On the sunday of Lawnparties this fall, Michele Tyler '12 and Lola Aceves '11 passed on the usual Princeton garb of sundresses and sandals, instead donning very different outfits: knee-high black boots with studs, heavy black eye makeup, short black skirts and Misfits T-shirts.
As the two heavy metal fans entered Cap & Gown Club, a bouncer inspected their proxes, let them in and then respectfully asked them about the reception they were getting on campus. Further down the Street, Tyler and Aceves heard some students considering asking the bouncers to kick them out of Cloister Inn. And later, two female students outside Campus Club asked them with skepticism, "Do you guys go to this school? Where do you guys hang out?"
While this hostile reaction is not unusual, Tyler, Aceyes and the rest of Headbangers Inc. - the first and only Ivy League hard rock and metal appreciation group - are busy proving to skeptics that "Princeton" and "heavy metal" can actually be used in the same sentence.
The tagline on the group's Facebook page puts it simply: "We are dedicated to banish generic music one headbang at a time."
After facing difficulty meeting fellow metal and hard rock enthusiasts during their first few months on campus, the group's four founding members - Aceves, Jeremy Borjon '10, Bilhuda Rasheed '10 and Ivana Dimitrova '10 - came together during spring of their freshman year in 2007. (Aceves subsequently took a year off, but she was a freshman at the time.) "Quite frankly, we weren't a big fan of the Lawnparties bands," former president Borjon said. "So we said, ‘Let's organize a concert.' "
To get funding for an event, however, the four original headbangers needed to form a student group. They initially had some trouble picking the perfect club name. The original idea was to call the group the Princeton Metal Alliance, but they worried that might exclude hard rock fans. "If we just stuck to metal, there probably wouldn't be enough students to even form a group," Aceves said. And so they settled on the simple, catchy title of Headbangers Inc. "Essentially the musical criteria is anything you can headbang to," Borjon said.
Headbanging, he explained, is usually done just at concerts and not while metal fans are simply walking down the street listening to music on their iPods -"unless a song really possesses us," he added with a laugh.
There are different personal styles of headbanging, including spinning one's head around in a circle as opposed to moving one's head up and down, but really, Borjon said, "It all depends on the hair."
The kickoff concert for Headbangers Inc. was held at Theatre Intime in spring 2008 and featured the obscure metal gem Justin Cotta. He performed an acoustic rock set because, Borjon explained, the group felt that it couldn't throw a full-blown heavy metal concert right away: "We needed to introduce ourselves to the campus community and take it slow."
While the club is relatively small compared to some other student groups on campus, it seems to have a visible presence on campus based on the way many members dress, often wearing T-shirts featuring metal or hard rock bands.
While Tyler, who boasts prominent tattoos, has had plenty experience with people staring at her, she said the incidents at Lawnparties were definitely shocking. "We're all at the same intellectual level, we go to the same classes, and we go to the same school, so why are you discriminating against me as if I'm inferior in some way because of the clothing I wear?" she asked.
"I don't think I even own a sundress," Tyler added. "I'm not going to go out of my way to adhere to what everyone else is wearing."
Borjon said he thinks the resistance the group faces stems not from hostility but from a lack of understanding of the sense of humor behind this music and its relevant culture. "It's tongue-in-cheek. I mean, at our activities fair table, we have a coffin full of candy and a portrait of Ozzy Osbourne. We don't take ourselves seriously; we laugh at these things," he said.
But some people still don't seem to get it. When first forming the group, the founders noticed that many people automatically assumed that metal had something to do with Satanism. Aceves said this assumption likely arises when listeners have negative reactions to music without carefully examining the lyrics.
"You could listen to music that's really hard and sounds really brutal, and it could end up being straight up Christian rock," she added. "People need to read their shit before they call us Satanists."
Borjon said it all relates back to the sense-of-humor issue, saying, "Ninety percent of this ‘Satan is real' stuff is show. It's just to ruffle up the feathers of the conservative types who don't like this. It's entertainment."
Since its initial concert, the group, which now has around 20 active members, has hosted regular study breaks where students listen to and analyze new albums together. The group also sends out e-mail updates listing upcoming metal and hard rock concerts going on New York, Philadelphia and New Jersey. "It's one of those sources that helps you when you want to go see a show," Borjon explained. "Through the group you can find someone to go with so you don't have to go alone." Aceves said she especially appreciates this aspect of the group: Before she met her fellow headbangers, she had traveled alone via both train and taxi to get to a Cradle of Filth concert in Sayreville, N.J. "I was only 18. It was rough," she recalled.
Borjon said that group members play an enormous role in opening musical doors for each other. "Though we each have our own specialties, musically, we learn from each other a lot," he said. "Sure, we have music debates, and each have our own opinions, but for the most part, people are very open-minded about hearing music suggestions, and that's one thing I've really liked and have tried to push."
The members come from all over, ensuring that each person has his or her own local taste to contribute. "People that like this music are from such different backgrounds," Aceves, said citing the founders' homes of Texas, California, Pakistan and Bulgaria. "The club may not be huge, but it is really amazing to get people from all over to appreciate the same thing."
Many of the headbangers' love for hard rock and metal seems to have begun early in their lives and appears to be rooted in how they were raised. Borjon's musical taste was mostly influenced by his mother, who has always been his number one concert buddy. "We went to a record store when I was pretty young, and she bought me AC/DC's ‘Back in Black,' Metallica's Black Album and a Judas Priest ‘Best of,' and since then I've never looked back," he said. Tyler was raised by parents who listened to music like AC/DC, Aerosmith and Led Zeppelin, and she got into alternative heavy rock bands like Staind and Seether in middle school. In high school, she met a friend who introduced her to many of her current favorite artists and took her to her first Ozzfest heavy metal and hard rock festival at age 13. Aceves' discovery of metal came with Godsmack's self-titled album when she was 9. Over the years, she explained, "I've definitely developed a taste for the harder stuff."
When they're not listening to metal, the headbangers vary in their musical tastes. After doing choir singing for many years, Tyler said she enjoys listening to musicals, as well as traditional Celtic music. In addition to metal, Borjon has a love for Joe Cocker, Meatloaf and Spanish music with flamenco guitars. Aceves still enjoys listening to classic rock like Led Zeppelin and The Doors, but when she studies, she said, "I guess it depends on what mood I'm in. If I'm more cheery, I won't necessarily listen to real hard stuff. Maybe something like Korn."
The group's members have many ideas for the future of Headbangers Inc. Aceves said she hopes to organize a charity concert along with some other student groups and would like to host public interviews with metal artists and engineers. After going to many concerts, including Ozzfest - which he has attended every year since 2002 - Borjon has met numerous bands that are interested in coming to Princeton.
"Anytime you tell a band, ‘Princeton wants you,' they're like ‘Huh?'" he said.
The headbangers also want to invite metal-related guests to speak at Princeton. "One of the things I've really wanted to do with this group is bridge the academic community and the metal community," said Borjon.
One of Borjon's hopes is to invite Sharon Osbourne to talk to Princeton business students about Ozzfest, which she helped found and organize. Ozzy Osbourne himself would also be an ideal guest, as he is about to release an autobiography. "I am chomping at the bit trying to find contact information for his publisher to bring him down to Labyrinth or somewhere near here," said Borjon.
On a smaller scale, there has also been talk of the club offering a sort of "Metal 101" class. Such an event would include a screening of the documentary "Metal: A Headbanger's Journey," which was directed by Sam Dunn, the Canadian anthropologist who is considered the authority on metal history.
Borjon said he believes Headbangers Inc. is going to have a good year. "Depending on the activities fair, we can usually tell how the year is going to go. This year, we didn't get any complaints; everyone was very friendly and loved us. Kind of scared, but nonetheless friendly."
No matter what their reception on campus may be, the headbangers will always be proud of their distinctiveness. In the words of Aceves, "When it comes to hard rock appreciation, we kick Harvard's ass."
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