Fear of the Dark: Why The World Hates Metal

I think for the most part the style is misunderstood for its tendency for loud, technical, and sometimes gruesome or hard to hear lyrics. Most of the non musical people, the majority which includes mostly idiots, the pop music dominates the airwaves and gets more exposure. Now while I have converted quite a few people to metal in my small town and sought out the other metalheads in my area, the ones who are introduced to it seem to like it so much after a while they can't believe that they use to listen to that radio garbage. Another reason it is so hated is that the concepts and values associated with metal are among those that are generally not practiced in most peoples lives. The fact that many religions and other goodie two shoe groups think that metal is bad for people. I find metal to be a positive influence for those that can think for themselves and generate their own tastes in all things. At the same time, metal also has those pop elements as the rest of society has, its just that those metal fans that are idiots (just look at a lot of the posters on the forums) can really create a bad name for the others, the metal geeks as I call us, that have intellect, philosophical minds that enjoy the complex music, the atonal sound which is opposed to the 5 chord pop music that country, rock,, and pop are comprised. The rule is that the easier and more catchy the tune, the more people that will like it.

The best part of metal, like any other great underground music is that it will never die because the creators are passionate about the music and are not in it to make a quick buck and fall off the face of the earth.

 

the subject, "denial of a genre" is a superficiality. hating metal is a hippy/christian thing. not being able to enjoy metal is obviously a matter of bad taste.

 

I've never experienced anything more than aesthetic dislike of metal... no 'omg metal is satan and an awful thing to exist which ruins society' or some sort of idea that it's more than just music...

alcohol and drugs and violence seem to be more significant social issues where I live...

 

I kinda figured it must just be the US (ie, 'the world') that apparently hates it? Which I guess would tie in with the negativity towards Christianity? (ie, all religions)

 

from mainstream music, even mainstream rock... what I've found is that my friends that like the weirder elements of metal haven't jumped into the deep end of metal.

an ex-girlfriend of mine, though she did go to the metal-core side of the genre, really likes iron maiden because of me, otherwise she would probably be listening to normal-people music.

So my view, start them off on something without the lyrics about dragons and killing people, they wont like it like you do.

Iron maiden got me into it and most people i know that like the music... i even got someone from classical music and the Beatles (nothing against them, they were pioneers and there wouldn't be metal without them) to iron maiden in one song (aces high if you're interested).

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I haven't made a signature yet because I'm lazy so i will post something like this at the bottom of every post.

 

Where I come from metallers are considered strange. They dress strange and listen to noise.

... and it might have something to do with fires some 20 years ago

 

There was a time (late 70s/early 80s) when metal was mainstream and bands like Iron Maiden and Saxon were regularly in the "Top Twenty" in Britain. The weekly chart show on TV, watched by nearly every teenager, "Top of the Pops" had Led Zeppelin's song "Whole Lotta Love" as its theme tune - not metal I know but a huge influence on metal.

Something happened to stop this and start hyping bands that were overwhelmingly Black. I am suspicious about this, to put it mildly.

Iron Maiden had many hits, including number one chart toppers. And "Fear of the Dark", debuted at number one on the U.K. charts and became one of their biggest-selling albums.

Metallica have sold a phenomenal number of albums and yet many far less popular bands that are NOT metal are hyped as if they were much bigger, while Metallica is hidden away like something obscure.

 

I don't know exactly how bad it is in USA, but I'm from New Zealand, here stuff like Iron Maiden is acceptable for most people (mainly europeans, no racism meant) but people who like death metal, or anything like that are outcasted, unless they happen to have amazing senses of humour. We still have the emo wave and the Hip hop wave coming through here, so it must be fairly similar to the US. It's odd how a lot of emos like some of the lighter metal though (HIM doesnt count, love metal isnt metal).

 

The reason why people don't like Metal is some band names, like Cannibal Corpse, Skinless. And the vocals annoy people. Also a lot of Metalheads look Gothic and creepy to others although we don't think so.

Its only recently. Metal started out with bands Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and Black Sabbath. Because of those 3 bands Metal had edge, Hendrix influenced the speed. But Black Sabbath was the one of the few dark Metal bands until the 80's. What we call Hard Rock now was called Metal until about 10 years ago. I choose to still call it Metal. Anyway people liked Metal until Nirvana pushed it out of the mainstream. Therefore the only Metal that existed was the less popular stuff, the darker stuff. And thats what people think of Metal today as.

In the U.S. people think screamo and Metal or anything with screaming is all Satanic. Its Death Metal that gives Metal such a bad reputation. If Power Metal gave Metal its reputation Metal would be accepted, preppy kids listen to Power Metal with no problem. But its Death Metals lyrics and vocals and band names that gives Metal such a horrible reputation.

 

Not necessarily. In the 70s, it was bands like Black Sabbath getting slagged all the time by people saying they were satanic and occult. People who listened to Sabbath were considered outcasts by people not in the metal community, and the band had had religious groups causing them trouble at every opportunity.

So while the general sound of metal has gotten more extreme since then (death metal), the situation has been like this since the 70s. The "blame" lies not with death metal (although it has contributed), but metal in general.

But then again, who gives a shit? Fuck stereotypes. I give the one-finger salute to anyone who persecutes me for listening to extreme metal.

 

Yeah you are right, but still Metal is hated more than it was 20 years ago, thats for sure.

And stereotypes suck. So what if I listen to dark bands, its just fucking lyrics.

 

If you're hated, you're probably doing the right thing.

 

I think there are several reasons for it, its an outlet for pent up aggression/possible anger-whether its via a moshpit or if someone is a musician that writes darker theme lyrics, etc the general public are taught to repress such emotions such as anger and aggression. Metalheads tend to be free thinking individualists as opposed to media controlled sheep.Also, metal lyrics tend to require a person to think-about religion, politics, social values, etc-the type of things that most people wouldnt question. It also goes against the glorification of objects--pimped out rides, gold plated teeth or grills as they are called, etc

 

Not just death metal Judas Priest as well. They would probably not get the same reaction though so it's probably more about people quickly dismissing a sound which is difficult for them to get into and then deciding that anyone who does like it must have something wrong with them.

 

In my case the reason why I'm hated and partly feared is a no brainer. I listen to Black Metal, I'm in a Black Metal band, live in a Christain domainent town (im a Luciferian-Pagan) and hate most of socity (because of the corruption and stagnetness mostly). In truth I have turned more people to Black and Death Metal. But any person that is a friend of mine will tell you im a really chill, open minded guy. Alittle wild with a strong out look, but still chill. Perhapes a good lot people are just not openminded enough about things around them, when we should all have a cold one, listen to Darkthrone by a huge bonfire, and have a good fucking time.

 

Basicly I see Odin and Lucifer as guides not "Gods". Combine Luciferian Personality with Pagan traditions.

 

Masculine? Metal is very much feminine! Western society in general is dominantly masculine, which is the reason why metal is so hated against. I wrote a final paper a few semesters ago on this subject for my Psychology of Religion class and I will elaborate a little more on this.

Paganism is a belief system that has existed in many different cultures throughout human history. These cultures include, but are not limited to, greek and roman mythology, norse mythology, hinduism, shamanism (Native Americans), and many other smaller indigenous tribes of South America and Africa. Even though all of these pagan groups are structured around different deities the common ground is that they all represent the same things in life and nature. This is where I make a point that paganism is really not a literal belief in particular gods or deities; rather, they are used to relate to each particular culture more elaborate ideas of human nature and mother nature.

Now I bring in the idea of "Coincidentia Oppositorum" (may have mispelled..). This is yet another idea that has recurred throughout the history of human thought. It is simply the coincidence of opposites. This idea is easy to grasp simply meaning that nothing can exist without its opposite; for example, hot/cold, rough/soft, light/dark, masculine/feminine, liquid/solid, and good/evil just to name a few. Good is defined by evil and vice versa. This idea goes for anything else there is. You can't determine what cold is unless you know what its opposite (hot) is. This idea has recurred quite a few times throughout history in different forms. Taoism brings this idea to the table perfectly though its idea of "yin and yang". Heidegger even had a similar idea with his notion of "dasein" as well. Once you really start understanding these ideas you notice that both sides of the spectrum are important in human society and nature; therefore, one must strive for "perfect balance" in life. You could say that this is a very Taoist belief.

Now let me take you to Roman mythology where this idea of opposites culminates through the gods (ideas, remember?)Apollo and Dionysus. Apollo represents things such as good, order, light, abstinence, and of course masculinity. Dionysus is the complete opposite as it represents evil, chaos, dark, ecstasy, and femininity (please note that there are many other traits of each that shows that not all masculine qualities are necessarily positeve and feminine negative). I can even see this idea in the story of Adam and Eve where Eve, the female, is a seducer who's own curiosity for the "forbidden fruit" causes the evil in the world. God our "father"? The "virgin" Mary. These are all indications of an imbalance in favor of the masculine ego.

The balance has been way off in western civilization for a very long time now. Thinkers of the "Romantic Era" fought to show society the problem that was occuring in their age of industrialization; not only economically, but socially and religiously as well. Religion was "demonizing" Dionysian qualities in life while the masculine (Apollonian) ego took over the majority of belief in society. Economically, industrialization brings about the masculine ego in a big way because it evokes the idea of man's power over nature. This is called the "rape of nature". Obviously, the naturalist thinking of most romantics is a higher understanding of paganism; thus, they understood that modern society (mostly in the west) was creating a great imbalance through "demonizing" the feminine.

Flash forward to today where the masculine ego has really perpetuated to a level of domination. Metal is no doubt an embodiment of all those Dionysian/femine traits that have been "demonized" in modern western civilization. Metal is so purely Dionysian; therefore, it is a great thing to fight against the great imbalance we have in our society. There are a lot of people who work normal business 40 hour a week jobs who listen to metal. These people are unconsciously feeling this imbalance in their lives, thus they find metal a way to let out their feeling and emotions. Although, in our society of religion and politics (which are the two forms of speech most protected under the U.S. first amendment), the masculine ego brings out nothing but mostly hate and negativity towards metal music. Now that things such as feminism, enviromental awareness, and even gay rights are starting to be heard, I am hoping that society will at least begin to realize that both sides of the spectrum are important in creating balance and harmony.

Sorry for the ultra long post. This stuff is very interesting to me and I figured that this IS the Philosopher forum!