Hit the lights and jump in the fire, you're about to enter the School of Rock! Today's lecture will be a crash course in brain surgery. This hard and fast lesson is taught by instructors who graduated from the old school-they actually paid $5.98 for The $5.98 EP. But back before these philosophy professors cut their hair, they were lieutenants in the Metal Militia. * A provocative study of the 'thinking man's' metal band * Maps out the connections between Aristotle, Nietzsche, Marx, Kierkegaard, and Metallica, to demonstrate the band's philosophical significance * Uses themes in Metallica's work to illuminate topics such as freedom, truth, identity, existentialism, questions of life and death, metaphysics, epistemology, the mind-body problem, morality, justice, and what we owe one another * Draws on Metallica's lyrical content, Lars Ulrich's relationship with Napster, as well as the documentary Some Kind of Monster * Serves as a guide for thinking through the work of one of the greatest rock bands of all time * Compiled by the editor of Seinfeld and Philosophy: A Book about Everything and Nothing and The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D'oh! of Homer

Who's Who in the Metal Miltia. Heroes of the Day: Acknowledgments. Hit the Lights. DISC 1 ON THROUGH THE NEVER. 1. Whisper Things Into My Brain: Metallica, Emotion, and Morality. Robert Fudge. 2. This Search Goes On: Christian, Warrior, Buddhist. William Irwin. 3. Alcoholica: When Sweet Amber Becomes the Master of Puppets. Bart Engelen. 4. Through the Mist and the Madness: Metallica's Message of Nonconformity, Individuality, and Truth. Thomas Nys. DISC 2 EXISTENSICA: METALLICA MEETS EXISTENTIALISM. 5. The Metal Militia and the Existentialists' Club. J. Jeremy Wisnewski. 6. The Struggle Within: Hetfield, Kierkegaard, and the Pursuit of Authenticity. Philip Lindholm. 7. Metallica, Nietzsche, and Marx: The Immorality of Morality. Peter S. Fosl. 8. Metallica's Existential Freedom: From We to I and Back Again. Rachael Sotos. DISC 3 LIVING AND DYING, LAUGHING AND CRYING. 9. To Live is to Die: Metallica and the Meaning of Life. Scott Calef. 10. Madness in the Mirror of Reason: Metallica and Foucault on Insanity and Confinement. Brian K. Cameron. 11. Ride the Lightning: Why Not Execute Killers?. Thom Brooks. 12. Living and Dying as One: Suffering and the Ethics of Euthanasia. Jason T. Eberl. 13. Fade to Black: Absurdity, Suicide, and the Downward Spiral. Justin Donhauser and Kimberly A. Blessing. DISC 4 METAPHYSICA, EPISTEMOLOGICA, METALLICA. 14. Believer, Deceiver: Metallica, Perception, and Reality. Robert Arp. 15. Trapped in Myself: "One" and the Mind-Body Problem. Joanna Corwin. 16. Is It Still Metallica? On the Identity of Rock Bands Over Time. Manuel Bremer and Daniel Cohnitz. DISC 5 FANS AND THE BAND. 17. Metallica Drops a Load: What Do Bands and Fans Owe Each Other?. Mark D. White. 18. The Unsocial Sociability of Humans and Metal Gods. Niall Scott. 19. Boys Interrupted: The Drama of Male Bonding in Some Kind of Monster. Judith Grant. 20. Justice for All? Metallica's Argument Against Napster and Internet File Sharing. Robert A. Delfino. The Phantom Lord's Index