I must admit that when I was younger I fell for the 'metal elitist' viewpoint where only the rawest black and death metal counted as 'real' metal. Yet, even with that attitude, I still made room for bands like KoRn and Limp Bizkit even though they were viewed as mainstream schlock (yeah man, the first KoRn album was kind of cool but they sold out after that and turned to crap! - typical metal elitist). As I've gotten older I find that I can still pop in a nu-metal album and get the same enjoyment I did when I was younger but the 'real' metal albums have mostly been retired from my listening line-up.

Now, does this mean I think that mainstream metal is BETTER than 'truer' metal bands? Hell no. There are tons and tons of bands that never made it famous that I really enjoy. Take Haste for example, I own their entire discography yet they are so underrepresented that MetalStorm doesn't even have a profile for them. The same goes for Century, an American mathcore band whose first two albums I consider some of the best extreme metal albums I've ever heard. My point here isn't that mainstream bands are better or super obscure bands are cooler, my point is that every type of music is trying to reach a different audience and I don't understand why 'mainstream' is considered such a terrible label.

Slipknot, Mudvayne, Static-X, Deftones; all of these bands have albums worth checking out and enjoying no matter what your favorite form of metal is. How is it that a band like Mastodon are visionaries early in their careers but sellouts now that they are making music that is just as interesting but *shudders* appeals to more people!...? Why is it that metalcore, the genre that inherited the hate that nu-metal once enjoyed, is such an unacceptable art form? Because they try to be catchy and occasionally pleasant to the ear? How is it that Emperor and Enslaved are gods of the metal world when they utilize clean vocal moments that stick in your mind but a band that tries to make all of their songs catchy is somehow a blight on the metal genre?

I understand that some bands follow way too closely to a formula and that can be annoying, but this is true of EVERY genre! How many death metal bands do you have to hear before you can guess how pretty much every other death metal band is going to sound? How is it that there is a black metal cooking show that is spoofing the genre while also sounding exactly like many of the bands within the genre? What is so bad about metal that goes mainstream that makes it instantly bad, even if it is objectively better than many of the bands who are 'truer' to the 'metal spirit'?

Seriously, someone explain this to me, I don't understand.

You would probably get better luck asking this somewhere else...
I think just like you most ms people don't think mainstream vs underground is a big deal

For me what's so bad about mainstream band is the way they sound and that's it.
Had they sounded the way I like, I'd listen to them, regardless of whether they're famous or not

I honestly listen to whatever I want regardless. I like what I like.

Written by Karlabos on 10.06.2016 at 01:38

For me what's so bad about mainstream band is the way they sound and that's it.
Had they sounded the way I like, I'd listen to them, regardless of whether they're famous or not

Thats a big simplification. Mainstream music overall is "bad" becasuse it supports old values, norms and discourses - all forms of art comes with values.

One example: the whole cheesy goth/doom scene with Draconian as one of the main bands. Obviously the whole Draconian concept is built around the beauty and the beast myth, where the man is the monster and the women is the beauty. Obsviously such music is treasured by men and women that love the old gender norms

Well, part of my reasoning for this topic is how many low scores nu-metal and metalcore albums have on here. Maybe most of those people voting don't take part in the community very much but to see some of the best albums of the genre barely being able to get a 7, it seems to still be a common attitude to hate on these bands. I can see if they are "generic" or something you've heard a million times before, but an album like KoRn's "Issues" was genre defining imo and for it to have a 7.3 just reeks of down voting just because of the genre.

Nothing's wrong with mainstream metal nor with troo metl.......... just listen to what you really like, no matter what someone else says, it's your choice. I like Evanescence as I like Cattle Decapitation.
Like someone else here said: in every metal genre or sub-genre you'll find generic / formulaic sounding bands... that I don't like, but fortunately there are the good ones, the ones that sound (at least a bit) original, different, good vibe, etc... although to some generic music is good enough for them, so be it.
My suggestion is: don't argue with someone who insists on troo metl being better... you'll get nowhere.