Earn a Degree in Heavy Metal

Last night I had my first dream about blogging (that I can remember). In seven years of blogging, you'd think there would have been more dreaming. I do dream about twitter (sorry, but I do), but not Facebook (thank GOD). But blogging has been so much a part of my life that perhaps my subconscious doesn't need to "go there" to deal with it.

Last night the post I was working on in my dream was "Metal Education," as in heavy-metal education. I was gathering videos and getting my little thoughts in order, just like in real life. When I woke up, I had to plow through all the stupid stuff in my head (like Journey's Don't Stop Believing) to remember this dream. This dream consisted of me sitting here, typing this. Or something like this.

Oh, I'm living the dream all right!

So of course after morning stretches, I went right to Google, looked up "Heavy Metal Education" and guess what? As of this year, you can now get a two-year degree in Heavy Metal at New College Nottingham, offering the UK's (and perhaps the world's) first foundation degree in Heavy Metal. Now YOU can live the dream too!

Find out more about New College Nottingham's foundation degree in Heavy Metal.

Course tutor, Liam Maloy, defends the study of heavy metal to the doubters at BBC News. As with most any college course, there will be essays. There will be presentations.



Maloy's band, Johnny and the Raindrops, sing of drunken little punk-rock fingers in the park:




Caveat: I'm no heavy-metal doubter. Most of my childhood and all of my adolescence was spent in Concord, California—heavy metal capital of the world (next to Helsinki). Proof: my high school is home to radio station KVHS, which played pretty much nonstop metal (except when I showed up and started playing Echo and the Bunnymen, resulting in a death threat over the request line). Concord is also the birthplace of the band Death Angel, whose singer was my brother's high school class president and all-around nice guy.



This heavy-metal moment is dedicated to YOU, metal scholars, in the hopes that a degree in Heavy Metal will help make all your dreams come true.