Controversial opinions on metal

[waif]

Man fuck those Black Sabbath sellouts, they betrayed blues rock.

Dude, every black metal band ever betrayed black metal. Fucking trendwhores.

Most people who learn what metal they should like on the internet tend to skip gateway bands,aka those who got into it the last 4-5 years. Personally i find it hard to believe that someone can go from not listening to metal to listening to Burzum in 24 hours. Me i didn't have any internet to learn such stuff in back in the mid nineties so i listened to many bands that doesn't have much kvlt cred,and still do.

Even though i got into metal 4-5 years ago, this applies to me because I didn't know shit about the internet. And yeah, I went through all the gateway bands; Metallica, Pantera, Megadeth, Slayer, Rage Against The Machine, Dragonforce, etc, before digging into more underground stuff. And yes, I know lots of people who never listened to the gateway bands and just blew right past them with the internet.

I agree the term is stupid (I didn't think of it) but look at it, I got into extreme metal from CoF aswell (what a coincidence eh?). I only didn't follow a gay-transvestite purple like fairytale taste like you did but I was actually trying to find good bands.

I don't necessarily agree, but the latter half of that post is hilarious.

"Gateway bands" are generally very melodic and punky, and have memorable choruses. From what I've heard anyway.

No.
I think you were thinking of pop-metal, or maybe glam. See, "gateway" just means that the band is one of the most famous and successful in the genre and so the first band in that genre people listen to would be that band; Metallica are/were a gateway thrash band, same for Slayer. In Flames are a gateway band for melodic death metal. I would argue that Emperor is something of a gateway band for black metal. Does that make Emperor's music melodic, catchy, punky, simplistic, or lacking in subtlety? No, it doesn't, because that has nothing to do with being a gateway band.

 

[zabu of nΩd]

Dude, every black metal band ever betrayed black metal. Fucking trendwhores.

Exactly. How many of them sound anything like Venom or King Diamond?

 

[waif]

You just betrayed black metal by leaving out Bathory.

 

[zabu of nΩd]

But Bathory betrayed Venom and King Diamond as well, so fuck them.

 

[chuj666]

Metallica isn't metal anymore.....

Metallica is the first hard rock act to reach #1 with five consecutive #1 studio albums.

 

[skeptik]

This isn't rocket science. Being labelled as a gateway band simply means that they appeal to a larger group of people than more specialized underground bands, and are probably more simple and less subtle. There really isn't any room for ifs or buts here.

DOTZILLA

All a gateway band is is a band that tends to be one of the major players within a given context. That does not mean that they are a bad band that you will "get over" once you find "the better stuff." The first Metal CDs I ever bought were the first 5 Metallica CDs and I still listen to all of them and love most of them. Does that mean they were not the gateway through which I PASSED INTO THE LANDS OF THE METAL?! NO.

 

[waif]

Fuck you. You have betrayed metal.
In all seriousness, Bathory's first was influenced by Sodom and Kreator and stuff, not Venom. After that they were way, way better than Venom so it doesn't even matter.

EDIT: @ virus

@Nec: what about this part?

more simple and less subtle. There really isn't any room for ifs or buts here.

 

[skeptik]

Obviously that is not universal, but it is a big part of the "gateway" effect, undoubtedly. Bands with a more universal appeal tend to have, you know, more universally appealing qualities, simplicity being one of them.

Also, I doubt Sodom and Kreator had much influence on Bathory. :zombie: I would not be surprised to hear that Quorthon didn't even know of those bands at the time. The most obvious influences on the first album are Motorhead and GBH. I question whether or not he was earnest when he said that he'd never heard of Venom when he recorded the first album though, that smells like bullshit to me, as has been the case with many of his statements over the years.

 

[waif]

Quorthon cited them as influences, so you're wrong. Motorhead definitely, and GBH, too. Quorthon cited City Baby Attacked By Rats as his chief influence, iirc. I think he was earnest about the Venom thing, as it seems too ridiculous for him not to have been; they have several songs with the same name.

 

[Manic Ferocity]

Quorthon has stated on various occasions that he had never even heard of Venom.

 

[waif]

Yes, that's what we're talking about. Many think it's a dubious claim but frankly I can't imagine someone making a claim that hard to believe if it wasn't true, and also you don't rip a band off by writing songs with the same names if you plan to act like you've never heard of them.

 

[skeptik]

Yes you do. Also, anybody who thinks that he hadn't heard Venom by the time he'd written Born For Burning off of The Return... has obviously never heard Don't Burn The Witch off of Black Metal.

 

[waif]

He said that he first heard Venom after the release of Bathory tbh. So yeah, that's a legit accusation.

 

[Black Friday]

On a related note, how good are the Venom albums after AWWS?

 

[Mort Divine]

dredg > metal

 

[Manic Ferocity]

On a related note, how good are the Venom albums after AWWS?

Pretty meh. Possessed has its moments but is pretty mediocre overall.

 

[Killbot]

dredg > metal

Not really. Dredg are almost as overrated as The Dark Knight.

 

[Mort Divine]

Not at all, and it is dredg - no capital.

 

[zabu of nΩd]

In his defense, it was the first word in the sentence.

 

[Mort Divine]

Well yeah, but artistic liberties like that override grammar rules.