Why shouldn't Metal be MainStream?

[YenomTheDark]

the same goes for the opposite. people who listen to music to not fit in or to purely be different are just as bad. actually, you can really just say that anyone who doesn't just form their own opinion based on what they hear/feel (whatever), rather than how other people react to it, just outright suck at life.

i dont see how liking bands other people "don't get" or other people think "are cool" makes any difference to what you hear when you listen to it. if it does, you have bigger issues to worry about. ergo, whether a band is underground in that sense, makes no difference whatsoever.

That is a good point. I was just offering my opinion though. It's just.. like people on this forum for example listen to the music for the music and love it.. whereas you get some people who just listen to it so they can fit in or whatever.

 

[Davtar]

Essentially I see no problem with metal going mainstream. I would love to have a metal radio station...or metal played on FUSE (because MTV sucks, Fuse hasn't been taken over by rap and shitty TV shows)...Im all for the underground image but I wish I could walk into the local FYE and find what I want.

 

[Hammer of Might]

If death and black metal as they're known now went mainstream (if it were possible; I don't think that it is possible for good DM and BM to truly go mainstream, but assuming that it were), it would be the best thing possible for the genres.

1. It would shut down the "kvlt kiddies" who judge releases (and themselves) by how rare they are. As a result of them not being able to judge themselves by their rare releases, a lot of these fags would leave and go elsewhere.

2. It would remove "support the underground" arguments for buying shitty albums.

3. More exposure = greater level of competition = better bands.

If it weren't so easy to get a CD out I might feel differently (back when it was difficult to get a CD out, it exerted a sort of evolutionary pressure on bands so that only the dedicated ones could release material), but since it's easy to get CDs out, the "underground" as it is serves no more purpose.

Good points, although I think more exposure inevitably leads to more conformity at the same time. There will always be other bands trend-hopping once it is realised that a particular style 'works' for the mainstream.

But yeah, good points.

 

[fat bastard]

The issue isn't whether or not people want bands to change so they can become mainstream, but whether or not people want Metal, as it is, to be the mainstream, as opposed to hip hop and pop.

this is true. different styles of metal can be hard for some people to swallow even if they can appreciate parts of what they're hearing. when i got into extreme metal i was coming from the metallica, ozzy, pantera,tool side of things so when i first heard some of my now favorite bands i wasnt sure what to think. i liked the music but it took time to appreciate the different styles of vocals which is usually what ends up being the first thing to put people off. Metal lyrics can "sometimes" be to metaphorical or abstract or fantasy based or intelligent for people who are fans of more mainstream pop or rock acts where simple concepts and big hooks rule the day. some people just cant handle someone screaming at them for five minutes regardless of how good the song is. they're just not used to the intensity that metal can bring to the table. one thing that does bother me though is how many metal people talk about bands changing sounds to appeal to a more mainstream audience and their tastes rather than the audience itself adapting their tastes to welcome new sounds into their life. people change over time so why is so hard for people to expect that bands not do the same.