Metal - lifestyle, phase or something else?

Night Prowler

Customer Deathcycle Manager
Staff member
All of us here listen to metal, but how many of us actually live it?

Are you still as "metal" as you were when you started listening to it (no matter how long ago that is), or you became "normal"?

Are you only interested in the music and not the image, and do you even like the metalhead culture?

What things about the metal culture annoy you? And do you even consider yourself a metalhead? And why not?

Discuss!
 
Hmm. I cut my hair recently but I'll grow it out again to regain that metal look. :p I also wear lots of band shirts, mostly Maiden. In fact I'm wearing my SSOASS shirt as I type this! :D So that's about how metal my appearance gets.

The image/culture is awesome. I think Metal has one of the best subcultures around, it's a great outlet for people who need to feel like they belong somewhere and want to relate to others on at least some level. And with the internet you get even easier access to that sort of thing with fantastic communities like this. I never met hardcore metal fans at school so I never became part of a metal clique or anything, as much as I longed for that, but at the very least I knew that others were out there who liked the same music as me and "lived" metal the way I did. Especially going to concerts, it's such a cool experience being in a room filled with people who share a common, sometimes niche, interest. Subcultures are important, and they can be really helpful especially to kids who need a sense of belonging. I think metal is one of the most welcoming and awesome cultures.

I've branched out beyond metal in the past few years as far as listening goes, but it'll always be a metalhead at heart. No other music has resonated with me to the point that it actively feels like a part of my life, beyond just listening to music.

Plus the image is fucking cool. Leather jackets and long hair? Hell yes! :shred:
 
Probably the most out-of-ordinary answer you'll get but that is to be expected from me, surely? :p

As you already know, I'm far from being "metal". Some of my favorite bands are heavy metal bands but they oddly are exceptions to the rule in terms of my valuation of the genre. I find most of the genre's bands to be very dull and generic. I find a good chunk of them childish and pointless. More often than not music goes nowhere and it lacks the atmospheric elements that suck me into the music. A lot of metal bands get too caught up with "riffing" and "soloing" that they forget about details that make music sound great. There's just a handful of truly good songwriters in the genre and all of them seem to evolve in some way as time goes by.

If I were to focus on genres of the heavy metal genre itself, I can completely write off power metal, black metal, glam metal, groove metal, symphonic metal, neoclassical metal and any metal with the word "core" attached to it. Classic heavy metal, thrash metal, progressive metal and death metal are the genres who have exceptions to the rule for me, but they're also very limited. I only like three classical heavy metal bands (Maiden, Priest, Sabbath); three thrash metal bands (Metallica, Megadeth, Testament); four death metal bands (Opeth, Death, Morbid Angel, Cynic) and one progressive metal band (Dream Theater).

Generally speaking; metal fans, along with classical music fans, are the most conservative fans of any musical genre. These genres feature by far the biggest amount of fans who say "I don't listen to anything but this genre". You can see metal fans dissing off any other genre, calling them garbage, praising metal musicians who do so everywhere. Bruce Dickinson, who obviously listens to shitloads of stuff that are not metal, feeds his crowd with claims like "It's metal or bullshit". He knows what he's doing. By conservativeness I don't just mean constant bashing of genres which they see as "threats", but also the constant pressuring of bands to go "back to basics". A very significant amount of people bash Maiden for their stylistic changes in the 21st century, Metallica for their sound change in the 90s, Opeth for trying out progressive rock and the list goes on and on. Same people tend to praise Megadeth for being stuck in the same sound for over a decade and failing to produce a groundbreaking album. They're "consistent" and have not "sold out", so they claim.

As I've said, some of my favorite bands are metal bands. My Top 10 would feature more metal bands than any other genre. However, my overall taste in music is far from the classic metalhead taste. You can see me singing along to 80s synthpop hits, enjoying some old school hiphop, be absolutely blown away from stuff like jazz fusion and prog rock which many metal fans would consider boring, listen to a lot of traditional folk music, etc. I'd rather say "I'll listen to anything that sounds good" but that's the slogan of the casual music listeners who don't know a crap about the artists they listen to, so I go with "I'm a rock music fan" instead.
 
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I don't see a big difference between you and "conservative metal fans" :p
I find most of the genre's bands to be very dull and generic. I find a good chunk of them childish and pointless.
You can see metal fans dissing off any other genre, calling them garbage
What I really don't like is when metalheads refer to more extreme metal as "noise" and "not music" which is very similar to metalhaters' stance on metal as a whole. I expect a more open-minded stance from metalheads honestly.
 
You don't see a big difference because I diss off many of metal's genres? (Which I've cared enough to give a go, listen and have a valuation regarding them) If I was any bit like those people I wouldn't be listening to pop and rap while I call myself a rock fan, which I am.

I have zero boundaries in regards to music. If a black metal band comes out and does something to my liking, I'll like them. There's a reason why the bands I listed are exceptions to the rule.
 
I don't see much difference between writing off entire types of metal (which really become their own genres in a lot of cases) and any genre that's not metal. Both seem pretty closed minded to me.

Either way, I think people who write off any genre that isn't metal are a very vocal minority. If someone tries other genres and decides that they only like metal, that's fine. I think that's what happens more often than not anyway.
 
I think you guys have got "writing off" twisted. I'm not saying I wouldn't give those genres a shot. Because I do. Just today I was listening to Behemoth's latest album, The Satanist. Last week Cowboys from Hell by Pantera and Keeper of the Seven Keys Pt. 1 by Helloween were playing on my laptop.
 
Do you guys actually read my comments? Here, the same one again:

I think you guys have got "writing off" twisted. I'm not saying I wouldn't give those genres a shot. Because I do. Just today I was listening to Behemoth's latest album, The Satanist. Last week Cowboys from Hell by Pantera and Keeper of the Seven Keys Pt. 1 by Helloween were playing on my laptop.
 
I think you guys have got "writing off" twisted. I'm not saying I wouldn't give those genres a shot. Because I do. Just today I was listening to Behemoth's latest album, The Satanist. Last week Cowboys from Hell by Pantera and Keeper of the Seven Keys Pt. 1 by Helloween were playing on my laptop.
Yea but don't you think a lot of people who only listen to metal would say the same thing? Chances are the reason they don't like other genres is because they heard music from them and didn't like it. It's a little odd but it happens.

Granted I'd say that it doesn't help that most people only scratch the surface of certain genres. Especially with genres like hip hop or country, it takes a bit of digging to get to the good stuff, but you can't blame a person for not being interested in doing that if they're seriously put off by what they've heard already.
 
Don't know, my objections and examples did not gather any responses from your following posts, I had to make sure.

I don't think people who only listen to metal do the same, no. A shit ton of metal fans get offended by hearing pop music, hiphop music or being associated with it. Same happens with classical music fans. They get offended by rock music, pop music, etc. because they feel like they're not worthy of praise in comparison to classical music. They're not "art", they say.

As a guy who likes a couple of death metal bands I surely won't be offended by black metal, right? Or as a guy who likes Maiden, I won't be offended by something like Helloween.
 
Yea but don't you think a lot of people who only listen to metal would say the same thing? Chances are the reason they don't like other genres is because they heard music from them and didn't like it. It's a little odd but it happens.

Granted I'd say that it doesn't help that most people only scratch the surface of certain genres. Especially with genres like hip hop or country, it takes a bit of digging to get to the good stuff, but you can't blame a person for not being interested in doing that if they're seriously put off by what they've heard already.
True. There are always exceptions to the rule though. If people ask me what music I listen to, I answer with "only metal and rock", but I like some bands from other genres like Gorillaz, Depeche Mode. However, I'm not gonna say I like synth pop just because I like one band that plays it and hate the rest :p
 
Don't know, my objections and examples did not gather any responses from your following posts, I had to make sure.

I don't think people who only listen to metal do the same, no. A shit ton of metal fans get offended by hearing pop music, hiphop music or being associated with it. Same happens with classical music fans. They get offended by rock music, pop music, etc. because they feel like they're not worthy of praise in comparison to classical music. They're not "art", they say.

As a guy who likes a couple of death metal bands I surely won't be offended by black metal, right? Or as a guy who likes Maiden, I won't be offended by something like Helloween.
Well there you go. You're making broad assumptions about people's listening habits. Especially with some like pop which is near impossible to avoid, it's really easy to hear pop music all the time and decide it's a sound you really don't like. As far as getting offended goes, there are fans from all styles that do that. Again, vocal minority. It's unfair to single out metal for that.

You also have to remember that a lot of people just aren't that passionate about music. They like a certain style and that's good enough for them. For me it's kinda like movies; I'm not very passionate about movies and if I want to watch a movie I tend to stay in my comfort zone. The movies I watch are good enough for me and I don't care enough to branch out.
 
Well there you go. You're making broad assumptions about people's listening habits

You do the same thing. Just the opposite of what I do. How do you know they're a minority? I disagree with the notion that people of other genres get just as offended as metal and classical fans. Almost absolutely certain about that claim.

A lot of people any genre can "hate" another genre. But being "offended" is a completely different thing. The genre has to have a complete subculture to have its people get offended. Metal has it. Classical has it. Punk rock has it. And make no mistake, I hate the conservative classical fans and conservative punk fans just as much as I hate conservative metal fans.
 
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My minority comments are about people who get offended over genres. Because more often than not, the metal fans I come across don't do that.

True. There are always exceptions to the rule though. If people ask me what music I listen to, I answer with "only metal and rock", but I like some bands from other genres like Gorillaz, Depeche Mode. However, I'm not gonna say I like synth pop just because I like one band that plays it and hate the rest :p
I just say that I like whatever sounds good. I don't care what it implies, if people want to know more about my music tastes I can give a more in depth answer.

Usually I'll say something along the lines of: "Some of my favorite artists are Iron Maiden, Miles Davis, Frank Zappa, Foo Fighters, or just whatever sounds good to me". It also depends on who I'm talking to, if I know I'm talking to a jazz nut I'm probably going to mention more jazz artists, if I'm on a forum like this I'll mention more metal artists. Makes more sense to me since that opens up the door for further music discussion. Maiden always gets mentioned though and they're always first. :D
 
I have heard a great many genres while I was growing up, be it through things my sisters would listen to (pop), people at school (varied from stuff like Slipknot, to rap, hip-hop, or boy-bands), my parents (anything from the 60's really) or what I heard in pubs/clubs. Hard Rock and Heavy Metal were the first genres that I actually liked more than the occasional song, as such they are the ones that I have focused my attentions on. With my experiences with other genre's have generally being uninteresting or simply not enjoyable, I am not likely to pay any attention to them. Sure there's a chance I am missing out on some great songs here and there, but experience tells me they are few and far between, and I simply don't have the time nor patience to hunt through trying to find them, when I could instead be focusing on finding more within Metal that I know I have a much higher chance of actually enjoying.

I have gradually become less 'metal' as years have gone by, but not for any particular reason. I used to wear sweatbands, studded leather belts etc, but nowadays it's reduced to just a band T-shirt (I don't have many other shirts tbh :p). My room is still covered in posters though.

I generally find the metal subculture to be extremely friendly, bikers tend to get a bad reputation in particular but whenever I have been to a metal concert they are very friendly. At festivals I tend to find the average teen is quite abusive - a few years ago someone I was camping with had a cup of piss thrown into his face and the only comment the guy who threw it said was "Sucks to be you", whereas most of the metal fans (the obvious ones at least, patch jackets/band shirts etc) either keep themselves to themselves or come up and strike up a conversation. While waiting for Black Wizard at Download last year I had someone come up to me just to say "Awesome shirt mate!" before rushing back to his friends.

Music fans in general are closed minded, I don't think metal fans are any more so than any other. If I tell someone who isn't a metal fan that I like metal I generally get one of two responses: "You mean like Metallica?" or "What, slit your wrists music?". I don't deem all pop music to be songs about falling in love, or all rap songs to be about 'bitches', but I often find that anyone who isn't a metal fan assumes metal is about death and only death - I often put on my iPod in the car and mum will ask me who the band is, usually being quite surprised that there is both a large variation in the subject and also that the songs are quite melodic.

If asked, I will say "I'm into Rock/Metal", because it's true. It doesn't mean I don't like other things (quite happy singing along to Come on Eileen earlier tonight at the pub), but it covers the vast majority of my tastes.
 
Music fans in general are closed minded, I don't think metal fans are any more so than any other. If I tell someone who isn't a metal fan that I like metal I generally get one of two responses: "You mean like Metallica?" or "What, slit your wrists music?". I don't deem all pop music to be songs about falling in love, or all rap songs to be about 'bitches', but I often find that anyone who isn't a metal fan assumes metal is about death and only death - I often put on my iPod in the car and mum will ask me who the band is, usually being quite surprised that there is both a large variation in the subject and also that the songs are quite melodic.

I think that's just ignorance caused by being too casual about music to have a proper in depth discussion in regards to it. Casual fans are definitely close minded and that goes out for any genre.

My minority comments are about people who get offended over genres. Because more often than not, the metal fans I come across don't do that.
:D

Well, I guess you come across the better ones. But think about this one: How much more likely are you to come across comments like "Fuck pop, fuck rap, fuck R&B, long live metal!", "Metal is true music", "There's two genres of music: Metal and bullshit" than ones like "Fuck metal, rock, long live pop!", "Jazz is true music", "There's two genres of music: Blues and bullshit"?
 
A shit ton of metal fans get offended by hearing pop music, hiphop music or being associated with it. Same happens with classical music fans. They get offended by rock music, pop music, etc. because they feel like they're not worthy of praise in comparison to classical music. They're not "art", they say.
I'm never "offended" by other genres. Dunno what's that even supposed to mean. How can I be offended by hearing music I don't like?

My main grip with non-metal-rock music is that it's basically fake. By fake I mean, majority of it is recorded on computers, with no real instruments and with ultra-simplistic lyrics. Oh yeah, and most of popular artists are scandal-rich spoiled celebrities which is also off-putting even if it doesn't have anything to do with music itself.
 
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