It's that music thread!

I can relate, pretty much none of the bands I like come to my state, the closest they tend to come is Texas.

Metal has a lot of very negative stereotypes attached to it and these are pretty prolific in the United States, from my experience. I STILL hear a lot of people calling metal things such as 'evil', 'Satanic', 'devil worshipping', 'anti-religion' and other such things. Of course, these things may be true to a point for some bands/subgenres (primarily black metal) but generally, these are barely even half-truths. What is often forgotten is that metal is music…and nothing more. It's meant to be entertaining and a form of art in its own right. The negative stereotypes may be a driving force for why metal is not popular stateside, particularly in the south.

Just my

Wolf Bird wrote:

Metal has a lot of very negative stereotypes attached to it and these are pretty prolific in the United States, from my experience. I STILL hear a lot of people calling metal things such as 'evil', 'Satanic', 'devil worshipping', 'anti-religion' and other such things. Of course, these things may be true to a point for some bands/subgenres (primarily black metal) but generally, these are barely even half-truths. What is often forgotten is that metal is music…and nothing more. It's meant to be entertaining and a form of art in its own right. The negative stereotypes may be a driving force for why metal is not popular stateside, particularly in the south.

Just my

Basically yeah. Which is why bands that come from more liberal areas of the country are more hesitant to come over here since it means that they automatically get labeled as devil worshipers.

(Not that I even care if they are, I'm about as far removed from religion as one could possibly be and I'm a big black metal fan so even if they were satanists I wouldn't care).

I mean hell, I would give an arm and leg to have someone like SF come down to GA.

I'm absolutely not a believer but I respect all the persons that are ! But it's strange to see that some parts of certain countries are so reluctant about that sort of music !
Metal and satanism are often tied and that is so sad to see things like that nowadays

myau56 wrote:

I'm absolutely not a believer but I respect all the persons that are ! But it's strange to see that some parts of certain countries are so reluctant about that sort of music !
Metal and satanism are often tied and that is so sad to see things like that nowadays

There's a section of the USA called the "Bible Belt" because it's so culturally enriched into Protestantism. That's all fine and dandy on it's own, but most of these people run into the assumption that everyone either shares their beliefs or needs to. There's a very heavy "With us or against us" mentality in this part of the country.

Individualism is a pretty heavy trait of all metal music (Hell I'd call it one of the dominant ones) as are questioning morals/authority and all that cool stuff. Problem is, those traits tend to run counter to what most Southern Baptists teach is right and moral and so metal tends to be labeled as Satanic. Some argue one of Satan's most defining traits was his defiance of the Abrahamic God, so any kind of defiance of authority can be viewed as Satanic, especially in this region of the country.

That's not to say there can't be any kind of cross-over with Christianity and Metal, I've met plenty of Christians enjoy the genre just fine. This is more focused on the extreme end of the spectrum.

From what I understand, you Euros have it a lot easier when it comes to being Secular, they don't seem to care too much up there.

The funny thing is, metal is pretty popular in my age group, at least in my part of the state and in my anecdotal experience. It seems like you can't find a non-metal band at clubs and places like that, at least on a local level. I figure it's just not as lucrative to pass through Louisiana, there aren't a lot of big cities or notable stops. Personally, I find the cultural/religious opposition to metal kind of funny at this point, I like to let people think I'm a wizard wearing a pointy Viking helmet or whatever.

Of course, the other funny thing is I'm not even interested in metal these days, I'm more into progressive rock and zeuhl and crap nobody's every heard of, so I don't expect Magma or King Crimson to come by here anytime soon, Magma doesn't even come stateside except like once a decade, ha ha.

Wolf Bird wrote:

Metal has a lot of very negative stereotypes attached to it and these are pretty prolific in the United States, from my experience. I STILL hear a lot of people calling metal things such as 'evil', 'Satanic', 'devil worshipping', 'anti-religion' and other such things. Of course, these things may be true to a point for some bands/subgenres (primarily black metal) but generally, these are barely even half-truths. What is often forgotten is that metal is music…and nothing more. It's meant to be entertaining and a form of art in its own right. The negative stereotypes may be a driving force for why metal is not popular stateside, particularly in the south.

Just my

I would have to agree. And I think that may be one reason why I never even gave Metal Music a second glance. After being enlightened and encouraged by Wolf Bird to give some of it a try, I found I really liked and enjoyed some groups such as Sabaton, etc. However there are still probably some metal I would not listen to. Just as with other types of music or other things. It's not all bad but it may not all be good. The listener must decide for themselves.

I'm lucky enough to live in the northeast, where these stereotypes are not nearly as prolific (and we get live acts, with some big venues in the area and a lot of smaller ones). I can even wear my band t-shirts to the office and no one bats an eye. But I do run into it sometimes nonetheless, and certainly see it plenty online and a lot of it does come from an extremely conservative religious standpoint. And being a woman who's into it certainly raises a few more eyebrows, and unfortunately, even within the metal subculture itself, there's still some issues with women who enjoy the music. Like Bragatyr said, anymore, it does seem a bit funny that these stereotypes persist. This stuff has been around for decades and we're still here. Plus many mainstream religious people, of all religions and cultures, like the music. Just going to a show reveals that. The diversity at the Amon Amarth show was pretty amazing. It may be a bit of a reflection of how diverse Boston is, but still, it crosses boundaries when you let it.

Hukos, I'm also pretty far removed from religion, but black metal is the one sub genre I have some difficulty getting into. I can listen in short bursts, but I'm slowly getting the taste for it. I tend to like black metal bands that incorporate progressive or thrash elements, like Enslaved and Skeletonwitch, respectively.

And Silver, you're still welcome.

When it comes to Black Metal, I'm partial to 1st wave stuff myself. Especially Celtic Frost. Can't get enough of them.

Nice. I respect that music, but it's also what I have the hardest time with when it comes to metal. I just can't get into that really raw sound too much.