US touring halted?

[Jasonic]

Diabolik hit the nail on the head.
It's all about Marketing. It's why there is that lame KIA commercial with the guy driving around the track with Vince Neil giving him the thumbs up. 80's metal has become "classic rock" from the mainstream perspective. I think I mentioned it in a previous thread. Sure, Maiden still sells well, but how many people in the crowd own THE FINAL FRONTIER? I doubt its even 20% of the attendees each night of their shows.

DCowboys, sorry bro, but I have to side with Bob on this one.
You weren't there during the early 90s when the recession hit after Desert Storm.
This is what began what is known today as the "package tour".

At this time you would have packages like CINDERELLA / FASTER PUSSYCAT / WARRANT / ETC, or the most odd one I ever went to, PUBLIC ENEMY / SISTER OF MERCY / GANG OF FOUR / WARRIOR SOUL. Then along came the LOLLAPALOOZAs, then WARPED, then OZZFEST, etc.... Don't let Sharon Osbourne or Perry Farrell trick you into thinking these were brilliant ideas. It was a necessity which had already begun in the declining attendance for concerts of ALL genres.

So Matt is right. You can not at ALL compare how package tours do.
It's a way to blast the audience with as much crap and trick people into getting more value for their buck.

 

[TribunalRecords]

Maybe so but let's face it, the headliners of those touring 'festivals' would draw close to the same number regardless. Slipknot and Disturbed don't need help selling tickets, Marilyn Manson/Rob Zombie are playing at the same venue as the Mayhem fest fairly soon, you get the point.

Yes if you're including everyone from Jimi Hendrix to AC/DC, Aerosmith to Led Zeppelin, Staind to Limp Bizkit, ZZ Top to Nirvana as 'metal' like that article you linked does, then yes, metal sales have not only fallen but are already buried and gone. Just wish I could find a similar article with actual metal numbers

I guess you missed the point of my statement "You can just scroll through those top selling metal albums and see the numbers for stuff in the 80's."

Meaning i know that list has other stuff in it, that isn't metal per say, but it does have metal and maybe not "metal" as in you know it but in the 80's Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, Whitesnake, etc were considered metal acts whether people like it or not.

 

[espz]

Just like Nickleback, Shinedown and even Linkin Park are considered "metal" today. And I think people are making a mistake saying that 80's metal is back on ads for popularity reasons...all of the 80's metal is now "classic rock", a whole different genre and exactly what marketers are targeting. If you grew up in the 80's, then the music of the time brings back memories, and you can then relate that to the product they are selling. People in their 40's are the one's they are targeting to buy mini vans and what not.

 

[Bamafan]

I guess you missed the point of my statement "You can just scroll through those top selling metal albums and see the numbers for stuff in the 80's."

Meaning i know that list has other stuff in it, that isn't metal per say, but it does have metal and maybe not "metal" as in you know it but in the 80's Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, Whitesnake, etc were considered metal acts whether people like it or not.

Certainly Leppard and Whitesnake were considered to be heavy metal. Hell, I found out about Leppard right after On Through the Night came out by reading an article on NWoBHM. I'm not sure we made as much of a distinction between hard rock and metal back then. If a band consistently had loud, distorted guitars and searing lead solos, they were considered metal. The Scorpions, AC/DC, Van Halen and even bands like Molly Hatchet were lumped into the metal category.

 

[General Zod]

Metal has bleed into mainstream culture.

I suspect this happens with the passage of time. Those of us who were in our teens in the 80s, are now in our late 30s and early 40s. And as a consequence, advertisers are trying to reach us with the music of our youth. Yet one more sign that we're getting old.

 

[Jasonic]

Yep, and just like we used to laugh about Molly Hatchet, Kansas, and Foghat playing the side stages of State Fairs, we are now seeing Priest and Whitesnake fill those slots.......

I remember being at a HAUNTED show about 10 years ago, and we (Diabolik and I) were talking to some high school kids.
Somehow MANOWAR came up, and they all replied, "Ewww.. that's old man classic rock"

The oldest band (and this was like 2003) that they even knew about or would acknowledge as metal was In Flames, and I am being 100% serious.....

So yeah, I guess I need to file my MOTORHEAD collection under GOLDEN OLDIES!!!!

 

[DuchessOfDork]

Somehow MANOWAR came up, and they all replied, "Ewww.. that's old man classic rock"

 

[General Zod]

So yeah, I guess I need to file my MOTORHEAD collection under GOLDEN OLDIES!!!!

It's amazing how music dates you. It's bizarre to me that Shout at the Devil is nearly 30 years old.

 

[Pelata]

It's amazing how music dates you. It's bizarre to me that Shout at the Devil is nearly 30 years old.

Think about when Shout At The Devil came out...at that point we were only 19 years on from the arrival of The Beatles.

 

[Rezz]

Think about when Shout At The Devil came out...at that point we were only 19 years on from the arrival of The Beatles.

I clearly remember my attitude at the time was that Shout was exciting and new, whereas The Beatles were for old fogies like my parents (who were quite a bit younger than I am now). Is it any wonder that kids today behave exactly as we did 30 years ago?