WinterIsComing wrote:
Seinfeld26 wrote:
WinterIsComing wrote:
I never knew that Machine Head are very mainstream? I didn't think they are extremely popular or extremely influential.
They aren't. Another sort of quirk with the metal community is that they basically think whenever a band decides to implement some mainstream influences in their music, it's automatically because they're "selling out." I wonder if it's ever occured to some metal fans that may be these bands simply LIKE bands like Slipknot and that's why they use them as an influence (rather than to "sell out"). In Flames bashing bothers me, because, well I'll give you an antidote: I go to a college with no less than 10,000 students and I doubt even 2% of the student body even knows who In Flames is. Here in the states, they probably haven't even sold 100,000 records yet (contrary to what I think Danny said in his review for Soundtrack To Your Escape - which is actually a pretty good record IMO). I don't know what the metal market's like over in Europe, but here they certainly wouldn't appear to have "sold out."
In a way I agree, but I would be really pissed if all of a sudden some of my favorite bands decided to totally change their style of music. You do usually expect the band to stay within a certain limited range of their original formula, that is why you liked them in the first place. If you want a certain other sound then you can always listen to bands that do that type of music. Nobody really cares if the band actually likes certain music and now wants to do it too, it is in a way a betrayal of sorts. Not that I am saying that Machine Head are really guilty of that, I think Burning Red was very good, but then again I was never a huge fan of Machine Head so it didn't bother me much that they changed their style, but if say Falconer changed their amazing unique style I would be in bed crying for weeks. The smart way for a band to do it without pissing off many fans is to either change gradually with each CD or to have a couple of experimental tracks on each CD.
When I was young, I could be disappointed when my favourite band released a shitty album, but through the years I lost my emotional involvement with my so-called favourite bands (Metallica, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, etc), not because they changed their style, but because I changed: If a band wants to play something different, I'll give them my blessing.
It's really quite simple: If their new album sounds like shit, I'm just not gonna buy it.
That's the power of the Internet: a almost limitless source of reviews from many different people and the opportunity to prelisten a CD by MP3-samples.
I am not emotionally attached to any bands, but if only one band makes a certain type of music and they change, then it is a big loss.