Alright, How Do We Kickstart the Metal Community On This Site?

[Trollheart]

The thing is, I'm finding (eventually) that through research for Metal Month II I'm beginning to appreciate SOME of the subgenres I wouldn't even afford the time of day to. Honesty, if Death Metal had staggered up to me in the street, drunk and covered in blood and asked me what time it was, I would have ignored him and walked on!

But seriously: although some of the bands are as "bad" as I had expected (bad being of course a subjective term; I just mean bad in my opinion, stuff I would prefer not to listen to) there have been some surprises. Panopticon are one, and there will be others revealed throughout the coming month.

So restricting yourself to one or two genres is not good, equally restricting an album club to a very narrow remit is not, I think, a progressive or developmental step. But have it your way. If I did the HMAC it would have to encompass ALL subgenres no matter what. I personally believe, as I've already said, that limiting it is not the way to go, though most here appear to disagree.

I wondered about maybe
a) Find a new Metal Artiste -- new to you --- each day/week and post about them

b) Classic Metal thread

c) NWOBHM thread --- recount your experiences if you have any or ask questions about that era

d) New Metal albums thread ("Metal albums you're digging"?) --- not the same as "What are you listening to Metal", as they'd have to be new

e) Help others get into this Metal band/subgenre

f) Headbangers Ball, where everyone just posts a certain number of their favourite metal videos

That's all I got at the moment. Over to yiz...

[Janszoon]

For the record, my suggestion about multiple album clubs wasn't saying that they should be super narrow in scope. That's why the two examples I used were the very broad categories of "extreme metal" and "classic metal". My suggestion isn't about trying to limit people's exposure to new things, it's about recognizing that some kinds of metal are so far from each other that they might as well not be considered subgenres of the same thing. One might have a "jazz and blues" album club, and that's cool, but if it's foundering, one might consider that B.B. King fans aren't necessarily interested in being in the John Zorn album club and vice versa.

Originally Posted by Trollheart

a) Find a new Metal Artiste -- new to you --- each day/week and post about them

..

e) Help others get into this Metal band/subgenre

I definitely like these ideas a lot.

[Scarlett O'Hara]

Originally Posted by Unknown Soldier

I think Janszoon's idea of individual metal projects is probably the best, as to think of metal as one big genre these days is quite misleading. Because most of its sub-genres feel like genres in their own right and huge amounts of listeners won't really listen to and enjoy another kind of metal that much, if its too left of field to what they expect metal to be.

For example how many people on here get all hot and excited like me over power metal..... well not many, as they'd sooner listen to their ****ty black metal instead

I adore power metal, I'll take Judas Priest any day of the week! I have like 8 of their albums from when I was a teenager.

[Dylstew]

This sub forum is so much more active than the Punk one..

[Isbjørn]

Originally Posted by Vanilla

I adore power metal, I'll take Judas Priest any day of the week! I have like 8 of their albums from when I was a teenager.

I hate to be "that guy", but I'm pretty sure Priest isn't power metal. Sorry.

[HellCell]

Since I'm a bit of a metal enthusiast, case in point 80% of my music is metal. This thread caught my attention.

Trollheart reading your post, it gave me food for thought and some ideas emerged.

Originally Posted by Trollheart

But seriously: although some of the bands are as "bad" as I had expected (bad being of course a subjective term; I just mean bad in my opinion, stuff I would prefer not to listen to) there have been some surprises. Panopticon are one, and there will be others revealed throughout the coming month.

So I'm curious to know exactly what qualities describe as good or bad for you. This could be a start for a thread with the label "Dissect your taste in music." I'm interested in getting an intimate understanding of how people end up listening to what they listen to.

So restricting yourself to one or two genres is not good, equally restricting an album club to a very narrow remit is not, I think, a progressive or developmental step. But have it your way. If I did the HMAC it would have to encompass ALL subgenres no matter what. I personally believe, as I've already said, that limiting it is not the way to go, though most here appear to disagree.

Some people are deliberately choosing to be closed minded, their loss shrugs*
Limiting a scope of a topic is practical, otherwise it could foster tangents out the wazoo and no coherent conversation can be made of it.

I wondered about maybe
a) Find a new Metal Artiste -- new to you --- each day/week and post about them

b) Classic Metal thread

c) NWOBHM thread --- recount your experiences if you have any or ask questions about that era

d) New Metal albums thread ("Metal albums you're digging"?) --- not the same as "What are you listening to Metal", as they'd have to be new

e) Help others get into this Metal band/subgenre

f) Headbangers Ball, where everyone just posts a certain number of their favourite metal videos

That's all I got at the moment. Over to yiz...

My two cents:

a.) Good idea, I have the time for it and I can see it happening. Although doing so for a prolonged period of time can be exhausting. I do often like to sit back and "listen to what I got"

b.) I've never gotten into classic heavy metal, so not much interest here, but if someone were to sample me some music, I'll gladly give it a listen.

c.) Same as b.

d.) Good idea, I'd have input for that thread if I see it grow into something.

e.) Good idea, but as you may already know, some people have the metal genre in their "ban list" for it's not their thing. For those who aren't as finicky, I'm interested in their opinions and hearing about the different roads to liking metal.

f.) Sure. It upsets me that there's like no metal music channels broadcasting on television. MTV/VH1 is full of (bad) rap and pop and crap.

[Ninetales]

is there such thing as a good metal video tho??

[HellCell]

Originally Posted by Ninetales

is there such thing as a good metal video tho??

Debatable and subjective. I personally found a couple videos I've watched that made me like the music even more.

[CoNtrivedNiHilism]

MTV and VH1, neither one play what in my opinion qualifies or counts as 'music' anyway. What's played on either of those channels is just what is considered good music by popularity, nothing more...but it's a subjective thing. I just pay no mind to either one.

I'm guilty of only listening to what in my opinion are the good bands, or just good music. I tend to stay within the confines of Rock, Hard Rock, Metal. It's always been a difficult endeavor for me to try getting in to any other kind of music that isn't heavy or extremely melodic. I've given Pop chance after chance, even Pop from the 70's, through the 80's and 90's, some of the 2000's. Pop just doesn't seem to me, to have anything going for it. It all sounds so contrived or shallow, lacking of any depth or point to the lyrics. I'm not saying that is how Pop is, but a lot of Pop has what I've described, wrong with it...Just that it is what I take away from it when I listen to it.

I have to have that depth in the music I listen to. I do not like music that is just pointlessness with extremely stupid lyrics, or music that just sounds like the people behind it didn't care about the music they were making. I want to feel something when I'm listening to music. I like songs or bands that when I listen to them, the lyrics make sense and are intelligently written, they've got a point to them. That goes for everything that makes up a band; have a point that is obvious to what you're trying to do, the message you're wanting to share with everyone that takes up interest in your band. You won't find anything in my library that isn't competent music. I understand that a lot of people don't want to always listen to music that has something to say, and that is anyone's own prerogative to do so...Party music and the like exist for that very reason, to just play and drink to, act a fool and whatnot.

I like the sound of a thread where people dissect their own, or someone else's own musical taste. I think that could be fun.

[Janszoon]

Originally Posted by Ninetales

is there such thing as a good metal video tho??

I know this is a really obvious pick, but I still think it's a great video after all this time: