As a metal music enthusiast, I recently had the chance to visit the exposition « Métal—Diabolus in Musica» at the Cité de la Musique, Philharmonie de Paris, to learn more about the metal music and see various artifacts.
Metal music existed for more than 50 years; it became a real culture. With its myths, various rites, and many subgenres, it’s a real force that is getting bigger and bigger in today's world. It’s not just a subculture anymore.
I was thrilled to attend this exhibition because:
- I LOVE metal music, and this is a unique opportunity to learn more about the bands, musicians, and various genres.
- Bonding with colleagues – it was a great chance to spend time with my boss and my binome A outside of work, to talk with them, and to see how they are in the world.
We visited the exhibition at the end of June 2024, and we had so much fun! There were some awesome treasures there:
- Tony Iommi’s guitar « Monkey » on which he recorded the album Black Sabbath. :O (As a huge fan, seeing this guitar was mind-blowing)
- Korn’s Microphone Stand: Created by H.R. Giger, the artist behind the Alien movies
- Costumes from the band Therion
- Costume of Marilyn Manson from the Mechanical Animals era (Manson was my favorite singer for many years so it was amazing to see the costume)
- Gene Simmons’ Axe Bass Guitar: An iconic piece from KISS
- John5’s (and some photos of him)
- Examples of black metal cassettes and example of battlevest (I have a project of creating my own battlevest
- And so much more!
There was also an incerdible room about metal music around the world and how metal and local cultures are influencing themselves. A cool example was The Hu, the Mongolian band that was awarded with the highest state decoration of Mongolia—the Chinggis Khaan Order—for promoting Mongolian music and lyrics around the world.
The exhibition was of a perfect size—not too big, not too small, so I was super happy! I learned a lot, got inspired to listen to some more metal music (especially Gojira), and it was nice to spend time with my colleagues—eating, talking, and joking. Now I’m on a path of contemplating how to make metal music attractive to the library members.