The low quality level of more or less popular metal music today

[SonOfNun]

I'm not really aware of what is and isn't popular "metal" these days now that nu-metal has sort of died out, but it seems like things have sort of gotten better as far as what mainstream people view as metal is. I mean, Shadows Fall is a hell of a lot better than Slipknot, etc. I actually like "The Art of Balance" a lot. Mudvayne is another band that is easily slagged off, but they had some material that wasn't too bad. The problem was just that almost all of the other bands around them sucked complete ass and I guess the same can be said about a lot of the "new" mainstream metal bands, but at least the talent level is rising somewhat.

It doesn't bother me that metal is misrepresented though to be honest, because it's not ever going to be something that most people understand, let alone accept. It might as well continue to be "our little secret" and I've always found the close knit "true metal" community to be one of the blessings of our scene. Let people think the crap they see on MTV is metal, their opinion is irrelevant.

 

[Nico]

I guess it'd be easier to find members to play with if I actually knew people and such, you know? I'm tempted to ask Highway Corsair about working on something together, since he has a bit of recording experience and I like the stuff he demoed for us a while ago.

Plus you both love Goat Horn. Huge plus.

If I lived in Canada, we'd totally colaborate on poorly written trad doom. It would rule.

 

[lurch70]

Except Voivod? Many ...

i mean really ... name some bands from the 80's - early 90's that required patientce to get into ...

maaaaaaybe CORONER as a second choice

 

[Erik]

celtic frost (esp. into the pandemonium)
bathory (don't tell me hammerheart wasnt fucking out there when it first came)

etc

etc

 

[lurch70]

ok, maybe ... but I am not talking about innovation, but rather that "instant" feel to a release.

yes, Into the Pandemonium was innovative at the time, but it had some catchy as fuck tunes ...

 

[Erik]

yeah but it's NOT immediate. i still don't fucking get what they're trying to do half of the time.

 

[MadeInNewJersey]

You are wrong and you know it. Don't make me list bands/albums.

1000% agreed. How anyone could possibly say the '80s were terrible for music, compared to the '90s, is beyond me.

 

[IOfTheStorm]

i mean really ... name some bands from the 80's - early 90's that required patientce to get into ...

maaaaaaybe CORONER as a second choice

I actually think Coroner can "hit you at once" (except Grin), but i was mainly thinking of Watchtower (the first metal band that did something really complex, technical and out of this world)...among others.

 

[lurch70]

agreed on Watchtower, and in some ways early Dream Theater ...

 

[cthulufhtagn]

however, I believe 80's metal was oh so simple and instant too ... almost all bands had a pretty simplistic approach to songwriting. I don't recall sitting and scratching my head at any LP I had trying to figure out WTF was going on ... as it kind of happens today with some of these over composed cacophonies many here like ... which to me they are "most times" show off pretentious drivel.

I think the closest to anything not "instant" back in the days was Voivod, as I wrote in the other thread.

I don't know ...

i hear you man, although not having really been there for it my comments only hold so much water...but i definitely think that while there were some really great, epic albums released in the 80s it wasn't until later that metal kinda evolved into more esoteric formats and really started testing the listeners. granted, back in the day bands like bathory and slayer WERE pushing the boundaries but in retrospect those "outer limits" of listenability have been far, far surpassed in the years since.

maybe this ties into dick's prog/metal fusing thread, because bands like rush were doing stuff in 1978 that i hear now in metal bands...

 

[Ellestin]

How anyone could possibly say the '80s were terrible for music, compared to the '90s, is beyond me.

The 80's were great also in retrospect, but it's mostly because you were there that you're saying this. I mean in ten years some youngsters will show up and tell me that the 90's were terrible compared to the 2000's and I'll crap on their acne-ravaged faces.

 

[MadeInNewJersey]

Yes to that being part of the reason, I was there. But really, look at all the different styles of music; so many LEGENDS in every style came from the '80s. Sure there was a lot of bad music, but that goes with any decade.

 

[Crimson Velvet]

I missed the larger part of the eighties, which still makes me angry when I think about it!I'd gladly give away five years of my life to be able to live that whole eighties experience... I'd probably regret it insanely in a few years, but hey...

 

[IOfTheStorm]

The 80's were great also in retrospect, but it's mostly because you were there that you're saying this.

Look how many people in the board say that 80s were better, without being there. And look how many say that 70s > * (and were not even born in the 70s). It's not about how old you are.

 

[Ellestin]

Sure but objectivity is one thing and empirical psycho-rigidity another one

[EDIT] I think every decade has something to offer, but obviously the original roots of modern bands we're used to praising on this board most often lie in the far past. And most RCers are smart enough to recognize this.

 

[jimbobhickville]

70s > 00s > 80s > 90s, but there were a lot of classics released in the 80s. The overwhelming majority of music was shit, though. 70s wins because bands like Yes, Genesis, Rush, and King Crimson were fairly popular. Any decade where a band can be experimental, talented, and successful wins. No equally talented bands have been as popular in the decades since, although we're seeing a resurgence of that, albeit to a lesser degree. Mastodon, Mars Volta, and others are becoming more and more popular, which tells me that the average listener is clueing in finally after 2 decades of being force-fed crap from the major labels. And some of the major-label bands aren't so bad. Hell, Stream of Passion just got signed to Sony. That could not have happened in the 80s or 90s.

 

[MadeInNewJersey]

LOL @ 00s being better than the 80s

Sure thing

 

[JayKeeley]

70s vs 80s is a tough one tbh.

 

[MadeInNewJersey]

70s had disco. 70s loses.

 

[IOfTheStorm]

70s rock music > any other form of art