Machine Head’s Rob Flynn Says 30 Year Olds Don’t Listen To Metal
November 29, 2008 by Scott
Machine Head Front-man Rob Flynn was interviewed by Shockhound recently. You can review that entire interview here. What I don’t understand and is the statement below where he said:
“30 year-old people don’t listen to fuckin’ metal. They really don’t. They’ve moved on with their lives, they get jobs, they get girlfriends, they listen to what’s on the radio. Kids are what keeps the scene alive;”
Seriously? I like Rob and Machine Head….but that’s the biggest bullshit statement I’ve ever heard. What keeps the scene alive is the people that don’t stop listening to metal beyond 30. Does this dude have any idea how many Machine Head fans are probably over 30 and have been following them since 94? Just because they don’t always make the shows doesn’t mean they aren’t there. I know plenty of people over 30 that still listen to metal. I’m almost 33 and I still listen to metal. Will I be listening to metal 30 years from now? I don’t know. I’d like to think so but who knows what metal music will be like in 30 years. I doubt if I’ll be headbanging and telling my grandkids about the good ole days of metal, but it’s something that will ALWAYS be with me.
Image Source: Newscom.com
I just turned 50 and still listen to metal. Flynn’s comment is, I think, accurate in a way. Kids ARE the ones who are going to the shows today. Seriously. You think I’m going to show up at a Machine Head show? Right. Everybody’ll think I’m somebody’s Dad. LOL. Nah–he’s right. Although he could have been a little more articulate in his statement.
Yeah, I don’t think he realized exactly what he said… “They get jobs, they get girlfriends”…so that’s almost saying that metalheads don’t have jobs or girlfriends? This could be taken out of context many different way like saying Metal fans = Unemployed chronic maturbators. lol!
The reason the people past 30 don’t get to the shows is because of the jobs. They still listen and follow but unfortunately shows don’t always fall on the weekends.
It is very rare that I see a person over 40 at a show, but every now and then.
its been 10yrs since they last played at a outdoor festital. every 30-100.000 heads are 25-35 and random 50yr old bikers
Also his statement assumes that metalheads are all guys…. “They get girlfriends”?? hmmm….I’m over 30, love metal, and I’m a chick. Am I the exception?
There’s a lot of different circumstances that apply to different people, at some point i agreed with what he said, ’cause all this years i’ve been going to concerts i’ve met friends and other people just like that, and is people that for some reason or another lose interest for whats going on at the moment and want to take a break, mean while they get into something else like a relationship and others things and even think that they are to old for that, so to me only a small percentage of these people at some time at their lives go back to shows or even keep listening to metal or most important keep digging into the new or latest bands or releases. But yeah there is people on their 30’s, 40’s and 50’s that i’ve seen in a lot of shows.
that was a really weak statement. alot of bands still making music are over 30. i mean its understandable if he was shitfaced lol.
That’s crazy. I’m 39 and still listen to metal (lately prog like Symphony X) and even fusion/prog like Alex Argento. I also teach metal guitar on youtube and other sites.
In my opinion, people who have moved on to other styles never really liked metal, instead they jump from fad to fad.
“people who have moved on to other styles never really liked metal, instead they jump from fad to fad.”
Great point, Will.
“people who have moved on to other styles never really liked metal, instead they jump from fad to fad.”
I don’t think that’s really a fair statement. I used to love metal, but the amount of time I listen to it now is probably about 10% compared to the rest. Why? Because I realized that there’s other stuff out there that is interesting, and that listening to one genre of music doesn’t mean I can’t find others enjoyable too.
Now I listen to world music, indie rock, hipster bullshit, and even bluegrass (I even took up banjo playing for a while). Sometimes those interests even intersect (I can name a few good non-Western metal bands with world-music influences). As I branched out it wasn’t so much that I was somehow “never” into metal, but rather I realized that instead of settling for mediocre metal to fill in the gaps when I was temporarily bored with Fear Factory or Tool, I could listen to really good examples of other music, right along with the awesome metal I used to like. That and the fact that stuff like KoRn just doesn’t speak to me as a grown-up, but had a lot of meaning for my angsty adolescent self, well, it just falls by the wayside then.
Nah, Dude. I think your misreading it. I think what Will means is someone that just abruptly stops listening to metal. Most of us listen to other genres. A person would be foolish to limit themselves to just one genre of music because there is so much great music out there…except for emo…which sucks. Most of the time when I leave a loud concert I don’t want to hear more loud music, so I turn on some Pink Floyd or something mellow to wind down. Hell even Zakk Wylde admits to listening to Elton John after getting off stage.
I think a lot of us are ignorant to what else is out there when we are younger and when you get older and mature you tend to drift into other lanes on the road of life and discover other great new things.
What I hate is when people say: “I used to listen to metal in my younger days, but I don’t listen to that shit anymore.” I can understand if they don;t listen to the new stuff but I just don;t see how you can abandon it all together.
I agree, I am 33 and still love metal and Will you got it right 100%.
I always tell everyone that metal was never a fad for me like the other “posers”, I will always love metal even if I am freaking 70 years old as thats the only kind of music I feel connected with.
On february 28 next year I’ll be at a Slipknot concert, I’m almost 30.
My dad still listen his metal bands (black sabbath, etc).
So… no… jobs, kids neither pay bills make you forget metal. I’ll be more than happy to still listen metal bands on my 70’s
Uh, hello- not all people who love metal are young, crazy ,out of control freaks.
At 50, I buy Slipknot, have all of Deftones ligit and bootleg works, so did I miss something? This is exactly what is wrong with society – generalizations. Ignorance of reality must be part of a working metal musician’s life because, dude, just because I aged, doesn’t mean I died inside.
This idiot deserves nothing from anyone over 30.
Maybe HE wants to become a lounge lizard but, last I checked with my buddies, we still rock the fuck out.
You tell’em Gary!
machine head is a pretty fuckin’ stupid band anyway. maybe everyone over 30 just understands that fact and stops going to their concerts and listens to some decent metal where age isn’t a factor.
slipknot sucks too, you all need to get over that part of your lives and listen to real shit.
p.s. flynn is 40 where does that put him?
I saw Black Sabbath (Dio Lineup, aka Heaven and Hell), Judas Priest and Motorhead at a quadruple-header (I showed up late, so I missed most of Testament) in Toronto last summer, and I swear, at least half of the attendees were over forty… I was a minority in the under-twenty crowd…
Granted, Motorhead, Sabbath and Priest are not new acts… Still though, it just goes to show that older metalheads show up from time to time… Flynn is terribly wrong. And these 40’s/50’s born rockers are still doing just that.
I think what he said is more or less true. I’m nearing 30 and I’m not nearly as much into metal, or music in general as I was. I used to eagerly anticipate the new album from whatever group I was into, but now I don’t really get into it anymore. And metal isn’t what it used to be anymore!
“metal isn’t what it used to be anymore!”
Sure it is, Shane. You just have to look for and look past all the other crap that’s out there. I had the same feelings a couple years ago and now I have more bands than I have time to listen to.
It is a stupid statement, im 33 and listen to bands like Sepultura, Carcass, Fear Factory ect….
I will listen to metal until i die.
well i can understand what he is saying, i think what he means by “keeping the scene alive” is not just that its the kids going to the shows, but also its the 16-25 year old kids that are starting the new metal bands. you dont really see new bands made up of a bunch of guys much over 30 guys, if you look at almost every metal band that has come out in the last 5 years, they are all still in their twenties
Trist is right & what makes me think:
New bands’ members didn’t feel metal from the great bands, they didn’t know about metallica before the “black album” they only know about their “renaissance”; nobody told them about Led Zeppelin so they only know about them by youtube.
So my question is: do we have a black hole in metal generations?
Maybe we should tell them about that music, the same as our cousins & older friends told us about black sabbath & janis joplin, we should tell them about sepultura and of course, about Pantera.
Ha! I’m a 31 year old woman of color who plays guitar, and I love metal. How’s THAT for stereotypes.
But what he said isn’t totally inaccurate, as I’ve gotten older, while metal is still my favorite style of jam, I’ve discovered other types of music I like just as much. Plus if you’re working 60 hours a week while taking care of your husband and kids, it’s harder to get out to shows…as a mom you can’t exactly get sh*tfaced any time you like anymore…
I’m 33 and listening to Wall of Jericho as I’m typing this.
I know what he means, but it’s insulting to the rest of us fans who never gave up on the music we love.
The shows I go to usually have a middle age around 28 (I guess) I agree with Will that kids have a tendency to follow trends. Another point is to listen to metal to be different or rebel against stuff. If that is the case, the interest might go away as you grow up. It didn’t happen to me. I’m 31 now. I listened to stuff like WASP, Megadeth, Anthrax and Slayer when I was a kid, added stuff like Machine Head and Pantera when I was a teenager, and moved more towards Death and Black Metal in late twenties. I do enjoy almost all types of music, but metal is the stuff I’m passionate about. There seem to be a metal boom among the teenagers here in Finland so compared to them, metalheads in their 30ies, at least what you can see, are few and far between.