Cryptometal

[ASBO]

We, the undersigned, recognize the following:

* Music is art, meaning it communicates eternal wisdom;
* Metal music is a form of art;
* Art is contrarian to the inclusive, surface-judgment aspects necessary for easy socialization;
* Thus art is both anti-social, and as a deliberate outsider, the only valid social critic through wisdom and not a culture of critique (see inclusivity; critique as a hobby makes everyone a critic, so it is inclusive);
* When metal becomes inundate with the inclusive, it loses its artistic voice;
* Its artistic voice praises the eternal striving for beauty through war, a Romantic outlook laden in vir and dedicated to the artistic, not its inclusive opposite, the political, surface-judgment protest music or social music that is punk or rock'n'(rick)roll;
* Metal goes through periods when it is inundated with the crowd, namely late 1970s, late 1980s, late 1990s through the present, and after it undergoes a new rebirth;
* Before it can be reborn, it must shed its popular skin and be rejected, so that a eugenic population bottleneck of metal musicians and fans occurs.

Therefore, we the undersigned, pledge ourselves as fans of cryptometal, or metal that hides its artistry during times of populist insanity:

* We do not publically identify ourselves as metalheads;
* We do not support metal or "the underground";
* We download all music to avoid supporting a dying genre through its industry;
* We reject all metal music but the excellent, because supporting the mediocre invites more mediocrity;
* We praise the excellent as a way of life, and support it with our listening.

[More Celt Than Sassenach]

It certainly looks like a good list but I do have qualms with what you see about art being antisocial. I believe art is introspective, which is perhaps what you meant but I think rigid antisocial tendencies, especially when it develops into misanthropy are not what makes art, or is at least not intrinsic to the definition of art. 

Also when you use the word Romantic in what sense do you mean the word?

[▓]

This looks like a good way to make people ditch metal and move on to nu and better things!
But how will you convince them to sod off?

[The internet shelters weaklings.]

I would say art is more anti-underman/anti-semitic than it is anti-social.

[ASBO]

Individualistic? No, I think not; good art gets beyond the individual perspective.

Anti-Semitic? Against materialism, sure, and against a personified God, definitely... but Semites? I have no idea.

[antithetikal]

It certainly looks like a good list but I do have qualms with what you see about art being antisocial. I believe art is introspective, which is perhaps what you meant but I think rigid antisocial tendencies, especially when it develops into misanthropy are not what makes art, or is at least not intrinsic to the definition of art. 

Also when you use the word Romantic in what sense do you mean the word?

I agree with the fact that art is introspective. Also, I believe that art does not depends on society, but solely in the individual creating it. Art existed even before society. So we could say that art is antisocial because its rejects the order imposed by the schematic rules of society. Therefore, since dangerous in nature, put into a lesser category by force (entertainment), to avoid further troubles (rebellion).

[beyond_godlike]

*We do not publically identify ourselves as metalheads

The reason metal(or any other music) becomes popular is because it is obscure and something the crowds have never heard before. Someone then decides that it might be "the next big thing." If recordings exist people will find them. Sites like this would have to be taken down to hide it because anyone can access it. Trying to hide metal is futile.

We do not support metal or "the underground"

Most people don't even pretend to support an underground, so this'll accomplish nothing. Also, this somewhat overlaps with the retro trends. By underground most people just mean bands that copy good music from previous generations. Even rap has an underground. People will always create an 'underground' because it coincides with retro trends.

We download all music to avoid supporting a dying genre through its industry

We are not a big enough group to make any difference. Besides, record companies are going bankrupt anyways.

We reject all metal music but the excellent, because supporting the mediocre invites more mediocrity

We already do this. Why would we listen to bands that we don't like?

We praise the excellent as a way of life

Rather than 'praising' the way of life, it would be better to live it. I'm sure this is just a poor choice words though.

and support it with our listening

You can't support a way of life by listening to music.

[antithetikal]

ASBO said praising the excellent as a way of life and not praising life.

[Galvanized]

*We do not publically identify ourselves as metalheads

The reason metal(or any other music) becomes popular is because it is obscure and something the crowds have never heard before. Someone then decides that it might be "the next big thing." If recordings exist people will find them. Sites like this would have to be taken down to hide it because anyone can access it. Trying to hide metal is futile.

ASBO wasn't speaking of purposefully trying to hide metal, for there are plenty supporters of low-quality metal that listen to Demilich, Burzum, etc. However, I believe he is saying that accepting all metal merely because you are trying to personify and portray yourself as some chic metalhead is counter-productive to the production of art for the sake of art as opposed to art for the sake of being what is widely considered metal. It's not the typical tr00 or not tr00 arguments of what is metal or not, but what is art or entertainment with no artistic qualities.

We do not support metal or "the underground"

Most people don't even pretend to support an underground, so this'll accomplish nothing. Also, this somewhat overlaps with the retro trends. By underground most people just mean bands that copy good music from previous generations. Even rap has an underground. People will always create an 'underground' because it coincides with retro trends.

On the contrary, many avant-garde bands who compose solely for the sake of differentiation are widely associated with underground scenes. Just examine metal-torrents.com. Even death metal that is played on major radio stations is often considered underground music. Many people consider anything that isn't teeny bopper music, r&b, rock 'n' roll, or hip-hop to be underground music.

We download all music to avoid supporting a dying genre through its industry

We are not a big enough group to make any difference. Besides, record companies are going bankrupt anyways.

We're not making any difference by doing anything that we do, but we do it anyway. Perhaps we should listen to you and simply accept everything as valid and participate in it, since we can't make a difference by not doing anything?

We reject all metal music but the excellent, because supporting the mediocre invites more mediocrity

We already do this. Why would we listen to bands that we don't like?

Plenty of people listen to mediocre bands today. You forget to draw the line between dislike and passive acceptance; one entails something you know is bad and thus won't accept, the other entails someone admitting that something isn't of the highest quality but isn't of the lowest so they accept it. What, is there only absolute low and absolute high quality art?

We praise the excellent as a way of life

Rather than 'praising' the way of life, it would be better to live it. I'm sure this is just a poor choice words though.

This was well explained by the previous poster.

and support it with our listening

You can't support a way of life by listening to music.

No, you support a way of life by living it. Listening to music is experiencing it, or living it if you will.

[Consvming Impvlse]

* We do not publically identify ourselves as metalheads;
* We do not support metal or "the underground";

So what are you supposed to do if you're in a band? I see the thrust of your proposal, but it seems like total abandonment is what you're advocating.

[Galvanized]

* We do not publically identify ourselves as metalheads;
* We do not support metal or "the underground";

So what are you supposed to do if you're in a band? I see the thrust of your proposal, but it seems like total abandonment is what you're advocating.

I believe that ASBO is proposing that since the creation of substantial art should be the focus of metal if it is to meet the promise it once held that we should not support the current scene which does not hold this promise. Being a metalhead, or being in a metal band holds an entirely different connotation from what it once did in the past. Perhaps the metal that we support isn't widely recognized as what is metal anymore, and thus we will support valid art, not simply valid metal and the form and aesthetics that the genre implies.

[Consvming Impvlse]

I suppose the stopgap would be to hole up with Burzum, Graveland, Averse Sefira, and Profanatica CDs and wait for the clouds to break.

[Wataru]

* We do not publically identify ourselves as metalheads;
* We do not support metal or "the underground";
* We download all music to avoid supporting a dying genre through its industry;
* We reject all metal music but the excellent, because supporting the mediocre invites more mediocrity;
* We praise the excellent as a way of life, and support it with our listening.

I'm not even going to try to parse the statements about art, but i cant figure out what this cryptometal idea would accomplish.
* We do not publically identify ourselves as metalheads
does this mean i have to cut my hair?
* We do not support metal or "the underground";
do i have to quit playing guitar?
* We download all music to avoid supporting a dying genre through its industry;
welcome to 2008, seriously.. but are you trying to say we shouldnt support artists we like, or that we should steal the music of those we dont?
* We reject all metal music but the excellent, because supporting the mediocre invites more mediocrity;
i'm with you here, except that i get the feeling you hate anything produced in the last 10 - 15 years.
* We praise the excellent as a way of life, and support it with our listening.
i gave up here.

[Structures Of Silence]

ABSO puts me off this place, and I rarely disagree with the content of what he's saying. It's a shame, because this is the only forum I visit.

And yes, I know I could've been doing something eternal in the 30 seconds it took to send this message, but man, these threads headed by some neologism about really the exact same old shit again and again are just dumb.

Note to prozak or whoever you are: you're way OTT and put a lot of not ultimate-metal forum type people off this forum.

[MLK]

We, the undersigned, recognize the following:

* Music is art, meaning it communicates eternal wisdom;
* Metal music is a form of art;
* Art is contrarian to the inclusive, surface-judgment aspects necessary for easy socialization;
* Thus art is both anti-social, and as a deliberate outsider, the only valid social critic through wisdom and not a culture of critique (see inclusivity; critique as a hobby makes everyone a critic, so it is inclusive);
* When metal becomes inundate with the inclusive, it loses its artistic voice;
* Its artistic voice praises the eternal striving for beauty through war, a Romantic outlook laden in vir and dedicated to the artistic, not its inclusive opposite, the political, surface-judgment protest music or social music that is punk or rock'n'(rick)roll;
* Metal goes through periods when it is inundated with the crowd, namely late 1970s, late 1980s, late 1990s through the present, and after it undergoes a new rebirth;
* Before it can be reborn, it must shed its popular skin and be rejected, so that a eugenic population bottleneck of metal musicians and fans occurs.

Therefore, we the undersigned, pledge ourselves as fans of cryptometal, or metal that hides its artistry during times of populist insanity:

* We do not publically identify ourselves as metalheads;
* We do not support metal or "the underground";
* We download all music to avoid supporting a dying genre through its industry;
* We reject all metal music but the excellent, because supporting the mediocre invites more mediocrity;
* We praise the excellent as a way of life, and support it with our listening.

Excellent. I like this alot. Might steal it. Where do I sign?