Running with the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal Music second edition

“Walser belongs to a small but influential group of academics trying to reconcile ‘high theory’ with a streetwise sense of culture . . . an excellent book.”―Rolling Stone

“Running with the Devil takes musicology where it has never gone before; I once saw the chapter on metal guitarists and the classical tradition performed live in a lecture hall, but even on paper it smokes.”―SF Weekly

“Walser is truly gifted at doing what few critics before him have done: analyzing the music . . . In virtuoso readings of metal music that forge persuasive links between metal and particular classical music traditions, Walser reveals the ways that musical structures themselves are social texts.”―The Nation

“Walser belongs to a small but influential group of academics trying to reconcile ‘high theory’ with a streetwise sense of culture . . . an excellent book.”―Rolling Stone

“Making surprising connections to classical forms and debunking stereotypes of metal’s musical crudity, Walser delves enthusiastically into guitar conventions and rituals.”―Washington Post

“Running with the Devil takes musicology where it has never gone before; I once saw the chapter on metal guitarists and the classical tradition performed live in a lecture hall, but even on paper it smokes.”―SF Weekly

“Walser is truly gifted at doing what few critics before him have done: analyzing the music . . . In virtuoso readings of metal music that forge persuasive links between metal and particular classical music traditions, Walser reveals the ways that musical structures themselves are social texts.”―The Nation

“Walser belongs to a small but influential group of academics trying to reconcile ‘high theory’ with a streetwise sense of culture . . . an excellent book.”―Rolling Stone

“Making surprising connections to classical forms and debunking stereotypes of metal’s musical crudity, Walser delves enthusiastically into guitar conventions and rituals.”―Washington Post

“Essential reading in all popular music (and cultural studies) courses.”―Simon Frith

“An eye-opening account of the world of heavy metal, as well as a model for how Cultural Studies work ought to be done. Walser lays bare the vision embodied in metal as a total cultural phenomenon―music and words, performers and fans, critics and devotees. The book is exemplary in its rich material, subtle positionings, and elegant writing.””―Sherry B. Ortner, University of Michigan

ROBERT WALSER is a professor and director of the Center of Popular Music Studies at Case Western Reserve University. He has published extensively on popular music, including Keeping Time: Readings in Jazz History. Walser has received NEH and ACLS fellowships and has twice won the Irving Lowens Award. HARRIS M. BERGER is professor of music and performance studies at Texas A&M University. He is the author of Stance and coeditor of Metal Rules the Globe.