Metal Reviews

Baseball sucks, and I for one am truly happy that such an arrogant asshole like Barry Bonds holds the "sacred record." Blame Bud Selig for being an impotent wimp who enjoyed the revenue that guys like Bonds, Sosa, and McGwire slapping HR's brought to the sport. Sure guys on ESPN sit there and feign righteous indignation, but the fact is, the Average Joe who shows up to the park want to see Home Runs. Babe Ruth was a wife-beating drunk, Ty Cobb was a rasict creep, Joe DiMaggio was dumb as a board, A-Rod cheats on his wife, etc. etc.

The fact is, the majority of people in general, are fucking scumbags, idolize no-one. Public personas are usually the highest form of deception.

I thought I was just making a simple analogy.

But a baseball fan would have be pretty dumb to say that steroids didn't come into play for setting the records... and you were wondering the positive effects of weed and one of them is that a lot of musicians probably wouldn't be musicians if it wasn't for it.

As for others, it's kind of hard to explain the benefits of weed to people who have never been high. I find it kind of telling that most people who are against it have never tried it for themselves

Yeah, like most potheads were actually looking for any benefit besides feeling funny.

Any substance can be used beneficially. Hell, even alcohol has psychoactive properties, and has been used for rituals.

difference is those people don't make good music.

And Chris Barnes does?

Where did I say that? Oh yeah, I didn't.

Okay, I'm going to say with a straight face that just the general "Music Elitism" that goes on particularly within the metal community pisses me off. So many metal fans are quick to say that their music is "superior" to everybody else's because it's "underground and the bands have integrity." Which is a load of bull.

First of all, just because a band is "mainstream" doesn't mean that they're just in it for the money. Take Green Day for instance. American Idiot's popularity was sort of an accident. I don't think even they predicted it would be such a success, seeing as to how they were sort of a one-hit wonder (with the song Basketcase, and to a lesser extent Longview). And despite what you may personally think of the album, you can't deny the way it influenced a whole generation of people who were pissed off at the post-9/11 Bush Regime. It even prompted some people to directly take a stand against it. I don't think there are too many metal albums that did this, because metal is mostly restricted to its loyal fanbase and nobody else. So regardless of how "anti-establishment" and "rebellious" metal may be, are a lot of metal bands really DOING ANYTHING to make the world a better place? Or are they just bitching and moaning about the world in their music without really doing anything to change it? The latter seems to be the case much more often than not. Many are just like "Raaaaaaarrrrr! The government sux!!! Raaaaaaaaaaar!!! I hate religion because religion is 'moral' and being 'moral' isn't kvlt!!!!!"

Plus, while there are a lot of people who listen to certain mainstream music just because it's "trendy", there are also a lot of them who simply listen to certain mainstream bands because they LIKE THEM and perhaps they see something in them that we don't. For example, Wake Me Up When September Ends (overplayed as that song is on the radio) reminds my girlfriend of her brother, who's fighting in Iraq as we speak. Since that song actually came on the radio just as he left to go to war. At the same time, there are a lot of metal fans who just listen to metal because it's "underground" and they feel "listening to underground music" makes them cool. Which is just as bad as listening to mainstream music just to be trendy. Yes, it's true: Metal fans are just as "trend following" as a lot of mainstream fans, only they're following a different trend. Talk about contradicting your own beliefs. And yes, some bands really do become popular because they play good music.

The moral? You don't necessarily have to like a lot of mainstream bands, but many of them do deserve more respect than metal fans give them. And it's ridiculous to declare your taste in something as subjective as music "superior" to everybody else's. Especially since a lot of metal fans have probably hardly ever EVEN LISTENED TO THE MAINSTREAM BANDS THEY BASH AND JUST BASH THEM BECAUSE THEY'RE POPULAR (which is, again, ridiculously stupid).

True. I often thought the people who bash bands because they're popular are no better than the people who listen to bands just because they're popular. I'll admit to not listening to much mainstream music, apart from Metallica, but I'm not going to dismiss a band out of hand due to their popularity.

if anything i think greenday produced alot of fools who don't know anything about politics, on a domestic or global scale , that run around spouting off the opinion that greenday fed them. not that this is greednday's fault but they surely don't deserve a medal for invigorating fifteen year old psuedo-activists.

Well, I definitely won't argue with that. Regardless, you still have to admire the band for being able to have that kind of impact on youthful political activism. Even if they did spawn a lot of mindless sheep along the way.

I think metal fans who diss something just because its not metal are cute and cuddly little poofsprites.

Also talking to Rage Against the Machine fans and having been one for a couple of months convinced me that politics + music aren't a good combination.

It's not hard to influence idiots when your videos are played on MTV and its ilk.

Unfortunately, you're right.

I must say, though, it really irks me that a lot of metal bands seem to be more theorists than practitioners. They'll rant and rave about the state of the world, and how messed up everybody/everything is. And yet, I've seen only a few of these bands actually making an effort to do something about what they complain about. At the very least, bands like Green Day have taken an activist stand on these issues and attempted to influence people to fight injustice, etc (and, to a degree, it's actually worked). A lot of metal bands, meanwhile, just rant and rave about the world and society without any real attempt at bettering them. As if they're just ranting and raving so that they have something to complain about, rather than because they honestly care about these issues.

yeah that's probably true

What do you suggest metal bands who are into politics should do about it?

May be join or start a political rally? Try bringing their music and political views to a wider audience? Volunteer? Start a non-profit? Do something I haven't even thought of? If Sepultura and Testament can be socially active, so can Lamb of God, Slayer, Phil Anselmo and Exodus (Lord bless them, I love all four bands - three if you don't count Phil Anselmo, who's basically a solo artist for all intents and purposes).

I know a lot of metal bands probably don't have the money, respect or resources to do all these things. But it's a little hypocritical of them to rant about how society's going to pot, and then spend their non-music time just sitting around watching TV or goofing off, rather than at least attempting to do something about what they're complaing about. Even if they're just starting a local non-profit to deal with, say, a corrupt mayor or Urban Apathy. It's better than nothing at all. But if you front a metal band and don't even have the incentive/wish to better society, then may be you shouldn't be ranting about it so much in your music. Otherwise, you're not really accomplishing anything other than may be gaining a few anti-social adolescent fans.

I don't think musicians need to do any of that stuff at all. They don't have any obligation to be active. Music is their way of expressing themselves and they only need to do that and nothing else. If musicians need to practice what they preach then Cannibal Corpse needs to slaughter babies, Varg needs to become the next Hitler, and a lot of bm bands need to sacrifice themselves to Satan. All of these are stupid and will never happen.

Besides like you said they don't have the money, and have a limited audience. And maybe they don't want to spend their 10 days of the whole year not touring doing something related to politics instead of resting and having time with their family.

Artists may point out the flaws in society, it is other people's job to do something to fix it.

Yeah art is just an excuse not to be doing something useful, so if they were actually doing something useful it would totally defeat the point

Of course the flip side of activism is becoming a pretentious and downright annoying asshole like the members of U2. Those guys really don't give a shit, they just lend a sympathetic ear to hot button issues to boost album sales.