Unpopular Metal/Rock Opinions

MrKnickerbocker

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What are some opinions you have on metal or rock bands/albums/styles that most people love? It seems like everyone has at least one opinion that most other headbangers simply cannot fathom.

(We have a Maiden thread, so let's stay clear of all Maiden related opinions.)
 
Off the top of my head:
  • 70s Priest is miles better than 80s Priest.
  • Sad Wings of Destiny is the best Priest album.
  • Metallica have never sold out.
  • Power metal is one of the worst genres of music ever.
  • Aside from a couple of songs, Slayer is awful.
  • Pantera is boring.
  • Robert Plant is an annoying singer.
  • Pearl Jam sucks. They sound like a great folk singer trying to fit with a weak rock band.
  • Despite having great singers; Nirvana, Alice in Chains and Soundgarden are all mediocre.
  • Emerson, Lake & Palmer is the essence of musical wankery.
  • AC/DC is annoying and only have a couple of good songs.
 
Off the top of my head:
  • 70s Priest is miles better than 80s Priest.
  • Sad Wings of Destiny is the best Priest album.
  • Metallica have never sold out.
  • Power metal is one of the worst genres of music ever.
  • Aside from a couple of songs, Slayer is awful.
  • Pantera is boring.
  • Robert Plant is an annoying singer.
  • Pearl Jam sucks. They sound like a great folk singer trying to fit with a weak rock band.
  • Despite having great singers; Nirvana, Alice in Chains and Soundgarden are all mediocre.
  • Emerson, Lake & Palmer is the essence of musical wankery.
  • AC/DC is annoying and only have a couple of good songs.
Priest: I can go along with this. Stylistically and performance-wise 70's are better, but there are more great songs in the 80's tho.
Sad Wings: Nah.
Metallica: They did sell out, you can't deny that even if you like all their albums.
Power metal: idryo
Slayer: idryo
Pantera: Yeah, most of the time.
Plant: Yes yes yes!!!!!
Pearl Jam: Eh, I don't listen to them so can't judge, but what I heard ain't really bad.
Nirvana is mediocre and Cobain isn't a great singer. AiC and SG are awesome in every sense.
ELP: Dunno.
AC/DC: idryo :p

My turn:
Most of black or death metal I heard has more emotional depth than most of prog rock/metal worshipped around here.
Led Zeppelin might be most overrated musicians/band ever.
Jimmy Hendrix was a great guitarist, but his music really isn't good.
Grunge doesn't exist, it's a made up term and bands labeled as grunge are either heavy metal or hard rock. Nirvana/Pearl Jam - hard rock, AiC/SG - heavy metal.
 
United Abominations is the best Megadeth album save for the Peace albums.
John Greely is the best vocalist Iced Earth has had.
Nu metal is probably the weakest metal subgenre.
Tom Araya is a terrible vocalist (although his vocals on the first two albums are decent)
Pantera is overrated.
RJD's best work came with his time at Rainbow, although his Sabbath and Dio work is exceptional too.
Reload is a great album.
Cannibal Corpse is awful.
Nothing Else Matters is probably the most overrated song of all time.
 
Grunge doesn't exist, it's a made up term and bands labeled as grunge are either heavy metal or hard rock. Nirvana/Pearl Jam - hard rock, AiC/SG - heavy metal.

This is completely correct from a musical perspective.
From a cultural perspective, however grunge was a real and necessary shift from the buffoonish hair metal culture that dominated heavy music prior to its arrival.

(Or just go watch Rock Star :p)
 
Another one. The idea of sub genres within metal is extraordinarily limiting.
 
Helloween is a terrible band.
Michael Kiske has a disgusting voice.
Kai Hansen squeals like a muppet.
 
Off the top of my head:
  • Metallica have never sold out.
  • Power metal is one of the worst genres of music ever.
  • Aside from a couple of songs, Slayer is awful.
  • Pantera is boring.
  • Robert Plant is an annoying singer.
  • Pearl Jam sucks. They sound like a great folk singer trying to fit with a weak rock band.
  • Despite having great singers; Nirvana, Alice in Chains and Soundgarden are all mediocre.

- Metallica have never sold out. I'm with you! They've played music they wanted to play and said, "Fuck you!" to those who didn't like it. If anything, the only argument I'll make for Metallica potentially selling out is on Death Magnetic because it's the first time where they sound like they are playing music that other people want to hear, not playing music for themselves.
- I love power metal's influence on other sub-genres, but straight-up power metal can be mind-numbing.
- Slayer IS awful!
- Pantera got boring, but the first couple albums are good.
- Robert Plant's voice can be ok, but I often find it annoying as well. Now that he's an old man, though, I kinda like it.
- I don't know if Pearl Jam sucks, but they're definitely quite average.
- Nirvana did not have a great singer. Alice in Chains is pretty good, but they get repetitive. Soundgarden is amazing.

My turn:
Most of black or death metal I heard has more emotional depth than most of prog rock/metal worshipped around here.
Led Zeppelin might be most overrated musicians/band ever.
Jimmy Hendrix was a great guitarist, but his music really isn't good.
Grunge doesn't exist, it's a made up term and bands labeled as grunge are either heavy metal or hard rock. Nirvana/Pearl Jam - hard rock, AiC/SG - heavy metal.

- I find black metal to be devoid of everything except walls of sound. Death metal has way more emotional depth than prog, but I'd still like to be able to understand the lyrics. Not understanding the vocals surely cuts down on my emotional enjoyment of music.
- Led Zeppelin is incredibly overrated.
- Hendrix is also overrated, especially from a songwriting perspective.
- Grunge was a culture, not a musical sound.

United Abominations is the best Megadeth album save for the Peace albums.
John Greely is the best vocalist Iced Earth has had.
Nu metal is probably the weakest metal subgenre.
Tom Araya is a terrible vocalist (although his vocals on the first two albums are decent)
Pantera is overrated.
RJD's best work came with his time at Rainbow, although his Sabbath and Dio work is exceptional too.
Reload is a great album.
Cannibal Corpse is awful.
Nothing Else Matters is probably the most overrated song of all time.

- United Abominations is pretty bad. The only nu-Deth album that holds up to the old stuff is The System Has Failed.
- John Greely is third best vocalist to ever be in Iced Earth, after Barlow and Stu (who unfortunately has been given shit material).
- Nu-metal is very weak.
- Agreed! Tom Araya is pathetic as a vocalist.
- Pantera is overrated, but I still respect their style and enjoy some of their early work.
- So basically...RJD was good always? I can agree with that! :)
- ReLoad IS a great album!
- Cannibal Corpse is only good for one thing: hilarious song titles.
- Nothing Else Matters is a decent, if incredibly boring, song.

MY TURN!

- I honestly don't understand the appeal of Rob Halford's voice.
- I'm incredibly sick of the melodeath, post-hardcore, and djent genres. Every single band to gain a fanbase in the last ten years has been this style. I just want them to go away, or at least incorporate memorable songwriting and clean singing that doesn't sound like an emo band.
- Pink Floyd makes me bored and sleepy.
 
Grunge doesn't exist, it's a made up term

No, the term was actually coined by Mark Arm of Mudhoney around 1989, and was Seattle slang for Seattle underground music... until the media took it over, and Seattle disowned the term. For a few years, it was a legit term.

Grunge was a culture, not a musical sound.

Yes. As a musical term, it was meant to imply "raw" rather than "polished", but it was used to describe one very localized and yet very diverse music scene and the associated culture.
 
Plus I find the vast majority of the 70s rock music totally unlistenable.
And then there's Rush.

It's mostly far too self-indulgent for me. I enjoy the bluesy, Southern rock stuff like CCR, Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, early Doobie Brothers, and some Eagles. I enjoy some Deep Purple and The Who, as well, but for the most part, 70s rock bands were so longwinded that they ran out of air.

Oh, and also Rush. :D:edmetal:
 
There's a lot more to the 70s than just self-indulgent stuff. In the same decade, punk rock came along to blast that long-winded stuff away.

Here's a relevant unpopular opinion of mine: most disco, even the bad disco, is miles better than any dance music from this century. I prefer real instruments played badly over computers programmed well. (Also disco is a goldmine for superb basslines.)
 
Very true. I was thinking about mentioning that too, but I figured they were included in the "self-indulgent" group. :cool:

While I dislike most of that stuff, I think that James Taylor's "You've Got A Friend" is a superb song.
 
Metallica: They did sell out, you can't deny that even if you like all their albums.

I don't like all their albums. They never sold out. Ironically, the bands who have been praised for their way of "not selling out" and put up against them (*cough* Megadeth *cough) are the actual ones that sold out. Metallica got a fierce punk-based fanbase with Kill'Em All. Then used acoustic guitars to start their next album. They got a big thrash audience. Then they moved to heavy metal and wrote anthem-like songs. Then they moved to hard rock based stuff, even did country-sounding things simply because they wanted to do it. As Knick pointed out, Death Magnetic is the only thing that comes close to selling out, because they did it to please fans.

Selling out in music means throwing your musical interests away in order to get yourself a better financial position. Taking risks and doing different stuff despite the possible consequence of losing fans is the opposite of selling out.
 
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