This organisation, headed by Matthew Thompson, seemed to have the conviction that it is about time young people (who seemingly showed 'responsibility to the environment' etc) 'cleaned themselves up', respected themselves and their elders. He then went on to say that such people took up many 'socially and personally damaging' activities like smoking, drinking, taking drugs, having sex and ..... wait for it ..... wearing Heavy Metal T-shirts.
Thompson further asserted that Heavy Metal t-shirts (and especially the way young people wore them in public) *openly incited* cynical attitudes towards the 'moral guardians' of our society - the police, parents, teachers, religious figures, and law and order in general. His reason for believing so was because these t-shirts depicted scenes of sex and violence in their motifs.
His article sparked alot of opposition by Metal Heads Australia-wide. I picked out the most salient points of the June 1992 edition of Hot Metal (page 20) and of the Telegraph-Mirror (April 21 and 22 of 1992) in order to illustrate my point (and hopefully represent the views of the readers who wrote in).
Example 1: 'I agree that some show sex and violence but not all .... (John Bremmer)
Example 2: 'Depictions of sex and violence also exist outside of Heavy Metal, like many top 40 songs (eg. 'Let's talk about sex' by Salt'n'Pepa). ie. Who is *really* setting a bad example now?
Example 3: 'Your life must be so boring if a scene from a t-shirt can upset you' (Bass Lady, Yagoona). ie. You obviously have nothig better to do than to criticise what people choose to wear in public.
Example 4: 'Fellow metal heads ...... Don't put up with it, 'cos it may be t-shirts now but it will expand to censoring tapes and other metal next (Ben Mac). ie. Give Thompson an inch now, and he will take a mile later.
Example 5: My favorite one is by Darryl Mason, who stated that 'People learn who they are through rebellious behaviour', 'need heroes they can look up to' (like outspoken rock stars) and 'find it hard to respect the law, police, religious figures etc because they are 'More responsible for the negativity and hatred' which is occurring. He also wrote 'The more you try to repress us, the more we fight back'.
Example 6: Another favorite of mine is by Michael (of Oatley), who stated that young peoples' cynical attitudes towards their parents and other authority figures stems from the fact that ..... 'These people don't always set a shining example'.
Example 7: '.....The majority of the songs are about real issues like the environment, government, society and war' (Luke, Greenacre).
Example 8: 'You are more dangerous to our society than those you are trying to persecute (John of Lakemba).
The crux of many of these responses and arguements is that people like Matthew Thompson should take a good look at themselves: What points are they trying to make? What are they trying to achieve? Are they (YPAHMTS) trying to preserve the 'moral fabric' of our society, as they would have us believe? Or are they simply *just* a pack of bored suburbanites who have nothing better to do than to criticize anyone who differs to themselves in terms of musical preferences, style of dress or religious and political viewpoints?
Furthermore, many young people in general (and Head Bangers in particular) witness so many 'moral guardians' in our society *not* exactly practising what they preach. They also witness *many* inconsistencies in our so-called 'moral standards', like the example of the Top 40 artists (like Tori Amos, Salt'n'Pepa, Madonna) who also write, compose and perform 'rude' songs, alot more than what many Heavy Metal Artists are accused of doing.
Not surprisingly, these people are extremely cynical because the 'moral decay' Thompson bitches about exists outside the 'metal scene', as well as within; but yet, it is the 'Metal Heads' that are the ones used as scapegoats whenever there is a social problem concerning young people