Metal Heads Assemble!!

[brunoafh]

Did you sleep through the 80s?

Pretty sure that's what he's referring to with the bubbling over part. All of the bands from the 80s worth talking about (meaning not shit pop stuff) started underground but eventually got big enough to go mainstream due to popularity explosion in the 80s.

[BurningDoom]

Did you sleep through the 80s?

Pretty sure that's what he's referring to with the bubbling over part. All of the bands from the 80s worth talking about (meaning not shit pop stuff) started underground but eventually got big enough to go mainstream due to popularity explosion in the 80s.

Well that's the case with most any musician. You've got to start somewhere.

Ozzy Osbourne, Guns N Roses, Motley Crue, AC/DC, Metallica, Scorpions, etc. There was plenty of good, popular metal stuff happening then.

[Forlorn Drifter]

How many classic bands have reunited over the past few years? It wouldn't make financial sense to do something like that if the scene was dying. Hell you're into Doom, which is arguably more popular right now than it's ever been.

...besides, even if it were true, the amount of awesome hidden gems that are already there in the underground is absolutely staggering. Without even needing to know exactly what you listen to, I can guarantee that you've likely only barely scratched the surface of what Doom, Heavy, Speed, and Power Metal have to offer. Traditional styles are FAR from a "very small sector."

Its just an issue, for me at least, that I have so much trouble finding new stuff in these genres. (Barring Power metal, that shit falls like rain in South America) Its probably there, but I'm not finding much on it. I hear something on occasion, but its not like when a new black or death band comes up with something. Not that I mind digging through old stuff, but its nice to get the brand new release from such and such band occasionally.

I'll give you Doom though, it is kinda blowing up right now.

Then stop "researching" for a little while and just get more intimate with what you already know. Maybe explore the discographies of bands you're already into, check out the albums most people overlook, etc.

Last of all though... trust me, whether or not you'll be able to find a girl who's into absolutely everything you're into should be the last thing on your mind. Having hobbies in common is nice, but its not at all necessary for a strong relationship. Don't worry about that.

I probably should get more into what I like, but money is my biggest issue. Finding job openings is harder than I thought, and finding jobs that can work with my schedule is that much harder. I didn't really think this stuff through before becoming FFA President.

I'm not necessarily worried about finding a girl into everything I am, but finding one into anything I'm into besides country music and going to see shows. I'm in Texas, a large majority of the people like that. Finding someone who likes something outside of that or rap is hard.

[BoneSnapDeez]

"Not in the best state?" Based on what metric? Metal's always been underground, that's where everything exciting has always happened.

Did you sleep through the 80s?

Can't speak for FruitCheeses, but I know that a lot of people (including myself) use the term metal to refer specifically to underground metal: death, doom, black, thrash, grindcore, etc.

If I'm talking about something mainstream from the 80s I'll usually say "heavy metal" or something similar.

Just a personal preference, I guess.

[BurningDoom]

"Not in the best state?" Based on what metric? Metal's always been underground, that's where everything exciting has always happened.

Did you sleep through the 80s?

Can't speak for FruitCheeses, but I know that a lot of people (including myself) use the term metal to refer specifically to underground metal: death, doom, black, thrash, grindcore, etc.

If I'm talking about something mainstream from the 80s I'll usually say "heavy metal" or something similar.

Just a personal preference, I guess.

Okay, but you're personal preference doesn't mean it's not metal. It's still metal, even if you don't prefer it.

And the point said was the Metal was always underground, I was just pointing out an entire decade where it was quite mainstream.

[BurningDoom]

How is it that Amon Amarth still kicks this much ass after this many albums?

Amon Amarth - Warriors of the North

[Menegrothx]

Pestilence - Out Of The Body

Atleast metal is way more mainstream than electronic music in the USA (except Dubstep, which is new fad and the whole mainstream sound of Dubstep was started by an American artist).
Children of Bodom's latest album is/was 54 on US Billboard 200 (the one before that was 42). Oh and Iron Maiden's (the 2nd most mainstream metal band in the world but whatever ) last tour started in Dallas and they had 3 consecutive gigs in Texas. Yeah that doesn't prove anything, but with out ever even visiting Texas, it sounds to me like you're overreacting a bit Forlorn. Houston and DFW are huge and Austin is known for it's music scene, so I'm sure there's plenty of people who're into metal in those cities. It's not like some super obscure genre like J-Core. Sadly garbage sells the best everywhere you go, but despite that I think that even heavier genres of metal still have a quite large following in the US.

[Forlorn Drifter]

Well, that's Iron Maiden. Its a huuuge band, for one, and then there's the fact that the band has 30 years worth of fans, many of whom don't consider them metal. Seriously, it astonishes me how many people don't recognize Maiden or Motorhead, among others, as not metal. "Because they don't scream into the mikes!"

That, and since you brought up electronic, that is much more "socially acceptable" than listening to metal. Ever since dubstep came around big, and ever since synth became accepted in the music world, electronic is okay to listen to.

And Austin's music scene isn't good for metal really. We have... The Sword? Not much else. I mean, Eternal Champion is partially out of Austin, but I'm not sure how much attention they'll pull. Kick ass demo, BTW.

[Menegrothx]

That, and since you brought up electronic, that is much more "socially acceptable" than listening to metal. Ever since dubstep came around big, and ever since synth became accepted in the music world, electronic is okay to listen to.

Well there is plenty of electronic music that falls in to the same category as metal as "not socially acceptable". Light electronic music is indeed more popular and acceptable, but most of the time all of the popular stuff is some pop stuff with vocals, or something similar. But if you look at genres that are "more pure", they tend to be less popular and mainstream than more prominent "UG metal" bands, which can be quite popular (Disturbed, Lamb of God, Children of Bodom, DragonForce, Amon Amarath, Rhapsody, Manowar, Nightwish etc, even Dimmu Borgir and Cradle of Filth might qualify). Genres like Hardstyle, Hardcore and Happy Hardcore, even Eurodance/Eurotrance, that aren't played on radio/appear on album lists (outside of Holland), but are still somewhat in Europe seem to be completely ignored/underground in USA. I think I have the same reaction to "unworthy" electronic music as those people who don't consider Iron Maiden and Metallica to be metal, I don't really see the popular pop stuff as being truly EDM

Anyways I don't mean to derail this thread

[AppleQueso]

#1.Harsh, but anyone who doesn't consider Maiden or Motorhead to be metal has no clue what the fuck they're talking about. Same thing with Judas Priest, I hear people trying to say they aren't metal as well, when they for all intents and purposes seriously defined the term and are probably the most singularly influential metal band of the 70s.

Traditional/Heavy Metal was also quite underground, especially if you take a good look at NWOBHM stuff. Shitloads of great bands that survived solely off of demos, tape trading circles, etc and were lucky if they managed to put out a single album.

#2.

Did you sleep through the 80s?

Pretty sure that's what he's referring to with the bubbling over part. All of the bands from the 80s worth talking about (meaning not shit pop stuff) started underground but eventually got big enough to go mainstream due to popularity explosion in the 80s.

Well that's the case with most any musician. You've got to start somewhere.

Ozzy Osbourne, Guns N Roses, Motley Crue, AC/DC, Metallica, Scorpions, etc. There was plenty of good, popular metal stuff happening then.

NWOBHM and Bay Area Thrash were purely underground movements until a handful of bands were lucky enough to get picked up by big labels who gave them wider exposure. Those bands carried their contemporaries along with them. Before then, the bands survived entirely off circulating their demos through wide tape trading networks. Tape demos weren't just for handing off to labels hoping to get noticed, they were far more for simply spreading your name and music to other people. That was what the underground was.

AC/DC and Guns N Roses were never metal to begin with. They're both great bands (well AC/DC is a great band, GNR basically just put out one great album) and appealed to metal fans on some level, sure, but come on here. They're pretty glaringly straight up hard rock.

Also, when we say "pop", we don't mean "popular", we're referring to a certain musical style.

#3. Okay so while I did say Metal isn't dying, I can at least say that Metal in the USA is... not great. Some of it is kinda geographical, perhaps (we're very spread out, and people generally can't afford to travel to go to shows) but yeah. I've heard a lot of stories about bands touring the US. Insanely low turnouts, etc. It's one of the big reasons Celtic Frost broke up actually.