The Healing Power of Music
James Hetfield of Metallica surrounded by screaming fans at a concert.
Let’s talk about music as therapy. Music as medicine. Music as meditation. Music as healing. The genre of music that I have in mind while writing this is rock and metal, although I know other genres would apply as well. But hear me out, when it comes to metal music. In my studies of trauma treatment there are many key ingredients that lead to healing: choice making, empowerment, non-coercion, shared authentic experience, interoception, safety, and attunement. I would argue that metal music delivers on all of these. In Flea’s induction speech of Metallica into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, he asserts “when I hear Metallica, I get this feeling that they are doing something that they HAVE to do, like there is this thing in them wound up so tight that they have to let it out, let that thing uncoil, it has to be released, an infinite well of sadness, a hell of a lot of pain and anger, but mostly a lot of love for the process that they have created for releasing this stuff. It is always really absurd to me when I hear people speak of heavy music, angry, aggressive music, as being negative or (un)healthy for children and so on, bla bla bla. Firstly, the playing of ferocious music is the healthiest release of anger for the performer of it. It is alchemy, it is a metamorphosis, it is turning something potentially destructive and a source of misery into something beautiful, something rocking and something uplifting for the band and for the audience. The tradition of pain and hurt being a muse for great art is one of the greatest rites of passage for any artist, and that which touches us most deeply. Anyone who has ever been to a Metallica show and banged their head and thrown up the devil horns has been a part of something great for humanity. All those kids at a show rocking so hard to the brutal beat of Metallica have come together for those couple of hours in a way as healthy as any spiritual exercise, any group meditation, any love-in, anything. It is uplifting and it brings people together. I love all music, but I say Metallica has done as much to bring people together and bring joy into their lives as any “hippie, peace and love music” ever has. For the people who give it up and get rocked by Metallica, the world is a lot less of a lonely place. When a person gets rocked into their music, everything else disappears and that person is just one with the rock. It is an inexplicable awesome thing and I bow down to it”. I couldn’t have said it better, Flea.
Let’s consider the lyrics to Metallica’s One.
I can't remember anything
Can't tell if this is true or dream
Deep down inside I feel to scream
This terrible silence stops me
Now that the war is through with me
I'm waking up, I cannot see
That there's not much left of me
Nothing is real but pain now
Hold my breath as I wish for death
Oh, please, God, wake me
Back in the womb, it's much too real
In pumps life that I must feel
But can't look forward to reveal
Look to the time when I'll live
Fed through the tube that sticks in me
Just like a wartime novelty
Tied to machines that make me be
Cut this life off from me
Hold my breath as I wish for death
Oh, please, God, wake me
Now the world is gone, I'm just one
Oh, God, help me
Hold my breath as I wish for death
Oh, please, God, help me
Darkness
Imprisoning me
All that I see
Absolute horror
I cannot live
I cannot die
Trapped in myself
Body my holding cell
Landmine
Has taken my sight
Taken my speech
Taken my hearing
Taken my arms
Taken my legs
Taken my soul
Left me with life in hell
I used to think this song was about being in actual war, like Vietnam and the world wars. And the beauty of it is that it can be. But after watching an interview of James Hetfield by Howard Stern, James recounts how this song was inspired by a book called Johnny Got His Gun, who was a “prisoner in his own body” after being wounded during war, and that he “related to that, because I felt that…being stuck in your own skin and how uncomfortable that can feel and that would be like the ultimate hell, where you can’t communicate to anybody”. James attributes his ability to relate to this to his traumatic upbringing. He was raised in a Christian Science household and not allowed to receive any medical treatment or education on health. His father abandoned the family when he was 13 and his mom died of cancer a few years later, leaving him orphaned, angry, and feeling alone. You can literally feel his pain and suffering in this musical testimony. For others who have been through their own pain and suffering, songs such as these are like salves to their wounds. It speaks to trauma, no matter how it is inflicted.
Metal bands, such as Metallica, speak to the pain of a generation, that continues to translate and reverberate as each new generation comes of age. It is a shared humanity. A shared pain that finds connection, release and transformation through its lyrics, it’s screaming rage and passion, its head banging and thrashing. It invites its fellow survivors of misery to take a stand, take back their power, use their voice, and give a big middle finger to those who have perpetrated against them, caused them pain, or told them that they were not good enough. When I listen to this music, it is a full body and soul experience, calling me to move my body in such a way that is a welcome release for pent up tension, energy, and emotion. It is truly visceral. You can’t help but be in an intimate relationship with your body as it absorbs the potent and commanding musicality on a cellular level. It taps into one’s deepest recesses, the dark places, and has the power to move someone from the prison of disconnection, emptiness, and shame, to a state of mobilization, vitality, and empowerment, by creating a container and context to safely express these most intimate parts of ourselves. Whether you are at home by yourself with the stereo turned to the max, or surrounded by thousands of other screaming fans, there is a strong sense of belonging to something greater than yourself. It is every bit a spiritual experience. That powerful and potent sound brings voice to your innermost demons and injects you with an overwhelming feeling of finally being seen, heard, validated, and vindicated, as you use your own powerful voice to scream the words that speak your pain. Power and choice is back in your control, and you are welcomed with open arms that do not care where you came from, what mistakes you made in the past, who you voted for, who you love, or how much money you have in the bank. Before you even realize what has happened, you have found safety and connection in a relationship and you once again, or finally, know who YOU are, because that certainty, embodiment, and profound felt-sense of your true self is reflected back to you with complete acceptance, vulnerability, and intimacy in those seemingly angry and aggressive lyrics, the powerful and intricate guitar harmonies and solos, and those thunderous and all-consuming drums. As the song comes to a brutal end, your turmoil spent, you are renewed, replenished, transformed, and ready to take on the world. Those who condemn and demonize this type of music, in my opinion, are simply scared. You cannot sit with others’ pain, if you cannot sit with your own, and metal music is transparent and in your face about the most painful of human emotions. To be able to be that raw and truthful in expressing yourself and sharing your pain with the world is an act of bravery, vulnerability, and love, which demands our respect and gratitude. Their strength opens the door for the rest of us to do the same and in doing so, we no longer feel disconnected and alone. It says “I see you, I feel you, and I feel it too, and we are in this together”. This, my friends, is the antidote to trauma.
What bands or musicians have inspired you or aided in your own healing? Feel free to share how, if you’re brave enough
