belowthelights wrote:
If your asking me then its both. I just have never been able to get into Gorgoroth. On top of that Gaahl comes off as a complete fake. It seems like its all about the image and not the music with him. Not to mention....he tries to make everyone think he is this super evil badass that can live in isolation his whole life and not be phased, and then it turns out hes gay. lol?
I agree that to a degree it does seem to be about image for him, but to what degree I'm not sure. With the whole case that arose, I think that if it wasn't at all about it and he truly was passionate about the music he wouldn't have handled things the way he did. The fact that he's gay I really couldn't care less about, though the way it all unfolded did seem a little attention whore-ish.
Goat wrote:
Criticism of him over this whole Gorgoroth seems a bit OTT to me, considering it was King Ov Hell who tried to "steal" the band, no? People like to bring down the mighty, especially in Black Metal circles, and whilst I thought Gaahl was a bit overrated at the height of his adoration, I don't think he's the sellout bitch that people try and portray him as now. I'd be curious to see a list of Black Metal day jobs; the drop in respect for the musicians involved would probably be tremendous, which is why it'll never happen.
Yes it was King who was the main player, but do remember that Gaahl went along with it throughout the entire case. To me it has nothing to do with his place in the bm scene, and I think that view of him as being one of the musicians at the top is a pretty recent phenomenon. He seems to propagate that image of the sellout, whether intentionally or whether to garner more attention. From his "coming out" (to me you can be gay all you want, but does it mean you have to be so stereotypical about it? From the way he came out, to his "love" for a fashion designer and so on. It almost seems orchestrated.), to the Gorgoroth name dispute, to his ultimate "taking a break from metal" when things didn't go as planned. I think his aim has always been to shock, and when the usual shocking material got old then he tried to push the limits.
As for the final comment, all I have to say is "you are not your job, you are not how much money you have in the bank, you are not the shoes you wear, you are not the contents of your wallet."
To me I couldn't care less what job musicians have in order to pay the bills. We all have to do what we have to do.
