School Play Combines Humor And '80s Heavy Metal

December 29, 2004

Bernie Smith of Waltham, MA's Daily News Tribune is reporting that a fourth-year Brown Middle School math instructor wrote and is directing the school's latest play, "Thröw the Göat", billed as "a heavy metal, head-banging extravaganza."

"Thröw the Göat" plays upon every cliche from 1980s' hard-rock culture — from warnings that listening to it causes underachievement to subliminal messages buried in the music and the ongoing battle against "The Man."
In it, two protagonists who live in different countries struggle to find their place in their own stifling societies. A would-be songwriter from the country of Muzakistan, in which Muzak is played ad nauseam to prevent its citizens from thinking creatively about music, rebels against conformity. In Scanlandia — a tribute to the Scandinavian bands that inspired heavy metal heroes such as METALLICA, another student tries desperately to fit in in a hipper-than-thou culture.

Ken Buswell said he chose '80s metal music as a way to connect with many of the students' parents. Buswell said he wasn't much of a headbanger himself when he was in school ("I was into the lighter bands, like VAN HALEN and the SCORPIONS"),but he said he's become more of a fan since listening to a lot of it recently.

"For a lot of heavy metal music, there is a lot of social commentary...the negative images come from the excess associated with it," Buswell said. Read more.

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