SubPop

Nah no shame in being metal. I am one of the few people on this forum that is actually old enough to have experienced heavy music in the 80's. In the mid-late 80's I was a huge metalhead. All I listen to was metal.
Kreator, Sodom, Destruction, Slayer, Celtic Frost, Bathory, Anthrax, Metallica, Megadeth, Exodus, Sepultura were metal.
Come the early 90's and I discovered bands like Helmet and The Melvins. They were very different. Still heavy but with a different attitude, which fit in more with the punk/alternative rock scene. They dressed differently, their lyrics were very different, they didn't care about guitar and drum solos they were much less flamboyant and theatrical.

These days the lines between metal/hardcore/punk/alternative rock are much more blured. I struggle to hear the difference between many so called hardcore bands and death metal. But back then the lines were much more defined. Metal bands were METAL bands, the others were either punk or heavy alternative rock. The term grunge I think was a name invented to cash in on the whole early 90's alternative lifestyle and the punk rock explosion that went with it.