Jump to content

The Metal/Punk/Rock Thread


Egg Shen

Recommended Posts

  • 4 weeks later...

I usually have no overt investment or personal reaction to these kind of stories - and famed prick/Johnny Depp's drinking buddy Marilyn Manson being ousted in this fashion is hardly surprise of the century - but both me and my better half remained huge fans of his work and definitely ignored the writing that's always been on that particular wall because of the frequent charm and wit of his public persona, so it definitely stung a bit this morning. 

Just serves as another reminder not to invest too much in these sorts of individuals. Not that I've done that for awhile anyway, but in my youth I was definitely someone who  latched on to both art and artist. Posters on the walls, dad asking questions etc. I used to internalise it as such a huge tragedy and failing of youth and culture that we don't really have proper rock stars anymore. Who needs 'em, though? 

Thank god I started going to local gigs again before covid. It sounds oh so hip, I know, but the devil's music is at its best when it's mates playing it for each other's enjoyment in front of 20 people and you don't have to worry about the kind of person you're cheering on too much. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The reaction I've seen has been overwhelmingly one of revulsion, thankfully. You have to remember that his core audience has remained young women and the disaffected. I don't think there's a Chris Brown next life here. 

He's finished. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Merzbow said:

Don't look at the comment sections of metal publications, it's fucking putrid just how much vile misogyny there is in metal circles. I'm not seeing the same shit with other places like Pitchfork.

Absolutely. More broad appeal platforms aren't as likely to be beguiled by his character either. That's always been the way it's been. It's like that "wrestling intelligent" thing that's been popping up on topic. Metal's resident clever clogs was always just a spoofy, Alice Cooper knock off wanker in other circles. 

I'll give Metal Hammer credit for going after him on the touchy stuff awhile back, though. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are many reasons why I drifted away from metal and towards Industrial but that's one of them, there are certainly issues there too but on the whole it's a far, far more accepting scene and really has to be when the inventors were queer, gender nonconforming and sex workers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I stand corrected on Metal Hammer, that's a fair response. I've not tipped a coin to them in many a year. 

If by metal we're referring to the boomers in patch jackets and the aggro knuckleheads you'll generally see filling the ranks of Slayer, Slipknot and Sepultura shows the world over then yes, it's to this day an overtly conservative manifestation. I tend to think when most people throw the term around these days though, it's assumed to include other noisy subgenres that don't have the same extent of problems. As per the above, industrial doesn't have the same extent of issues. To my mind - and admittedly I'm not a fan - stuff like metalcore seems to have a very young, right-on following. 

But I digress, the core of metal is still stuck in that rut. There's no doubt about that. You can go to something as mainstream as Download and you'll see plenty of people wearing Burzum t-shirts as a fashionable thing. People otherwise completely opposed to his views and mindsets, too. It's just taken as okay because it's just a t-shirt. 

Even most wrestling fans have the good sense not to go to arenas in their old Crippler Crossface 4 Real t-shirts. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Paid Members
1 hour ago, Keith Houchen said:

For all their claims of being alternative and social outcasts, metal is so conservative. Uber white, heterosexual, and misogynistic. Such a toxic subculture 

Jello Biafra once said of heavy metal that there wasn't a gym teacher in America who could make that many teenagers dress identically.

There's so much metal music that I love, but also so many people who wear it as the core of their identity that put me off the entire mess. Anyone over the age of 20 who thinks that being into heavy metal is somehow rebellious or an outsider act, or who pretends that listening to metal makes them some sort of oppressed minority, is an absolute danger.

When I started DJing metal nights many years ago, some of the regulars apparently made a point of trying to stump me with requests because they were convinced I couldn't really know anything about heavy metal - in spite of the fact that I was being paid to play it - because they knew I had other gigs playing other genres. And you can't be into metal while enjoying any other music, that wouldn't be true enough. These were blokes in their 30s, too, not daft kids.

At the risk of being a music snob, there's usually a direct correlation between how vocal these idiots are and how surface level their actual knowledge of the genre is. The attempts to catch me off-guard with "obscure" requests never really got any further than Strapping Young Lad, and that was an unusually niche one by most standards. The ones fully clad in the heavy metal uniform rarely strayed beyond the Kerrang playlist.

Two incidents that come to mind were me being asked to play the first metal night at a new venue, and an absolute walking cliché of Slipknot merch, choker collar and dyed red hair loudly complaining all night that "nowhere plays real metal music", and then requesting that I play "Halo by Disturbed". The other was just hanging out at a mate's bar while he was DJing, and hearing one of the 30-somethings who actively describes himself as a "metaller" complaining that "it wasn't a real metal night" because he hadn't heard any Slipknot or System of A Down (bearing in mind we're less than an hour into to a four hour slot, too), and that "he could hear music like this at any club in town". At the time, something by Cathedral was playing, and I can say with some confidence that music like that wasn't being played at any other club in town. Same bloke had been all over Facebook with RIP Chris Cornell statuses, and also complained his way through a Soundgarden song because he had no idea who it was.

 

EDIT: Apologies for the rant. What a bloody miserable post.

Edited by BomberPat
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...