This is the first book to examine the partially hidden history of metal
music scenes within the city of Liverpool and the surrounding region of
Merseyside in the North-West of England. It reveals that while Liverpool
has historically been portrayed as a certain kind of 'music city, '
metal has been marginalized within its music heritage narratives. This
marginality was not inevitable. The book illustrates how it is not
merely the product of historical representation but the result of forces
of urban change and regional shifts in the economy of live music. Nor is
this marginality inconsequential. Drawing on ethnographic research,
Nedim Hassan demonstrates that it has influenced how the region's metal
scenes are perceived and how people feel towards them.
Metal on Merseyside reveals how various people involved with such
scenes work within often challenging circumstances to sustain the
production of metal music and events. It also reveals the tensions that
arise as scene members' desires for an ideal metal community collide
with forces of change. Metal on Merseyside is, therefore, a
fascinating barometer for the contradictions apparent when people engage
in creative labour to produce music that they love.