The problem is...for every kid that grows out of that stupid metal attitude posturing, there's another 15 yr old right behind him discovering it for the first time.

Everybody wants to have an 'enemy' so bad.

"poser" is a word I last used when in high school. I feel that the majority of people concerned with who is and isnt a poser are either high school students, or have a high school student mentality.

In the real world it doesn't matter what kind of music you like, and if you only surround yourself with people who have common interests you likely wont make as many friends or have as many experiences as you could. And frankly I'd probably rather hang out with a mallcore poser than some neckbeard power metal fan. I meet so few people that even like ANY type of music that could be construed as metal that I feel a sort of bond with even those who are fans of bands that I think are total shit.

1) They don't divert commercial attention and success from true metal, which does not desire and will never accomplish those goals in the first place. Part of the character of metal is that it's an insular, underground community isolated from the social mainstream.

If people learnt not to interfere in one another's lives and opinions, we would be rid of crime and war. It would be a better world.

We just reached the board's new record: from a delusional OP to all-embracing hippie ideology in a single post.

You're connecting your own imaginary ideas about some vague "true metal" with the real world, and making very far-reaching assumptions based on some fantasy. The above is an example of a dreamscape, and sooner or later leads to ideas such as "metal brotherhood" and comparing butt-ugly Manowar tattoos while drinking beer with metal bros and being metal in public, i.e. being annoying poser twats.

At least in my own life the real world and the metal part of my interests coexist and even overlap just nicely, thank you.

Au contraire, as the division of metal into "true" and "false", if that's what you're referring to, is not at all my own imaginary idea. Ever since my initial entry into this subculture, the majority of metal fans I've known have divided the genre into these categories, with "true" denoting death, black, thrash, power etc. and "false" referring to nu metal, metalcore, etc. Metal forums all around the internet house users who think, and post, in these terms. So I'm only going by the conceptual parameters I've observed in others. As for fanciful notions of "metal brotherhood", I've never subscribed to and in fact dismiss them as symptoms of adolescent identity striving. I see no merit in tattooing (Manowar or otherwise) or in public advertisements of one's musical tastes.

Metal is NOT underground, with a few niche subgenres as exceptions. It's a bit difficult to be out in the open if you play in an NSBM band, that is. Otherwise, I have news for you: reality called, and wants to have a chat with you.

"Mainstream" and "underground" are relative terms. Bands such as Morbid Angel, Obituary, Sodom, Darkthrone etc. are hardly obscurities, but compared to, for instance, Nickelback, Linkin Park, or Maroon 5 they may as well exist in another dimension. They never (anymore) get featured on MTV or VH-1 and only rarely in mainstream music magazines; even then it's only in small, incidental features. Thought experiment: Enter a mall, outdoor festival, or other public place with a large number of people, and conduct a survey asking if they've ever heard of Darkthrone; only about 1 out of 100 will respond in the positive. And a sizable part of the metal universe does exist underground.... where else could labels such as Hell's Headbangers, Norma Evangelium Diaboli, and Dark Descent be said to reside? As for your last comment, there's no need to condescend to a complete stranger on a web forum, much less make incorrect inferences about their conception of music.


We just reached the board's new record: from a delusional OP to all-embracing hippie ideology in a single post.

It occurred to me that the bashing of mall-core kids and musical poseurs so endemic to the metal subculture is a waste of time.

1) They don't divert commercial attention and success from true metal, which does not desire and will never accomplish those goals in the first place. Part of the character of metal is that it's an insular, underground community isolated from the social mainstream.

3) So mall-core kids embrace the "metal" label while living in total ignorance of the genre and its history.... who cares? They're kids, and as such this is just another passing trend for them.

Well, it is true that you have to kill all the posers to make nuclear nachos. That is what they say in some musical group or something like that. The truth is that most of us are posers. It is just another mask we put on, but you can get all the cards, and take the life with luck.

You know what I say?

Let everyone like what they want.
As long as no one is being hurt or affected, who really gives a fuck? If people learnt not to interfere in one another's lives and opinions, we would be rid of crime and war.
It would be a better world.

.

You like drone. Any right you have to telling someone else they have bad taste is nullified by that fact.

CCM

I'm sorry, but I can't see this without becoming angry.
[youtube]

It occurred to me that the bashing of mall-core kids and musical poseurs so endemic to the metal subculture is a waste of time. The existence of commercial offshoots, be they nu metal, groove metal, or metal-core, does not harm the genre in any way. Here's why:

1) They don't divert commercial attention and success from true metal, which does not desire and will never accomplish those goals in the first place. Part of the character of metal is that it's an insular, underground community isolated from the social mainstream.

2) No on is forcing metal fans to patronize it. If ones dislikes the latest Hot Topic promoted flavor of the week, he need not listen to it, wear its t-shirts, or attend its shows. His favorite bands in the underground will still exist, and thrive in their respective cultural grotto.

3) So mall-core kids embrace the "metal" label while living in total ignorance of the genre and its history.... who cares? They're kids, and as such this is just another passing trend for them. If they mature and get into metal legit, fine. If they don't it's no great loss. Either way it has no effect on metal proper.

What are other user's thoughts? I think this could be an interesting discussion.

Well, it is true that you have to kill all the posers to make nuclear nachos. That is what they say in some musical group or something like that. The truth is that most of us are posers. It is just another mask we put on, but you can get all the cards, and take the life with luck.

If people learnt not to interfere in one another's lives and opinions, we would be rid of crime and war.
It would be a better world.

Edit: I just realized that the vinyl quote I presented is relevant only to two circles that I personally know of. It's still a BS statement to make, especially when it is so hard to get a record player these days.