GothExplorer

I am probably showing my ignorance here, but right now I cannot think of any popular young metal bands. Let me define popularity. I will consider a band to be popular if since the beginning of 2015 it has released at least one album which has been certified silver or above in at least one country, or which has reached the top three in the album charts in at least one country. So far I have found: Avenged Sevenfold, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Eluveitie, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Metallica, Nightwish, Ozzy Osbourne, Sabaton, and Scorpions. This list does not include either AC/DC or Megadeth, although most of us would want to include them in our list of popular bands on other grounds. AC/DC tee shirts still sell like hot cakes. The Dave Mustaine V was the most popular guitar in the world just a few years back. All of those bands are at least ten years old. In fact, most of them are positively ancient. Can anyone name me a metal band which is less than ten years old, and which can claim to be popular?

So lots of people have read my post about whether or not metal needs record labels, but as yet no one has commented. Today I made my first ever purchase from BigCartel - a Frozen Crown tee shirt. As the band are on tour at the moment, it will not be dispatched until April, but who cares? The tee cost me less than £20, including postage and packing. As I paid via Paypal, there is no transaction fee. I am not really bothered about the tee shirt itself. I am more concerned about doing my bit to support one of my current favourite bands. I read last year that the amount of money a musician earns from the sale of just one tee shirt is roughly the same as the income from five thousand streams. Merchandise is important.

I enjoyed that clip, but I don't expect that band ever to be well known in Britain. Quite simply, songs with lyrics in languages other than English rarely do well in the British charts. Right now I can think of three - Voyage Voyage by Desireless (French), Joe Le Taxi by Vanessa Paradis (French), and La Bamba by Los Lobos (Spanish).

I was astonished when I first heard it. I did not know that music like that existed.

Greetings Andy. I can listen to folk metal, but I like other genres as well.

I have now message the OP with lyrics for Song 3.

Like many people, I have derived considerable pleasure over many years listening to music by bands which were signed to record labels: Deep Purple, Scorpions, Dio, and so on. Nowadays I find myself increasingly attracted to young bands which in many cases have never been signed to a record label – bands such as Frozen Crown and Motion Device. (The Warning were briefly signed to a label). Of course this has a lot to do with the rise of the internet. YouTube allows me to check out just about any band from anywhere in the world, while crowdfunding sites allow me to give them money. Merchandise sites – and I can think only of bigcartel – also help. In recent years, I have given money to The Warning, Motion Device, Liliac, Camille and Kennerly, and The Sixsters. I am not aware that Frozen Crown have ever sought crowdfunding, but I have toyed with the idea of buying some of their online merchandise. And so I ask the question: does metal need record labels? Some of you may be thinking that the bands I have supported online are nowhere near as well known as many bands which signed to record labels, and probably never will be. There is a lot of truth in that. On the one hand, I do not expect The Warning or Frozen Crown ever to be as big as Metallica or Iron Maiden. On the other hand, being successful in terms of record sales can have a downside. Lily Allen said when she released her fourth album that she was one million pounds in debt. I believe that Michael Schenker once had a similar debt to his record label. Bands which crowdfund probably have little or no debt.

I sometimes think that for me the difference between hard rock and heavy metal has a lot to do with subject matter. Dio wrote songs about demons and stuff (heavy metal); Scorpions wrote songs about chasing girls (hard rock). I believe that heavy metal means cars and motorbikes, and Julia Roberts uses the term with that meaning in Pretty Woman. Maybe heavy metal music was originally deemed to be music aimed at bikers.

No one has yet mentioned the hurdy-gurdy.

I'm not sure I can remember, for certain, but it might have been Rainbow Rising.

I believe that the last words he ever spoke to Ozzy were "You're going to kill yourself".

I am hesitant to praise Deep Purple on a metal forum, because I know that they have never seen themselves as anything other than musicians. Nevertheless, with songs like Flight Of The Rat and Burn, they helped to set standards for heavy metal music. One problem I have with Deep Purple is that tribute bands all seem to dwell on the Gillan era. I have however seen Glen Hughes in concert (he was in the third and fourth line-ups of DP), and he played songs from the Coverdale era.

Okay, I have made a start on some lyrics, but it is early days yet.

I like those songs. They sound Nightwishy. A lot of people think I can sing, but my experience is mostly singing karaoke to people who are probably not the best judges of vocal ability. I used to write a lot of poetry when younger, but nevertheless I find it hard to write lyrics. Maybe I will listen again some time, and then try to write something for you.

Young bands I am into include Frozen Crown and The Warning and Motion Device. Not so young bands I am into include Deep Purple and Nightwish and Scorpions.

I have been listening to heavy metal music on and off for more than three decades now, but somehow I suspect that there are younger people than me on this site who are better informed than I am. I own a few guitars, including a Goth Explorer, but I am sure that a lot of other people on this site are way better musicians than I am.