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Do you think metal could ever become massively popular again?


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The atmosphere at big venues is entirely different than those at small venues. People coming at small venues seems to care about the music which is not always the case at big venues.
I've been to both types of venues. And yes smaller venues do equal a more intimate kindred setting. And I found that merch @ bigger venues was always more outrageously priced. Are you saying that you wouldn't go see a band you really like or find it less enjoyable if they gain popularity and play @ a bigger venue? I'll support a band I like either way. Just a side note, does it seems that some people associate bands who end up playing bigger venues = sell out. Maybe? Maybe not?
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Re: Do you think metal could ever become massively popular again?

I've been to both types of venues. And yes smaller venues do equal a more intimate kindred setting. And I found that merch @ bigger venues was always more outrageously priced. Are you saying that you wouldn't go see a band you really like or find it less enjoyable if they gain popularity and play @ a bigger venue? I'll support a band I like either way. Just a side note, does it seems that some people associate bands who end up playing bigger venues = sell out. Maybe? Maybe not?
No, there are mainstream bands I like, and I'll definitely see them if they play at a big venue. For me, music is the first that counts. But the setting in a smaller draws me a lot more, not only for the reasons you already gave, but also because it draws mostly people who seems the care for the music.
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Bands playing on mainstream festivals doesn't necessarily mean they are sell outs. If they changed their style to do that perhaps. (well, to the audience it seems like that because they don't seem to respect the old school fanbase) Mastodon is however a band I don't consider a sell out. One of my first actual metal bands. (first cd I bought was Remission). I've seen them a couple of times at club shows where they also hung out after the show in the club which was awesome. I also met Brann Dailor there. After that I've seen them as opener for Slayer and after that on a mainstream festival. (free entrance for me hehe). Other than that, I guess I won't be seeing them ever again, but they're not sell outs because I feel like they improved their style and become popular rather changing it. I still support them. Mentally rather than money-like haha.

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  • 1 month later...

I used to love the idea of metal and good rock music getting popular in the mainstream but only because I think there is such a dearth of decent music in the charts nowadays. But there was shit in the 70s, 80s and 90s too and I don't think that rock and metal had much critical acclaim in the mainstream when it came out but was immensely popular nevertheless. Besides, it doesn't really make sense for me to care what's in the charts right now as I haven't bothered with that since I was 12, starting to listen to Bach and Mozart (!) then 70s and some 80s classic rock and 'proto-metal'/ 'metal founders' if that's what you want to call it.. It would be nice to see good music getting recognition on a public scale instead of mediocrity as seems to be the case right now though tbh.

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I think the main problem, at least in my country, is the corporate absorption of radio that happened over the last 10-20 years. Laws changed to allow big chains to buy up lots of stations, so we lost a lot of the local radio and diversity. However, this is offset by the Internet, which offers a lot of options these days. I won't give up. There's always metal! :)

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I think it depends on what people define as metal, or the subgenre of metal for that matter. Metallica is still a massive seller, as are bands like Slipknot and Disturbed (although I guess they broke up). So some metal does have mainstream appeal, though most sub-genres (like black metal, doom metal) don't. But since those extreme forms of metal tend to aim to stay somewhat outside the mainstream, I think that it's good that they're not selling millions of copies and making MTV videos. And I agree with Woutjinho. Just because a band sells a lot doesn't make them sell-outs. I don't think Cannibal Corpse ever sold out, and look at how many CDs they sell. Also, I'm new here. Is there any reason why I have to type white letters onto a white backdrop? It's torture on my eyes.

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The white letter thing is a weird glitch that's gotten a lot more frequent lately. I'm not a huge fan of it either. As far as Cannibal Corpse selling out... hm. I disagree. If they aren't selling out, they're certainly phoning it in. A lot of bigger and better-selling bands from that era have really shat the bed, not doing anything surprising or even interesting for a decade or more (Deicide comes to mind... and the Carcass album, ugh, but that's a different story). Not all is lost - I thought the new Suffocation album was pretty good, and I love the latest Gorguts, for instance - but putting out "safe" albums full of petrified transgressions and blatant pandering seems to be a reliable career choice. Plenty of great stuff on the fringes, though, so, no harm done.

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Ugh, the white letters are going to keep me from writing too much then. A few posts and it hurts me to blink. Oh, I'm not saying Cannibal Corpse are good--their issue is that they're sterile. I'm just saying, they haven't compromised since day one. But, speaking of Carcass, I guess it helps my point. They made something quite different with Heartwork and Swansong that risked alienating their previous audience and making less money, but they did it because they wanted it. But their audience flipped out and accused them of selling out when what they really did was the polar opposite. It's sort of like with Opeth. They release virtually the same album over and over and when they make something different like Damnation or Heritage (obviously for personal interest as opposed to money), the fans buy less of their stuff,yet accuse them of selling out and metal heresy. Morbid Angel's most financially-successful album is Covenant with Altars a close second, yet it's considered the purest while their less-successful albums like the weird sludge metal album or that new one that everyone (including me) hates are considered sell-out. I guess what I'm getting at is, the term 'sell-out' is thrown around in a really odd way in metal circles.

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  • 3 weeks later...

metal may never be mainstream. people are too ignorant to see the ultimate message of metal. what we consider a lifestyle, to many others its just senseless noise. we don't need all the popularity friend. think of it this way. metal is rebellion. all the oppression fuels the people to make metal. if there was no oppression, there would be no rebellion. so in a way i think it's better if metal never got popular

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hmmm metal doesnt need any massive popularity... the most imp thing needed is how well we understand metal... we don need millions of fans... we need millions of ppl who understand our lyrics... we dont need ppl who jus buy our records... we need ppl who feel connected to them... coz metal is all about meaning... and connection to the public... for instance.. the song paranoid by black sabbath... its lyrics, music, feel... can u understand it easily...? of course u can that is because u have felt it... u have been paranoid by urself.. u kno wat the vocalist means when he says "finished with my women cause she couldnt help me with my mind"... thats wer thee secret lies... metal may not become massively popular.. but im sure it will never fade away in darkness... because as long as der r true men n women out there... n less of faggots... metal is need... as a healer... not only as music as a drug to sustain life in a depressed soul n bring him back to life... with metal spirit.. i cant say it ill become a massively popular genre... but its the life giving genre for sure...

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all bands... underground or mainstream will keep adding drops to make metal popular... if every metal head starts to work on improving the local scene of his own town definitely there r chances that metal booms up... the trans freaks really look like they r stuck up in some sort of trans... we the enlightened by the thinking n teachings of metal music should try to get ppl out of the trans state.. n give them an opportunity to kno wat life means... to start to live metal way of life.. i am from a city wher they call greenday and linkin park heaviest bands ever.. thats basically the lack of exposure.. but there are exactly on 3 bands including my band... among the 3 bands 2 are rock and metal core type bands where in my band focuses on heavy brutal thrash metal.. and i have been searching metal in my own city... found 56 of them only out of abt 300000 population... we need to improve our local scene... so we r organizing a metal fest... probably the first metal fest in my city... since very less metal heads from my city will participate we have invited metal heads from neighboring cities too... wat we r looking forward is.. if the fest is successful this year then we can expect some non metal heads too next year n wen they come in we can try n influence them with our music...

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The only metal genre that could (again) become massively popular at some point is the glam scene. But I don't think it will happen anytime soon (if ever). People nowdays do not care about the music. Why would you have actual bands playing real music when you can sell an electronic made up sound that costs almost nothing and can be created in 10 mins...Other metal genres could never become massively popular. Unless the world changes THAT much in the future. As it is now I can't imagine the scene where a mom brings a boy to the doctor and as they wait for their appointment, you can hear Slayer of Bathory on the background...

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The only metal genre that could (again) become massively popular at some point is the glam scene. But I don't think it will happen anytime soon (if ever). People nowdays do not care about the music. Why would you have actual bands playing real music when you can sell an electronic made up sound that costs almost nothing and can be created in 10 mins...Other metal genres could never become massively popular.
I don't know, glam metal is still popular, especially in my home state. Motley Crue and Van Halen in particular are doing well for themselves from what I hear. I don't think industrial and thrash are exactly suffering either. Second, it'd be remiss to act as if most people ever 'cared about the music'. I think I might have said it on this thread before, but most people past and present do not listen to music the way enthusiasts listen and that's not something to complain about nor a reason to feel superior. Generally, people are just looking for something rhythmic and catchy, and that's what pop music is. Thirdly, pop music is indeed real music. It's mainly crap, but it's definitely music.
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I don't know' date=' glam metal is still popular, especially in my home state. Motley Crue and Van Halen in particular are doing well for themselves from what I hear. I don't think industrial and thrash are exactly suffering either. Second, it'd be remiss to act as if most people ever 'cared about the music'. I think I might have said it on this thread before, but most people past and present do not listen to music the way enthusiasts listen and that's not something to complain about nor a reason to feel superior. Generally, people are just looking for something rhythmic and catchy, and that's what pop music is. Thirdly, pop music is indeed real music. It's mainly crap, but it's definitely music.[/quote'] Pop fits the bare minimum criteria to qualify as music, much like Bud Light still counts as a beer, but you have to be absent a tongue in order to drink it. But I guess if you want something cold that will numb your tongue and make you feel like you're a part of one of their commercials, it could fulfill that need, but so can drinking frozen ball sweat. Most people just aren't into it enough to care, and would rather fill their stomachs than dine, rather fill their day than live, rather small talk than communicate, and rather shake their asses aimlessly than be touched by another person's sounds through their ears. I guess that sounds a bit dramatic, but I'm all about making the most out of the smaller things in life, the simple, frequent pleasures that you don't have to hate your life while looking forward to because they're always around you. Music is one of those pleasures for me, as is holding my baby, playing with my dogs, good food and drink, good conversation, etc... I guess it seems like most people are just trying to blaze their way to the end of the rat race, grabbing as much shit as they can along the way to die with them at the finish line, but I would rather enjoy that time than meet some imaginary prerequisite figure of stuff to attain happiness. Sent from my HTC PH39100 using Tapatalk 2
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I'm really not sure, the people who want tech and stuff for the sake of having tech and stuff are usually discriminating - for example, pottery is a useless luxury but people who really want it will likely find a solid criterion for determining their purchases. It's the same thing with tech. There's this idea of 'technologies of the self', which I'd be willing to accept as the real reason people constantly want to update their phones and get iPads; to feel good about themselves and others. They judge their worth as people by the stuff they have - or rather, by how they perceive others' appreciation of the stuff they have - so it's not so much a rush for mammon for the sake of mammon as it is a rush for possessions out of pride. Many people seem to need the approval of others. I won't pretend that I don't hope for the approval of you lot when it comes to intellectual coherence and musical taste, but I'm blessed to have been raised in such a way that I don't get too down in the dumps when I get told Darkwater sounds like Glee. It seems most people want to be loved, but what I marvel at personally is how much people seem to need friends. Granted, this is coming for a guy eternally grateful for the constant support of his best friend through a tough junior year at college, but so many people at this university have so many friends it amazes me. They do this, I would assume, because they would feel unfulfilled and inadequate without them. I suspect this is why they don't seek 'meaningful things' - because they're already busy attaining the goal of getting other people to like them, and they don't need much in the way of depth to do that. Just a matter of economy. Maybe these are the same people who say they don't feel strongly about theology. Again, I'm trying to be charitable to the rest of the population here, the people I don't encounter. I have no problem believing that the majority of college students are just a bunch of witless, soulless, heartless bastards with no aims other than money, booze and anal.

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Hey ban. Quick question. I scroll down. The forum room there are 55 guest online. Who are they how come we don't see them
Guests are people viewing the site who haven't logged in, whether because they don't want to or haven't registered, I don't really know. They're just lurking. Sent from my HTC PH39100 using Tapatalk 2
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