Is Metal really Pop music?

[paul_5]

Metal's not popular round here - the missus keeps turning it off.

[Graham]

As with most genres of music there's popular stuff that tends to appeal to younger or more casual listeners - radio metal is the term I use to think of it: Lamb Of God, Devildriver, Machine Head, Soil, Ill Nino, Killswitch Engage, almost any band on Roadrunner Records who you see proping up the first and second stage at Download.

Then if you're willing to dig a bit deeper there are some phenomenal bands out there at the moment, particularly in the doom, grind and black metal genres, though obviously these more abrasive styles require a bit more of the listener and tend to put off tourists (apart from the hipster types who just want to say they listen to the most brutal things going). Anaal Nathrakh, Witchsorrow, Dillinger Escape Plan and Terror are the first names to jump to mind doing great things at the moment and Napalm Death are still releasing brilliant albums 30 years down the line: Utilitarian was a cracking record.

So horses for courses really, if you want the more Metal Hammer/Kerrang friendly metal it's out there (I was enjoying a bit of Lamb Of God myself the other day), or if you want something heavier, more artistic, more interesting and dare I say it, better it's there too, but to suggest modern metal is irrelevant and lacking in quality is just daft.

[redbandit599]

A bit off topic but Sam Dunn's film 'Metal - A Headbangers Journey' is pretty good and worth a look for either metal fans or anyone with an interest in music (pop or otherwise )

[url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal:_A_Headbanger"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal:_A_Headbanger's_Journey[/url]

[Graham]

[quote name='redbandit599' timestamp='1377597879' post='2189110']
A bit off topic but Sam Dunn's film 'Metal - A Headbangers Journey' is pretty good and worth a look for either metal fans or anyone with an interest in music (pop or otherwise )

[url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal:_A_Headbanger"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal:_A_Headbanger's_Journey[/url]
[/quote]

That is a great film, Mayhem are hilarious in it.

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

[quote name='paul_5' timestamp='1377557878' post='2188895']
Metal's not popular round here - the missus keeps turning it off.
[/quote]

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

[quote name='Lynottfan' timestamp='1377556781' post='2188890']
Sadly, the answer is yes, the NWOBHM and the subsequent fist waving metal as rebellion music seems a long time ago. Ozzy for example the once prince of darkness, and he was, now a sad act reality tv star we laugh at, metal has become "pop"
[/quote]

You speak the truth

[51m0n]

You should try putting a funk band together, its taken bloody years to find people!

[KingBollock]

Does it really matter?

Just because something is popular it doesn't automatically mean it is bad or lacking in any way.

I like listening to early 90s "Pop" music, but since it is no longer popular can it still be considered "Pop"? Or is the title transient?

[4000]

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1377543193' post='2188694']
Straight answer is 'yes'. It is popular music that tries to appear separate, different, aloof etc but, when you break it down, it functions in exactly the same was as the rest of pop but to a different demographic in a slightly different way. It is almost all affectation.
[/quote]

This. Absolutely.

[Phil Adams]

+1 to the generally held view that it is largely mass produced and (expecting fully to be shot down) characterless to lovers of more serious music. Metal to me seems more about hair, tapping and selling albums than about expressing music beliefs.
Awaits barrage of abuse from 14 year old headbangers.............

[xgsjx]

[quote name='51m0n' timestamp='1377607361' post='2189300']
You should try putting a funk band together, its taken bloody years to find people!
[/quote]

Haha! That actually gives me hope!!!

I'm trying to get a band that plays either breakbeat, acid jazz or funk. So far I've got 3 rock guitarists (one on drums), but the singer is funk/soul.

[Graham]

[quote name='Phil Adams' timestamp='1377634244' post='2189777']
+1 to the generally held view that it is largely mass produced and (expecting fully to be shot down) characterless to lovers of more serious music. Metal to me seems more about hair, tapping and selling albums than about expressing music beliefs.
Awaits barrage of abuse from 14 year old headbangers.............
[/quote]
Well I'm twice that age, and don't plan on sending a barrage of abuse, but apart from a small selection of avant garde music that statement could be applied to any genre of music.

In addition, there are plenty of smaller metal acts with no illusions of selling records and are simply doing it for the love of playing music and I think you'd be hard pressed to suggest that bands like Neurosis, Cave In, Akercocke or Sikth to give a few examples aren't interested in musical expression.

[BassTractor]

Just in case somebody might be interested, I've retracted an earlier post in response to Bilbo's claim.
Originally I'd reacted against some assumed underlying tendencies that may not have been present, and Bilbo did have a point about some formal capacities of music not having style boundaries.
That was an important and very good point.

I apologise for having drawn conclusions based on assumptions.

[Ghosts Over Japan]

Back when my dad was around he brought me up on Motorhead, Ac/Dc, Black Sabbath all the golden oldies in my opinion, I love them and I was strongly influenced by them in my younger years.
I don't listen to metal as much now, purely because I don't get the time but when I do I tend to listen to bands such as Sikth, Parkway Drive, TesseracT, Vildhjarta, Periphery and The Arusha Accord (favourite band back in the day)
It's fair to say that a lot of these bands write the music they do knowing that it isn't going to be hugely popular, but it's the niche that they like to write in, and essentially that's enough to make it pop music.

Take a look at when you're listening to the radio and all the typical stars like Rhianna, One Direction, Rita Ora, and all these other "artists" come on, and then pops up something like Newton Faulker playing percussive acoustic, now if like me you heard him way before he got on the radio you know his stuff was pretty "out-there" it was a niche, but it got popular and now you hear it on the radio (well used to anyway, and I can't think of any better examples) it's been classified as "pop music".

I agree that all music is essentially pop music, just in it's own communities, I remember being back in school we had sections of school grounds for different groups of people, you had the popular kids, nerds, and an area I used to hang around in that we called "The Moshpit" and it was fair to say that Metal, Albeit more common styles of metal (Killswitch, Lamb of God - I used to be quite keen on both for the record), were very much the thing to listen to in that area.

Cai

Edited August 28, 2013 by Ghosts Over Japan

[Bolo]

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1377530405' post='2188514']
I'd probably define Metal in the general sense as any music in the vein of Hard Rock, Grunge, Glam, NuMetal, Metalcore etc. So bands from Nirvana & Pearl Jam through to Slipknot & Wolfmother. Anything that has 2 or more guitars with a decent amount of dirt on them all.
[/quote]
That's a sweeping generalisation, completely discarding rock as a genre.

Replying to OP: by the description given on wikipedia: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop_music
"generally short-to-medium length songs, written in a basic format (often the verse-chorus structure), as well as the common employment of repeated choruses, melodic tunes, and catchy hooks"

Yes, most metal fits the Pop Music tag.

What a shame so many people grab this opportunity to knock a genre that can be so challenging and diverse. I get the feeling many of the haters couln't play a convincing metal gig to save their life.

Ah well, I'm probably too protective of my trade

[Ghosts Over Japan]

[quote name='Bolo' timestamp='1377685871' post='2190260']
What a shame so many people grab this opportunity to knock a genre that can be so challenging and diverse.

[/quote]

I understand this completely, hence why I used to listen to so much metal, I met a girl on the bus to college a few years a go, she was in her late 20's, we got chatting about music, and she was telling me how she liked Opera, and fair enough, what ever floats your boat, but then she told me she liked metal as well, and that took me by surprise, I asked if there was a particular reason she liked such "clashing" genres, her answer was great, "Because Metal is the only other type of music that can match the intensity Opera provides"

And yeah playing a metal gig well, certainly involves a large performance aspect to the gig as well! Nowadays I do the occasional gig supporting an acoustic artist where I sit on a stool for the whole gig, VERY different, I still enjoy it though!

Cai

Edited August 28, 2013 by Ghosts Over Japan

[xgsjx]

Yes, I'm generalising the metal genre, so what? I started this for fun & that's the way it should be looked at.

I like metal in all it's forms (well, most forms) & I wouldn't class rock bands such as U2 or Stereophonics as metal hence me not using the term "Rock". I also like a lot of pop music, EDM, drum n bass, Jazz, funk, soul & classical. I like to keep an open mind with music.

Is that Wiki definition the definitive definition? I don't know. Sounds about right, but is it really?

I don't think there was many knocking the genre either. Some gave their opinion of what they like, but if everyone liked the same stuff, what a boring place this would be (though I think we'll all agree on Clodplay ).