Ziggy is also confusing cultural impact and perceived quality. Two vastly different things. For instance, 5150 Headless Cross is my favorite Van Halen Sabbath album. While it's also not one of their best selling albums (Second or third), it does not have the same cultural impact as some of the DLR Ozzy or Dio albums (whichever the most influential was. I'm not into VH enough to know) but it's well within my right to think it's their "best" album, and it's not a thought completely alien to the rock community.
Sorry, had to do that.
To be honest, the stuff in bold is what this all is about, cultural impact or not. Every individual opinion can be formed apart from whichever measured "success". It's not easy for some, but out here we have members who are able to do that. They have their own norms, their own -sometimes expanding- taste and perfectly know how to separate that from any kind of popularity.
However, I am intrigued by the following and wish to elaborate a bit further on it. The red statement is something else than the blue one:
And yes, Beyonce is quality music. It's written, arranged, recorded and produced by professionals and is appreciated world wide as quality music. You can't turn shit into gold, regardless of marketing (like Miley Cyrus' Wrecking Ball. It's a bit blown out of proportions, but I do think it's a good song.
Because songs are written, arranged, recorded and produced by professionals they are appreciated world wide as quality music?
I think it has more to do with popularity based on image. With being hip and trendy. Videoclips have a lot to do with that. A scandal every once in a while has to do with that.
There are lots of artists in the music industry who possess no artistic talent but who make more money than hundreds of hard working amateurs (or less known, "local" profressionals) with more talent. Simply because they look "good" or because they have smart people behind them. Such a person gets an artist, tells him every minute what they need to do and can stuff money in their pockets when it works.
Sometimes these smart people make a mistake:
http://www.holymoly.com/celebrity/p...ng-guitar-then-look-it-again-whats-wrong68047
I hear you guys saying "Who the fuck is this?" but this is a dude from a boy band. They are around for 3 years and sold 19 million singles and 10 million albums. You know, a band with music written, arranged, recorded and produced by professionals.
Look, I am not saying that all people who sell millions don't have talent, but I think that there's a lot of crap involved that we -or I at least- do not associate with quality, again from the artistic point of view. Beyonce can sing, she can dance, and she might look awesome, but I have way more respect for popularity that is achieved by songs that are -at least- written by artists themselves, without so much "industry" input. I call that
real quality.
And fake/plastic quality is something that certain heads from the metal community dislike.
The metal community is an integer community with real interest for music. Call it arrogant, but it's a genuine interest for quality, for songs (and live performance), an interest that can keep the metal scene vital. It went wrong for a short while, especially in areas where trends rule peoples' lives, and it still goes wrong when the music industry tell moneysucking DJ's what they have to play, and where people think that the stuff on the radio and MTV is the only "shit" that should be liked. All this bullshit, that's what certain metalheads do not like. I am one of them and I am proud to be arrogant about it (if it's interpreted as such ;-).
