Becoming "pop"

[Daybreaker]

There seems to be a curse in the metal scene. If you sell more than a few thousand copies, you know, maybe enough to recoup the recording costs, artist commision, producer's fees, and put a few bucks in your pocket then you have gone pop to alot of people. Why is this? Is it because of the mentality that alot of metal fans really honestly do not like to see bands they enjoy prosper? I've always been curious to this way of thinking amongst many metal listeners. It's almost like a double edged sword, you can lose your ass financially to record an album that a few people will enjoy in their basement, or you can go balls to the wall and produce a great record that can and will be appreciated by many. The former gets you in debt and broke but the two hundred fans you have will give you "respect", the latter will earn you money yet hundreds, or thousands, will clamor that you are a sell out poser pop artist.

Also, many people misinterpret the meaning of "pop" music. Metal bands do not constitute popular music at all. A band like Dragonforce is regarded as one of the biggest "pop" offenders right now due to their newfound popularity boom. In the US they've sold roughly 80 000 cds. To us this is a lot, to the rest of the music listening world 80 000 units isn't shit. Tell Madonna she's sold 80 000 copies over the course of 4 months (The US release date for Inhuman Rampage was June 26) and she'd turn green and puke before firing everyone around her for that dismal sales figure.

Being "true" might get you some love points from the hardcore followers but you can't pay the bills with respect. In fact, I'm hungry so I'm gonna hit up Subway right now and try to barter with the dude on getting a sandwich with some respect knuckles and see what he says.

 

[BurntOfferings666]

Ok, this is a subject that I take great interest in.

Personally, mainstream or "pop" metal has never, for the most part, been my cup of tea. There is something about the over-produced, over budgeted, over marketed sound of the crap that MTV stuffs down our throats on a daily basis that makes me want to vomit and makes me embarrassed to call myself a fan of this great style of music known as metal.

I pride myself on finding, liking and promoting unsigned, unknown and indie metal bands for that very reason. Its the same reason that I got into radio - to help gain exposure for the REAL metal bands out there. Bands such as Pyramaze, Beyond Twilight, Warmachine, Winters Bane, Kill Procedure - these are what make me PROUD to be a metalhead, these are what real metal is truly about - not the same screamo-emo crap thats spewed all over local FM radio.

Speaking of the same screamo-emo metal crap, what is it with all these metal tv and radio stations that find it necessary to force feed the metal masses the same generic cookie-cutter, sound alike, look-alike day in and day out?uke:

 

[Iced Dog]

Some people are just silly that way...they want to feel elitist by only liking underground bands...whatever. I like popular and underground bands alike, but it just so happens that most melodic metal is "underground", especially here in the US...and metal is almost all I listen to. It's not about popularity, it's about the music...however, at least a modicum of popularity is desireable, not just for the band's sake, but that also means more opportunities to see them live, which is a big benefit to fans.

 

[Xendra]

I agree with Iced Dog. I know a bunch of people who really liked Dragonforce in the beginning. Now when people who *probably* don't listen to any other metal bands started wearing DF T-shirts, my friends actually stopped listening to DF.

I personally feel that this is the same kind of things that were in WWII. If someobdy got injured in the war and had to leave the battlefield, and then returned later to his war comrades, they treated him differently. It's like "Hey, don't pretend you're a soldier when you missed so much". Same goes for metal, people who have been listening to metal for a long time and feel that they are "true" metallists, they just can't stand it when somebody who heard a metal song thinks he's a hardcore metallist or something like that. So i think it's more about a "club" of metallists that don't want newbies in their club.

 

[BurntOfferings666]

No, you got it all wrong. Its not about a club of metalheads who don't want newbies in their group. Its more like real, true metal fans, are the ones who have been a) listening to it for a long time (in my case almost since the beginning back in the early 80's) b) live the metal lifestyle 24/7, c) who listens to music not stop daily, d) who knows everything there is to know about the bands they listen to, e) clearly realizes the difference between real metal and the generic metal that is on TV & radio these days (for the most part). Basically, the real metal heads don't like people who pretend to be metalheads, when they don't have a clue what metal is

Going back to Iced Dog's comment, "Some people are just silly that way...they want to feel elitist by only liking underground bands...whatever. I like popular and underground bands alike, but it just so happens that most melodic metal is "underground", especially here in the US...and metal is almost all I listen to" - Well Iced Dog, I don't think that it has anything to do with feeling elite. As I said, I've listened to metal and only metal my whole life. I listened to stuff like Megadeth, Metallica, Slayer when they came out because they were different then everything else going on at the time. Since then Metallica has strayed too far from their origins and have gotten nothing but hatred, disrespect and poor reviews ever since Load was released, and with the release of St Anger, (which was the biggest piece of shit I've ever heard...I could have made a better album than that), I will be truly surprised if they release another album, without going back to their original style, not this garage rock that they've been trying to pull off. Slayer has become a bit too repetitive for me, so those cd's are collecting dust on a shelf somewhere. Megadeth are the only ones who have managed to keep a fresh sound, while still sticking to Mustaine's thrash roots.

Yes, most North American melodic metal is underground, but at the same time there are just some mindblowingly amazing bands out there, and you need to ask "why aren't they signed to one of the big labels?" Lets just take a closer look at one particular case.

First: Listen to this song http://media.putfile.com/Waves-of-Fury-10

Second: What do you think about it? Good? Bad? Do you think its a band that's signed to a big label? Why? Why not?

Third: Music labels are very picky these days. For this particular band, the north american labels said that their sound was too European, and too different from other bands signed to their labels, and the European labels said that they sounded to American to be real successful in Europe.

Fourth: So where does this leave our band? With out a record label because the labels feel that they're not like the other bands on the roster(s) and that they sound too different.

This leads me back to the closing of my first post - metal tv and radio stations find it necessary to force feed the metal masses the same generic cookie-cutter, sound alike, look-alike day in and day out because that's all (for the most part) that record labels are signing. And its due to this that real metal risks dying off. If these cookie cutter bands are all that labels are signing, tv & radio are playing, the bands that don't have that sound will more than likely change their sound to fit the mold and therefore give them a better chance at getting signed.

 

[Xendra]

Basically, the real metal heads don't like people who pretend to be metalheads, when they don't have a clue what metal is.

That is the key-sentence in my opinion. That was mainly what I was striving for, but I guess I put it out badly.