Metal Umlaut

A metal umlaut (also known as röck döts) is a diaeresis that is sometimes used gratuitously or decoratively over letters in the names of hard rock or heavy metal bands—for example those of Queensrÿche, Blue Öyster Cult, Motörhead, and Mötley Crüe. Among English speakers, the use of umlaut marks and other diacritics with a blackletter style typeface is a form of foreign branding intended to give a band's logo a Teutonic quality—denoting stereotypes of boldness and strength commonly attributed to ancient northern European peoples, such as the Vikings and Goths. Its use has also been attributed to a desire for a "Gothic horror" feel. The metal umlaut is not generally intended to affect the pronunciation of the band's name.

These decorative umlauts have been parodied in film and fiction; in the mockumentary film This Is Spın̈al Tap (spelled with an umlaut mark over the n and a dotless i), fictional rocker David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean) says, "It's like a pair of eyes. You're looking at the umlaut, and it's looking at you."

The German word Umlaut roughly means changed sound or sound shift, as it is composed of um-, "around/changed", and Laut, "sound". In standard usage (outside heavy metal) the umlaut version of a vowel is pronounced differently from the normal vowel; the letters u and ü represent distinct sounds, as do o vs. ö and a vs. ä. The sounds represented by umlauted letters are typically front vowels (front rounded vowels in the case of ü and ö). (See Germanic umlaut.) Ironically, these sounds tend to be perceived as "weaker" or "lighter" than the vowels represented by un-umlauted u, o, and a, and thus in languages like German which use it normally, the umlaut does not evoke the impression of strength and darkness which its sensational use in English is intended to convey. Therefore, the foreign branding effect of the metal umlaut is dependent on the beholder's background. Speakers of such languages may understand the intended effect but perceive the result differently from speakers of languages in which umlauts are rarely used.