Uploaded August 2019 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
crosstowntraffic2018.wordpress.com
This presentation took place as part of the conference Crosstown Traffic: Popular Music Theory and Practice, which was hosted by The University of Huddersfield from September 3 - 5 2018. This event combined the IASPM UK&Ireland Biennial Conference, the 13th Art of Record Production Conference (ARP), an ISMMS conference, and the additional participation of Dancecult.
A recurrent theme within popular music studies has been discussion of how the field can integrate different disciplines and professions, for example exploring both music and its context; involving both practitioners and researchers; and encouraging interdisciplinary and collaborative work. Many different issues make such approaches challenging, and various different popular music focused subject organisations have developed somewhat independently of one another. This conference brought four such groups together, to exchange knowledge, collaborate, and encourage crosstalk.
/// SUPPORT
Popular Music Studies Research Group (PMSRG), University of Huddersfield research.hud.ac.uk/pmsrg/#
Centre for Music, Culture and Identity (CMCI), University of Huddersfield
research.hud.ac.uk/institutes-centres/cmci
The International Association for the Study of Popular Music UK and Ireland Branch (IASPM UK & Ireland)
iaspm.org.uk
Association for the Study of the Art of Record Production (ASARP)
artofrecordproduction.com
Dancecult Research Network (DRN) studies into electronic dance music culture
dancecult-research.net
International Society for Metal Music Studies (ISMMS)
metalstudies.org
/// ORGANIZERS
IASPM UK&I: Rupert Till
ARP: Katia Isakoff, Shara Rambarran
ISMMS: Karl Spracklen
Dancecult: Graham St. John
University of Huddersfield: Jan Herbst, Austin Moore, Lisa Colton, Toby Martin, Catherine Haworth, Mark Mynett
/// CREDITS
This online project was edited, collated, and made available online by Chris McConnell, Jack Zissell, and Colin Frank.
/// PRESENTATION DETAILS
‘A Blaze in the Northern Suburbs’: Australian extreme metal’s penchant for parody and humour
Sam Vallen - Griffith University, Queensland Conservatorium
Email: samuelvallen@gmail.com
/// ABSTRACT
Australia’s extreme metal scene developed parallel to, and in communication with, the emerging global underground in the mid to late-eighties through tape trading channels. Its earliest proponents, bands like Slaughter Lord, Hobbs’ Angel of Death, and Sadistik Exekution, formed somewhat contemporaneously to the rise of extreme metal substyles in America and Europe. But while extreme metal movements like North American death metal (Death, Morbid Angel), British grindcore (Napalm Death), and Scandinavian black metal (Mayhem) were characterised by largely serious subject matter and presentation, influential Australian band Sadistik Exekution incorporated parodic and absurd humour into their equivalently heavy music, mocking the gravity and severity of their contemporaries’ work. This paper will first dissect Sadistik Exekution’s musical and paramusical materials, examining the codes and qualities of extreme metal they rejected and outlining the decidedly Australian larrikinish mockery through which they challenged them. It will then examine the trajectory of Australian extreme metal acts since, such as Blood Duster and King Parrot, who perpetuated and extended this characteristic further. From Sadistik Exekution’s satirisation of grandiose metal pseudonyms (“Rok” and “Sloth” in the place of “Faust” or “Nocturno Culto”), to King Parrot’s parody of black metal “corpse paint” appearing green and gold (the national colours of Australia) rather than the grim black and white of the Norwegian scene, this trajectory and its coding is a fascinating counterpoint to the ubiquitous severity and seriousness of the global extreme metal underground.
crosstowntraffic2018.wordpress.com
This presentation took place as part of the conference Crosstown Traffic: Popular Music Theory and Practice, which was hosted by The University of Huddersfield from September 3 - 5 2018. This event combined the IASPM UK&Ireland Biennial Conference, the 13th Art of Record Production Conference (ARP), an ISMMS conference, and the additional participation of Dancecult.
A recurrent theme within popular music studies has been discussion of how the field can integrate different disciplines and professions, for example exploring both music and its context; involving both practitioners and researchers; and encouraging interdisciplinary and collaborative work. Many different issues make such approaches challenging, and various different popular music focused subject organisations have developed somewhat independently of one another. This conference brought four such groups together, to exchange knowledge, collaborate, and encourage crosstalk.
/// SUPPORT
Popular Music Studies Research Group (PMSRG), University of Huddersfield research.hud.ac.uk/pmsrg/#
Centre for Music, Culture and Identity (CMCI), University of Huddersfield
research.hud.ac.uk/institutes-centres/cmci
The International Association for the Study of Popular Music UK and Ireland Branch (IASPM UK & Ireland)
iaspm.org.uk
Association for the Study of the Art of Record Production (ASARP)
artofrecordproduction.com
Dancecult Research Network (DRN) studies into electronic dance music culture
dancecult-research.net
International Society for Metal Music Studies (ISMMS)
metalstudies.org
/// ORGANIZERS
IASPM UK&I: Rupert Till
ARP: Katia Isakoff, Shara Rambarran
ISMMS: Karl Spracklen
Dancecult: Graham St. John
University of Huddersfield: Jan Herbst, Austin Moore, Lisa Colton, Toby Martin, Catherine Haworth, Mark Mynett
/// CREDITS
This online project was edited, collated, and made available online by Chris McConnell, Jack Zissell, and Colin Frank.
/// PRESENTATION DETAILS
‘A Blaze in the Northern Suburbs’: Australian extreme metal’s penchant for parody and humour
Sam Vallen - Griffith University, Queensland Conservatorium
Email: samuelvallen@gmail.com
/// ABSTRACT
Australia’s extreme metal scene developed parallel to, and in communication with, the emerging global underground in the mid to late-eighties through tape trading channels. Its earliest proponents, bands like Slaughter Lord, Hobbs’ Angel of Death, and Sadistik Exekution, formed somewhat contemporaneously to the rise of extreme metal substyles in America and Europe. But while extreme metal movements like North American death metal (Death, Morbid Angel), British grindcore (Napalm Death), and Scandinavian black metal (Mayhem) were characterised by largely serious subject matter and presentation, influential Australian band Sadistik Exekution incorporated parodic and absurd humour into their equivalently heavy music, mocking the gravity and severity of their contemporaries’ work. This paper will first dissect Sadistik Exekution’s musical and paramusical materials, examining the codes and qualities of extreme metal they rejected and outlining the decidedly Australian larrikinish mockery through which they challenged them. It will then examine the trajectory of Australian extreme metal acts since, such as Blood Duster and King Parrot, who perpetuated and extended this characteristic further. From Sadistik Exekution’s satirisation of grandiose metal pseudonyms (“Rok” and “Sloth” in the place of “Faust” or “Nocturno Culto”), to King Parrot’s parody of black metal “corpse paint” appearing green and gold (the national colours of Australia) rather than the grim black and white of the Norwegian scene, this trajectory and its coding is a fascinating counterpoint to the ubiquitous severity and seriousness of the global extreme metal underground.
