Opeth = Mainstream, get use to it !

[etotheipiequalsminus1]

Opeth are mainstream. Everyone knows this, they've been mainstream since blackwater park at least.

I get the impression though, that they're fairly honest... It's hard to tell but I don't think they've sold out. Remember it's not like their Darkthrone who have played live about 20 times in their entire 15yr+ career, this is a real live act. That could be how they picked up so many fans, not to mention that they play really accessible music (despite the track lengths).

[Illnath]

hvilken skole går du på???????? Hvis Opeth er blevet så mainstream, hvorfor fanden kom der så ikke flere mennesker, da de gav koncert in KBH og Århus?


I live in Denmark, and I can tell you that Opeth doesn't get any attention at all, and besides you should be glad that people in your school are beginning to like Opeth. And none of that mindless popshit, that school kids listens too in Denmark
Maybe you should recommend them some Agalloch, Katatonia, Green Carnation and Novembers Doom, while you are at it. Then it would be a cool school

[Dreadful]

Word Illnath...
I was the first person at my school into Opeth...then I got 5 friends into Opeth. One friend got his best friend into them and he got his friends into them, thus their introduction to extreme metal. They now have a great 5 piece melodic death band...as for the other friends, one got all his metalhead cousins onto them, another actually got more into black metal because of them and gets his friends into them, another quit smoking pot and substitutes the time for it by figuring out Morningrise by ear...Alot more people are into Opeth now, but you don't know them. Anyone who gets into them from deliverance or damnation will eventually most defintely download and/or purchase their back catalong. It's great to spread the world about Opeth to good people.

If Opeth is mainstream, then Katatonia, Behemoth, Dissection, Porcupine Tree, Naglfar etc are mainstream as well.

[Hondo]

all these fukkin newbs at my school are into opeth now and its because of damnation i mean god that album isn't even HEAVY METAL \M/ wtf

I hope you grow out of that.

[Bored]

gunhaver makes a really good point.. its all about the music..

[FRUGiHOYi]

Originally Posted by Dreadful

Word Illnath...
I was the first person at my school into Opeth...then I got 5 friends into Opeth. One friend got his best friend into them and he got his friends into them, thus their introduction to extreme metal. They now have a great 5 piece melodic death band...as for the other friends, one got all his metalhead cousins onto them, another actually got more into black metal because of them and gets his friends into them, another quit smoking pot and substitutes the time for it by figuring out Morningrise by ear...Alot more people are into Opeth now, but you don't know them. Anyone who gets into them from deliverance or damnation will eventually most defintely download and/or purchase their back catalong. It's great to spread the world about Opeth to good people.

If Opeth is mainstream, then Katatonia, Behemoth, Dissection, Porcupine Tree, Naglfar etc are mainstream as well.

That is cool to hear!

[dorian gray]

i love some of the scathing responses to peoples thoughts here.

maybe you guys should give this young man a break. unless he was trying to start up some shit, he was posting here because he thought some other opeth fans could relate. youve got to be kidding me if youve never felt the same way about something, maybe not about music, but something.

detric, youll get over it. soon youll realize that opeth is a band who couldnt give two shits whether you live or die and youll start to focus on college and whatever. years will pass, opeth will host the MTV awards, and the same know-it-alls will be posting here, myself included.

[ViCyniC]

Opeth will never host the MTV awards.

As for the OP, Opeth will only continue to grow more popular. However, the difference between them and some other up and rising band is that they don't give a shit if they're mainstream and if there's a possibility of making more $ by capitalizing on what made them popular. In fact, they're opposing the factors that made them popular by working on a new album that will be nothing like their accessible Damnation. Opeth has too much respect for themselves and their music to sell out artistically. This will appeal to the respectful music fans, not the bandwagoners.

[ChrisEmerson]

dorian: saying 'i feel that i dont have the same connection with opeth now that im not the only person in my school listening to it' is ok

saying 'opeth are big sellouts cause my whole school like them. they are mainstream now, get used to it' is just retardedness.

[dorian gray]

more shit about selling out: detric and etotheipiequalsminus1 have some valid points. mike *did* say he figured damnation would expand his fan base. he doesnt deny the fact that he has strived to become a professional (read: to SELL albums) musician. when i saw him live, he talked about how he has become a famous rock star.

"selling out" has some terrible connotation for whatever reason. it probably has alot to do with what detric is complaining about. yet, all the people here who are making fun of detric are the ones who always bitch about how theres no way opeth could sell out.

look, no one wants opeth to "sell out" in the sense that they make music solely for other people (read: britney spears) and theyre not going to, but come on, lets be realistic. mike and company had it in their heads the whole time that they were going to be pro musicians and thus GET PAID for their work. they CHOSE to play for an established genre and arent even original within that genre.

just because they want to sell some albums doesnt make them the scum of the earth. and just becuase they play "death metal" doesnt make them great musicians.

finally, i dont understand why its ok to *hate* bands like metallica and soil work and in flames who have supposedly "sold out". and yet, bands like opeth are worshipped. why isnt it that metallica just wanted to try something different and it no longer appealed to their original fan base? why is it that they just automatically *suck*?
these are just bands folks. theyre just guys like you and i. they are good at guitar and all that shit but i know guys who study music on the graduate level who make them look like retards.

[dorian gray]

Originally Posted by ChrisEmerson

saying 'opeth are big sellouts cause my whole school like them. they are mainstream now, get used to it' is just retardedness.

why? to propose they have sold out is a valid point. this can be argued somewhat objectively. they *have* sold out. they sell records dont they? why does selling out have to be such a terrible thing?
to call them mainstream is pretty subjective. i think he can say whatever he wants in that regard. thus, i dont see how that can be construed as retarded.

[Protected Witness]

None of this matters. Stop arguing.

It all boils down to (at least it should):

Do you like the music? Yes or no?

[dorian gray]

Originally Posted by Apprentice's Master

don't give a shit if they're mainstream and if there's a possibility of making more $ by capitalizing on what made them popular

interesting. i like your thoughts. however, i dont see how you can know the above statment to be true. i mean, i agree with you but did mike say this?
i would think becoming more mainstream would actually hurt a band like opeth. they rely on a very specific (despite the appearance of the contrary) formula of success. to remain vital, they have to remain somewhat small and mysterious. their albums are seemingly different but they remian within the same genre and always reflect a bunch of mikes indulgence into 70s "progressive" music. thus, they arent really all that different. it would be another thing completely if they put out a blues album or maybe a reggae/folk/fusion/jazz album.
what im getting at, is im not so sure opeth dont give a shit if theyre mainstream. i wonder if theyre trying to find a middle ground. damnation was apparently more accessible than anything else but maybe they dont want to go overboard. just thinking here.

[cthulufhtagn]

Originally Posted by dorian gray

finally, i dont understand why its ok to *hate* bands like metallica and soil work and in flames who have supposedly "sold out". and yet, bands like opeth are worshipped. why isnt it that metallica just wanted to try something different and it no longer appealed to their original fan base? why is it that they just automatically *suck*?

seriously...metallica has caught so much shit for st. anger--and let me interject, i fucking hate it too--but honestly they did what they want and that's all that matters. even britney spears is (presumably) doing what she wants. you don't have to like it, nobody's making you listen to it. but if you're ever expecting extreme metal to be "mainstream" you're gonna be sorely disappointed; that's just not how the industry works.

the concept of "selling out" is the dumbest thing to happen to music ever. everyone has their own definition of it. you can't expect a band to work solely according to the whims of their asshole "sellout alarm" pseudo-fans, because THAT, my friends, would truly be selling out.

listen to what you want. if you only listen to bands that sell 50 copies of each album, great. if you listen to green day, great. being a music fan doesn't mean you get to decide when it's "uncool" to listen to a band.

[Jinn]

There is a distinct difference between Selling out and being popular.

Avril Lavigne sucks, yet with her record label paying radio stations to play her hit song off her new album, it became a hit after it was played over, and over, and over, and over even though nobody requested it. People came to like it because it was drummed into their brains and of course! Radio=todays HIT MUSIC therefore Avril on radio means Avril=cool!

Mike wanted to make a mellow album, and if you aren't completely dense, you will notice that around half of all of Opeth's songs are completely mellow! Harvest, Epilouge, etc. Also, their heavy songs have mellow parts within them! Damnation wasn't a suprising release considering that Opeth has two parts. It was only a matter of time before they split their sounds into two albums.

And if the Fucking black sabbath influences that Mike has didn't give it away already... he likes mellow music.

I'm glad that more people have been drawn in by Damnation. It gets more people into Opeth and therefore supports them as well as other metal groups like Opeth. This is how we get converts to Metal, via progressive metal.

Deal with it. Until the next Opeth album hits stores, you can't say jack shit about them selling out.

But I guess over 200 tours in support of Deliverance and Damnation instead of bribing stations to play a song or two really counts as selling out.

[Jinn]

Speaking of metallica and shit... britney spears doesn't write her own songs, so she can't decide what she wants to do. All you do is give her a script, throw her in a recording booth and have her wail for half an hour and you have an album.

Metallica's been all about the money ever since they admitted it when Napster was free.

I also remember Metallica saying 'We're NEVER gonna make a music video!' yet they started making videos from AJFA and on. Then again, they haven't produced anything decent since The Black Album

[mot-]

Originally Posted by Mr. Niel

It all boils down to (at least it should):

Do you like the music? Yes or no?

The ultimative answer to the retardedness of this thread.

[ATARI]

They haven't sold out.

PROOF? The hair. k?

[Static]

Mainstream...my fucking anus.

Soldout...my fucking anus.

[Mr. Josey Wales]

why are we talking about metallica again?? this has to be the most rehashed issue of all time..i mean honestly...how many threads are there about metallica selling out...probably been discussed millions of times...they sold out to their old style...that doesnt mean they sold out themselves, but to the fans they sold out because the fans liked the old style.... ....lets talk about OPETH...they are not mainstream...lol..most people in america cannot stand the death metal scream in the first place...as soon as they hear it they shut off the music...now play them an acoustic part of opeth and they love it...and then they hear the vocals and immediately dont like it cuz they dont listen to the music underneath the vocals....

most people either like dave matthews and john mayer....snoop dogg and nelly, britney spears and backstreet boys, or classic rock/traditional metal(metallica, ozzy, iron maiden)...they have never even heard a death metal vocal before...and are totally unfamiliar that there is even a music industry outside the united states....they dont even know that music exists in scandinavia....much less musicians that have more skill than anyone else, and that it is actually metal(which most people think died in the eighties)...blink182, linkin park is "metal" now....

so no... most people dont know who opeth is... and the people that do are generally people that play guitar, and had to adjust to the scene as well....that being said opeth is one of the more famous bands from the underground scene....i dont have a problem with more people liking their music...it actually makes me feel good cuz people are benefiting from great music, and i actuallly have someone to talk to about opeth.....

if you read all this you're gay.

[Nico]

This thread blows major goat ovaries.



Mainstream, by underground metal standards? Yes
Mainstream in the regular sense? No

Sellouts? Compromising their style to gain publicity?

Well... I guess Damnation could be interperited as such, but we all know that the band wrote the album out of their devotion to the style. Not to appeal to a larger crowd. It's not like they started playing nu-metal or hardcore to shift the albums to the latest "money making" demographic. They're playing melodic rock, which, while it has a wide appeal, is by no means an attention seeker for the trend-followers.

[gatedropper]

When you start being a musician, you take influences and put them all
together with your likes and dislikes and make your own songs.
Mike has many many different types of influences.
Clapton played all rock then in later years got back to his first influence
()blues().
If Mike wants to explore his roots, fine by me. There might be some
Opeth Albums I won't buy. Doesn't mean I don't think they are one of
the best groups to put music on a CD or one of the best live bands out there.
I am about to turn 50 years old and there are no people my age who would
even consider listening to this stuff. I would much rather have a bunch of
friends getting together and talking Opethian instead of discussing how much Viagra has helped their sex lives out.
Be glad that Opeth have gained some popularity. This means they will
get to come over here (USA) and tour dammit.




is it ok if your turds come out of your asshole in perfectly shaped round balls?

[dorian gray]

Originally Posted by Decadent

. Not to appeal to a larger crowd. .

that contradicts what mike said.

also, the DVD was conceived purely as a marketing tool. hence, damnation was played in its entirety. yes, this was a product of their label. yet, opeth went along with it and had no complaints (that ive ever heard). in the dvd, youll notice mike makes a distinction between their "damnation" sound and "what we *really* sound like". its as if the heavy songs which *we* all like, were an afterthought. the dvd was not for us, it was for the damnation fans (excuse the assumption, please).

excuse me if i sound like i am out to burn opeth. im not, i just dont understand how so many people here can spew forth such hatred for one band and such love for another. i cant stand avril lavigne any more than you all do but its not consistent to say she is any less talented than anyone else. how is it possible to know such a thing? i implore you: prove to me that avril lavigne "sucks" and opeth "rules". ill be waiting.

[Protected Witness]

Originally Posted by dorian gray

prove to me that avril lavigne "sucks" and opeth "rules". ill be waiting.

"oooh, look at me, I'm Internet-tough!"

Would you just stop it all ready? This is so lame, baiting all these people with nonsensical statements so they'll argue with you...this has BEEN DONE INTO THE GROUND, LITERALLY SEVERAL HUNDRED TIMES.

You are right. Okay? Does that vindicate you? Now go find something else to do.

[Arnold Layne]

Originally Posted by Gunhaver

can you really call yourself a fan if you lose interest in a band just because of the popularity they gain? sounds less like a fan, and more like a dumbass.

Classic Post.

As long as they don't sell out and write albums like St Anger ill listen to them.