The characters are anything but homogeneous; they include barrio home boys, heavy-metal fans, parents, entrepreneurs and madmen.

Monday was a good night to be a teen-age heavy-metal fan in New York City.

Aside from the heavy-metal fans, audiences at concerts tend to be much more clean-cut and sedate than the groups they come to hear.

Kate hoped the kid didn't turn out to be a heavy-metal fan.

Does rearing three entitled American children hinder one's parenting skills with three generations of heavy-metal fans?

Dr. Barton is a heavy-metal fan.

One day, she looks like a heavy-metal fan, another like a bohemian who weeps at poetry and art.

"It's not my business," said Mr. Youness, an 18-year-old Muslim and heavy-metal fan.

The only thing louder than heavy-metal music are heavy-metal fans.

"I write new-age music for heavy-metal fans," Mr. Chatham said during an interview last week in his East Village apartment.