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They see themselves playing and living on the edge with a defiant fury -
the punk "rockers" and the more aggressive heavy metal "stoners" who glory
in their tight black leather pants, boots and black gloves, often speckled
with studs and filed spikes. They dance with a frenzy and worship the
angry music and band members of such groups as "Suicidal Tendencies," "Septic
Death," "Nazi Punks," "Slayer," Sex Gang Children" and "Social Destruction."
Drug and alcohol abuse, sexual recklessness, satanic rituals and
outrageous behavior and rebellion against all forms of societal authority are
part of the culture. For the extremists, so is self-mutilation, such as
burning "happy faces" on their arms with cigarette lighters and cutting crude
slogans into their thighs and arms. Is punk and heavy metal a passing fad
for most teenagers, just another generation showing its youthful antipathy
for the establishment? Or is it a peril to society that must be halted by
using various "de-punking" and "de- metalizing" techniques, as some members
of the psychiatric community are now advocating? Apparently, the notion is
growing that a small percentage of true believers in punk and heavy metal are
dangerously out of control, acting out their faith in the nihilistic message
of the music until they end up in juvinile courts, mental hospitals, maybe
even cemeteries. Some suggest that they should be "de-punked" and "de-
metaled" before it's too late. More than 150 parents, teachers, probation
officers, psychiatrists and police turned out for an all-day conference in
Pasadena earlier this month to discuss the potentially evil effects of the
punk and heavy metal culture. Punk and heavy metal paraphenalia was passed
around. Chilling stories were told, like the one about the 15-year old
"heavy metaler" who smashed all the furniture in his parents' house and beat
his mother about the face. A videotape called "Spikes and Studs" was also
played showing young women tearing away their clothes and offering their
bodies to the musicians. (Ed. note: As far as the women offering their
bodies goes, remember, they did that to Frank Sinatra, too.) Titled "Sound
and Fury," the conference - one of the first to be held on the punk-metal
phenomenon - was sponsored by the Back In Control Training Center in
Fullerton, which was started up recently by two former Orange County
probabation officers to teach parents what to look for and how to get tough
with their children. For center directors Greg Bodenhamer and Darlyne
Pettinicchio, punk and heavy metal - particularly metal -is public enemy
number 1. They maintain there is a direct link between the aggressive
music and lifestyle, and teenage suicide, homicide and self-inflected wounds.
"These kids have been totally brainwashed by this stuff. They've got to
be de- punked and de-metalized," Bodenhamer said. He and Pettinicchio point
to some well-publicized cases over the past year: Last October, 14
year-old Jennifer Newton was sentenced to 25 years in prison for stabbing
and bludgeoning her mother to death in Fullerton. Prosecutors said Newton
and her boyfriend were absorbed with heavy metal music. Last August, two
teenage San Bernadino boys, described by authorities as "into the heavy
metal scene," were accused of murdering a 15-year old boy who was shackled to
a heavy milk crate near his home. In January, one 14 year-old boy was
found by his parents bleeding in his Santa Monica bedroom after he sliced his
knuckles and scrawled a giant "A" for anarchy on the wall. He survived.
Not everyone shares the somewhat alarming position that surfaced at the
Pasadena conference. "I really don't think they're any big threat," Los
Angeles Police Detective Harry Andrews said. "Sure, we arrest a few of them
for dangerous weopons like attaching spikes on their hands. But, really,
you know, people thought we were crazy too (in the 60's)." Dr. Rex Baeber,
assistant professor of medicine at UCLA, explained: "I would make the
argument that in any given time in history, there's always been a percentage
of young people that are nihilistic, despairing, with psychological
disorders and into a lot of drug use. "But I also think it's a mistake to
say the music promulgates the nihilism, although the metalists will
reinforce violent, crazy behavior." Although punk and heavy metal are used
as terms interchangeably by outsiders, there is a difference. For the
punker, the dress code covers the spectrum, the hair is short and often dyed
several colors. And the music suggests a certain desperation and
hopelessness about the world. The punk symbol is an "A" for anarchy. Shock
value is vital. The true punker may autograph himself with knife cuts
across the arm or run a safety pin through the cheeck. By contrast, there's
more militancy, almost a fascist strain to the heavy metalers. The black,
spike-strewn uniform is important, and metalers, unlike punkers, wear their
hair longer and cropped on top. -By Ellis E. Conklin -Los Angeles Times
-Reprinted with permission