The Metal Mainstream

[Vashti]

haha I guess we do kind of get into our own little metal world

 

[waif]

I dont really get how Opeth has magnaged to get so big. The accesibility of their music isn´t on par with their popularity. Everytime when for example there´s someone who has Dragonforce and Opeth as his two favorite bands i´m confused,it shouldn´t be possible to be able to get the brilliance and subtle beauty of Opeth and at the same time appreciate something like Dragonforce,at least not to me.

I like both those bands.
But neither are close to being favorites.

But still,even Dimmu Borgir isn´t mainstream. Most of us are such metal nerds that whe´ve forgotten how small metal really is,we assume everyone know of those bands but go around on the street and ask people if they´ve heard of Dimmu Borgir and most wouldn´t have a clue about such stuff.

Yeah...
A lot of people have heard of Dragonforce and Opeth, but those are the only newer bands that I've ever met anyone who was into metal who knew. I phrased that incredibly poorly, I hope you understand what I was trying to say.

 

[The_Lunar_Strain]

I said all mainstream metal which is usually Thrash like Metallica/Slayer, Black Metal like Cradle of Filth/Dimmu, Metalcore, and Numetal sucks. The only good mainstream metal is power metal/Heavy Metal like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, or Kamelot. Also Dream Theater and Gwar are good bands that are pretty mainstream.
I wouldn't consider Opeth mainstream I had no clue who they were till I saw they were touring with Dream Theater.

 

[Thoth-Amon]

I said all mainstream metal which is usually Thrash like Metallica/Slayer, Black Metal like Cradle of Filth/Dimmu, Metalcore, and Numetal sucks. The only good mainstream metal is power metal/Heavy Metal like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, or Kamelot. Also Dream Theater and Gwar are good bands that are pretty mainstream.
I wouldn't consider Opeth mainstream I had no clue who they were till I saw they were touring with Dream Theater.

ok let me get this straight... Gwar is good but Slayer and Metallica aren't? I grant you that they aren't good now but in their heyday they were awesome.

 

[zerk]

All kinds of metal is mainstream at this period of time really. The more brewtal namedrop you can score, the cooler you are. This might not apply to MTV stuff, but I find "mainstream" to be a really flawed concept. MTV-popular stuff is never "cool" to like, so does that make "uncool" bands mainstream, since that's what you "should" be listening to? I pardon myself for the inhuman amount of "quotation marks" in this post, but it's 4:20am and my mind is way too spastic to transfer my thoughts into the tips of my fingers.

 

[zerk]

Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, or Kamelot.

I wouldn't call these bands mainstream, more like pioneers that have helped build up the metal genre (and sub-genres) to what it is now. These guys could take a shit in a can and get an appreciative nod from any hardened critic on the globe, and I respect them for that. They've certainly earned this priviledge.

 

[mutantllama]

Yeah...
A lot of people have heard of Dragonforce and Opeth, but those are the only newer bands that I've ever met anyone who was into metal who knew. I phrased that incredibly poorly, I hope you understand what I was trying to say.

Well, Dragonforce is more mainstream than Opeth by far. Guitarhero could be a reason for this. While Opeth seems to be more mainstream in the metal community. Outside of the metal community, Opeth isn't mainstream, and most people probably haven't heard of them. But, like I said earlier, we have Guitarhero to thank for making some bands more mainstream than they were. Like Slayer. I bet a lot of people who played Guitarhero didn't have much of an idea who Slayer was. Then they played Raining Blood, and then bam, they like it and listen to more Slayer. Then Slayer starts becoming more popular.

 

[ShredHeadJHJ]

I'm surprised that this thread is not closed by now. There was more original discussion to made in my Michael Jackson thread. I just saw a similar thread to this here no more than two weeks ago.


Anyways, I will say that I agree with pretty much everything RampageSword is saying, so I don't have to go too much into my beliefs. However, I think the "mainstream" stuff is the shitty stuff like Disturbed that you hear on FM radio. The general census of people who listen to this stuff have never heard of Bodom or Opeth. Many of them have never even heard Iron Maiden or Judas Priest. Trust me, I ask around... Now if we want to -coin- a term such as "mainstream metal" then a lot of stuff mentioned here like Bodom, Opeth & DragonForce would fit into it because people in the metal "community" have heard them.

 

[waif]

If we're gonna talk mainstream, then I would define mainstream metal bands as metal bands that are known outside of metal. So Bloodbath are known by pretty much everyone in metal, but they're unknown outside of metal. Opeth, on the other hand, have many fans who are not metalheads.

I would say the following bands could be called mainstream:
Iron Maiden
Judas Priest
Black Sabbath
Metallica
Slayer
Opeth
and maybe Megadeth (they're playing places like the palladium these days, which is just sad)

Plus stuff on the edges of metal like Trivium, Bullet For My Valentine, Atreyu, Avenged Sevenfold, and MCR.

If you went around asking people if they recognize these names, you'd find that more than half recognized them, although probably most would never have heard any of them aside from Sabbath.

So that's what I'd call mainstream.

I wouldn't consider Opeth mainstream I had no clue who they were till I saw they were touring with Dream Theater.

I think that's mostly due to your living under a rock.

 

[Deicidal]

With the mainstream, if you listen to one slayer song that was featured on a video game, you are one of the most br00tal fucking metalheads. People feel that they must prove themselves by listening to genres such as metal to fit in with a certain group, so they buy some random album at hot topic and all of a sudden they're metal. That's how I was, but the emo kids hated me and called me a poser. I don't care now, they can listen to mallcore for all I give a fuck.

 

[mutantllama]

They are the fucking posers. You listen to Metal Church.

Btw, WAIF, I still wouldn't consider Opeth mainstream, considering only a few people like them outside the metal genre. They aren't as popular as bands like Dragonforce, Children of Bodom, etc.

 

[Belligerent]

Opeth

Nah, can't agree with Opeth. If I asked 9-10 people if they have ever heard an Opeth song the answer would be no. They are popular on these boards but they haven't made it huge yet.

 

[mutantllama]

But, obviously are big in the metal world. I'm on your ignore list aren't I?

 

[King Richard]

The metal mainstream is a strange thing. Good bands can and do become very popular. Look at Darkthrone, Slayer, Suffocation for examples. Every non-noob person who likes metal should at least know those bands. On the other hands incredibly bad bands also become popular. It still mystifies me why people like Cradle of Filth or Killswitch Engage. It's not like those bands are passing fads, they've been going for a while. If I had to guess as to why this can happen, I would speculate that there are two very different worlds of metal heads. One, which inhabits this board and has generally good taste, and another with shitty taste that I really don't know anything about.

Wow, excuse me while I windex my screen due to all of the shit that just spewed out of your post. I apologize for not having the same taste as you, creaming my pants while listening to all these uber-awesome tech/brutal death metal bands. If you don't like a band, that doesn't mean the person who does has shitty taste. Could you be anymore self-righteous or snobby?

I said all mainstream metal which is usually Thrash like Metallica/Slayer, Black Metal like Cradle of Filth/Dimmu, Metalcore, and Numetal sucks. The only good mainstream metal is power metal/Heavy Metal like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, or Kamelot. Also Dream Theater and Gwar are good bands that are pretty mainstream.
I wouldn't consider Opeth mainstream I had no clue who they were till I saw they were touring with Dream Theater.

First off, and this has been done to death, CoF and Dimmu Borgir aren't black metal. Secondly, what planet are you living on? Everything that is popular in the metal world is shit except power and trad metal bands? Are you being serious?

The comment about you not knowing who Opeth was is pretty hilarious. Opeth is probably one of the most popular metal bands around right now.

Nah, can't agree with Opeth. If I asked 9-10 people if they have ever heard an Opeth song the answer would be no. They are popular on these boards but they haven't made it huge yet.

Having listened to a song and knowing the band and what they do is different. Opeth is huge, there's no denying it really.

 

[Matt]

The metal mainstream is a strange thing. Good bands can and do become very popular. Look at Darkthrone, Slayer, Suffocation for examples. Every non-noob person who likes metal should at least know those bands. On the other hands incredibly bad bands also become popular. It still mystifies me why people like Cradle of Filth or Killswitch Engage. It's not like those bands are passing fads, they've been going for a while. If I had to guess as to why this can happen, I would speculate that there are two very different worlds of metal heads. One, which inhabits this board and has generally good taste, and another with shitty taste that I really don't know anything about.

I find this post "incredibly bad"

 

[King Richard]

Good to see I'm not the only one for once.

 

[Omni]

Having listened to a song and knowing the band and what they do is different. Opeth is huge, there's no denying it really.

This is actually true. Apparently they have album sales comparable to bands like Mudvayne and Static-X, which are definitely not underground bands. The listener count on Last.fm, which is a pretty good indicator of popularity although it's only a fraction of the world's population, is also really close to many popular bands.

 

[King Richard]

Ah-thank you.

 

[The Ozzman]

The metal mainstream is a strange thing. Good bands can and do become very popular. Look at Darkthrone, Slayer, Suffocation for examples. Every non-noob person who likes metal should at least know those bands. On the other hands incredibly bad bands also become popular. It still mystifies me why people like Cradle of Filth or Killswitch Engage. It's not like those bands are passing fads, they've been going for a while. If I had to guess as to why this can happen, I would speculate that there are two very different worlds of metal heads. One, which inhabits this board and has generally good taste, and another with shitty taste that I really don't know anything about.

Shut the fuck up

 

[Belligerent]

Good to see I'm not the only one for once.

CC's posts don't usually bother me, but when he unleashes a twat statement like that i start to wonder.