Metallica and Philosophy

Hit the lights and jump in the fire, you're about to enter the School of Rock! Today's lecture will be a crash course in brain surgery. This hard and fast lesson is taught by instructors who graduated from the old school—they actually paid $5.98 for The $5.98 EP. But back before these philosophy professors cut their hair, they were lieutenants in the Metal Militia. A provocative study of the 'thinking man's' metal band Maps out the connections between Aristotle, Nietzsche, Marx, Kierkegaard, and Metallica, to demonstrate the band's philosophical significance Uses themes in Metallica's work to illuminate topics such as freedom, truth, identity, existentialism, questions of life and death, metaphysics, epistemology, the mind-body problem, morality, justice, and what we owe one another Draws on Metallica's lyrical content, Lars Ulrich's relationship with Napster, as well as the documentary Some Kind of Monster Serves as a guide for thinking through the work of one of the greatest rock bands of all time Compiled by the editor of Seinfeld and Philosophy: A Book about Everything and Nothing and The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D'oh! of Homer

Heroes of the Day: Acknowledgments viii Hit the Lights 1 DISC 1 On Through the Never 3 1 Whisper Things Into My Brain: Metallica, Emotion, and Morality 5 Robert Fudge 2 This Search Goes On: Christian, Warrior, Buddhist 16 William Irwin 3 Alcoholica: When Sweet Amber Becomes the Master of Puppets 29 Bart Engelen 4 Through the Mist and the Madness: Metallica’s Message of Nonconformity, Individuality, and Truth 41 Thomas Nys DISC 2 Existensica: Metallica Meets Existentialism 53 5 The Metal Militia and the Existentialist Club 55 J. Jeremy Wisnewski 6 The Struggle Within: Hetfield, Kierkegaard, and the Pursuit of Authenticity 65 Philip Lindholm 7 Metallica, Nietzsche, and Marx: The Immorality of Morality 74 Peter S. Fosl 8 Metallica’s Existential Freedom: From We to I and Back Again 85 Rachael Sotos DISC 3 Living and Dying, Laughing and Crying 99 9 To Live is to Die: Metallica and the Meaning of Life 101 Scott Calef 10 Madness in the Mirror of Reason: Metallica and Foucault on Insanity and Confinement 117 Brian K. Cameron 11 Ride the Lightning: Why Not Execute Killers? 127 Thom Brooks 12 Living and Dying as One: Suffering and the Ethics of Euthanasia 135 Jason T. Eberl 13 Fade to Black: Absurdity, Suicide, and the Downward Spiral 148 Justin Donhauser and Kimberly A. Blessing DISC 4 Metaphysica, Epistemologica, Metallica 161 14 Believer, Deceiver: Metallica, Perception, and Reality 163 Robert Arp 15 Trapped in Myself: “One” and the Mind-Body Problem 173 Joanna Corwin 16 Is It Still Metallica? On the Identity of Rock Bands Over Time 183 Manuel Bremer and Daniel Cohnitz DISC 5 Fans and the Band 197 17 Metallica Drops a Load: What Do Bands and Fans Owe Each Other? 199 Mark D. White 18 The Unsocial Sociability of Humans and Metal Gods 210 Niall Scott 19 Boys Interrupted: The Drama of Male Bonding in Some Kind of Monster 219 Judith Grant 20 Justice for All? Metallica’s Argument Against Napster and Internet File Sharing 232 Robert A. Delfino Who’s Who in the Metal Militia 245 The Phantom Lord’s Index 250