The Constant Struggle... I'm a metal fan!

I will, always and forever, be a metal fan. I've come to terms with that. Its ingrained into me over the last 10 years of my life. I'm not sorry for it and I won't be. That doesn't mean its not a struggle. I know I'm not alone in this but I think metal fans really don't get the credit we deserve. We listen to the heaviest, loudest, most insane music on this planet and people look down on it like its of the devil. Even worse than that people dismiss its credibility as a genre all together. Why is this? What makes metal any less listen able than country or rap music? I'm gonna take a quick look at why that is, and then talk a bit about my frustrations in more detail.

Shining

When you think of something that's made for mass appeal what do you think of? Food comes to mind. The commercials for food products do a great job of marketing to everyone. Who's seen an outback commercial and been like "Fuck you, I don't want your Bloomin Onion!!!"? Nobody, that's because they do a good job of making you want that item. Some genre's of music have this same effect. It could be lyrical content, or musical content but these genre's have been tailor made to appeal to everyone. While I personally think its sad that people fall into this trap so easily. I understand it. Its not easy in this busy world we live in to establish our musical tastes. A lot of times our parents have a great effect on the music that we listen to as well. Which in some case's can stunt musical maturity as well. I was raised on Christian music and while I still like some of what I listened to in my younger years, I thank God I didn't get into some of the shit my parents listened to during that time but I digress. Music that appeals to everyone in my mind wouldn't be hard for someone who is creative to make. The people that are good enough musicians and artists should have no problem writing a song that's just the basics. This was the standard process with pop music for years and still is in many cases and country music has completely reverted to this norm. Basically what I'm trying to get at is a lot of popular music is made for the people who like shiny objects. Stupid people is another way to put it and one that I enjoy much more than simple. Of course this isn't always the case. Sometimes we are a slave to our own desires. I can't help EVERYTHING I like, that would just be silly. I wish that people could break through the shell of stupid and see that there is better stuff out there and you barely have to look.

The main frustration that I have being a metal fan is the lack of people to talk to about the genre. It sucks when I hear a really good album and get really excited for someone to hear a song from that album but no one  likes the genre. It not only sucks but is really frustrating. Its the same feeling as not being able to tell anyone what you got for Christmas. Another struggle, people get it in their head that all metal sounds the same. Metal has a massive amount of sub genre's and people always assume its Metallica. When your at a party no one wants to hear metal. People just want to listen to mindless shit at parties and I get that. When your drinking its hard to talk to someone when something more complicated than "Touch My Vagina" is playing on the radio.

The only reason this has come to my attention was because I was listening to the album "Blackjazz" by Shining and I was thinking "Man I wish I could task someone objective how they felt about this". The album to me is very interesting. Its heavy and chaotic but with this controlled chaos that I've not heard before. There's a sax solo in the middle of a brutal song... I mean wtf! I guess I'll just continue on the way its been and the way it will be. That's a price for liking the best genre of all time.