As with every genre of music, the imagery plays a big part in creating an overall atmosphere to match the music. Jazz has smokey clubs, hip hop has urban sensibility, but what iconic imagery does heavy metal have? Let’s take a look at a few things that go hand in hand with heavy music.

Wall of Amps

While it may be more of a relic, we still see several of the bigger name metal bands on stage supported by a gigantic wall of Marshall amplifiers. Well, they actually aren’t amplifiers but rather speaker cabinets, and most of the time they are just empty boxes made to look cool when stacked all over the stage.

Long Hair

It’s no coincidence that headlines were made when Metallica cut off their hair back in the late 90s. Heavy metal has long been associated with long locks, so fans and even foes of the genre were quite shocked to see the Bay Area thrashers turn into handsome lads who wore makeup.

Black…Everything

Shirts, pants, hats, jewelry, shoes, boots, makeup, whatever it is…it’s black. At least that’s the mentality of many metal heads who stock up on all the accessories the genres fashion sense dictates.

Make a Mean Face!

In a metal band? Well it’s standard procedure to make a mean face for the camera at some point in time so as to make sure the rest of the world takes you seriously as a tough guy or bad ass chick. Pop stars have their glossy white smiles, and metal heads will always have their mean mugs.

Swearing, Lots of Swearing

If you’ve ever had a conversation with a metal head, chances are you’ve heard plenty of f-bombs dropped all over the place as casual adjectives. I’m quite guilty of this myself, and often find it difficult to filter my potty mouth while conversing with strangers in public. Oh well, fuck it.