Confronting the dark side of the beat: A guide to creating a heavy metal music collection

Heavy metal music has existed for over thirty years and has garnered million of fans worldwide.It is, however, a musical style that continues to be neglected bythe library world.This article attempts to correct this oversight by providing librarians with a basic guide to collecting heavy metal.Areas covered include metal's basic musical concepts, history, and major sub-genres.It concludes with a discussion of important print and electronic resources for heavy metal.