Well the big hoopla today is going to be a concert promoters disparaging words about "metal" music.  Before we even get into his comments, I kind of think you have to define "metal" and that's a big part of the problem.

Metal used to mean everything from Judas Priest to Quiet Riot.  These days I'd say the chief proponents of the kind of metal he is talking about are bands like Slayer and Lamb Of God.  I don't consider A7X or even Pantera metal. I think for the most part those bands are what I'd call hard rock.  I guess you could say that "yesterday's metal becomes tomorrows hard rock".  Do you consider Metallica metal?  Chances are if you're under say 35, you probably don't.

So this promoter said that metal got gray, old and fat...and chased all the girls away.  I think he makes some pretty good points but in a bad way.  Like it or not, the aggressive metal bands attract very few girls, so there's your potential audience split in half. Next up is the fact that metal has always been about the next thing being more extreme than the last and they've pretty much hit the wall.  You can only growl and tune down so much before you run out of range in your voice or frets on your guitar.  So now we have bands that use metal riffs but come up with great hooks so they're not considered "metal".  THIS is where I think the problem has always been; metal fans have always spent more time fighting about what's "metal" instead of having a cohesive scene.  Lamb Of God fans will rarely support someone like Of Mice And Men. Even back in the day the Quiet Riot fans yelled "Slayer" but they didn't actually listen to them or go to the shows.  That's the real bottom line here, that the scene is way too fractured and the extreme bands on the outer edge aren't drawing in any new fans.  Now as to the younger bands that contain metal elements, they are on the upswing.  Bands like Bring Me The Horizon, We Came As Romans, and Of Mice And Men may be a step back towards a more hard rock writing stance, but they are the new metal and the best hope for the genre to grow.  Facts are facts and these bands sell more and more tickets each time they go out on tour. Bands like Slayer sell less tickets each time they go out.

So in the end, I don't think ALL metal bands have got gray, old and fat...and chased all the girls away. I think we've hit a point where an older generation has peaked, while a new generation is still climbing the hill.

And with that, I guess it's time for you to start bitching about what is "metal".  I, in fact, already know what you're going to do. You're going to start name dropping and using the phrase "real metal" a lot. Well, ticket sales=health of the scene and lot of the names you're gonna drop don't get it done.  Have fun anyways!

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