Opeth = Mainstream, get use to it !

The whole notion of going "mainstream" is flawed at best anyhow. What is mainstream? What is selling out? To some people, selling out is the moment you sign a record deal and start making money from your music. To others its when you start to get played on radio, and so on. The point is, if you feel like your connection to a band has been tainted due to their success, then it's your choice if you decide to not listen to them anymore or if you just don't feel the same when listening to them. But you can't hold it against the band, nor can you hold it against the new fans they've gained.
The fact of the matter is, you say you once had this special connection to them because you felt you were one of the "few" people who listened to Opeth. In actuality, there were most likely thousands of people all over the world who also listened to Opeth as well as you, and perhaps even some time before you started listening to them. I can understand why people feel that way sometimes but if you really are going to allow your affection for Opeth's music to be tainted because of the fact that other people in your school also like the band, then in my opinion, you were appreciating the band for the wrong reasons. It doesnt matter if five people or five million people listen to a band, if their music is special and well done, then that's what matters most. I've been into certain bands who went from being a small demo band when I first listened to them, to being some of the biggest bands in the world. While I have become agitated at some of the moronic fans they amassed along the way, it never affected my love for the bands and their music. Hopefully as you get older, you'll start to feel the same way. I don't "hate" you for your opinions. I just hope that someday you'll be able to just appreciate music for what it is and not based on how underground and obscure it is compared to what your schoolmates normally listen to.
 
I can't believe you aren't blaming this on Steven Wilson like every other sellout/mainstream thread suggests.

Here's in idea: Listen to something else, you pansy.

Oh that's right, you're trying to stir up shit. Like that doesn't happen enough around here. Well, if anyone believes that everyone at yer school likes Opeth and it's not really just like, 20 people, then they fell for your crap and should be beaten with noodles of immense size.

Here's another idea: maybe you should spend yer time at school worrying about, oh I don't know...school, instead of worrying about other people's taste in a band you no longer care for.

:Spam:
 
Opeth are mainstream. Everyone knows this, they've been mainstream since blackwater park at least.

I get the impression though, that they're fairly honest... It's hard to tell but I don't think they've sold out. Remember it's not like their Darkthrone who have played live about 20 times in their entire 15yr+ career, this is a real live act. That could be how they picked up so many fans, not to mention that they play really accessible music (despite the track lengths).
 
hvilken skole går du på???????? Hvis Opeth er blevet så mainstream, hvorfor fanden kom der så ikke flere mennesker, da de gav koncert in KBH og Århus?


I live in Denmark, and I can tell you that Opeth doesn't get any attention at all, and besides you should be glad that people in your school are beginning to like Opeth. And none of that mindless popshit, that school kids listens too in Denmark :yuk:
Maybe you should recommend them some Agalloch, Katatonia, Green Carnation and Novembers Doom, while you are at it. Then it would be a cool school :dopey:
 
Word Illnath...
I was the first person at my school into Opeth...then I got 5 friends into Opeth. One friend got his best friend into them and he got his friends into them, thus their introduction to extreme metal. They now have a great 5 piece melodic death band...as for the other friends, one got all his metalhead cousins onto them, another actually got more into black metal because of them and gets his friends into them, another quit smoking pot and substitutes the time for it by figuring out Morningrise by ear...Alot more people are into Opeth now, but you don't know them. Anyone who gets into them from deliverance or damnation will eventually most defintely download and/or purchase their back catalong. It's great to spread the world about Opeth to good people.

If Opeth is mainstream, then Katatonia, Behemoth, Dissection, Porcupine Tree, Naglfar etc are mainstream as well.
 
all these fukkin newbs at my school are into opeth now and its because of damnation i mean god that album isn't even HEAVY METAL \M/ wtf

I hope you grow out of that.
 
Dreadful said:
Word Illnath...
I was the first person at my school into Opeth...then I got 5 friends into Opeth. One friend got his best friend into them and he got his friends into them, thus their introduction to extreme metal. They now have a great 5 piece melodic death band...as for the other friends, one got all his metalhead cousins onto them, another actually got more into black metal because of them and gets his friends into them, another quit smoking pot and substitutes the time for it by figuring out Morningrise by ear...Alot more people are into Opeth now, but you don't know them. Anyone who gets into them from deliverance or damnation will eventually most defintely download and/or purchase their back catalong. It's great to spread the world about Opeth to good people.

If Opeth is mainstream, then Katatonia, Behemoth, Dissection, Porcupine Tree, Naglfar etc are mainstream as well.
That is cool to hear!
 
i love some of the scathing responses to peoples thoughts here.

maybe you guys should give this young man a break. unless he was trying to start up some shit, he was posting here because he thought some other opeth fans could relate. youve got to be kidding me if youve never felt the same way about something, maybe not about music, but something.

detric, youll get over it. soon youll realize that opeth is a band who couldnt give two shits whether you live or die and youll start to focus on college and whatever. years will pass, opeth will host the MTV awards, and the same know-it-alls will be posting here, myself included.
 
Opeth will never host the MTV awards. ;)

As for the OP, Opeth will only continue to grow more popular. However, the difference between them and some other up and rising band is that they don't give a shit if they're mainstream and if there's a possibility of making more $ by capitalizing on what made them popular. In fact, they're opposing the factors that made them popular by working on a new album that will be nothing like their accessible Damnation. Opeth has too much respect for themselves and their music to sell out artistically. This will appeal to the respectful music fans, not the bandwagoners.
 
dorian: saying 'i feel that i dont have the same connection with opeth now that im not the only person in my school listening to it' is ok

saying 'opeth are big sellouts cause my whole school like them. they are mainstream now, get used to it' is just retardedness.
 
more shit about selling out: detric and etotheipiequalsminus1 have some valid points. mike *did* say he figured damnation would expand his fan base. he doesnt deny the fact that he has strived to become a professional (read: to SELL albums) musician. when i saw him live, he talked about how he has become a famous rock star.

"selling out" has some terrible connotation for whatever reason. it probably has alot to do with what detric is complaining about. yet, all the people here who are making fun of detric are the ones who always bitch about how theres no way opeth could sell out.

look, no one wants opeth to "sell out" in the sense that they make music solely for other people (read: britney spears) and theyre not going to, but come on, lets be realistic. mike and company had it in their heads the whole time that they were going to be pro musicians and thus GET PAID for their work. they CHOSE to play for an established genre and arent even original within that genre.

just because they want to sell some albums doesnt make them the scum of the earth. and just becuase they play "death metal" doesnt make them great musicians.

finally, i dont understand why its ok to *hate* bands like metallica and soil work and in flames who have supposedly "sold out". and yet, bands like opeth are worshipped. why isnt it that metallica just wanted to try something different and it no longer appealed to their original fan base? why is it that they just automatically *suck*?
these are just bands folks. theyre just guys like you and i. they are good at guitar and all that shit but i know guys who study music on the graduate level who make them look like retards.
 
ChrisEmerson said:
saying 'opeth are big sellouts cause my whole school like them. they are mainstream now, get used to it' is just retardedness.
why? to propose they have sold out is a valid point. this can be argued somewhat objectively. they *have* sold out. they sell records dont they? why does selling out have to be such a terrible thing?
to call them mainstream is pretty subjective. i think he can say whatever he wants in that regard. thus, i dont see how that can be construed as retarded.
 
Apprentice's Master said:
don't give a shit if they're mainstream and if there's a possibility of making more $ by capitalizing on what made them popular
interesting. i like your thoughts. however, i dont see how you can know the above statment to be true. i mean, i agree with you but did mike say this?
i would think becoming more mainstream would actually hurt a band like opeth. they rely on a very specific (despite the appearance of the contrary) formula of success. to remain vital, they have to remain somewhat small and mysterious. their albums are seemingly different but they remian within the same genre and always reflect a bunch of mikes indulgence into 70s "progressive" music. thus, they arent really all that different. it would be another thing completely if they put out a blues album or maybe a reggae/folk/fusion/jazz album.
what im getting at, is im not so sure opeth dont give a shit if theyre mainstream. i wonder if theyre trying to find a middle ground. damnation was apparently more accessible than anything else but maybe they dont want to go overboard. just thinking here.
 
dorian gray said:
finally, i dont understand why its ok to *hate* bands like metallica and soil work and in flames who have supposedly "sold out". and yet, bands like opeth are worshipped. why isnt it that metallica just wanted to try something different and it no longer appealed to their original fan base? why is it that they just automatically *suck*?

seriously...metallica has caught so much shit for st. anger--and let me interject, i fucking hate it too--but honestly they did what they want and that's all that matters. even britney spears is (presumably) doing what she wants. you don't have to like it, nobody's making you listen to it. but if you're ever expecting extreme metal to be "mainstream" you're gonna be sorely disappointed; that's just not how the industry works.

the concept of "selling out" is the dumbest thing to happen to music ever. everyone has their own definition of it. you can't expect a band to work solely according to the whims of their asshole "sellout alarm" pseudo-fans, because THAT, my friends, would truly be selling out.

listen to what you want. if you only listen to bands that sell 50 copies of each album, great. if you listen to green day, great. being a music fan doesn't mean you get to decide when it's "uncool" to listen to a band.
 
There is a distinct difference between Selling out and being popular.

Avril Lavigne sucks, yet with her record label paying radio stations to play her hit song off her new album, it became a hit after it was played over, and over, and over, and over even though nobody requested it. People came to like it because it was drummed into their brains and of course! Radio=todays HIT MUSIC therefore Avril on radio means Avril=cool!

Mike wanted to make a mellow album, and if you aren't completely dense, you will notice that around half of all of Opeth's songs are completely mellow! Harvest, Epilouge, etc. Also, their heavy songs have mellow parts within them! Damnation wasn't a suprising release considering that Opeth has two parts. It was only a matter of time before they split their sounds into two albums.

And if the Fucking black sabbath influences that Mike has didn't give it away already... he likes mellow music.

I'm glad that more people have been drawn in by Damnation. It gets more people into Opeth and therefore supports them as well as other metal groups like Opeth. This is how we get converts to Metal, via progressive metal.

Deal with it. Until the next Opeth album hits stores, you can't say jack shit about them selling out.

But I guess over 200 tours in support of Deliverance and Damnation instead of bribing stations to play a song or two really counts as selling out.