Metal Fans Are NEVER Satisfied

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In the metal industry these days, you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t. What I mean is that metal fans are never satisfied one way or another. Through all the changes that have gone through metal over the year, there is always something that aggravates us as fans. Let me explain…

In the beginning all metal was created equal. Through innovation and evolution it has changed in order to keep thriving and satisfying the fans hunger for something bigger and better. As thrash and speed metal started to get big, a big fat, wet, cat crawled out of a trash can and glam rock was born. Glam rock took over the scene and metal as we knew it was put in the shadows for the moment. We still knew it was there and supported it but it wasn’t so much in the public eye. When it was it was always a bad thing like some schmuck off-ing his best friend while listening to his favorite metal band, while glam rock probably spread more STD’s than a big city crack whore. Men looked like women, pants were tighter than a most women’s, yet these guys were seeing more ass than a proctologist. Am I jealous? Nah. It was time for something new though. Even glam rock fans were getting bored and very tired of choking on Aquanet fumes.

Grunge suddenly became the staple food for music fans. Torn jeans were a fashion statement, guys stopped shaving and washing their hair or bathing in general. You were either depressed or just playing the roll. That didn’t last very long until it was named “alternative”. It was a slowly dying cow. Alternative is still here and there but not nearly as big as it was back then and probably never will be again.

Punk re-emerged in a new pop kind of form. The new “punks” were instrument extraordinares. They knew how to play their instruments and sing well. But it wasn’t fooling the old school metal-heads. The ones that saw punk die. They knew that 99.9% of these guys were posers. It was quite obvious. Metal needed something new still. Even though in the mid to late 80’s a different kind of metal had emerged out of Florida called “Death” metal. This was more underground and controversial because of the lyrics and cover art on records and often incomprehensible deep, growling, throaty vocals . Some liked it and some didn’t.

As the “punk” scene had it ups and downs (Mostly downs) a new kind of metal was forming. A new metal that sometimes had turn tables, tuned down guitars, and even rapping. A New kind of metal called…Nu-metal. To me it was something new and different. I wasn’t into the bands that did a lot of rapping like Linkin Park. It was tried before and still lives a bit with Hardcore bands like Biohazzard, but Biohazzard did the hardcore/rap (not hardcore rap) thing well. Some metal fans turned a deaf ear to Nu-metal. Even if you fit the nu-metal bill but still had a bad ass metal sound you were still called names and mocked. While bands like Korn, Nothingface, and Slipknot had hard and heavy sounds people still hated them. Nu-metal is kind of still alive but the bands that were big knew they would need to change their sound a bit in order to survive.

The late 90’s started to bring metal back out of the shadows. Hardcore started to be seen more as well as metal and a hybrid called metal-core was born. Metal was getting bigger and the record labels saw it and started to sign every stinking band that fit ‘metal’. Metal genres of all sorts started forming from other forms of hybrid genres making the even more variety in the scene

Today there are a shit-load of metal bands on the scene. Some of them are barely worthy of the ‘metal’ label and some of them are just plain garbage. As metal fans we say stuff like “Cookie Monster” vocals and chuggah-chuggah guitars. We always say we want something new but talk about the good ole days of thrash. A few bands come on the scene playing that good ole thrash sound and suddenly we’re ass backwards complaining about it. Metal fans are such a mix of opinions and we can never agree on the same thing. Some like it tuned down and crunchy and some like it melodic with high pitched squealing solos. Some like the vocals deep and raw sounding and some like them clean and cut. Some like the bottom end heavy, some like it to mix perfectly and not over powering. I wouldn’t have it any other way though.

As metal fans we’re all different. If we all liked the same exact thing we would be the same bunch of dumb-ass, trend following bunch of zombies that the rest of them are. I like what metal has become. What the fans have become. Sure we still get the fans that think they are hardcore or the karate moshers making fools of themselves in the pits but that’s expected. The real fans help each other out in the pits. You may get hurt but that’s part of the pit. Luckily in a lot of venues security can spot out douche bags that cause trouble and escort them out.

Metal is bigger now than it has ever been, no matter what anyone says. It may not be all over the media like Hip-Hop or pop, but it’s there and growing. Enjoy it for what it’s worth. Keep bitchin, keep complaining, keep name calling. It’s normal. But at the same time keep raising your fists to the sky and supporting your favorite bands no matter who does or doesn’t like them. Once you start hating or liking someone or thing just because someone else does….you’ve become one of THEM! Metal fans are never satisfied. We keep the standard high and that’s why metal will never die!