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Metal being infected with SWPLism too?
05-13-2014, 07:06 PM
I'm going through the comments and it's not any different from what you would see on some Reddit page or HuffPost comment section. Wow the scene has really changed since the early to mid 2000s.
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Metal being infected with SWPLism too?
05-13-2014, 07:30 PM
I'd say that it's a case of a very vocal minority. Metal will almost certainly always be a very macho, blue collar kind of genre. The point is though, that 90% of metal heads aren't going to have the time or inclination to go online and engage in social activism. As with many other issues, this is a case of a very vocal minority hijacking a culture.
Victory goes to those who show up. Progressives show up. Thus, progressives win.
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Metal being infected with SWPLism too?
05-13-2014, 07:31 PM
There's a million different sub-genres of metal. Pick your poison.
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Metal being infected with SWPLism too?
05-13-2014, 07:35 PM
The metal 'scene' doesn't exist per se. It's quite fragmented and usually is just a group of nerds who get together and drink beer. Metal Sucks is a hipster blog based out of Brooklyn and metal has been trending among the hipsters the past few years. The last untapped bastion for irony to invade: listen to aggressive satanic music while being a peacenik socialist. the SWPL/hipster types generally listen to stoner/post-metal. The knuckleheads and cult nerds have death and black on lock. Suburban scene kids love their over-the-top brutal stuff. I notice these caricatures and divides are more extreme in the US than in Europe. Europeans are much more casual about metal; they can listen to it like it's pop music. I've met some 'Abercrombie' Swedes who listen to crazy shit.
I stopped following all music media. I'll simply check wikipedia or something similar every 6 months and see what was released. If it's a band I like I check it out. If it's new but seems interesting, I'll give it a whirl. If I like it, I keep, if not next. As for the state of the media, Mr. Zappa said it best:
"Rock journalism is people who can't write interviewing people who can't talk for people who can't read."
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Metal being infected with SWPLism too?
05-13-2014, 07:39 PM
Metal is dead in the US. It's huge in Europe, Japan and South America however. Sweden has government sponsored rock and metal festivals. Believe it or not.
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Metal being infected with SWPLism too?
05-14-2014, 11:04 AM
Metal is better overseas than in the US. Here you only have a few huge bands touring on all the same old shit they've been playing since the eighties, elsewhere metal is not a dead language.
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Metal being infected with SWPLism too?
05-14-2014, 11:44 AM
I'm sorry, but Iron Maiden and Megadeth just toured together. As long as Dave Mustaine is singing Peace Sells, and Symphony of Destruction, Metal ain't dead. Fuck the new bands.
To be fair, you're probably right. The fact that metal is the biggest in Scandinavia means that SWPL banter would enter into the music.
I always said that some of the best lyrics are poetry were found in metal. Even Cradle of Filth has some incredible songs, but that might have been the last good band...
You don't get there till you get there
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Metal being infected with SWPLism too?
05-14-2014, 09:51 PM
I think (thankfully) metal will never totally cater to the PC/yuppie/SWPL/politically correct crowd, simply because it doesn't have to. Most mainstream music is about love, relationships, god, etc. where metal is usually outside or directly against things like mainstream religion, consumerism, and trivial concerns like relationships and dancing around that are normally covered in pop music. Therefore, you're never really going to have a large enough audience to need to cater wherever the cultural currents are at the time, because metal is a niche audience that comes for the music itself and not trends or fashions. This is why most metalheads can appreciate Black Sabbath and Judas Priest just as much as bands that have only been around for a few years. Great metal doesn't really come and go, its greatness is always appreciated because of the music itself and not because of whatever cultural ideology is in favor at the moment. It's actually very similar to classical music in that regard.