Is metal populist?

[anal_rapist]

This will probably be a not popular question, but is metal populist? Black Sabbath had #1 singles and wrote pop songs, Metallica was popular even in their "hard" days, Slayer sells out stadiums, even Cannibal Corpse is huge now. Metal music appears to be designed for the popular culture and the normal people who inhabit it. Even Burzum is writing pop songs now.

Do we have to all quit and go home because this music is for the crowd, and not the elites? Are we elites? It seems to me that the kids in the private colleges are the smart ones, while the public school kids have a certain kind of functionary intelligence and tend to go on to have positions of obvious power in society. While the private school kids become artists, visionaries and so forth.

Does our society still have a caste structure? If so, is metal for the masses or the elites? If it's for the masses, why is this site trying to treat it like an elite?

[fallot]

Most metal is obviously populist, emerging as it did from the skeleton of rock music. Not even mentioning hair metal, nu-metal, -core stuff etc. But at the rarefied end of the spectrum are true greats which aren't populist and are often enough anti-populist. In every iteration of extreme metal and even its ancestors, there are some elements that exclude the broad sweep of society, whether deliberate or just a necessary aspect of the music and what it means to convey.

Art isn't "for" the masses or elites, and when it is it is generally crap. A failing of humanity doesn't make metal essentially populist, but still yeah... a lot of it is.

[aquarius]

Metal peaked in the early 90s. Up until that time there were not many rubbish bands. Assimilation into populist culture occurred later on but it certainly didn't start out that way.

[Tralfamadorian]

Popularity, or lack thereof, is not an absolute indicator of value, worth, truth, quality, etc.

[Cheeseburger Zombie]

It's pop music, not history or philosophy. Don't take it so serious. It's meant for the workers in their blue jeans to tap their feet to while they work at their jobs or blow off steam at the bars (who buy all their beer from the same suppliers that sell food to fast food restaurants).

Check this out, beeyatches:

http://www.reddit.com/r/Metal/comments/1abhoq/things_metalgeeks_dont_like_to_think_about/

[Tralfamadorian]

It's pop music, not history or philosophy. Don't take it so serious. It's meant for the workers in their blue jeans to tap their feet to while they work at their jobs or blow off steam at the bars (who buy all their beer from the same suppliers that sell food to fast food restaurants).

Check this out, beeyatches:

http://www.reddit.com/r/Metal/comments/1abhoq/things_metalgeeks_dont_like_to_think_about/

I really hope you're being facetious. If not - what the fuck are you doing on this forum?



I will concede that, taken as a whole, metal is populist. I mean, really, take a look at Heavy Metal Parking Lot and try to deny it. However, there are certain strains of this subculture in which this is not the case.

When I was in high school, there were two, count 'em TWO, metal head cliques.

 One group were the 'career' metalheads: long hair, beards, black t-shirts every day, tough guy attitudes, lots of boozing and drugging, iconoclastic, enjoyed vandalism and debauchery, mediocre to terrible grades in school, liked to posture as free-thinker artistic souls but were pretty much liberals to a tee. They listened to some classic stuff like Darkthrone and Slayer but mostly were flavor of the week trend whores who ate up shit like Goatwhore, Necrophagist, Nachtmystium, Agolloch, etc. I've lost touch with these guys, but last time I checked, one of them was in nursing school but the rest were still dragging their feet in terms of getting their lives together. They'll probably end up blue collar.

Then, there were the nerd metal heads: mostly short hair, glasses, plain t-shirts or polos, genuine nice guy personalities, no drugs but occasional drinking, kind of goodie-two-shoes (not because they couldn't think for themselves but because they knew what was best for them), never got in to trouble with the law, got good grades and were generally smarter than average, fiscally conservative but socially liberal. They listened to traditional/power metal; stuff like Iced Earth, Iron Maiden, Stratovarius, Symphony X, and some prog stuff like Rush. All these kids got into good schools and are getting/have gotten STEM degrees.

I sort of drifted between the two groups. I would go to shows with both, but the fact that the nerd metal heads didn't smoke weed meant I hung out with the career metal heads more often. Because let's face it: flying down country roads hanging on to a sun roof while high was more fun than playing GameCube not high. I don't regret it at all, but if I had to do it all over, I would stick with the nerds, because I was really kind of lying to myself about not being a nerd, and hanging out with the careers caused some crippling habits later on.

Overall, this forum, while it's tastes are more extreme, are more like the nerd types, though there is a considerable blending of the two styles.

That was a terrible troll you linked to, btw.

[anal_rapist]

Then, there were the nerd metal heads: mostly short hair, glasses, plain t-shirts or polos, genuine nice guy personalities, no drugs but occasional drinking, kind of goodie-two-shoes (not because they couldn't think for themselves but because they knew what was best for them), never got in to trouble with the law, got good grades and were generally smarter than average, fiscally conservative but socially liberal. They listened to traditional/power metal; stuff like Iced Earth, Iron Maiden, Stratovarius, Symphony X, and some prog stuff like Rush. All these kids got into good schools and are getting/have gotten STEM degrees.

Totally certan there's none of those here.

[fallot]

Overall, this forum, while it's tastes are more extreme, are more like the nerd types, though there is a considerable blending of the two styles.

Sure, I'll put money on most of the people here being your "nerd types" at a basic level but you're missing the element of the dark side. A third type, a nerd inverse. Like you who probably drifted between both and are likely a brainy, generally nice person with a taste for... other things.

Edit: That reddit poster is your nerd type though.

[scourge]

http://www.reddit.com/r/Metal/comments/1abhoq/things_metalgeeks_dont_like_to_think_about/

Outstanding. Although, speaking for myself, band selections themselves are as much a pet peeve of mine as baseball caps and ponytails. I can remember the Skid Row and Poison people obliviously comfortable as they tried to ingratiate themselves with the Venom and Slayer group who could make the distinction between rockers and metallions.

[death metal black metal]

Dunno. Even some of the down 'n' dirty metalheads in my experience have been pretty insightful. Metal is an assertive and "broad view" spirit that makes one into a sort of weird zen master when it comes to seeing how puny and delusional humanity is. Good luck living with that shit. It could drive you to drink(*).


* - drug of any kind not advised by me personally, except pipe tobacco and sugar of course.

[Tralfamadorian]

Totally certan there's none of those here.

Please be more specific. I know power metal isn't standard fare around here, but overall, I'd say the average forum member matches the profile. I know for a fact that many here are pursuing or have already gotten STEM degrees, including myself and others I have met IRL. I used to have long hair and wear all black, but once you become an adult you realize that you're handicapping yourself by dressing like a juvenile delinquent; I know I'm not alone on this, either. Drug use tends to be something folks around here grow out of, too. The 'tuff gai' attitude is also met with disdain, as evidenced by the ubiquitous mocking of Pantera.

The main difference between the nerd type I outlined and the average denizen of this forum is probably the antisocial behavior, which stems from the misanthropy that sometimes creeps into Prozak's philosophy, or rather, arises from a misinterpretation of his philosophy. This can be eliminated by realizing that your imaginary standards of what you want your fellow humans to behave and think like are probably unrealistic, and that there are good people out there if you try to find them.

Oh, and fallot, the occult is for nerds. Nerds or new-age hippies.

[aquarius]

Metal fans will tell you that the closest parallel to their music is classical. But unlike classical it is music that belongs underneath the earth. At least for the time. If the world out there suddenly regained sanity then perhaps metal wouldn't be metal. But for now it’s like being in a world within a world.

[aquarius]

The main difference between the nerd type I outlined and the average denizen of this forum is probably the antisocial behavior, which stems from the misanthropy that sometimes creeps into Prozak's philosophy, or rather, arises from a misinterpretation of his philosophy. This can be eliminated by realizing that your imaginary standards of what you want your fellow humans to behave and think like are probably unrealistic, and that there are good people out there if you try to find them.

The follow on effect of growing up listening to heavy metal including going for walks out in woods, not being too familiar with the latest gadget, buzzword or fly-by-night celeb gossip, being too normal for normal folk to want to talk to you. It's enough to make one feel like they've reached a world within a world.

[Cheeseburger Zombie]

It's all pop music, but some of the pop music isn't even pop music. That either makes no sense, or all the sense you need.

[Wild]

It's all pop music, but some of the pop music isn't even pop music. That either makes no sense, or all the sense you need.

Why do you listen to metal?