What is mainstream to you?

[audiophileguy]

If a band gets any pub from a magazine does that make it mainstream?
What if a band gets spins at college radios?
Does the band have to be independant and not with a label to not be considered mainstream?
I believe that only if a band gets MTV or clearchannel radio play than it is mainstream. In case you haven't noticed...99.9 of metal doesn't..so why are so many metal bands called mainstream on metal forums?
what are your thoughts about what constitutes being mainstream

 

[Ender Rises]

Fist off, not all mainstream metal sucks. Just most of it.
Second, to be considered mainstream IMO, radio play and MTV are good indicators, but if a bunch of kids in high school know them, wear t-shirts of them, etc., then they are really mainstream to me. For example, Lamb of God is very mainstream. All of the "metalheads" at my school love them, as do I, I'll just never have a t-shirt of them. It's become cliche.

 

[Demilich]

I don't think that a distinction between mainstream and whatever else is important to m understanding of music, but I guess I'd say mainstream to me wouldn't be such a rigid term. I'd say it has to do with passing a general threshold in terms of exposure, distribution, permeation of the market, awareness of the public, etc.

 

[metal paddy]

SLIPKNOT SOAD WELL THATS WHAT PADDY THINKS

 

[MasterOLightning]

Headlining one of the big US summer tours pretty much gets you there.

 

[Krigloch the Furious]

Slipknot and Godsmack

 

[skeptik]

Bands that a random person off the street could name: Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest.

 

[cookiecutter]

A band is mainstream to me when they are either average or bad, yet the media calls them amazing, just because they haven't heard or can't handle better metal.

 

[skeptik]

That's a dumb reason to label a band mainstream. Mainstream is simply shit that people actually know. They're in the mainstream of society.

 

[Paul Burns]

That's a dumb reason to label a band mainstream. Mainstream is simply shit that people actually know. They're in the mainstream of society.

^ Agreed. If they get lots of national/international radio play and are played on national/international TV they are most definately mainstream (Eg Metallica, System of a Down, Korn, Linkin Park etc etc)

Also bands that people (whom might not be fans of metal) can recall a name. (Due to society basically knowing about them through magazines, tabloids, newspapers, tv etc etc) Such as Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Guns'N'Roses, Motley Crue etc etc

 

[Demilich]

Who cares if some guy wants to have a different understanding of mainstream than you? Talk about dumb

 

[skeptik]

Because mainstream is an actual term, and it sure as hell isn't based on the quality of a band. I hope you were being sarcastic...surely you realize the stupidity in what he said?

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

Dodens: Metallica maybe...but I think it depends on where you live. For instance, where I live, no one knows who Judas Priest is except people who actually listen to ROCK MUSIC.

 

[skeptik]

I think they're sufficiently wide-spread enough to be deemed mainstream. They've appeared on tv plenty of times, for instance, and they're part of the annoying vintage heavy metal shirt retro cuntfuck craze where everyone want a 1980 British Steel t-shirt or a 1982 Number of the Beast.

 

[Wires & Waves]

its a relative term

 

[IWP]

Bands that a random person off the street could name: Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest.

Yet again, there are people in my school who don't even know who half of those bands are.

 

[cookiecutter]

Dodens: I meant the current metal mainstream which almost completely like that. For normal society you are right. I doubt a normal person could name say Killswitch Engage, but they could probably name Metallica.

 

[Demilich]

Because mainstream is an actual term, and it sure as hell isn't based on the quality of a band. I hope you were being sarcastic...surely you realize the stupidity in what he said?

Yes, I was being sarcastic and I'm glad you noticed! But also, I do believe that the popular definition of any term is just that... one definition which happens to be the most widely used. This is why dictionaries, etc. have sections for alternate usages. In fact, you could even relate this concept of different word usages to "mainstream" if you wanted, saying that the dictionary definition is the "mainstream" definition, while some wanker on a metal forum has a far more "underground" understanding.

And I know I take things too seriously, so don't bother.

 

[cookiecutter]

Yes, I was being sarcastic and I'm glad you noticed! But also, I do believe that the popular definition of any term is just that... one definition which happens to be the most widely used. This is why dictionaries, etc. have sections for alternate usages. In fact, you could even relate this concept of different word usages to "mainstream" if you wanted, saying that the dictionary definition is the "mainstream" definition, while some wanker on a metal forum has a far more "underground" understanding.

And I know I take things too seriously, so don't bother.

Alternate meanings of mainstream are kvlt

 

[CF87]

Mainstream is when something is listenable in a world sense. A song could be played and no one would think anything of it besides being music that people are suppose to listen too.