Swedish Man Who Got 'Sick' Benefits For His Love Of Heavy Metal Claims He Is 'Still Addicted'

According to The Local, the Swedish man that achieved worldwide fame five years ago by having his love of hard rock classified as a disability and being granted social security benefits for his affliction says he remains addicted to heavy metal music.

"I'm still very addicted," Roger Tullgren, 47, told The Local this past week from his home in Hässleholm in southern Sweden. "I listen to heavy metal music 24 hours a day."

Because heavy metal dominated so many aspects of his life, the Employment Service agreed in 2007 to pay part of Tullgren's salary as a part-time dish washer — an amount of "a few thousand kronor" a month (1,000 kronor = $155). In addition, his boss gave 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 at the time. "I spoke to three psychologists and they finally agreed that I needed this to avoid being discriminated against."

From time to time, Tullgren's remarkable story would resurface in international media, with articles surfacing last month on the Huffington Post and NME web sites, both of which reported the facts from five years earlier as if they had just occurred.

"It's really funny," Tullgren told The Local. "I'm not really sure why the story popped up again, but I've had a lot of people emailing me about it from all over the world."

According to Tullgren, he hasn't been receiving benefits since January 2012, because he "took a new job as a janitor. I work four hours a day and then spend most of the rest of my time with my band, PAPA MIDNITE," he said.

"Metal controls my life," he added. "I need to have my music with me wherever I go.

"I'm taking medication that makes it hard to sleep, which leaves me with even more time to listen to metal."

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