This session explores the working class, anti-establishment roots and history of heavy metal, situating the music in its proper political context, exploring the genre’s history as working class music, and demystifying heavy metal in general. Participants will observe examples and contextual analysis of political metal from the late 1970s to now. This workshop highlights the fact that working class people, POC, LGBTQ people, and women have always participated in and shaped this music that is often assumed to be the exclusive province of white dudes.