Metal fans: USA vs Europe

[sovetsky10]

Good day, gentlemens!
I have one question-do you know any sociological researches, or simply statistics, regarded to number of heavy metal fans in Europe and in USA?
I mean, album sells, quantity of fans etc etc.
Why am i asking? Because i just readed Angela Gossow's website, and pick there one interesting opinion:

Q: Why do you suppose metal isn’t as widely accepted and praised here in America as it is over in Europe?

A: Metal in Europe has no mainstream acceptance either. What we got is a very lively festival culture and a lot of them are catering to metal fans. I think America’s problem is the dominating role religion plays in politics and social live. Religion obstructs freedom and the acceptance of opposed forms of art. And metal still goes against the grain.

http://www.angelagossow.com/interact/fans-asked-angela/

Let's take a religion influence away as a point of disput, and ask ourselves-is there any objective statistics, regarded to quantity of heavy metal fans in both regions?
By the way, all this time i think, that USA heavy metal scene is way bigger, than European. Biggest sells, biggest groups, biggest labels-its all USA-made.
You know-i'm not too young now, and maybe i took my hand off from a music pulse, but Gossow's opinion really surpised me.
Well, gentlemens, share your wisdom with a thirsty stranger.
P.S. Sorry for my english-i'm a foreigner for a both USA and Europe

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Outside of small rural towns I think religion's control over metal is exaggerated. You still get the occasional "Harry Potter is teh debbil!" types in the news (where the media feeds the trolls with pleasure) but even my uber-fundamentalist grandmother doesn't really care about metal anymore.

 

[Saparmurat_Niyazov]

Metal isn't popular because it's not easy to sing along with and dance to, plain and simple. Religious condemnation has nothing to do with it.

 

[sovetsky10]

uber-fundamentalist grandmother doesn't really care about metal anymore

(name of the song explains...)

 

[ArneZ]

Q: Why do you suppose metal isn’t as widely accepted and praised here in America (or the world in general)?

A:Christians (religious assholes in general), low-life fans, posers and elitists (They are both the same. The one as narrow-minded as the other, both destroyers of music in most cases aiming for credibility from a scene to belong with.) and the shitloads of trendy clone bands coming out of America since they "discovered" metal. Also those fucking music producers who dont think they can earn money off metal music, so they stays with the pop, rap and electronic crap they are earning shitloads of cash out of. So generally metal is ignored cause of the democratic police who dont think its a nice, so they rather stay with my pals and pedofile music.

 

[Badbird]

What is pedofile music ArneZ? What democratic police are you talking about? Electronic music isn't that popular in the United States. All of the styles you said are also huge in other countries. And is the n word you said a joke or are you really being serious? Religious people don't care about metal anymore. I mean serious when was the last time you heard something about metal cause this bullshit or not. And metal isn't that huge in Europe either, unless we are talking about the big names.

 

[King Richard]

I find it funny that a lot of metal fans bitch and moan about metal not being more popular and then turn around and chastise bands like Metallica for "bringing metal to the mainstream", thus somehow ruining it or some such nonsense.

 

[sovetsky10]

In fact, i can't remember exact values, but Metallica as a business project sells very well.
Due to number of sells, it's a more popular group, than, for example, N'SYNC.

P.S. ArneZ

A:Christians

Metallica ... sells very well

Sell your soul to Christ!

 

[sovetsky10]

Wow!
Again!

http://hardrockhideout.com/2010/03/29/hard-rock-hideout-interview-overkill-bobby-blitz-ellsworth/

HRH: In your opinion, why does Europe have more and bigger Metal festivals than the U.S.?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overkill_(band)

On October 30, 2009, it was reported that Overkill had inked a multi-album deal with Nuclear Blast Records.

Classical USA raised and based trash-metal band signing contract with primarily-German based label? Not Metalblade, not Roadrunner, but-Nuclearblast?

Metal emigrates off-USA?

 

[arg]

the usa has more scene kids posing as metalheads than europe, i think. however, i live in europe, and metal is not as big as some may imagine... techno, pop and black people music are much more commonly heard blasting out of cars or played on radio/tv. but it is true that when there are small metal gigs or huge metal festivals, the crowds are huge and mostly composed of "true" metalheads.

there are good bands i like from both places, though. and as a last note, i would rather metal did not become too popular.

 

[SentinelSlain]

Well by Europe I think we mean Germany and Scandinavia because since grunge and britpop England has been generally hostile to metal.

It's funny because britpop is probably the worst scene in rock ever to have existed.

 

[metal_wrath]

So generally metal is ignored cause of the democratic police who dont think its a nice, so they rather stay with my pals and pedofile music.

low-life fans

I agree, many "low-life fans" of metal, such as yourself, who say things like "my pals music" and "pedofile music". These people make metal fans all seem like douchebags.

 

[Pessimism]

Many labels also do not cater to the metal that most really genre-deep fans listen too. You will find labels with the generals like Metallica or Behemoth or whatever, but It'll bee moderately hard to find one's that don't have mainstream recognition (even in the metal community). On these labels however you will also find a lot of bullshit that many "metal-heads" don't listen too - typically these are the "meat and potatoes" of the sales groups, because they are relying on the trends that are in motion to sell this band to a specific audience.

Yes, America has a larger central-database of people... because it is physically larger than all of Europe. A few of our cities alone have a greater population size than some nations. On top of that, American homogeneity is what ties most of the industry together, which is why you can make educated guesses on where a music trend is going to head and be right about 90% of the time. This is the sole reason American companies have greater sales (plus, the location of the record label really has nothing to do with an international market - the only thing an American company has over a European label is that the American label knows how to sell to its homogenous base).

In Europe, you have a myriad of different cultures - this allows a plethora of musical tastes which can easily be seen by just visiting the union.


Now...
I hate saying this, but that blonde from Arch Enemy is partially right (although wrong on many other parts). Europe has a much better/lively festival culture - specifically in regards to metal; the reason for this is that metal, believe it or not, is pretty fucking mainstream over there.

Over here, there isn't a large enough market to warrant the existence of such festivals without a massive gathering of financial resources and talent from many bands and many labels (MDF). America's mainstream music scene (and its acceptance) is not dictated by religious zeal, it is dictated by cash.

 

[Shimigami]

The only country as far as I can see with "mainstream acceptance" would be Finland.

 

[Saparmurat_Niyazov]

Why the fuck would any self-respecting metal head want metal to become popular anyway? I don't know what pop culture is exactly like in Europe, but here in America, I don't think any of us want to see Morbid Angel playing on Jay Leno or Good Morning America. Imagine all the vapid wiggers switching their style to blue jeans and metal t-shirts, and blasting Blind Guardian from their car stereos. Or slutty preppy bitches with Bathory baby tees and cell phones with Jag Panzer ringtones. That would be enough for me to switch to rap, I think.

 

[waif]

I would love it if metal became popular. See, I listen to metal for the music, rather than so I can feel cool and different. So if metal became popular it would be awesome because then they might finally reissue a lot of shit I want to get, and I might be able to find a god damn metal drummer.

 

[Blind Guardian]

My bet is that there's no difference whatsoever. The only reason Americans who are into metal think it's the "pop" of Europe is that they, already existing within the genre as active searchers, know of tons of metal from Europe, while knowing of basically no mainstream European music at all. It's simply the lack of other references that makes you fall for this myth.

 

[Badbird]

Well by Europe I think we mean Germany and Scandinavia because since grunge and britpop England has been generally hostile to metal.

It's funny because britpop is probably the worst scene in rock ever to have existed.

What has grunge and britpop done to metal? They are way different so it won't hurt metal that much. And post-grunge will give britpop a run for it's money as the worst rock scene(I don't know britpop very well).

 

[Onder]

My bet is that there's no difference whatsoever. The only reason Americans who are into metal think it's the "pop" of Europe is that they, already existing within the genre as active searchers, know of tons of metal from Europe, while knowing of basically no mainstream European music at all. It's simply the lack of other references that makes you fall for this myth.

Basically.

 

[sovetsky10]

since grunge and britpop England has been generally hostile to metal

But England, besides was a motherland for heavy metal as a genre, and NWOBHM as a great spin-off of this genre, was a big cradle (no! not "of-filth") of such a thing, like Grindcore.
Bands like Napalm Death, Carcass, Bolt Thrower-are English bands.