Metal Meltdown: Where is the Diversity?

The great thing about Denver? Head out on any given night, and you can probably catch a metal and drag show. If timing is on your side, you can even catch both. And there is a lot of crossover between the two experiences. At both, expect dirty bathrooms, a very flexible start time, and lyrics that may make outsiders uncomfortable.

But there’s one huge difference. Walk into any drag show in Denver, and you’ll definitely see some diversity. Don’t get me wrong; there’s a lot more work to be done. Black performers and other people of color continue to bring up that there aren’t enough queens of color, and kings and nonbinary performers can attest to the fact that there is not enough inclusion of those who aren’t just cis, male, white drag queens. But in general, especially in Denver, you’ll see performers of color, and you’ll see kings, queens, and in-betweens, even if they’re still the minority. 

Walk into any metal show, on the other hand, and you won’t see much diversity at all. Very rarely, if you’re catching my band, or a handful of other bands in town, you’ll see a show with a woman on the bill. If you’re catching Of Feather and Bone, a local Indigenous metal band, or Primitive Man, a band with a Black member, you’ll get some racial diversity on your bill. But outside of a very small handful of exceptions, you’ll just see cis, straight, white men at every single show. 

Why? Well, there are definitely a lot of reasons, reasons I have discussed at length with my colleagues. The most obvious is, drag is a queer space, and metal is traditionally not, despite the leather daddy aesthetic that has been passed down from Judas Priest. And then there’s also the metal gatekeeping, the racism and sexism that is a part of the genre, and the boys’ club attitude many metalheads have. 

But, although metal may not ever be as queer a community as drag, it’s 2022, and we need to be making all spaces more inclusive for POC, queer folks, women, and everyone else. So, if you want to go to a metal show and be in that space, I’d encourage you to show up. If you’d like a queer buddy to attend with you, I’m always down for a good metal show. Hopefully, as we insist on being seen and insert ourselves into new spaces, more diversity will become a reality.