Mentality of a beginning metalhead.

[EspaDa]

*ist

I didn't want to write that sentence in german entirely as I despise that language .

 

[arg]

i remember liking this song when i played VtM:B

 

[suckerleaf]

i remember liking this song when i played VtM:B

Good stuff!

 

[alex76]

One thing here that should be mentioned. There are semi-objective standards as far as art goes, and that comparably, metal elitists notice that a lot of other genres of music have little artistic value, or are swamped by a lack of it from their practitioners. Metal has plenty of bad music, but its good stuff often shows amazing amounts of artistic talent, much more than almost all other forms of music. Yes, Eminem might be one of the best rap artists out there (I guess), but compared to average metal acts by those semi-objective standards, he cannot compete. That is what metal elitists might be picking up on.

 

[CiG]

I'm a Metal elitist and everything you said stinks of bullshit to me.

 

[Mort Divine]

One thing here that should be mentioned. There are semi-objective standards as far as art goes, and that comparably, metal elitists notice that a lot of other genres of music have little artistic value, or are swamped by a lack of it from their practitioners. Metal has plenty of bad music, but its good stuff often shows amazing amounts of artistic talent, much more than almost all other forms of music. Yes, Eminem might be one of the best rap artists out there (I guess), but compared to average metal acts by those semi-objective standards, he cannot compete. That is what metal elitists might be picking up on.

lmao get out of here fuckboy

 

[WNxScythe]

I was a huge music snob in high school. Now I binge on pop punk. I've actually been getting into punk more lately and it's funny to see the same elitism that is rampant in metal showing up under a different guise, though in punk it seems to be more about how distanced you are from major record labels than technicality/non-catchiness. But it's basically just "tr00ness" all over again.

The way I see it now - music is a drug. Limiting yourself to only certain kinds of emotional highs is silly. I don't care how complex or technical your music is, if it can't make me feel the way I feel when I listen to band X, then your music is not of greater value, it's just a different experience. Obviously I prefer some experiences more than others, but it's all subjective.

That's actually something that really intrigues me, the subjectivity of music. More so than why one person likes rock vs rap, which is largely cultural I think -- what's really interesting is how you can have two people who both like the same genre or subgenre, but one will like this minor key tremolo riff, and the other will like a different minor key tremolo riff. Why?

 

[WNxScythe]

Listening to dance music feels like an actual waste of time.

You might like drum n bass. Some of it is pretty nuts:





Both of the albums those two tracks come from have some of my favorite drumming work ever. Just mindblowing.

 

[suckerleaf]

This thread is elitist as fuck..

 

[CiG]

I've never seen trueness/elitism associated with technicality in Metal. Definitely a first.

 

[WNxScythe]

I mean, I wear my kutte often. It's part of who I am. However, when I do go to places wearing that I don't demand to hear metal or anything like that. I'm perfectly fine with whatever is normal. I just like the way I look when I wear those sort of things. I feel more like myself in black jeans, black boots, black shirt, and my riding jacket. When I wear blue jeans and a non-metal t-shirt (which is what I normally teach in) I feel a little out of my element, but I can't walk into class with a Von "Satanic Blood Angel" shirt now can I?

As far as the metal culture goes. It is silly, but I have a lot of friends from west coast to the east, and beyond, that I enjoy spending time with. There are few things more enjoyable in life than hitting up a 3 day metal festival with a handful of friends I see only once or twice a year, getting drunk with them, and seeing awesome bands live. I don't take the music all that seriously, but I do value those friendships and those experiences more than life itself.

I recently described my idea of heaven after I told a friend what CS Lewis's idea what heaven was like (he said it was reading Italian romance in a garden or some shit) and mine was sitting in a hot-tub with a couple of good friends, several half-naked chicks, a tap of beer or three next to me, and Motorhead playing a few feet away.

This post is a bit old, but I gotta know - what do you teach?

 

[suckerleaf]

I've never seen trueness/elitism associated with technicality in Metal. Definitely a first.

It's totally weird.

 

[CiG]

I don't hate drum and bass, I just can't personally justify listening to it much. Close friend of mine is hugely into dance music in general so I hear some stuff.

Always just preferred instrumental hip hop, trip hop, dub and ambient when I'm in that kind of mood.

 

[alex76]

lmao get out of here fuckboy

It is people like you who are responsible for shit like this, no fucking standards:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levitated_Mass

... and you are the very last person who should be calling someone else a fuckboy!

 

[Omni]

Sorry to say this, but you're totally incorrect if you try to claim metal is objectively more artistic than other genres of music, especially if you use technical complexity as the basis of your argument. That's a completely vacuous argument for which you can produce no true evidence whatsoever other than some people liking it more than other music, which firmly plants it in the field of subjective arguments.

Basically, stop being an ignoramus.

 

[alex76]

We're talking artistic ability, and there are objective standards when it comes to such things, though they are nebulous. Without standards, there is no true art because there would be no way in which one could tell if something was art, or say, an accident. Once we accept that there must be standards, then art can be measured in some manner. When we measure artistic ability of some great metal bands, they will outpace most other forms of music. It is that simple. Again, without standards, we end up with ten million dollar boulders and paintings made by elephants going for as much as Pollock paintings because no one can tell the difference.

 

[Omni]

You're not making any sense, nor are you providing a good backbone for your argument in the form of evidence.

Nobody is going to deny that metal musicians have higher technical ability than a lot of musicians in other music. Sadly for you, that is not the only thing that goes into making music.

 

[CiG]

Some of the greatest albums of all time are riddled with mistakes that weren't corrected. Many times a production sound that rules immensely is an accident.

You're basically making a case for excluding spontaneity from the equation and I don't think you want to do that.

 

[alex76]

You're not making any sense, nor are you providing a good backbone for your argument in the form of evidence.

Nobody is going to deny that metal musicians have higher technical ability than a lot of musicians in other music. Sadly for you, that is not the only thing that goes into making music.

What the fuck are you talking about? Did you even read what I posted? The evidence would be in the form of the fact that there are favorites and standards out there. If standards did not exist, why would there be bands/songs/albums that become hits while others do not. If it was completely arbitrary, then hits would not exist, since there could be no mechanism to create situations by which more people would like song A than song B (outside the realm of proportional chance probability). However, we know this not to be the case. That is because there is something artistically intrinsic to what they have created that people are more drawn to, i.e. a standard!

 

[Omni]

So, you have absolutely zero evidence whatsoever. That's what I thought.