Any thrash metal fans on the board?

[Chris Biorkman]

Mando content? Just kidding. Slayer rules!

[TeleMark]

I never got the whole metal thing. I am not angry enough to relate.

See, here is a misconception that always bugs me. I'm the least angry guy you could meet (unless someone in a giant pick-em-up truck tries to run me off the road when I'm in my little car), and I've been a metal fan for 30 years. I started with Kiss in the 70s, continued through the NWOBHM (indirectly, with deviations for punk and general new wave), on to thrash and punk metal.

Anger doesn't factor, at least for me. Have I known angry metalheads? Sure. I've also met a TON of angry bluegrassers, pop music fans, rappers and others.

[earthsave]

In the 80's, Metallica, Anthrax, GnR, Slayer, Suicidal Tendencies.
In the 90's Rage Against the Machine, Pantera, Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer.

I still enjoy pulling these outta the pile and giving a listen along with a variety of other styles of music.

But since around 1999, my mainstay has been Bluegrass.

[Rick Schmidlin]

No me, but I did see Metalica sitting on the thier road cases on the side of the stage at the Playboy Mansion in 1998.

[delsbrother]

Did they seem happy?

[JeffD]

I never got the whole metal thing. I am not angry enough to relate.

See, here is a misconception that always bugs me.

So help me out here.

This sure seems like anger and rage to me:

Bang your head against the stage
Like you never did before
Make it ring Make it bleed
Make it really sore
In a frenzied madness
with your leather and your spikes
Heads are bobbing all around
It is hot as hell tonight


Compare to:

Blue moon of Kentucky keep on shining
Shine on the one that's gone and proved untrue
Blue moon of Kentucky keep on shining
Shine on the one that's gone and left me blue


I am not saying you are angry, or that fans of metal are angry, but that some kind of anger has to be called upon to understand the music.

My parents stayed married, loved me, and raised me without significant disfunction. I was not abandonded or mistreated. I love my family, I have a great job, in which I am respected, some really cool friends that like me mostly, nobody has ever really cheated me. I have loved and lost, and won, and won and lost, and sometimes it was my fault and sometimes it wasn't. In the grand scheme of things I have gotten as much if not more out of life than I put in, so while I may at times be frustrated or sad and blue, I really don't have a well of unresolved anger to draw on.

[Dave Caulkins]

Whereas I can understand the sentiments to a degree...

I also tend to disagree with the inherent need, or perceived presence, of anger in metal musicians. In fact, amongst all the crowds of musicians I've had the pleasure, or displeasure, to play with - the metalheads were always the numbers I count as the politest and kindest folks. Odd, I know. Especially when you're talking the "extreme" end. I actually found, among musicians, that the jam-rock crowd (ie hippies) were the meanest/angriest - your experiences might vary...

Again, I liken this to enjoying horror movies. I don't have an need/psychological psychosis which makes me want to kill or inhabit those fringes of grotesque expression as a reality - but I enjoy those films as much as I do westerns or fantasy. My parents loved me, I am happily married with a wonderful daughter. I have a job I enjoy, and I live in a beautiful part of the country.

Yeah, I get angry sometimes - usually at things beyond my own control, situations in life. I feel disappointed, occasionally depressed, and on occasion frustrated. I think that's part of being human, those range of emotions we are capable of which makes this mortal coil what it is.

Do I only listen to metal... That's silly, I'm a mandolin player and I doubt any of us really could say that. There is a LOT of music out there, and much of it good for different reasons. I like diversity.

'nuff said,

Dave

[steadypluckinaway]

Saying you've got to be angry to listen to metal is like saying you've got to be from the backwoods to enjoy bluegrass. There's some inherent emotion in all types of music and anger is one of them, but so are envy, greed, lust, ignorance, love, etc. etc. If there were no balance, the music world would be bland as ever. That's why I appreciate people like Mariah Carey and N'Sync and all the pop. If there weren't big acts like that to draw people to, they'd all be snatching up copies of Grisman recordings! What a wonderful time in history to be alive and listening to good music. Right now, it's Audioslave which isn't orthodox metal but has all the roots. Love it. Next might be Thile or Bad Religion or De La Soul or who knows. I do love the shuffle function on my Zune. Viva all types o' music!!

[TNFrank]

A lot of Iron Maiden's stuff is pretty much a History Lesson set to music. Most Megadeth is semi-political. I don't really think anger factors into it. You want anger, listen to some ganster rap, now that's REAL anger.

[JeffD]

Saying you've got to be angry to listen to metal is like saying you've got to be from the backwoods to enjoy bluegrass. There's some inherent emotion in all types of music and anger is one of them, but so are envy, greed, lust, ignorance, love, etc. etc.

Good point.

[JeffD]

I don't like Cookie Monster vocals either.

Never heard that phrase before! I love it.

[Rick Schmidlin]

Did they seem happy?

Yep, they did it because it was a premier for the South Park boys

[Sean Greer]

Here's nice little time-waster, Gavin Harrison (from Porcupine Tree) doing some funky drum work. Gavin Harrison on YouTube

[Frank Russell]

JeffD - I like how you chose the most innocuous bluegrass lyrics to make your point. How about some of the other old standards, like
"I took her by her golden curls and drug her round and round
throwing her into the river that flows through Knoxville town"
or
"There I poisoned that dear little girl, down on the banks below. I drew a sabre through her, which was a bloody knife, I threw her in the river, which was a dreadful sight."

Of course, those are a little scandalous, and not representative of the whole genre, but that's not the game we're playing, is it? Frank

[JeffD]

JeffD - I like how you chose the most innocuous bluegrass lyrics to make your point. #How about some of the other old standards,

You do have a point. I did pick for my example.

But while there are angry bluegrass lyrics, I would have a lot more trouble finding metal lyrics that were poignant or sweet.

[TNFrank]

Yah, I've heard some pretty "dark" Bluegrass lyrics, maybe not as bad as a Slayer or Venom song but still, for Church goin' Country Folk it's pretty bad. For me music has always been about the energy, not the lyrics. I'd be happy as a clam if all music was instrumentals,LOL.

[man dough nollij]

Grew up listening to Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Montrose, Robin Trower, Rainbow, Aerosmith, Kiss, Ted Nugent, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Motorhead, AC/DC, Rush, UFO, Scorpions, Riot, Saxon...Southern type: Molly Hatchet, Skynyrd, Blackfoot... listened to some of the more "hair" metal: Twisted Sister, Y&T, Quiet Riot... More classic bands like Metallica, Megadeth, Iron Maiden... Newer and creepier bands like Tool (one of my faves), Korn, Rage Against the Machine. Never got Guns & Roses or Motley Crue-- too pop, I guess. Pantera is pretty epic. Though I've gotten older and mellower, I still like head banger music now and then. Watched an old video of UFO the other day-- they're still my fave for the Brit triple guitar attack action-- dig Michael Schenker's guitar style.

PS: Skipped the whole punk era-- dig DK, GWAR, Descendants, Angry Samoans, Fear, Black Flag, Bad Brains, RKL...

[JeffD]

Newer and creepier bands like Tool (one of my faves),

Tool has some interesting percussion, I have to admit. However, I really am turned off by the pictures and art images they claim as inspiration and clearly want associated with their music. I find nothing appealing in vivisection.

[Mandanoob]

I 'm a picky person wether it's music, movies or anything really. I love alot of different kinds (huge distaste for alot of the mainstream popular stuff) from metal, country, big band, bluegrass and other stuff in between. Favorite metal band has to be Judas Priest by far. Metallica and iron maiden are two of the most over rated bands in all music IMHO and I hate most of the new metal (escpecially Lamb of God and metal that doesnt have singing but growling) I do llike Godsmack a whole lot though.

Judas Priest is touring this year also wich I am going to go to so that should be awesome. Sadly they are touring with Heaven and Hell which is black sabbath with Dio. I saw them last year with megadeth and they were one of the worst bands I have seen live.

[earthsave]

Newer and creepier bands like Tool (one of my faves),

Tool has some interesting percussion, I have to admit. However, I really am turned off by the pictures and art images they claim as inspiration and clearly want associated with their music. I find nothing appealing in vivisection.

Yep, the guys in Tool are some strange puppies but I dig their stuff along with NIN and Ministry. Tool songs have that distincince rolling drum and bass line.

Not really thrash, but powerful stuff.

[tkdboyd]

I saw Ministry at Lollapalooza 2. Crazy show. People throwing anything and everything into the air through the whole show, you would look up and all you could see was debris. Shoes were the most dangerous items being thrown that I could see...

Someone mentioned how Metal vs. Hippie Crowd being angry. Not the same situation but sort of close: My niece, I think was 16 at the time, wanted to see Dave Matthews so the wife and I took her to see him in Indy. Wife and I had seen Dave Matthews a couple of times in small venues early in his career and they were "happy" concerts down in the Carolinas. This one in Indy was full of violent drunks. I was dumbfounded, I would have never thought that it would be such an "ugly event"! Maybe the 17 years has skewed my perception, or having a 16 year old with me skewed my opinion?

[TeleMark]

I saw Ministry at Lollapalooza 2. Crazy show. People throwing anything and everything into the air through the whole show, you would look up and all you could see was debris. Shoes were the most dangerous items being thrown that I could see...

Someone mentioned how Metal vs. Hippie Crowd being angry. Not the same situation but sort of close: My niece, I think was 16 at the time, wanted to see Dave Matthews so the wife and I took her to see him in Indy. Wife and I had seen Dave Matthews a couple of times in small venues early in his career and they were "happy" concerts down in the Carolinas. This one in Indy was full of violent drunks. I was dumbfounded, I would have never thought that it would be such an "ugly event"! Maybe the 17 years has skewed my perception, or having a 16 year old with me skewed my opinion?

No, chalk that up to the "college" crowd. All "jam" bands go through the same thing when they get noticed. Phish, back in the late 80s-early 90s, had happy, mellow shows. Sure, some people "overindulged" a bit, but nothing traumatic. By the late 90s into the 2000s, their shows got a lot more "sketchy," as the people coming to the shows were more interested in the Lot culture and getting wasted, rather than the music. Same thing with the Dead.

It's always a mixed blessing when your favorite band gets discovered. I'm happy for them, but I generally stop going to see them live, as I'm too old to fight a bunch of drunk fratboy idiots.

[steadypluckinaway]

I saw the Dead in '94 and it was the best crowd I've ever been a part of. No issues. I saw Dave Matthews in 2002 in Atlanta and they put on a killer show and nobody had any problems. I went to a Gordon Lightfoot show in Boulder and nearly got in a fistfight with a drunken old codger who kept telling me that my generation (I'm 29) didn't appreciate this and that and etc. etc. I think no matter where you go and there is a crowd, you're likely to have kind people and misguided people all in the same place. I would wager that at a thrash metal show the proportion of angry moshing immature people goes way up. I'd never personally go to a Ministry concert on purpose, that is like a death wish. I saw Rage Against the Machine at Red Rocks in '96 and was sore for a week. Most unpleasant crowd ever for me was String Cheese at Red Rocks in '03. If you don't fit in, those hippy types are not the most pleasant bunch.

[Kevin Briggs]

As a former neo-hippie of sorts, I can verify the rudeness of many in that circuit. It's what ultimately dorve me to find myself instead of "my people." Once you all get together, it's basically the same. Everyone falls into a role.

The jam band types have a feew thinsg that make them unique:
1. Like metal heads, they are typically on the outskirts of "normal"
2. They are into durgs and alcohol
3. They are often pretty young, on average
4. The mainstream is critical of them

I remember being at a Phish concert in 1997 or 1998, and I experienced the oddness of the crowd. Nobody was mor einto Phish than I was for those few years that I was really into them. I loved the music and was a high flyer, if you know what I mean. I was all about it.

Well, at one point I was walking to my spot way back on the hill at the Star lake Amphitheater and I accidentally tripped over a guys blanket. It was deep into the second set, and everyone was looped, myself included. I was about 23, and the guy's blanket I tripped on was about 21 or so. He said," That's right. Feel free to just walk all over us!"

He immediately assumed I was part of "the establishment," and that he was the truly "free" one at the concert. At that moment, I was like, "these fans suck." I still enjoyed Phish, and I still do very much, but I am not a part of that culture. It's a big lie, if you ask me.

Now, that's not to say anythign about the origins of the jam band days. I'm sure eveythign was pretty great for a while at Greatful Dead concerts, and Allman Brothers concerts. I love that music too.

[Ken Olmstead]

"Posers" every music and activity has them. Metal and Harley riders seem to have high percentages. Love the music and the bikes but some folks are just.....

My metal appreciation days stopped when Metallica did. From there I really began a journey back in time for music.