Because heavy metal dominates so many aspects of his life, the Employment Service has agreed to pay part of Tullgren’s salary. His new boss meanwhile has given him a special dispensation to play loud music at work.
“I have been trying for ten years to get this classified as a handicap,” Tullgren told The Local.
“I spoke to three psychologists and they finally agreed that I needed this to avoid being discriminated against.”
Roger Tullgren first developed an interest in heavy metal when his older brother came home with a Black Sabbath album in 1971.
Since then little else has mattered for the 42-year-old, who has long black hair, a collection of tattoos and wears skull and crossbones jewelry.
The aging rocker claims to have attended almost three hundred shows last year, often skipping work in the process.
Eventually, his last employer tired of his absences and Tullgren was left jobless and reliant on welfare handouts.
But his sessions with the occupational psychologists led to a solution of sorts: Tullgren signed a piece of paper on which his heavy metal lifestyle was classified as a disability, an assessment that entitles him to a wage supplement from the job center.
“I signed a form saying: ‘Roger feels compelled to show his heavy metal style. This puts him in a difficult situation on the labor market. Therefore he needs extra financial help’. So now I can turn up at a job interview dressed in my normal clothes and just hand the interviewers this piece of paper,” he said.
The manager at his new workplace allows him to go to concerts as long as he makes up for lost time at a later point. He is also allowed to dress as he likes and listen to heavy metal while washing up.
“But not too loud when there are guests,” he said.
The Local spoke to an occupational psychologist in Stockholm, who admitted to being baffled by the decision.
“I think it’s extremely strange. Unless there is an underlying diagnosis it is absolutely unbelievable that the jobcentre would pay out.