It's Not Just a T-Shirt

[Jim LotFP]

http://runningthevoodoodown.blogspot.com/2005/04/what-i-said.html

Interesting commentary there.

 

[DBB]

If you’re going to do this, you can gain status by endorsing an obscure but well-regarded band, like Eyehategod or Enslaved.

Are these obscure bands?

First, you can prove yourself a master of arcana, by wearing a T-shirt promoting, say, Grip Inc., which is one of drummer Dave Lombardo’s solo projects.

This is a bit of a strain.

A guy at a death metal show wearing a sufficiently beaten Cannibal Corpse shirt with a pair of Gap khakis and Converse high-tops will be accepted.

Yikes!

many if not most female fans dress in a more overtly sexualized way – spike-heeled boots, miniskirts or extremely tight jeans, low-cut tops, et cetera.

There are a few out there, but from all the evidence I've seen in the past few years the word "most" here is incorrect. But then again....I've never been to an Ozzfest.

Once your band’s been cast into the ghetto of Headbanger’s Ball, you discover all kinds of commonalities with acts you might otherwise have ignored, or scorned.

Opening sentence of a paragraph with no evidence to substantiate the claim. I actually watched a bit of Headbanger's Ball on MTV2 because I was crammed into a hotel room this past weekend. It is more of a condo in a gentrified neighborhood than a ghetto. Slick and smooth commercials and videos unfolding in a seamless panorama. Actually thinking about sitting down with some beers and writing a by the seat of pants analysis of an "episode" in the near future.

Carducci provided the example of Van Halen hiring Alice In Chains as their opening act.

Reminds me of this exchange from an old issue of Metal Maniacs:

Kathrine Ludwig: How did Alice in Chains get on the tour and is everyone happy about it?

Dave Mustaine: I'm not saying that we're getting credit for that, but we toured with them, and they're enthusiastic, and they've got a lot of promotion behind them, because the record company believes in them a lot. I don't know how these guys [Tom Araya and Scott Ian] feel about it, but somebody's gonna get on whether they mean dick or not in the market [I interpet this as meaning metal or thrash]--if they're gonna promote the tour. let 'em. I mean we'd have Suzy Pink and The Saddle Sores on if they were gonna put that much promotion into it.

Funny how many people would now classify AIC as a "metal" band now.

Of course, there is no room for such matters in a paper delievered at a pop conference...

The same cultural environment that makes retro T-shirts trendy causes non-metalheads to view the music’s most clichéd aspects as its defining characteristics. This can be seen anywhere metal is discussed by non-metalheads, from record reviews to VH-1 specials like “When Metal Ruled The World” or “The 100 Most Metal Moments.” Ideas and myths about metal that are years, if not decades, out of date are fixated upon by journalists unwilling to investigate the contemporary realities of the genre.

That was well put and made me nod.

The conclusion was actually pretty stong and right-on from where I'm standing.

 

[BenMech]

I listened to Dirt and Facelift again today. If you don't think AIC was metal - fuck off. They are. end of story. They're NOT THRASH or POWERMETAL or whatever bloated 80s crap Dave seems way too enthusiastic about.

 

[Occam's Razor]

Conceptually, AIC was as far from metal as you can be. Notwithstanding their sound and roots, they stood for so much which is not metal at all and never was. Not that I despise them, but they have simply nothing to do with metal.

I agree though that in hindisght, a lot of the alleged "grunge" stuff was more authenitc and creative hard rock than todays Swords and Wolfmothers. The same for AIC and Pearl Jam, if you want.

 

[BenMech]

Not to get into a tangent, but that first paragraph's just incorrect

 

[Occam's Razor]

May I ask why?

 

[JayKeeley]

I'll say this: when our Clash of the Titans in the UK featured Testament as opposed to the US version with Alice in Chains, we laughed. Oh how we laughed.

 

[BenMech]

May I ask why?

Themes of despair, political/social changes, the harms of drug use, the harms of childhood mishaps, animal rights discussions Issues with mortality.

Umm, how is any of that NOT metal???

 

[Occam's Razor]

These topics go for hardcore bands as well. You actually find them in any kind of music where artists do at least care a bit about their lyrics.