Metal Reviews

Yep.

The whole kvlt shit is cool to make fun with, but it sucks as well, still there is a lot of BM that doesn't follow those rules, as there is other metal that doesn't follow that trend either. Most BM is an ever bigger trend than Metal, but some of it is lesser a trend than any metal. Doom and drone are another genres that I feel are very artistic, although I'm not really into them.

kvltsters are faggots. (kaatharian)

He's talking about you Husker ;)

Lies! :oops:

Everyone here knows that I'm not only into black metal or a fag but we all know that you're an asshole who has very low intelligence and you haven't said anything so far that mattered to anyone so why don't you fuck off ?

Haha.

I don't know, me and Winter, you two, this place is getting like hotdates.com

haha Husker has 1337 posts. awesome.

Iced Earth really isn't that inaccessable. I can easily see non-metal fans digging some of their songs.

As for why metal is unpopular:

A lot of people see metal as little more than "noise." They hear the wailing guitars, screaming vocals, etc. And rather than seriously digging deep into it, they simply scream, "Geez, turn that fucking shit off!" They don't really understand the artistry and complexity of metal music. At the same time, thanks in no small part to these bible thumpers you sometimes see on TV (*cough* Pat Robinson *cough*), a lot of people have the notion that heavy metal is "evil", "Satanic" and "about killing people." Take it from me. The majority of my friends are non-metal fans (look at my photo in the "Faces" thread).

The simple fact is that most of the mainstream wants music that's "pleasant." They want simple lyrics they can sing along to. Simple beats they can dance to. They don't really want anything overtly complex and original. There are exceptions (Radiohead for example). But those are few and far between. For the mainstream, it's all about what MTV promotes. Why? Because mainstreamers want to be "in" and accepted by their peers. If you've hung around a lot of mainstream music fans, you've probably heard, "If [insert band here] is so great then how come I've never heard of them?" Since heavy metal gets very little MTV airplay (thanks to its complexity and somewhat acquired taste), very few mainstreamers will listen to it. Lest they be laughed at by their peers for listening to something "nobody else listens to."

now some of you are exagerating a bit, especially reguarding mainstream music.

when someone likes that kind of music it doesn't necessarily mean it's just because their friends dig it or something. sure maybe they like the one hit wonder songs and don't like or know more than a handful of songs from an artist, but it doesn't mean they don't LIKE what they listen to.

soryr guys but "metal being too complex for their simple minds" and "it's not cool, so no one will like it" is just a sorry argument.

HaHa! In the States that is usually the case. I'm not saying someone can't honestly like mainstream music, but a lot of people around here listen to what MTV says is cool, and when it's not trendy anymore it all goes to the used bins to die. At my local shop there is literally hundreds of used Britney Spears Cd's clogging up the shelves. Some people just aren't serious about music, and let their tastes be made up for them.

Agreed, almost all metal is not complex at all!! It's just that a lot of metalheads keep saying that to make themselves feel good or something...

Exactly. Here in the States, as long as it's on MTV, everybody will listen to it. And since MTV doesn't play much metal music (save for may be Headbanger's Ball - which focuses mostly on the more mainstream metal bands), people (particularly teens and 20-somethings) don't listen to it. Plus, there's the general consensus here that metal is just a bunch of guys screaming about Satan and a bunch of guitars wailing.

When I describe metal as "complex," I mean that metal isn't as straightforward as most mainstream music. The lyrics are generally serious and down-to-Earth as opposed to the cliche teen-angst or "Let's Party!!!" lyrics of your average Top 40 Hit. The musicianship is generally more intricate and drawn out (hey, you can't say playing a good guitar solo doesn't take a lot of practice!). And the whole "wailing guitars" and "screaming/grunting vocals" does take some getting used to. Most mainstream music fans are unwilling to let these things grow on them. Thus, they basically shun metal in favor of the next Britney Spears record. Because, to put it bluntly, metal is (for most) a fairly difficult genre to get into.

Again, this isn't to say there aren't some people here that sincerely like mainstream music. But I'd say this probably applies to a good 75-80% of MTV fanboys here in the States. Hence the fact that once it's no longer cool to listen to Band-X, they basically drop out of sight.

Metal > MTV

I think one of the main reasons is underexposure and the almost mythical aura surrounding it. How many of you grew up to the 'Metal is evil and will cause you to randomly murder family members' myths that the media and religious groups delighted in spreading about. Wether you believed them as a child or not these things will stay in the back of your mind in later life and could cause a lot of people to shy away from this type of music without even knowing why (Going all psychological on yo ass)
Aside from that airplay makes a massive difference, especially in the UK, the only mainstream exposure metal gets is through Cable TV channels which tend to play complete shit anyway, and would more than likely put off prospective metalheads. When I was growing up there was a bit of a social stigma surrounding the whole thing as well although the recent mini-goth uprising brought on by nu-metal has changed that somewhat. It's in these formative years that you start getting into a certain musical taste and if you're put off it by trying to fit while young then it's likely you won't get into it in later life.

On the flipside, if metal gets popular metalheads complain so is it such a bad thing? For example, when Slipknot - Iowa was no 1 in the album charts here a few years ago everyone spent weeks spitting venom at them yet when the latest winner of pop idol spends a month at no 1 nobody cares.

Metal > Every other type of music

Just because I felt like being a close-minded bastard for having an opinion.

to much idiots among the fans

Lots of music > Metal > Legacy Of The Night's fav bands > Legacy Of The Night (> Husker ;))

imo there's 3 reasons:

Ignorance

Many ppl don't know anything about metal, since normal hardly hear anything about it, except perhaps, the negative things, or don't know where to get it... of course, when you already inside, there's no problem at all.

Social

social background...

Many ppl are afraid of going their own way. If all your friends listen to techno it's harder to give real metal a try, except for nu-metal since it's played everywhere nowadays.. and of course, ppl are afraid of being regarded as retards by the ppl they socialize with (who's not into metal).

a funny quote by my sister: " what's the point in listening to music that nobody else listens to?", meaning that many ppl just simply want to listen to the same music as their friends etc, if you follow me. It's more fun to share your interest in music than enjoying something on your own... else ppl wouldn't be on MR anyway.

and Metal aint trendy "enough". If you only care about walking around in expensive clothes you don't care about metal either. of course there are trends within metal, but they don't matter in the daily life of normal ppl... no no... Paris matter in that context etc.


Music - Taste, Adaption and interpretation

1: there's the taste in music - and many is satisfied just by listening to pop in the radio, since it's sooo easy.. no work at all.
2: Metal also requires the ear to adapt to the new form of music. Some types of metal are harder to get into, when you're new. So naturally, you wont start listening to death and black right away, unless you know ppl who already listen to those genre.
3: Metal requires bla bla... i for one would use the term "complex", but only in the sense that most metal aint build up like popsongs, with "A A B A B A B", and you can't party to metal the same way you can with techno or sing along to catchy choruses, since alot of chorus aint catchy - many choruses do become "catchy" when you have learned to enjoy metal though.


something like that...