Judging a book by its cover...

[General Zod]

Essentially, I'm asking you to pass judgment on your fellow forum members with this question, as I suspect it's difficult for people to recognize when they themselves are guilty of judging a book by a cover.

What percentage of people dismiss bands based on image, popularity, genre association and/or the band's non-traditional Metal fan base, rather than the music?

 

[Justin G]

Essentially, I'm asking you to pass judgment on your fellow forum members with this question, as I suspect it's difficult for people to recognize when they themselves are guilty of judging a book by a cover.

What percentage of people dismiss bands based on image, popularity, genre association and/or the band's non-traditional Metal fan base, rather than the music?

Quite a bit, if that false metal thread is any indication.

 

[nomisofsiman]

Typically I don't do that. I usually give every band at least a song or two listen on their myspace before passing judgement. However, some of the trends that have way too many bands coming out sounding the same I will avoid at times such as the metalcore bands currently. As far as an actual image though, I honestly could care less as long as the music is good.

 

[adaher]

I won't say I'm totally devoid of prejudices, but in general I just judge the music. But I do have some peeves, like excessive bad language, wearing makeup, and sometimes I avoid bands from certain countries because they get kind of stereotyped in my head. I remember when Italian metal CDs always had bad production except for Rhapsody and Labyrinth, so after buying a few of those and getting burned I stopped if they were an unknown band from Italy.

Oh yeah, foreign language too. I like the sound of Spanish and French metal, but any other foreign language I find jarring.

One thing I never, ever, avoid a band for is popularity or being liked outside the genre. I love Demi Lovato, Quietdrive, Hinder, and Disturbed, and I never got mad at Dragonforce for getting popular. I remember when everyone loved Dragonforce, now it seems like most metalheads dont like them.

 

[Claus / Intromental]

However, some of the trends that have way too many bands coming out sounding the same I will avoid at times such as the metalcore bands currently.

Or 99% of all power metal releases these days, right?
I think that every genre has just as many followers sounding the same as any other (percentage wise at least). There are good metalcore bands and a ton of bad ones. There are good power metal bands and a ton of bad ones.
c.

 

[TychoCelchu]

2.5% of people.

I'm arriving at that number based on about five minutes pure speculation. Let's say 10% of humanity are attentive music fans. Let's say 50% of those are people who are dedicated enough to be like us - actively seeking out music to hear, spending a lot of time listening to it, and thinking about it, post on message boards, etc. (Now we're at 5% of humanity). Of this remaining group, I guess that approximately half are relatively open to anything they come across and half are the type who would immediately dismiss bands if they see something in their image/presentation they dislike. If I err, I probably err on the high side. Dunno. It's hard to guess when I get down to the final division.

 

[nomisofsiman]

Or 99% of all power metal releases these days, right?
I think that every genre has just as many followers sounding the same as any other (percentage wise at least). There are good metalcore bands and a ton of bad ones. There are good power metal bands and a ton of bad ones.
c.

True, but copycat power metal bands typically aren't nearly as annoying as copycat metalcore to my ears. Bland power metal just has me thinking, they aren't anything new but I could listen to them as background music. Bland metalcore bands are like nails on a chalkboard for me.

 

[ICEDEARTHFAN]

Essentially, I'm asking you to pass judgment on your fellow forum members with this question, as I suspect it's difficult for people to recognize when they themselves are guilty of judging a book by a cover.

What percentage of people dismiss bands based on image, popularity, genre association and/or the band's non-traditional Metal fan base, rather than the music?

I was guilty of doing this a lot in my 25 to 30 years.I'm 33 now and I give anyone and everyone in metal a chance to win me over.I now go back and listen to bands I wouldn't give the time of day back during those years and I feel stupid for some that I missed the boat on.

 

[AMBR]

I was guilty of doing this a lot in my 25 to 30 years.I'm 33 now and I give anyone and everyone in metal a chance to win me over.I now go back and listen to bands I wouldn't give the time of day back during those years and I feel stupid for some that I missed the boat on.

Same here. Now I deliberately try hard not to do that, though I have to admit, I have done it in the past. But if just one friend, forum member etc. had a good word to say about a band's music, I'll give 'em a go. My worst prejudice used to be bands' names. Seriously. Bands with names like Dying Fetus and Cannibal Corpse were an instant turnoff to me. I have gotten over it, but I do find some bands mind frames when picking their names is indicative to their ability to write decent music.

 

[skyrefuge]

100%.

Judging books by their covers is simply a requirement to maintain sanity. 'Prejudice' generally has a negative connotation, but without the filters provided to us by our prejudices, we would be overwhelmed by choice. Without prejudice, I would want to listen to every piece of music ever recorded, and I don't have time for that. Prejudice is what allows me to ignore the 13th album of Christian pop cover songs released by an Alabama church choir. Who knows, if I took the time to listen to it, maybe I'd love it, but I'm willing to risk missing out on greatness in order to maintain a manageable list of things that ARE on my radar.

Now, this is sort of a 'passive' prejudice that everyone has, and there are people who have a more 'active' prejudice. However, even with those who have more active prejudices ("I only listen to metal, and then, no stupid growly metal!"), I sometimes wonder if it's still just a manifestation of a subconscious need to set some limits. It can even be a way to keep yourself on a budget. But if someone has a large list of prejudices AND complains about a lack of music to listen to, then they're just being dumb.

Neil

 

[cslebn]

I think you have to be guilty of it to some degree. There's just so much music out there to hear and only so much time in the day. If somthing becomes labeled with a tag that is undesirable to you than it is instantly less likely you'll listen to it. I think genre association is going to make the biggest impact on this. And there is some use to this as Skyrefuge reflected before me. Bands and acts that try to associate themselves in a certian manner of with a certain image that is usually genre or sound related allowing customers to find their product more readily by visually identifying it - this works both ways as it allows others to read the book by the cover and say no. I see this as a subset of genre association.

Some of the comments we've seen in the past about not likely bands tends to be derived from alive experience and witnessing the fans that discuss or surround the band (see the false metal or hipster metal threads). If you only heard a band name, the type of metal, or the music then it would be more difficult to differentiate the band from the "true" acts. In a lot of these cases it seems like the band is being judged unfairly because of how hteir crowd acts. We also see people who want metal to remain niche so anyhting that becomes popular is bad. Therefore, if it popular it is not good becomes the logic. This is distressing but it is what it is. I will say I've been guilty of this to some degree as well but my biggest problem is when the music gets utterly repetative from song to song and release to release (sadly I have a hard time listening to a full Gamma Ray album though I love them - esp live).

 

[GoRillaBoy76]

Everyone is guilty of this to an extinct, I would say that I am not that guilty of it, while working at a music during college I was forced to listen to all different kinds of music, so I will give almost anything a chance, but still sometimes i do this myself.

 

[Heavenly Call]

Count me in the camp that thinks upwards of 100% of people judge AT LEAST some type of music before they hear it. For me personally, anytime I hear that band is/influenced by/used to be/sounds like black metal, I am immediately hesitant. Even if I give the band a shot, it still lingers in the back of my mind and prevents a completely objective listening experience.

 

[Saladbar]

It's funny, everytime I am with someone and a song that they don't recognize comes on and they ask me who it is I never tell them. I always ask them "Do you like this?". You'd be surprised how many people don't want to answer because they don't know who the band is and god forbid they say that they actually like a band that is considered 'False Metal' just based on the music.

I think 100% of people judge a band based on looks. A lot of people like to listen with their eyes, if you know what I mean.

 

[Corsair]

I'll admit to being guilty of it. There are several bands who'se band name, image and fanbase have so turned me off to the idea of listening to them, that I will say that I actively hate the band because of it.


Now in all fairness, 95% of these cases have been bands that look like this:

and if I see the "-core" suffix added to anything my skepticism level skyrockets. People say that Viking metal is the flavor-of-the-month, but they're not payying attention to the myriad metalcore, deathcore, crunkcore (etc.) Johnny-come-lately bands coming out of the woodwork with their godawful identical haircuts.

 

[General Zod]

I'll admit to being guilty of it.

Ironically, I didn't think I was guilty of judging a book by its cover until you posted this picture. I don't know who this band is, but I hate them. Not only do I hate them, I want to kick their asses. No one with these haircuts deserves not to be punched in the face on sight.

 

[J-Man]

We are all guilty of this from time to time, and this correlates back to ZOD's thread on Blind buys. Some of us if not all of us on this forum have said before "i don't like them cause they sound so much like ......... Now how many dismiss a band based on, "Well so and so likes them so they have to be crap".

would you dislike this band based on looks?

Now, what they sound like.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H4WfOg3XMY&feature=related[/ame]

 

[ICEDEARTHFAN]

Ironically, I didn't think I was guilty of judging a book by its cover until you posted this picture. I don't know who this band is, but I hate them. Not only do I hate them, I want to kick their asses. No one with these haircuts deserves not to be punched in the face on sight.

Are these all Justin Bieber's boyfriends?

 

[General Zod]

Are these all Justin Bieber's boyfriends?

 

[Saladbar]

Would you listen to a song by a band that looks like this?

....or a band that looks like this?