Why does everyone hate metal?

[TheBlazeofGlory]

Okay, let's get some things clear about "Heavy Metal".

The term "Heavy Metal" when applied to music means something that's artificial sounding. Layers and layers of distortion on guitars, atonal basslines, blazing drums that have primal beats at their core. Metal guitars are the polar opposite of accoustic guitars, right? The idea behind Heavy Metal is to make dark, heavy music.

In my opinion, there is nothing heavier than Black Sabbath's first album's opener, "Black Sabbath". Why? Atmosphere. Say it with me.

At - Mo - Spear.

Good. The rain and thunder in the beginning of the song set the tone for the guitars, bass, and drums to enter. Tony Iommi enters with that heavy minor triad of notes. They just sound so.. Doomy. It's pure atmosphere that creates a sense of impending doom. And that's heavy. Heavy as balls.

I used to HATE screamed vocals of any kind, whether it be Hardcore, Grind, Death, or Black. Hated it. Loved the music.

So, I'm in this band, and we bring in a singer. The guy screams. I couldn't stand it, even worse when he screamed MY lyrics. Ugh!

But he and I sat down and discussed his vocals.. He explained that while he doesn't need to scream, and he doesn't, the hostility that comes from screaming, mixed with the emotions behind it, enhance the point of the lyrics. I asked him to sing for me.

And it was amazing. Amazing. This guy who sounded like he was choking on a cactus was singing Elton John! AMAZINGLY! His voice was clear, strong, and precise.

It was in that moment that I fell in love with screamed vocals. Taking in what he said about the emotions behind his vocals, and his mastery of a non-screamed vocal.. I loved it.

His exact words to me was this :

"You run your Mesa/Boogie with alot of distortion. I run my voice with alot of distortion."

And he's right. That's all it is; putting distortion on the voice like I do my guitar. Master of Puppets wouldn't sound right at all with clean guitars. Through the Eyes of the Dead wouldn't sound right with clean vocals on top of the controlled chaos of drums, guitars, and bass.

From a musical standpoint, with metal, it's skill. Programming a great sounding drum patch for a hip-hop song requires some form of clever, but is it physically demanding? No. It's not. Playing 218 BPM on a 16th note run with sweeps thrown in for melodic purposes is when you do it for four and a half minutes. Try it.

Compared to even hard rock, metal requires so much more dedication and love to make. You can't just 'like' metal and make the heaviest music to be heard. You just can't. You have to love it.

Metal is much more complex than any other kind of music, withholding forms of Jazz Improv. And forbid you bring Jazz INTO your Metal, like The Dillinger Escape Plan, Between The Buried and Me, or Psyopus. The dexterity needed in both the right and left hands of any metal band is something to be amazed at. Feet for drummers, can't forget feet. Even the song structure requires so much more thought then a standard Verse-Chorus-Verse-Chorus-Solo-Verse-Out-Chorus. Listen to bands from the "Deathcore" genre. The best way to describe their syncopation is a school of fish.

Listen to Mastodon. Even better live. The way one second all four members are off noodling on some progressive rock riff, and the next, BOOM, heavy, fast, and loud. No warning, but all four seamlessly shift between complex riffs and beats.

That is what I love about metal. Skill, talent, dedication.

Love.

[ghosty]

^Mastodon is one of my current fav metal bands. Along with High On Fire, then I find I have a tendency to favor towards the slow, sludgier stuff like. Isis and Pelican ... btw Pelican's latest "city of echoes" kicks ass.

[TheBlazeofGlory]

Yeah, Mastodon is amazing. I recently fell in love with Isis as well, and High on Fire about two years ago when I saw them with Nile and Soilent Green. Maybe three or four years. Marijuana affects the memory.

There's a reason they can be classified (though I usually don't) as stoner metal.

[dean0000]

I like metal, but I dont listen to it all the time. It makes me feel good when I listen to it. I agree with lip's comment about people saying its noise, I can hear all the individual parts perfectly as well.

I listen to all sorts though, metal, rock, rap, pop, punk.

[Hardcore Newbie]

I don't hate metal, I just don't particularly go out of my way to listen to it.

But TheBlazeofGlory, you mention some points in your reasoning that I don't quite agree with.

From a musical standpoint, with metal, it's skill. Programming a great sounding drum patch for a hip-hop song requires some form of clever, but is it physically demanding? No. It's not. Playing 218 BPM on a 16th note run with sweeps thrown in for melodic purposes is when you do it for four and a half minutes. Try it.

I'd never argue that playing an instrument doesn't take an immense amount of skill. Usually when I make a hip hop track, I play everything live from my keyboard (even tho I'm not a particularly strong key player). Most of my songs have a simple structure, but that's a composition choice on my part, as I'm a big fan of minimalism. In fact, some of my songs are just drums and a single synth. Fuck a bass line, I'll put bass into the synth sometimes.

My whole sound comes from how I build and create my synth patches, especially when I work on my industrial music. Fairly simple melodies and progressions abusing strange and interesting sounds. Making those sounds takes a long time, as I start from scratch every time. Every sound I make, I've learned more about my instruments.

As such, I don't equate musical skill with physical demand. Do I respect musician who can skillfully play at 218 bpm? Of course. Do I hold someone's music in higher regard because of that? Nope. It's all subjective.

Metal is much more complex than any other kind of music, withholding forms of Jazz Improv. And forbid you bring Jazz INTO your Metal, like The Dillinger Escape Plan, Between The Buried and Me, or Psyopus. The dexterity needed in both the right and left hands of any metal band is something to be amazed at. Feet for drummers, can't forget feet. Even the song structure requires so much more thought then a standard Verse-Chorus-Verse-Chorus-Solo-Verse-Out-Chorus. Listen to bands from the "Deathcore" genre. The best way to describe their syncopation is a school of fish.

It all depends on your definition of "complex". Song structure or arrangements are quite different in many genres outside of pop, so the ABABCABB formula on the radio doesn't fly in many genres. If complex is based on notes per minute and dexterity, I'll hand Metal the award for complexity, but in my opinion, electronic experimental music gets my award for most complex. Some of the stuff that those guys make is incredibly mind boggling. Some of it is completely unlistenable, but some of it is great.

So does more complex = better music? Not in my opinion. A plain grey shirt looks better to me than a shirt in every colour with stripes running in every direction. Some people like complexity. Give me a grey shirt with a strip or two

[ghosty]

Well stated, I agree. ^

[Juggalo k00kie]

How do people like rap?

because.. rap is about lyricism, focusing on the mental talent of the singer, in this case, rapper, being able to paint a colorful picture with words, rhythm, and flow, not relying on the beat or hook

on a second note, metal is ok... just not my thing, especially death metal, i can't stand not being able to understand the lyrics

[Hardcore Newbie]

As someone who writes both rap and "traditional" rock lyrics, I have a deep respect for both writing styles. Rap is very hard to not be boring while rapping, in that usually you write 3 16 bar verses for every song, so not repeating yourself can become a challenge. Changing up the flow and such also requires some thinking. Rock is the exact opposite, sometimes trying to express a full idea when a verse may only contain 25 syllables, not even words.

[TheBlazeofGlory]

Ah, I'm not saying that any other forms of music are lesser than metal, I wouldn't even consider myself a metalhead anymore. I still love it, but there's so much music out there I can't contain myself to one genre. Or two. Or thirty. And music skill doesn't come from the physical aspect of the music, nor does the complexity of it. In my opinion, the best music is the music that just sounds good. Even if you're playing at an insane speed, if it doesn't sound good, it's not good. I love some hip-hop, back in the day I used to listen to Jay-Z, Nas (odd combination, right?), Three Six Mafia, The Dungeon Family, etc. It's all good.

And having a complex song structure, riffs, and technique doesn't make you a good musician if you're just wanking the fretboard/drums/keys/vocals. Hell, I've been writing an album (that I plan on releasing here first) of a deformed, ugly cousin of sludge/stoner metal I call Caveman Metal. It's medium paced, simple strong structure, simple beats, gutteral music. What a caveman would listen to. Lyrics that are purely percusive, you know?

And I'll agree that avant-garde experimental music can get really really out there and odd, but it also gets to a point where you have to ask if it's music or not - Godspeed! You Black Emperor for example.. I listened to them a good bit, but I had to wonder: Is the 8 minutes of an airport terminal sounds between actual instruments really music? Contrary though, is thirty seconds of random drums and pissing-on-a-fence guitars really music either?

Good music is good. Not because it's brutal, or underground, indie, whatever you wish to call it. Personally, hand me something that tells a great story and I'm down. Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Modest Mouse, and for some young guys Brand New is amazing. I suspect they'll make some of the best music in many a year.

I agree with minimalism. Alot. I play with alot of different musicians in my area, and I can't stand it! Almost ALL the guitarist I've played with use shitty digital effects that sound like cheese. Yeah, a six second delay with flanged repeats sounds cool in your room, but when you PA that. Ew. Big ew. My guitar chain consists of a gain boost, an EQ boost and a Noise Supressor to get rid of the previous pedal's noise. Simple, but effective. I'll rely on a good tone, good lyrics, and a good vibe to make good music.

That's what matters most I guess, a good vibe.

As I said, I love metal, alot, and I do think it's the most physically astounding genre, but not the best genre by far. In my original response, I should have noted avant-garde styles of experimental alongside Jazz and Jazz-improv. However, not being a genre I listen to alot, it slipped the radar.

[sonic titan]

I didn't read all of this, but metal rules. Thrash, grind, death, sludge/doom/stoner, black metal, all of it is great to me. I also like plenty of other genres of music not even related to metal, I guess I'm just open minded.