What determines musical taste for metalheads?

[Sven Pakkanen]

I've always been the intellectual type, and I guess I can be a snob about it from time to time. I hate catchy, groovy, rhythm-based music. I like progressive music, and lean for death metal and black metal. Anything in between is even better.

But I do stray from my norm depending on my mood. I also work out, and black metal isn't the best for working out, so I grab some power metal. As for mood, I almost always want to feel somber, so I go for gloomy or depressive metal.

 

[RedFox742]

I'm a hyper-enthusiastic, energetic guy with romantic fallacies about the world being a setting for lives filled with epic adventure. I'm typically super-positive, even a bit saccharine at times, and I like my music to entertain me and stir my passions more than stretch my intellect (I rely on books for that.)

So yeah. I'm a power-metal fan, and don't really listen to death/black/doom metal. Some prog--the catchier prog.

I don't really belong on a metal forum, but I really, really do love trad/power stuff. :Spin:

 

[The Ozzman]

Who cares? You like what you like and don't like what you don't like. Your taste evolves with experiences you've had and sometimes bands switch categories (bad to good and vice versa).

/thread

 

[fps]

a lot of music follows similar patterns, and metal is a great way of arranging a lot of those patterns, i just love the sound of a good metal set-up more than hearing programmed beats, or lutes and flutes or something like that. i like a lot of other styles of music, including classical, but metal has an energy and vibe, and a type of sound, that rips right into me.

some metal also has a way of heading off in more harmonically interesting and unusual directions than a lot of other styles, possibly due to the "untrained" nature of a lot of its musicians, and i like this free-spirited tinkering with what is possible within a 12 note system.

 

[Alteredmindeath]

Sometimes people just like certain bands, that's what it all comes down to....the individual.

 

[Dagon666]

As long as you really enjoy metal you're a headbanger. The ones who have to live up to other peoples expectations and listen to all the "deep, complex and "good" metal" just have identity problems. I don't care if people flame me for listening to a band or album that is considered "bad". If i like it i listen to it. That's what separates metal from, say for example mainstream pop and the culture surrounding it. While many pop-people constantly struggle to prove to their friends that they listen to the "right" music and wear the "right" fashion clothes, metal has always been more open.

@Alteredmindeath: Couldn't have put it better myself.

 

[JayMo]

Much of what I listen to is determined by the kind of emotional response it evokes. I respond more to music that stirs up the passion within me (oh yeah, I'm gonna get really corny here.) Though I listen to something from damn near every genre I've encountered, few seem to work every day in any mood. Classical is one. But metal is also one that seems uniquely able to get me going. I may prefer one type of metal over another from one day to the next, but there is always something there I'm going to get into.

On a related note, I also find it more fun to talk about than many other genres, because metal fans in general seem to love music just a little bit more than others. I've been to a lot of musical forums over the years, and no one gets fired up about it quite like those people that visit metal forums.

 

[Personified Hatred]

So only intelligent metalheads listen to prog and tech? Fuck off.

No, the intelligent metalheads are those who listen to both kinds of Metal and appreciate them both because of their own peculiarities.

 

[PhlegethonVeins]

Anyone who classify s themselves as more than a fan of
x genre for listening to that genre is funny.

 

[Hell Patrol]

I do not understand your post. At all.

 

[Satanstoenail]

While many pop-people constantly struggle to prove to their friends that they listen to the "right" music and wear the "right" fashion clothes, metal has always been more open.

Rubbish. It all depends on the person, not the genre.

 

[PhlegethonVeins]

I do not understand your post. At all.

Example : A prog / tech fan classifying themselves as intellectual because they listen to said genres.

 

[Sven Pakkanen]

Example : A prog / tech fan classifying themselves as intellectual because they listen to said genres.

I believe it is the other way around, an intellectual listener starts listening to those sub-genres because they are the intellectual type, not that listeners of those genres start calling themselves intellectual.

I think the problem here is that people are mistaking the "intellectual" in "intellectual listening" for meaning "smart," which is really not the case. It comes down to the difference between intellectual listeners and the others being the same as the difference between those who listen to classical and those who listen to pop. On one hand it's all about the composition, on the other its more-so about rhythm, or beat, or image.

 

[PhlegethonVeins]

I believe it is the other way around, an intellectual listener starts listening to those sub-genres because they are the intellectual type, not that listeners of those genres start calling themselves intellectual.

I think the problem here is that people are mistaking the "intellectual" in "intellectual listening" for meaning "smart," which is really not the case. It comes down to the difference between intellectual listeners and the others being the same as the difference between those who listen to classical and those who listen to pop. On one hand it's all about the composition, on the other its more-so about rhythm, or beat, or image.

Ok, then people who say they like 'x' genre because they're intellectual as an example. It's silly. How many Mensa members enjoy largely thoughtless music? A large sum.

 

[Sven Pakkanen]

I don't know of anyone who has ever or would ever say "I listen to x-genre because I'm intellectual." And if they do, they're trying to look cool.

 

[PhlegethonVeins]

The general idea is there though, and is prominent in many peoples posts.

 

[damnromulans]

It's all determined by the newspaper horoscopes, so read closely.

I would assume most metal fans like the music they like because it resounds with them on either a visceral or intellectual level. Same reason anyone likes any music.

 

[Hell Patrol]

Example : A prog / tech fan classifying themselves as intellectual because they listen to said genres.

Oh... I get it now.

I think the whole intellectual = prog, non-intellectual = thrash thing is silly. Listening to a specific genre doesn't make you "intellectual", nor do all "intellectual" people listen to a specific genre.

 

[PhlegethonVeins]

Indeed.

 

[Personified Hatred]

I think there are 2 different types of metalheads. You have the dumb ones who want to mosh and headbang and are all for Satanic lyrics and gorno lyrics. Then you have the social misfits who are more intelligent and listen and enjoy the structural complexity of prog and tech metal.

Do you realize that in your post you've offended BOTH types of metalheads (including yours, unless you're here to lose your time, that would be even more stupid and in this case get a cock in your ass, it's better for you no?). So the next time think twice before talking, and read my ONLY post in this thread.