and band members of such groups as "Suicidal Tendencies," "Septic
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Death," "Nazi Punks," "Slayer," Sex Gang Children" and "Social Destruction."
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Drug and alcohol abuse, sexual recklessness, satanic rituals and
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outrageous behavior and rebellion against all forms of societal authority are
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part of the culture. For the extremists, so is self-mutilation, such as
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burning "happy faces" on their arms with cigarette lighters and cutting crude
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slogans into their thighs and arms. Is punk and heavy metal a passing fad
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for most teenagers, just another generation showing its youthful antipathy
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for the establishment? Or is it a peril to society that must be halted by
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using various "de-punking" and "de- metalizing" techniques, as some members
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of the psychiatric community are now advocating? Apparently, the notion is
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growing that a small percentage of true believers in punk and heavy metal are
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dangerously out of control, acting out their faith in the nihilistic message
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of the music until they end up in juvinile courts, mental hospitals, maybe
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even cemeteries. Some suggest that they should be "de-punked" and "de-
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metaled" before it's too late. More than 150 parents, teachers, probation
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officers, psychiatrists and police turned out for an all-day conference in
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Pasadena earlier this month to discuss the potentially evil effects of the
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punk and heavy metal culture. Punk and heavy metal paraphenalia was passed
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around. Chilling stories were told, like the one about the 15-year old
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"heavy metaler" who smashed all the furniture in his parents' house and beat
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his mother about the face. A videotape called "Spikes and Studs" was also
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played showing young women tearing away their clothes and offering their
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bodies to the musicians. (Ed. note: As far as the women offering their
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bodies goes, remember, they did that to Frank Sinatra, too.) Titled "Sound
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and Fury," the conference - one of the first to be held on the punk-metal
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phenomenon - was sponsored by the Back In Control Training Center in
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Fullerton, which was started up recently by two former Orange County
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probabation officers to teach parents what to look for and how to get tough
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with their children. For center directors Greg Bodenhamer and Darlyne
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Pettinicchio, punk and heavy metal - particularly metal -is public enemy
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number 1. They maintain there is a direct link between the aggressive
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music and lifestyle, and teenage suicide, homicide and self-inflected wounds.
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"These kids have been totally brainwashed by this stuff. They've got to
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be de- punked and de-metalized," Bodenhamer said. He and Pettinicchio point
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to some well-publicized cases over the past year: Last October, 14
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year-old Jennifer Newton was sentenced to 25 years in prison for stabbing
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and bludgeoning her mother to death in Fullerton. Prosecutors said Newton
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and her boyfriend were absorbed with heavy metal music. Last August, two
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teenage San Bernadino boys, described by authorities as "into the heavy
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metal scene," were accused of murdering a 15-year old boy who was shackled to
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a heavy milk crate near his home. In January, one 14 year-old boy was
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found by his parents bleeding in his Santa Monica bedroom after he sliced his
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knuckles and scrawled a giant "A" for anarchy on the wall. He survived.
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Not everyone shares the somewhat alarming position that surfaced at the
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Pasadena conference. "I really don't think they're any big threat," Los
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Angeles Police Detective Harry Andrews said. "Sure, we arrest a few of them
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for dangerous weopons like attaching spikes on their hands. But, really,
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you know, people thought we were crazy too (in the 60's)." Dr. Rex Baeber,
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assistant professor of medicine at UCLA, explained: "I would make the
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argument that in any given time in history, there's always been a percentage
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of young people that are nihilistic, despairing, with psychological
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disorders and into a lot of drug use. "But I also think it's a mistake to
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say the music promulgates the nihilism, although the metalists will
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reinforce violent, crazy behavior." Although punk and heavy metal are used
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as terms interchangeably by outsiders, there is a difference. For the
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punker, the dress code covers the spectrum, the hair is short and often dyed
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several colors. And the music suggests a certain desperation and
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hopelessness about the world. The punk symbol is an "A" for anarchy. Shock
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value is vital. The true punker may autograph himself with knife cuts
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across the arm or run a safety pin through the cheeck. By contrast, there's
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more militancy, almost a fascist strain to the heavy metalers. The black,
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spike-strewn uniform is important, and metalers, unlike punkers, wear their
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hair longer and cropped on top. -By Ellis E. Conklin -Los Angeles Times
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-Reprinted with permission
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