With the advent of MySpace and the internet music is available to millions of people with one click of the mouse. Last week at the Iron Maiden show this realization hit me full on. This was my third time seeing Maiden, the first being ten years ago on the Virtual XI tour and then in 2000 on the Brave New World run. What really surprised me is that in 2008, Iron Maiden is now more popular than ever. Whether it’s because of Guitar Hero or kids raiding the dad’s album collection, Iron Maiden’s name is as recognizable as Led Zeppelin. I saw kids sporting Eddie that couldn’t have been over thirteen. There were twenty somethings that looked like they got dropped off at a Paramore gig. I even saw a bunch of young girls waiting in line at the merch stand, cash in hand. Of course I saw the old guard as well. Bikers from the local chapter of the Bandido’s were there. Bandana clad, heavily bearded, and inebriated metal heads were singing along with me, including every word of Rime Of The Ancient Mariner and Moonchild. Never mind that we were back in the Stevie Wonder section, our fists were pumping and our lungs were shorn and burnt from yelling. It felt good to know that there are kids today who have the chance to experience something like Iron Maiden live, they are simply the best in that environment. With the huge stage setup, massive Eddie props, and large amounts of pyro, I would estimate they spent at least fifty thousand dollars on that one show production alone and that’s a conservative guess. But how is this even possible? Metal is supposed to be down deep, where only the weird kid listens to ‘em. You go see a metal band in a dingy, shithole club yet here these guys are putting on a show that costs more than many people’s annual income.

I think I caught the tail end of any semblance of an underground. Well, I bet someone who is thirty plus will tell me I don’t know shit about the REAL underground (ie tape trading) and no, I don’t. But before Napster, before the phrase mp3 even entered the collective conscious, there was a time when I survived off the good words of others. For about three years I had a pretty solid metal buddy when I began my metal journeys. We knew we liked Metallica. They had bad ass lyrics and awesome solos, but after filling out our budding album collections with their discography we craved more. Once this foundation of metal was established the two of us went out and started discovering new bands. The best "good words from others" that I received was from Stephen King. In his book It, there is a scene when the character Ritchie Totzen comes back home there is a concert heading on the marquee of his old theater. "Heavy Metal Mania - Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. Coming soon - Megadeth and Anthrax." Stephen King was cool, It was an incredible book, so if Stephen King wrote the term "heavy metal mania" in fucking It then it's gotta be good... Right? I chose to begin with Iron Maiden, my friend decided to go with Anthrax. I bought Live After Death, he bought Among The Living. Imagine our surprise when we found out the title track to Among The Living was based off Stephen King's The Stand and Skeletons In The Closet was about Apt Pupil.

We had two different approaches to buying. If I found a band I really liked I would then try and get all of their albums. He on the other hand would try and discover as many new bands as possible. While I’m still on Helloween trying desperately to find the Keepers albums on cd and not tape, he had already heard Stratovarius, Manowar, and Blind Guardian. His stint with Power Metal was short lived and then he went on to his passion, thrash and death / black metal. So I was out on my own and to be straight, I was a bit scared that I wouldn’t find any new groups. I remember looking through ads in Metal Maniacs and finding Gamma Ray off in the back. I vaguely recalled that Kai Hansen went on to form this after Helloween. Well, seeing as how Hansen wrote I Want Out, March Of Time and Ride The Sky, I’ll trust him and give Gamma Ray a shot. I ordered Heading For Tomorrow from the crappy Hastings that we had and away we go. I must have liked that album alot because seven years ago a classic review of it was what earned my spot here at Metal Reviews. Now that I think of it, my discovery of a lot of those early Power Metal bands are because of Mr. Hansen and his involvement. Iron Savior, Blind Guardian and Angra were unearthed due to his guest appearances. When I did get the internet I used that to find out more and more bands. I’d go to chat rooms and list off Power Metal bands and someone would say something like, “Hey check out Virgin Steele, check out Stratovarius.” Hell yeah, rock on I most definitely will man. Slowly but surely my advancement of metal bands and my own likes and dislikes of metal were being unfurled. Note that I said slowly.

About two weeks ago one of my completely non metal friends had me doing a double take. During one of our usual longwinded and illustrious conversations I mentioned Sonata Arctica and the term Power Metal. The next time I saw him he started railing off shit like, “Have you heard of Hammerfall, Iced Earth, Primal Fear, Masterplan, Symphony X, or Nightwish? I like Iced Earth and Nightwish the most.” What the fuck? Am I hearing things or did this dude just name drop about a half dozen awesome bands? “I think it’s because that Nightwish band sounds like one of those big Lord Of The Rings movies with guitars.” I asked him how he found out about all these bands in the time span of three days and his answer was this. “I looked up Sonata Arctica on You Tube and then started clicking on all the other bands that would pop up. There’s a ton more but I can’t remember the names of all of them.” In those three days this guy was exposed to more metal than I could have ever dreamt of when I was during my formative years.

That’s when it occurred to me that any music now is just one click away from being heard by the whole world. Metal is no longer something to be sought out and searched for. I remember days when I was expecting a big cd package and the mail didn’t come because it was some obscure holiday and I would get pissed. Man, sometimes I would haul ass to the main Post Office building at seven in the morning to intercept the package at the source before the courier went off on their route. I even tried to plan my days off from work around when the mail should be in. I can’t imagine sitting down now at a computer and within an hour being able to listen to an entire bands discography courtesy of torrents and cable internet. I wouldn’t want too. This might make me sound elitist and severely jaded but I cannot understand how there are people out there that like music, and yet they have never experienced the fruits of a laborious hunt for the debut album from band X, or even just coming home from school / work with a brand new cd in your hot little hands. So yeah, if you’ve yet to go on an album hunt, try it. Your life isn’t that exciting and hectic that going out to a record store will ruin your carefully arranged schedule. Find that band that has that hard to find album with those songs the reviews keep talking about. Place that order on the net / through the brick and mortar store and then go home and wait for it, don’t jump on a P2P and instantly download it. One of the aspects that makes listening to music, not just metal, worthwhile is the joy of discovery.

I’m trying to picture how music is going to be enjoyed in five years time. The amount of work put into learning about new music and obtaining albums has been severely lessened. Are the days of the dedicated underground metal cave dweller gone? When I hear older folk talk wistfully about “back in the day” and how they were trading The Legacy demos I get jealous. I sometimes wonder what it must have been like to be one of the people to know and follow Iron Maiden in their infancy and be an original purchaser of The Soundhouse tapes. That kind of atmosphere and excitement will never return.