The music industry today.....

[Thematt202]

Some really good points being raised by both sides here. It's good to see that we can have these disagreements and yet still present our points in a considered and constructive way. That's quite remarkable when it comes to internet forums!

 

[Thematt202]

I personally feel that power metal lends itself to comedy due to it's inherent extravagance and (some might say) absurdity. Ben raised this point above and I have to say I agree wholeheartedly. Doesn't mean that I don't love it all the same.

 

[1928]

I had a huge post typed up and rewrote it three times and every time I reread it it didn't feel right, so I'll just say I guess I'm a humorless old fart.

 

[Thematt202]

Aww man, I hate it when that happens!

 

[1928]

I don't know. All I can say is that Blind Guardian and Iron Maiden draw influence from history, legend, lore, and (moreso in BG's case) a fantasy world a man spent his entire life creating and tweaking. And those bands try to honor whatever they're talking about by writing lyrics that are appropriate for the content. When I hear fantasy metal, I don't want to hear silliness - it's the musical version of that garbage Your Highness film, a comedy fantasy film that parodies King Arthur, etc. Not to mention that Hansi Kursch, Luca Turilli, etc. are passionate to the core about their music and take it seriously. Silly lyrics always only convey a single mood - humor. I just don't think it works in metal. Not for me, anyway. Fairyland's Phil Giordana is an incredible composer and the three albums he's written have been phenomenal examples of fantasy-based metal, and the lyrics aren't nearly as awful as Rhapsody's.

There's just something about it, comedy doesn't belong in metal to me. I pay great attention to lyrics in bands and like when there's something intellectual, moving, or eloquent. But I guess that's why I'm in the minority - most of the public doesn't want something that deep, they just want something fun. It's essentially alternative pop metal.

... I gotta admit, though, I really do like a lot of Alestorm, but I have to be in the right mood and it doesn't happen much anymore. But I haven't listened to them in a while, and just to be a good sport after this post, I think I'll go put on Back Through Time and revisit it

 

[BodomGaiden]

I think that every genre and every band can include every emotion into this thing we call music. I can take Power Quest very seriously at times (seeing as how they are in my personal top ten favorite bands of all time) but there are times when I am glad that my favorite album of theirs, Neverworld, has seemingly carefree and almost DnD-ish like Steve said earlier. It gives it that charm yet I can almost take them completely seriously at times. That is the fun with music is that we don't have to LARP every time that we listen to something that has a demographic of mostly nerdy males anywhere between the ages of 13-38 (makin up numbers here) and we also don't have to make everything dramatic all of the time either. Whatever emotion comes to you when you listen to something sincerely at the very moment of thoroughly listening to a song is meant to be.

I get the frustration everyone has when bands that have much substance become overshadowed by bands that seemingly didn't put effort into the song, image, lyrics, etc., but that should be the problem with music as a whole anyway and not specifically within the rock/metal genre. THAT matters little to me when the mainstream crap out there sucks 12 testicles in Hel 99% of the time. I listen to lots of music from medieval to classical, jazz to shoegaze, prog to new age, though metal is my personal favorite. I am also a bit of an EDM hipster though it still bothers me that one man can make so much money of just standing in front of a bunch of buttons and hitting play for the most part regardless of how much work they put in mixing the whole set. I have to compromise though because a lot of songs that are made solely with computers, drum machines, and MIDI keyboards are sonically pleasing to me.

I will end my rather poor attempt to justify comedy in ANY form of music with this statement. Listen to music as much as you can. Give it a chance to see if you like something which might appear undesirable and if you don't like it, then stop listening to it and don't think about it.

PS. I am a hypocrite at times because something so bad can be right there in front of me and I have to attempt to destroy what it stands for as much as I can at that particular moment.

 

[Kingface]

I will end my rather poor attempt to justify comedy in ANY form of music with this statement. Listen to music as much as you can. Give it a chance to see if you like something which might appear undesirable and if you don't like it, then stop listening to it and don't think about it.

Very good advice and attitude to take with Music in my opinion.

 

[1928]

Amen! Everyone needs to find what works for them.

 

[Yain]

Yeah honestly. That advice above would greatly help. Let me add this also......if you personally dont like something, dont mock it or badmouth it or the artist that made it. Just stop listening to it and move on, thats the best way.

 

[Marty_1994]

Well yes and no, I'd say. Of course if you don't like it don't listen to it, and try not to get too frustrated about it. That being said, there's nothing wrong with a healthy discussion, right?

When it comes to the "comedy/joke" type of projects, I take it it's not the fact that they exist that frustrates some people, but the fact that they are pushing other "serious" artists aside, right? I personally haven't listened to Gloryhammer(are they good?). Mainly because I feel it's not my type of band. I won't listen to a band just because one of the members has made a name of himself/herself, when it comes to new projects at least. I guess this is what is happening with some bands, thus creating an "elite" and fewer names in the music industry. But in the end it's the consumers that hold the power, and our money that makes the music industry what it is. Maybe this "crowdsourcing" can change this and eliminating the elite, altough I don't know, is it a big thing? Is it growing? With the internet and all, more people get the chance to share their art, and crowdsourcing or something alike seems to me to be a good idea for more independent music to appear on the market.