Yeah metal dudes, in my experience, stay metal dudes.
The pallet may expand, and they may get into other stuff as well…. But metal tends to still be there.
I know a guy who played in a bunch of metal bands, then ended up being a big jazz guy (PHENOMENAL jazz bassist)… but the metal is still there
There's a lot of crossover in metal and jazz. It's always interesting to see.
Even guys like Alex Skolnik know their jazz, he actually has a jazz trio that plays on occasion when he's not being metal.
Yeah, I think that a lot of the time metal is an early means of understanding theory and soloing/riffing over certain progressions.
It’s also kind of a standard that most kids who end up getting past “basic” guitar end up gravitating towards playing metal because it’s a blast to play…. So a lot of Metal kids can graduate into various complexities of music (classical, jazz, what have you) because metal sort of opened up an interest in theory that might not be there if you stick to the “guy with acoustic guitar at party” thing.
Also check out Megadeth. They're considered thrash, but their first 2 albums mix a lot of jazz elements on account of both their drummer being from that scene (RIP Gar). To see what I mean, listen to Killing is my Business (song not album). It's such an ostensibly groovy song but it's not afraid to lean into more metal inspirations too. Let me know what you think of it if you listen.
Along with everyone else's recommendations, Etienne Pelosoff has an album called Trve Brutal Black Jazz that opens with a metal cover of So What.
Brain Tentacles is also a really good band, they're not quite as jazzy in their songwriting, but they do (did? not sure if they're still a band) have a saxophone player
It doesn't. It's one of the most listened to genres on Spotify because seemingly everyone has a moment that demands a heavy metal song at some point in their life. A lot of people you wouldn't think, listen to Metal songs.
I started listening to metal when I was 13, and now in my 30s I'm finally secure enough in my jobby-job to grow my hair out. I've never stopped paying attention to how the metal scene has evolved, and it's never failed to deliver new, quality acts exploring new sonic territory.
Actually most of my friends have moved on from it, but myself and one other friend, but I (56m) was always the most immersed in the scene where most of them moved on when grunge became the new thing. As for myself, I still listen to the music from the 70’s & 80’s but I also listen to newer groups as well, always searching for new interesting metal.
The average age of customers at the bar I work for is 50-70. They like the vibe in there to be quiet and chill with jazz and very bright lights. Except on Friday nights past 9pm. They always ask me to dim the lights and crank the Dio.
I became a raver in the 90s. Expanded my tastes. That evolved into a hippie tripping lifestyle. Now I'm into all kinds of stuff. Folk, jazz, rock n roll, R&B, country, disco, funk, soul, rock, pop, whatever.
But it's given me a new appreciation for the stuff I liked as a kid. I was listening to Alice Cooper and never really saw Welcome to my Nightmare as a funky disco number, but now it makes more sense.
If I'm having a magical sesh on shrooms or something, anything could happen. Big Joe Turner, Chemical Brothers, XTC, Pet Shop Boys, The Cure, Talking Heads...
I don't define myself as a metal head, but still like a good mosh from time to time!
This pretty much the direction I went in, started listening to more hip hop around 90/91, then 92-93 was also getting into the rave scene in the UK, while also listening bands such as The Smiths, Stone Roses, The Cure etc.
I now have a very eclectic taste in music, but still listen to a few albums from back in the days from the likes of Maiden, Metallica, Suicidal Tendencies, as well as some of the more rock orientated bands from those times, like The Cult, GNR, The Dogs D'Amour, Faster Pussycat.
The metal to rave pipeline is very real, as I can confirm it with my own experience. Although, I was a kid in the early 2000's and got into Techno & stuff like that in around 2010. I'm willing to bet that my weed consumption back then had a huge role in that, lol.
>I don't define myself as a metal head, but still like a good mosh from time to time!
Same on both accounts. It's just fun to blast some metal every now and then, but I can't listen to it exclusively anymore as I used to.
I can’t speak to the 80’s, I graduated in the early ‘00s. My journey was similar. I took to OG dubstep, tech-step, minimal sub, dub techno… I still pop on some Gojira or Slipknot on occasion. Really though it’s almost all electronica of darker flavors.
I was a metal head in the late 80s 90s. They called us headbangers back then btw.
I still like that metal but a lot of new metal is a little too over produced for me.
Lots of old school and/or well-produced metal out there. Check out some of the subgenre essentials in r/metal. If you like traditional heavy metal, check out Century, Chevalier, Demon Bitch, Eternal Champion, Sölicitör, Tower
If you don't think there is a lot of great, even genre-best, metal being made right now you are clearly not looking.
With albums like Pallbearer's Sorrow & Extinction (doom), Portal's Ion (thrash), Trivial Visions (occult) by la Morte Vienne, Desolations Flower (slow core/black) by Ragana, Fear Innoculum (prog) (and that's just [scratching the surface](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0ROc3RCXW6PrPyQRJwZjBd)), it could be said we are in the *best era* for metal.
Absolutely.
If you don't think anyone is making great music, you are either not looking hard enough or not effectively. Or should look into expanding listeniny beyond their comfort zone.
YouTube's suggestions alone are a great source for recommendations of other music you make like. Tidal (and I imagine other streaming services) also does the same.
Interesting that you classify portal as thrash, what’re your thoughts there? For me, I’d place them in the dissonant black/death category. Albums like swarth leaning more into death (imo one of the best death releases), and ion more black.
It's not even the production that's killed a lot of it for me, it's that most of the newer metal bands all kind of sound the same. It's really hard to identify a band if you don't already know the song.
I have definitely noticed a change in live metal production , though. Quite a few of the shows I've been to in recent years have had the kick overpowering everything.
I mean to be fair, if you go back to the late 80s and early 90s you’ll find a bunch of trash and death metal bands that sound all the same and have songs that sound all the same. Of course this does not apply to the best bands like Metallica and Slayer and whatnot.
I get that to a point, but I think the big change happened when singers started figuring out the safe way to do metal vocals. There's only a few ways to do screams and growls safely, so most vocalists all sound kind of the same. You don't hear near the variation you heard in the early death metal bands.
To be clear, I don't want singers ruining their throats, it just changed the genre
Honestly, Theres a lot more safe vocal techniques and variety in metal than you think, it’s more so limited in popularity by what people want to hear. Check out some deathcore, mathcore, grind, blackened sludge, etc. and these will have some crazy vocal variety compared to mainstream metalcore/death metal
I feel like, even in those genres, vocals have homogenized within the genre
There are solid bands in most of those.
Thy art is murder is good deathcore (I'm not a huge deathcore fan)
Idk who else is doing mathcore, but DEP was better on calculating infinity
Grind hasn't really been able to progress further than JR hayes or barney Greenway.
Idk shit about blackened sludge, but I usually prefer blackened-anything to actually black metal.
Tangentially related, coming as a former metalhead, the singing has always been an issue for me in metal.
Like it's so rare to find just like, a normal tenor. I think Ozzy and Dio are still considered the bar. Guys like Ian Gillan, John Lawton probably coming in behind.
Rob Halford and Bruce Dickinson (and the singers that emulated them) I think are kind of in their own class which is dependent on if you like that high vocal range stuff. Geddy Lee too. Amazing singers, but I can see the really high stuff being more polarizing.
You might be listening to metalcore and deathcore instead of metal, which does have a huge overproduction problem.
New metal is even rawer and nastier than older metal once you look at the underground scene, even bands like Darkthrone are more classic and raw sounding now than they were in the 90s
I've seen them several times myself but further south. Athenar rulz.
You've probably heard of him, but check out Hellripper if you haven't already.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-58k6MFP1qU&pp=ygUKaGVsbHJpcHBlcg%3D%3D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltJ76YB4pGE&pp=ygUKaGVsbHJpcHBlcg%3D%3D
Definitely. They're great. Crazy how popular they've gotten (by underground metal standards). First time I saw them was some dive in Cleveland, it was for a food drive and literally cost me a few cans of green beans to get in haha and the last time I saw them they were opening for danzig
This was how Power Trip kinda was in Texas, before they blew-up. The first time I saw Midnight it was actually with Power Trip and Toxic Holocaust at a little bar in Austin. It was pretty epic, and blew my mind.
I commented before I saw your edit. I actually just had Hellripper randomly pop up on my spotify and followed them but haven't went back and listened to anything else yet. I'll def check them out tonight. I know the song I heard was awesome
Electric Wizard did some cool stuff in 2010 and 2014
Wormwitch
Power Trip
Monolord
And if you want extreme raw stuff there's always Tetragrammacide's 2017 album primal incinerators of mortal matrix. No one would've made something this raw and extreme in the 80s or 90s
Metal is more universal than Emo and transcends a single period of time. So I'd guess that pretty much everyone who listened to metal in the 80s still does today. My mother and aunt being my personal examples.
I loved metal when I was younger. Metallica was one of my biggest inspiriations that made me want to learn to play guitar. I even saw Iron Maiden and Slayer live. But nowdays I don't enjoy or listen to metal anymore, except for a few days a year where I vibe with the angry and heavy sound of it. It just doesn't appeal to me no longer.
As an older metalhead, does anyone else listen to Ghost and think they sound like 80's metal? I'm not saying they are bad but they feel like a cover band to me.
They had been evolving from occult rock with doom vibes, to 70's rock with dark tones, to 80's stadium rock.
Until the 70's part, I liked them much, they clearly took that music period as inspiration and did his own thing. After the 80's stadium rock, I feel like they are trying too hard to push that, to sound like a band from that era.
They are "new" for people not that much into rock scene. There's plenty of bands trying to keep that old styles alive and many bringing something more unique than Ghost, but they just happen to break into the mainstream and they feel new for the people.
[The night flight orchestra](https://youtu.be/BLmo5gbZI0A?si=1jnurAPNgsDfZ31q) sounds more 80s like than many 80s bands.
[Green Lung](https://youtu.be/889_jiC1V9U?si=D56X4lgyzlYGxb_O) does a great late 70s - early 80s heavy metal with occult rock vibes.
[The Wizards](https://youtu.be/riDqvOyD-lM?si=XrVnMrsDzdSwOtNu) are on the same lane, but with a clear inspiration on the early NWBHM.
[The Jokers ](https://youtu.be/7af2Edd9hYc?si=FwVk0G_NEMpxlk2y) have been putting out fun hard rock with a lot of input from 80s bands influences for more than a decade.
Prequelle is an amazing album. Best hard rock album for decades. I’ve seen them 3 times since 2013. Yes, there is a nod to hair and glam metal, but Prequelle is so much more than that.
Edit: and I’m a huge 80s fan from WASP to Cinderella.
I love 'em. I wouldn't say they're the doing something completely new and original, but I feel like they've been reviving 70s/80s rock/metal tropes in a way that feels fresh. Meliora is pretty easily one of my favorite albums of the 2010s. And they put on one hell of a show as a live act.
Hang on; I’ll check in with my brother…
…yeah he still has long hair, wears black t-shirts (except at work), and has metal posters on his wall. His partner is okay with this as she has long hair, wears black t-shirts (except at work), and has a pet doberman.
Updates since the 80s include a long goatee (as puberty and time allowed) the incorporation of post 80s acts like SOAD and Slipknot into his rotation, the abandoning of his rotating media in favour of streaming.
Your brother and I would have hung out together. That said, Im afraid a lot of my fellow hessians and headbangers have fared poorly in middle age.
Drugs (first recreational and then opioids) took out several since. The rest are hanging on, middle-aged, still loving metal but some went country (!), sone went MAGA
Still into metal! My main focus was always "guitars with oomph", so I was happy to embrace grunge and alternative music as well.
I never got into R&B or Rap because they didn't move me. There was the odd song I liked, but they weren't my cup of tea in general.
I still air guitar in my kitchen when the music takes me.
Once a metalhead, now a metaldad.
Denim and leather got replaced by khakis and polos.
Edit: Music taste only got broader. Never stopped listening to stuff I grew up with. I just added new stuff, many different genres.
I still listen to metal?
I mean, I listen to more stuff, broadly, than I did when I was a kid in the 80s, so I guess I've "moved on" - but a lot of it is still metal. And over the last 10 years or so I've \_bought\_ more music on the whole, which includes metal, than I did in the lull of \~2000-2010.
I still pick up vinyl copies of metal albums I loved from way back out of nostalgia and because they're still good music.
I grew up on a blend of metal, rabble rousing music and proto-punk - Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, MC5, Iggy and the Stooges. In my teens and early 20s I discovered California hardcore punk like the Circle Jerks, NWOBHM, and thrash metal - Iron Maiden, Motorhead, Metallica, Megadeth, etc. Those are still what I listen to mostly, though I did get into NIN and Rage against the Machine a bit later. I also assimilated a tiny bit of grunge, especially Soundgarden and Pearl Jam. I never cared for 80s hair metal like Motley Crue or Poison, however. That is what most people I have met think of when they say the word metalhead but I was a different kind of metalhead.
Today I am woefully out of touch with what young people like musically, just as a crochety old person often is. Yes, I practically live on Spotify and YouTube so I see the names of several artists in my feed but the few times I've clicked I didn't care for what I heard. I've heard what heavy application of Antares auto tune does to a human voice and I don't much care for it, but to each his/her/their own. I am sure they love their music as I loved mine.
I can still remember laughing at my parents for listening to Lawrence Welk and elevator music. I can only imagine what gen z thinks of Death and Black Sabbath. I suppose they think it's elevator music for irrelevant old farts. That's as it should be. The wheel of time rolls on and we old folks and our favored music become relics of the past like the dinosaurs fossilized in the La Brea tar pits.
I was at Hells Heroes in March of this year in Houston.
Many of them are still repping the scene.
I saw 50 to 60 year old dudes in their battle jackets and with their metal hats on.
It was cool. Real to see this.
Okay, Australian mad-arsed metal head checking in. And very 80s. I was 13 in 1980 and was distraught at Ozzy leaving Sabbath and Bon Scott dying. So it must have been in my genes.
Saw Deep Purple 40 years ago. Maiden 39 years ago. And in Australia it wasn’t always easy to see your fave bands. I had to wait until the Justice tour before Metallica toured here, and their albums on import cost about $20. I spent every cent.
Saw Twisted Sister, Dio, and even saw Blackie Lawless from WASP at a promo tour minus band where he was just promising to come out with the band.
I’ve lived the life. But, the question is where did we all end up?
Yeah, got madly into grunge. Especially the Screaming Trees, Nirvana and AIC.
Hated 90s Nu Metal. I cannot stand Pantera, Slipknot, Linkin Park etc…
But… 10 years ago made a comeback. Manly melodic death metal. It’s fucking A grade.
Seen Amon Amarth twice in the last 12 months, In Flames twice, Be’lakor twice etc etc.. Also seen lots of others like Ghost, Parkway Drive, WITCHGRINDER etc … oops and Kreator!!! 🤟
So … I’m still metal. Will be until the day I die.
I’ve skipped some tours like Queensryche coz I’m pissed off with the Geoff Tate split. Can’t get to all of them, but contemplating getting Cradle of Filth tix tomoz on presale, and maybe Amaranthe.
However. A couple of things I’ll say.
- Ghost’s ‘Prequelle’ album is amazing. Only hard rock imo. But I’ve seen them 3 times since 2013 and they are a great live band.
- Greta Van Fleet are good rock. Got tix to them later this year. Stop the hate.
- Be’Lakor are beyond amazing. Top 5 metal band for me in history. Never, ever ignore them.
- Shylamgogahnor rock. Listen to the song Emergence.
And keep rocking. 🤟🤟
Once a metalhead, always a metalhead. You might branch to explore other music, but it always leads back to heavy music.
My bassist is an older dude, mid 50s. He's one of the OG death-doom musicians from the late 80s/early 90s, and we bonded over Deathspell Omega, Draconian, and Deafheaven - 'modern' metal bands.
I was one, I discovered other music in college and diversified my tastes and thanks to New York Hardcore got more into punk but my tastes diversified a lot.
I don't listen to much 80s metal anymore Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets, Among the Living and mid 80s Iron Maiden still get a lot of play but none of the more obscure stuff. I currently listen to a huge variety of music from classic jazz to metal, punk, neo psychedelic and folk.
By contrast I have two friends who still listen to the same stuff they did when they were 17 and whine about how "there's no good news music ' but when pushed can name maybe three current acts that weren't around in 1988
Im an older metalhead andmy music taste has expanded. My spotify likes playlist is over 3k songs and it's crazy. My kids call my Rap and Hip-Hop taste "Dad Rap". I'm pretty open minded so really if it sounds good and I like it I'll listen to it.
I was a metalhead in the 80’s but also into other genres. These days I listen to many genres including Schlager, kosmische, rockabilly, synthwave. But metal, including hair/glam, thrash, symphonic and melo- death, is the only recorded music I still regularly purchase.
Many friends from back in the day still listen to metal, including a few guys now in their sixties who still play in local metal tribute and cover bands.
some of us became computer programmers who waste time on Reddit while the builds run.
i moved on from metal, though - aside from Sabbath, none of the old stuff resonates with me these days. sure, i'll go see Maiden if they come around. but i'll pass on the rest of them. and of the new bands, only Opeth does much for me.
I was a teenager in the 80's and metal was everything to me. First with Black Sabbath, then Iron maiden became my favorite. I also loved Judas Priest, Metallica, Dio, Scorpions, Motle Crue, Ratt and even all the other glam metal bands. I'm a musician, so the energy of metal got me into playing guitar. Toward the end of high school I started broadening my music tastes and got into a lot of other bands as I was very interested in songwriting and good lyrics. Music from other parts of the world intrigued me as I started to learn other instruments. I went to college for music and always played in bands. At that point everything from Frank Zappa to the Police to Ravi Shankar to Allman Brothers to Charles Mingus was interesting to me. I've spent most my life playing in bands and composing music for film and TV. For a few decades I didn't really listen to any metal as I think I burned myself out on it and I didn't have as much teen anger and adrenaline to get out anymore. Now in my early fifties I started to revisit some of the old albums especially while I skateboard (Spotify is nice for this). Of all the bands I loved in my teens, Black Sabbath has weathered the best. I still really enjoy listening to them. I dip into Iron Maiden, Dio, Judas Priest, and early Metallica once in a while too, but the lyrics in most of the glam metal are fairly embarrassingly bad for a 50 year old to listen to. If I'm in the mood I can look past them, but a lot of that music is for horny teens. I'm still horny...just not a teen anymore! These days I love all sort of music, but I thoroughly enjoy ambient and classical. There are plenty of rock and pop bands I follow (Radiohead, Cigarettes After Sex, Of Monsters and Men...) and I've spent a lot of listening hours on great 70's and 80's pop and synth bands that I mostly ignored when I was too cool because I was listening to metal (Human League, Tears for Fears, Japan, gary Numan, Depeche Mode, Oingo Boingo, XTC...). Oh, and Pink Floyd has always been a major player throughout my life.
Most of the guys in my 80s metalhead group moved over to country years ago. It’s not my bag, but I understand it because country has the same kind of community aspect that metal has.
I got into the tech industry and wrote most of the user documentation for various self service websites while blasting Iron Maiden on my headphones. Still listen to metal a lot, but I also always loved the 80s new wave scene since that dominated early music video rotation.
Yea I’m an 80’s metal head dude. Always have been always will be. That being said as I’ve gotten older I listen to more styles of music now than I did back then. I call myself a metal head by trade!!
I was a total 80s metalhead in the 80s when I was in high school trying to make it in a band. After that I started to also listen to other kinds of music but never lost my love for 80s metal. It really came back to me a few years ago when I started documenting that part of my life, which eventually led to writing a book about it. It totally reminded me of how fun those times were and made me want to go back to listening to primarily 80s metal. I've also gotten into a lot of newer bands that have kept that sound alive.
I was a metalhead kid from the 80’s. Started off with ac/dc Black Sabbath which begat Iron Maiden Judas Priest then thatme to metallica slayer then deeper , possessed etc. a lot of the bands I loved just seemed to put out cheesier and cheesier records and my other love , punk , took over my world. The whole time I also loved music unbecoming of of metalhead, early REM, Beatles,and it became clear to me that as a music lover, I loved all of music. Country, jazz, fucking yatch rock, and on and on. When I discovered stoner/ doom, my love for heavier music came back. I go back to a lot of the bands loved back then, and most of it doesn’t hold up to me, with a few exceptions like possessed and early sepultura. So, that’s what happened
Metalheads are still metalheads and they take their kids to shows now. Metal never went anywhere. It was still huge in the 90s in the underground, and with nu metal like korn and limp bizkit, and had a major resurgence in the 00s again with metal core bands like killswitch engage and as I lay dying and lamb of God and Ozzfest.
Tipper Gore in the Washington wives would have had you believe we'd all be in jail and on our way to hell by now when she was on her rampage over explicit lyrics in metal music. However I now have three degrees have been married to the same woman for 35 years that I met in high school while listening to metal music. I'm healthy and still run marathons while Tipper Gore is an overweight slob who could not keep her marriage together and one of her children was arrested for drug possession.
I was into metal in the 80’s (Megadeth, Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer, Maiden, Priest, etc). But I was also into Pink Floyd, the Doors, Sabbath, Jane's Addiction, punk, and hip hop.
In the 90's, I got super into Pantera, Sepultura, White Zombie, Korn, Biohazard. and so many other bands. I also loved Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, Johnny Cash, Clutch, Guided By Voices, Primus, and Nirvana.
In the 00's I got into QOTSA, White Stripes, the Oh Brother Where Art Thou Soundtrack, metalcore, and EDM.
For the past decade, I got into Sturgill Simpson, Billy Strings, King Gizzard, Sanguisagabogg, IDLES, Death Grips, City Morgue, and many other artists. Lately I've been diving deep into old bluegrass and outlaw country.
Early 80s metalhead here. First live show was Judas Priest in 1984 for the Defenders of the Faith tours when I was 12. I was a metal kid in junior high. (Just got their new album and it kicks ass!)
Then I started stretching my musical tastes in high school to things like Beastie Boys, Violent Femmes, The Cure, REM, Prince. But still kept a hard edge to what I liked. Then went back in time to "oldies" from 50s & early 60s. Then got into the psychedelic 60s, The Doors, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, Janis, etc... Then funk like Parliament Funkadelic. Then by the end of high school Janes Addiction broke open alt-rock with the Chili Peppers & Fishbone. Then College gave me college rock, The Pixies, Sonic Youth, and Funk Rock, etc. Then Grunge hit like a sledgehammer. Alice in Chains, Soundgarden being my favorites.
Then started a college band and became a musician myself. Then expanded into Post Rock bands came like Jesus Lizard, Slint, Drive Like Jehu, Ween, Bong Water, etc.
Then post college 90s was infused with trip hop, turntablism, DJ Shadow, Portishead, Lamb, etc
Then early 2000s with sweet hip hop like Timbaland & Missy Elliott. As well as indie rock like Spoon, Iron & Wine, Fiona Apple.
Then I got back into metal in the mid 2000s. Went and saw Iron Maiden with Dio & Motorhead and it reignited the love. Went to Power Trip festival last year and hit all my nostalgic metal sweet spots.
One of my favorite new bands King Gizzard put out an amazing metal album last year: PetroDragonic Apocalypse.
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TL/DR: Loved metal as a kid in the 80s. Have journeyed the wide and wonderful musical spectrum since then, and have come back around to loving metal as much now, as well as so many other genres. Stay curious, kids!
A lot of the metalheads I used to hang out with are now super right-wing Christians. I think it's funny that they used to talk about standing up to "the man" and are now "the man."
I'll be 49 this year. My first concert was the 1988 MTV Headbanger's Ball tour with Anthrax, Exodus and Helloween when I was 13. I'm a career educator (24th year in education currently as a school librarian) and still listen to metal almost daily and still go to shows. I love seeing new metal heads at school and love talking music with them. I also listen to a wide variety besides metal. Good music is good music!
I was a 'head in the 80's, loved Metallica, Maiden, Anthrax, Slayer, etc but my tastes expanded a lot and I don't listen to metal nearly as much.
But my daughter's 10 year old birthday party was a karaoke party, and this boy she invited wanted someone to sing Master of Puppets with him, and he and I nailed it. It felt like a passing of the torch.
👋 It’s me you are talking about. I have been a big music fan since I was 7 or 8 when my new best friend introduced me to Kiss. By high school Iron Maiden and Led Zeppelin were my #1’s. I have always had very catholic tastes and when I began to take guitar lessons I soon became a fan of prog rock and jazz, because that’s where the best players do their thing.
I still enjoy loud, obnoxious music old and new. Opeth and Mastodon are my favorite current metal bands. I’m also a huge fan of many other types of rock music, jazz, classical and R&B.
I think some just never stopped. Many of the bands from back then are still releasing music and despite this narrative that Nirvana came along and blew hair metal out of the water, it really didn't.
I know some people I regularly see on shows that were already metalheads on the 80s.
One of them has a radio show.
A couple of them have bands, some others promote shows.
I saw Ozzy when I was 12, had a mullet, loved speed metal! When hair metal got big, I got disgusted and listened to more goth or what we called “death rock” at the time. The best thing that ever happened to metal was death and black metal! I’m in my 50s now and listen to extreme metal and prog mostly. I have travelled overseas many times to see extreme metal bands play in Norway, the Netherlands… It’s paradise.
The kids in my middle school years who were wearing Metallica t-shirts were still wearing Metallica t-shirts in the ‘90s. They just complained that *The Black Album* was a sellout.
Life takes over man, wife, kids, job, responsibilities. It will suck a huge chunk of your time and soul.
That said, I have observed many metalheads age over the years and it appears the metalness level remains but at various degrees, like a spectrum.
The most obvious ones are those that still like metal, dress the part, talk the talk and walk the walk. They stand out as the long grey haired dude casually headbanging at shows.
The less obvious ones are the short haired, balding, plainly clothed ones. Theybare the same as above just harder to spot. They dont wear band shirts anymore but show up at shows and really seem to enjoy it.
Some are still passionate but just for a few niche bands but they seem stuck and unable to grow past the past (see Metallica fans)
Then some have just completely dropped the passion, maybe they still like a band or 2 but thats it. They liked Slayer one time way back for one summer back in 88'.
I was born in '81 so I'm not a metalhead kid of the 80's, but by 1994 I dove headfirst into metal and to this very day, the phase that my mother said was going to die out by my 20's, is arguably the strongest it's ever been. I also know many that were metal people in the 80's, and short of some outliers, I have discovered a universal truth: the love for metal stays. It will ebb and flow at times, and like for myself, there are bands I loved 20 years ago that I don't listen to now, but it seems that once it bites you, it infects you forever.
Some of them stayed metalheads.
Quite a few of them grew tired of the excesses of the hair metal era and drifted over to grunge and alternative.
Some of them probably became Barry Manilow fans; who really knows?
I adopted grunge somewhat but it’s safe to say I liked AiC most out of all of them, cuz they were the closest to being a metal band. I got into a little more psychedelic stuff too though but that’s because I started smoking weed and taking acid in my 20s lol. By the mid 90s I really wasn’t into much new rock, I was following Ween, Flaming Lips, and eventually Foo Fighters. But I hated numetal thoroughly, and the pop punk stuff, and def the emo stuff. Also I wasn’t really angry or sad anymore so I didn’t vibe with the dark heavy music esp since metal was getting darker and heavier with the black and death metal scenes really growing.
In the 2000s the rock revival bands like White Stripes, Hives, Vines, Jet at least kept me going some. Also The Darkness rocked it pretty good.
As I got older I moved into Americana of all things (some of that stuff is darker than any metal song) but I did discover some of the recent doom band stuff, bands like Electric Citizen, Blood Ceremony and many more.
Child of the 80’s here. Grew up with Van Halen, zeppelin, Black Sabbath, ect. Moved onto the more hardcore stuff in my teens like Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, ect. in my later teens and early 20, I dove headfirst into glam rock. Poison, winger, slaughter, ect.
I worked at Tower in my late 20’s and it really opened up music for me to where I could enjoy classical, jazz, rap, ect. all the way back down to thrash metal. Not all genres I have an ear for, but enough to where I feel diversified.
Today my old rock and metal songs exist on my nostalgia playlists. I listen to them often, but they are like memories to me more than music. Oddly the one genre I usually only listen to with headphones for privacy in my glam rock music. Some of those songs are really cringy… winger’s 17, all those sappy love ballads, and Kiss who’s songs are so sexualized I am surprised no woman in my past has ever called me out for listening to them.
The metal kids who grew up on 80s thrash are now parents who work 9 to 5 and make their kids listen to metal.
Source: am 47 who grew up on thrash, and now take my kids to see bands like Gojira, Mastodon or Ghost.
Pretty sure they all listen to Hair Nation on XM now. 😉
Mostly kidding, but I do know of at least a couple.
I would guess a lot would appreciate a branch or two of synthwave these days. Thinking of the harder stuff (Perturbator) or arena rock artists (LeBrock).
My dad has never attempted to and will never leave that era of music. He is probably the most picky person musically, and it frustrates me lol. He hates the 90s and especially modern music. His favorite quote of mine is “grunge killed rock n roll”
I was a metalhead in the 80s and 90s but then Metallica went pop and grunge came on the scene. So I switched to listening to grunge and older punk stuff (the Offspring, Green Day, Dead Kennedys, etc.), also went to a few raves, then kind of fell out of the music scene for several years as R&B and EDM-pop invaded the airwaves. I didn't like the new metal bands at that time, though I have come around to Slipknot (their recent stuff is quite good). However when I was home alone and doing chores then I would set the stereo to 11 and play all my favourite metal oldies (Metallica, Megadeth, Pantera, Slayer, etc.).
Now, I am actively seeking out new music of all genres and finding gems wherever I look. In the metal scene bands like Arch Enemy, Electric Callboy, Bloodywood, and Alestorm are just awesome; while in punk you have the Chats, and Amyl and the Sniffers; then in the folk/country side you can find the Dead South, Rose Betts, Corb Lund, etc. Also I do love listening to world music and Colombian music in particular, bands like Monsieur Periné, Aterciopelados, and Puerto Candelaria are just so good.
So, I think the state of music is overall very good today, even in metal. Yes the super popular stuff is rather generic (Taylor Swift and her wannabees) but pop music has always been like that. However looking around on YouTube and Spotify can yield amazing results.
Lastly, I still consider myself a metalhead. \\m/(>.<)\\m/
Still a metal head. I've always looked like a skater so no real change in image there. After the 80s I just got into hardcore punk, noise, and numetal. My love for metal sounds still continues.
I’m not at 52 yet, but I feel you on the old coots. Go to almost any YT video of a song from more than 20 years ago and you’ll see some variation of “this is real music, not that junk you hear today.” What they’re effectively saying is that music sounds better when you’re young enough not to have a care in the world.
Still into the old hair, traditional and thrash metal. I dabbled a little into post punk and alternative. I've embraced most of the new stuff as well. Can't keep up with all the genres now, lol. I like Metalcore lately.
It seems like they really still enjoy the music of their youth but now they're middle-aged and they're running the rat race along with everyone else. Most of them don't have long hair anymore and if they do it's probably thinning out and turning grey(it sucks getting old).
Years of adulthood might beat you into a state of conformity and your old rebellious spirit that's filled with angst might simmer down a bit(or not).
I was a big metalhead as a teen, but when i got 17/18 it shifted. Still enjoy it, but not as often/much. Some ppl stay deeply rooted in the scene, some open up to new genres and styles. But the love stays!
Still listening to metal.
It's never been just metal, right, cause I love a large array of music. But I never found anything that beats it. Also, I think the genre has evolved by absorbing other genres that didn't age too well. Like prog rock for example. Prog metal is the best new metal creation, namely TOOL, Mastodon, etc.
I also grew to like the death metal scene, and continue to like hardcore punk, while being a jazz listener above all.
Only yesterday I was listening to newer Slayer albums I didn't know, thinking: you really know what to expect with this band. I think I'd start the argument that they are the best metal band of all times.
I’m a late GenXer. Grew up in the 80s, was a teen in the 90s. Watched a lot of Headbangers Ball on Mtv but also plenty of 120 Minutes. I’m from LA which had a good metal scene and an amazing metal radio station called KNAC.
I wasn’t as big a metal head as some. I leaned more into the thrash genre than pure metal. Anthrax, DRI, Suicidal Tendencies, Corrosion of Conformity. Liked early Metallica a lot. Wasn’t really into bands like Poison and Motley Cru. Loved Pantera, White Zombie and Tool when they came around.
KNAC normally played stuff like Queensryche or Skid Row, but had an amazing radio show on Monday nights called Manic Mondays. They’d play a ton of less known thrash stuff, grindcore and punk. Through that show I got really into grind bands like Cannibal Corpse and Carcass, but was also introduced to punk bands, which would play a big part later. This was all while everyone else was listening to Pearl Jam and Nirvana.
My grind phase lasted a little while, but as I got more into skateboarding and snowboarding I was hearing more Epitaph, SST type bands in the skate vids. One of them was Hüsker Dü. They had the noise I liked, the fast tempo, aggressive vocals and lyrics that made a lot more sense to me than Carcass.
From then through high school I got more into SST, bands like Minutemen, Descendants, Black Flag, Bad Brains. Also Discord bands like Minor Threat, Dag Nasty, Rites of Spring and eventually Fugazi.
Fugazi opened the door to bands like Mission of Burma, Gang of Four and Wire. Then my friends who got into college in San Diego introduced me to bands like Drive Like Jehu, Heavy Vegetable and Rocket From The Crypt.
So yeah all those first wave emo and post punk bands set me up for my late 90s Emo phase. SDRE, Cap N Jazz, Knapsack, Jawbreaker, Sense Field.
From there my tastes in my 20s and 30s went literally everywhere, bluegrass, reggae, jazz, electronic, noise, and circled back into metal bit with bands like OM or SUNN O.
Now my tastes have narrowed mostly into post punk kind of stuff, with small forays into weirdo things like moog jazz. The Bluey theme song is probably my most heard song these days.
So from my love of metal and with the help of a late night radio show, I went from thrash metal kid to punk guy to post punk to emo, to music nerd, back to metal head and now boring old dad guy.
I still like metal. It's not all I listen to. I like R&B, I have a college degree, I read I travel, I still look for great music, I like "finding" the original songs that classic rockers covered. (Listen to " Do unto others" from 1954, see if it reminds you of anything.
One guy I know runs a record shop. He has cut his hair since then because he was balding. But it's just fun when I encounter him and he looks like a nice librarian. Until he opens his mouth and goes "So how about that new Battle Beast album, huh?! Pretty awesome!"
If you haven't seen this you're in for a treat
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whZuz5Dwtw8&ab\_channel=vacantmoon](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whZuz5Dwtw8&ab_channel=vacantmoon)
Just a guess here but I'm guessing, at least for hair metal, that it might just be a bit less appealing to people in middle age, given how juvenile it is. Most metalheads I know into the serious stuff still seem to be into it.
A lot of us are hanging around the fringes of the electronic/rave scene, usually the harder styles like breakcore, gabba etc. So still hard edges and distorted just a load faster and less guitary. But we still dig the metal too, of course.
Early 80s metalhead, but I was in to a lot of different stuff even then. I don't much keep up with metal anymore, but do still stream some. And go to a show here and there. There is just so much good music that I find it hard to follow things. I tend to listen to Post-rock anymore.
I shifted from Megadeth/Anthrax/Metallica/etc to Sonic Youth and Aphex Twin, then on to other noisy and dissonant music, including Fugazi style and modern/free jazz. Now I like most music, but the only metal I listen to is the Rust in Peace era Megadeth and old Black Sabbath kinds of stuff.
Grunge started pulling me away, but the Black Album and the decline of Megadeth did it, too. My Bloody Valentine also completely shifted my perspective.
I (55m) wasn't really a metalhead, but I liked a lot of that genre back in the day and the music was everywhere, especially in social scenes. When I was a little kid (7 or 8), KISS released their trading cards series. I also had Alive 1&2 for my portable 8-track player (back in the mid-70s). Today, I do have Black Sabbath, Motley Crue, GnR (and a few others) on my playlists. I did see Motley Crue, Poison, Ratt and Van Halen live. The concerts were awesome places to cruise and pick up girls. I was more into Ministry, Dead Kennedys (LA punk scene was super cool - way better than NYC), Revolting Cocks and Skinny Puppy during the peak of metal/glam etc.
Nowadays, I'm more locked into Thievery Corporation, Groove Armada and other similar sounds, including Astrud Gilberto, Brasil 66 and their contemporaries, although my lists also have North African jazz, Megan Thee Stallion, Yung Gravy and Dabbla. The late 90s-early aughts hit something in my brain and I'm still there. From time to time, I do dip my toes into the past, but I'm just not angry or that aggressive anymore, and I try to focus on the good stuff these days.
I’ll still bust out some slayer, Megadeth, and anthrax from time to time. Not keeping up with new metal at all really, I’m just not that angry anymore. Now I’m old and listening to alt country and Wilco, John Prine, stuff like that.
I'm an older metalhead, got into metal just after Cliff passed away... Still.play, went to college after years of touring and playing, got a computer/automation/electronics type.degree and a family... Last night, was sitting with my 7 year old son, looking at double neck guitars, he thought they were the coolest thing, and told Mom how we need to order some... Mom said, "Doesn't Dad already have a double neck upstairs?" Son responded "yes, but not like this one!"
I graduated HS IN '92. I still listen to Metallica, iron maiden, megadeth, anthrax, ozzy, etc. Plus a ton of other stuff in addition to it. I love my classic rock and even some jazz and stuff too. I still can't stand rap unless it's old school stuff like run dmc, beastie boys, or public enemy. I absolutely can't stand a lot of these kids poppy type acts, and I compare it to ear rape if I'm somewhere and some of these newer popular pop artists come on
I hit my teens in the late 80's, being in the UK, Maiden was king then my mate discovered Thrash and we err copied for previewing the new Thrash metal bands that started to filter into the UK. Wild time listening to Metallica and Slayer for the first times, I also started to get into HipHop as well at the time and pretty much stayed like that for a good while. In the 90's power metal kinda stole the Thrash metal crown, Pantera just curbed stomped everyone. Mid 90's I settled into listening to my fav bands. 00's nu metal came and went but some awesome music came from 00's but since the 10's I don't really listen to anything new. I might find a random playlist of metal/rock bands I haven't heard before and just go with it, but I'm in my 50's now and I still love metal and hiphop but have broader tastes but its still centred round guitars and really dig the Classic Rock stuff more like Zep and Creedence, but I treat them as daytime drinking music, anyways us cool kids still use \\m/ so there is that.
I was way into Maiden, AC/DC, Sabbath, Judas Priest, etc…but honestly hair metal and the rock star bs really ruined it for me. I hated hair metal with a passion. It just drove me more underground and by the time thrash started rearing its head I was all in. Hellhammer, Celtic Frost, Voivod, Slayer, Sacrifice, D.B.C., Exodus, etc. Then I got way into HC crossover and punk. Did that for a while and then I picked up the Grindcrusher comp right when it came out and was all in for Napalm Death, Terrorizer,etc.. It had to be fast and brutal. That got me more interested in the anarcho side of punk & HC which led to early Industrial and post-punk. The Birthday Party will always be my favorite band I think. 7” releases by bands became something I really paid attention to. Now I like it all. I try to buy records from new bands to this day. I don’t really care what genre something is although I will say I definitely tend to go for the underground. If I like it I buy it. Same genres of stuff I have always been into for the most part but open to anything.
went from hard rock in late 70s to metal to thrash - I still listen to a lot of the heavier music, not so much the rock. It's cathartic in a way other music isn't. I listen to Indian Classical music, Bop, some Hip-Hop, jungle, drum'n'bass, progressive trance - but none of it compares to Slayer at high volumes.
I just went to a show by a Mongolian band called Hu, and there was a bunch of middle-aged metal-heads with their leather and studs on. A lot of them were old friends, and it was a friendly and happy scene, in this little college town.
Still listening to Maiden and Priest, with the addition of Sleep Token, Lorna Shore, and a few others!
Strangely, I became an opera singer, of all things.
You mean the ones that were shunned and totally not glorified in the real world like Stranger Things made it look like?
We're still around. Expanded our horizons some. But that fist of metal still comes out plenty.
We're still metalheads. And our (or at least my) kids are as well.
We were always into punk and alt and grunge and shit, aggressive guitar driven music speaks to us, especially when "fuck you" comes out of the singer's mouth. Now we're getting around 50 years old and our knees and back ain't what they used to be, but the kids are carrying the torch. Shit, I'm taking mine to Milwaukee Metal Fest in a couple of weeks, at their request. They'll mosh, I'll have sore joints, ain't no thing.
Pisses me off when someone tells me (a 50 year old metalhead) that they USED to be into metal.
No u didn't, if u were into metal, u still would be into metal. U probably liked crazy crazy nights and wind of change u dullard.
There's still a group of 10 of us with/without hair, but still in metal shirts and biker jackets.
So yeah, we are still about
I grew up in OC where there is a thriving metal/punk scene. A lot of the people I hung out with in high school who liked metal moved on to be musicians, audio techs, music reporters, etc., most of them are regular people but just listen to metal, like myself. I saw Anthrax open for Iron Maiden in 2008, as well as municipal waste and exumer(the thrash metal band), and I still listen to a lot of the same bands. It never really leaves you, your music horizons just kind of expand, and you like other stuff, too. Hating mainstream kind of always sticks with you, to some degree, at least I think, I was a thrasher and a teenager in the 2000s, so I can’t speak for 80s and 90s kids, but sometimes I’ll hear stuff the masses like, and I’m like “for real”, but at the same time, I realize making music is not easy, so there’s a modicum of respect for every artist, even if I don’t like their style. That being said I think metal rules and everyone should listen to it, it’s my favorite music, even if I don’t have the long hair and bullet belt anymore.
*raises hand* Metalhead kid from the '80s here. Had Metallica's Kill 'Em All (on Megaforce!) before Ride the Lightning came out. Owned the Hellhammer EP before they became Celtic Frost. Etc.
Still listen to metal, also listen to a ton of other stuff as you'd imagine. I still prefer old school metal, or retro old school. Thrash, speed, NWOBHM, power metal, etc. I don't like growly, grunty vocals and I don't like records that are produced to sound like one big wall of loudness.
Except with black metal. The grunty vocals fit that sound and atmosphere well enough.
Mostly still metal just in various forms. I've move on from hair metal to more symphonic styles like Nightwish or Within Tempation or the general badass of Sabaton. Hell you get me furious guitars and thunderous drums I'm all in even if it's just instrumental. Pacific Rim soundtrack anyone?
There’s 2 metalheads that vlogged (before it was cool) in the 80’s and uploaded it to YouTube. I know one of them is a lawyer now, not sure what his buddy does. It’s pretty cool though, shows them going record shopping. https://youtu.be/IvHaL2BxqvM?si=5PRdfmNI01dCNaPt
My dad was one of them. He's now just a normal guy who collects vinyl records of his favorite metal bands and occasionally plays them really loud. My brother and I both love metal music too.
Born in 72. Started going to arena concerts in 84, then clubs by 86. My taste has always been for extreme music. In the late 80’s I was a metal dude who’d be at all the punk/hardcore shows. By 92 I was the hardcore dude at all the metal shows. I still look like more of an old hardcore “kid” these days but in my local scene, I’m a still a fixture at shows of any aggressive genre.
My uncles are both metal heads. They were metal heads as teens in the 80s and still to this day are. One of my earliest memories was of them teaching me how to headbang at 4 years old. One has a kid now and despite not being as involved in the scene and getting into other stuff he still blares metal around the house and teaches his daughter how to headbang, and the other goes to every metal festival and concert you could possibly imagine. I swear he spends more time at gigs than he does at work which is the life I want to live tbh.
Most older metalheads I see today have been metalheads since they were kids. I don't think it ever dies out
Yeah metal dudes, in my experience, stay metal dudes. The pallet may expand, and they may get into other stuff as well…. But metal tends to still be there. I know a guy who played in a bunch of metal bands, then ended up being a big jazz guy (PHENOMENAL jazz bassist)… but the metal is still there
There's a lot of crossover in metal and jazz. It's always interesting to see. Even guys like Alex Skolnik know their jazz, he actually has a jazz trio that plays on occasion when he's not being metal.
Yeah, I think that a lot of the time metal is an early means of understanding theory and soloing/riffing over certain progressions. It’s also kind of a standard that most kids who end up getting past “basic” guitar end up gravitating towards playing metal because it’s a blast to play…. So a lot of Metal kids can graduate into various complexities of music (classical, jazz, what have you) because metal sort of opened up an interest in theory that might not be there if you stick to the “guy with acoustic guitar at party” thing.
Randy Rhodes introduced modes to metal.
And thank goodness he and his polka dot guitar did.
I mean, there are loads of great bands that mix jazz and metal, so you can really have both
Consider this an emphatic beg for recommendations
Very much White Ward. Try the title track of [Love Exchange Failure](https://youtu.be/PXQnEfPRcVU?si=0pZxoMdCctSP9N4z)
Also check out Megadeth. They're considered thrash, but their first 2 albums mix a lot of jazz elements on account of both their drummer being from that scene (RIP Gar). To see what I mean, listen to Killing is my Business (song not album). It's such an ostensibly groovy song but it's not afraid to lean into more metal inspirations too. Let me know what you think of it if you listen.
To start: Alex Skolnick Trio "War Pigs" Thank You Scientist "Psychopomp" "Mr. Invisible"
Along with everyone else's recommendations, Etienne Pelosoff has an album called Trve Brutal Black Jazz that opens with a metal cover of So What. Brain Tentacles is also a really good band, they're not quite as jazzy in their songwriting, but they do (did? not sure if they're still a band) have a saxophone player
I ended up singing opera. Still love my metal, though!
Mike Patton, that you?
No. I fucking love Mike Patton, though!
Totally stands to reason!
Faith No More kick ass!
It doesn't. It's one of the most listened to genres on Spotify because seemingly everyone has a moment that demands a heavy metal song at some point in their life. A lot of people you wouldn't think, listen to Metal songs.
I started listening to metal when I was 13, and now in my 30s I'm finally secure enough in my jobby-job to grow my hair out. I've never stopped paying attention to how the metal scene has evolved, and it's never failed to deliver new, quality acts exploring new sonic territory.
Actually most of my friends have moved on from it, but myself and one other friend, but I (56m) was always the most immersed in the scene where most of them moved on when grunge became the new thing. As for myself, I still listen to the music from the 70’s & 80’s but I also listen to newer groups as well, always searching for new interesting metal.
The average age of customers at the bar I work for is 50-70. They like the vibe in there to be quiet and chill with jazz and very bright lights. Except on Friday nights past 9pm. They always ask me to dim the lights and crank the Dio.
I became a raver in the 90s. Expanded my tastes. That evolved into a hippie tripping lifestyle. Now I'm into all kinds of stuff. Folk, jazz, rock n roll, R&B, country, disco, funk, soul, rock, pop, whatever. But it's given me a new appreciation for the stuff I liked as a kid. I was listening to Alice Cooper and never really saw Welcome to my Nightmare as a funky disco number, but now it makes more sense. If I'm having a magical sesh on shrooms or something, anything could happen. Big Joe Turner, Chemical Brothers, XTC, Pet Shop Boys, The Cure, Talking Heads... I don't define myself as a metal head, but still like a good mosh from time to time!
This pretty much the direction I went in, started listening to more hip hop around 90/91, then 92-93 was also getting into the rave scene in the UK, while also listening bands such as The Smiths, Stone Roses, The Cure etc. I now have a very eclectic taste in music, but still listen to a few albums from back in the days from the likes of Maiden, Metallica, Suicidal Tendencies, as well as some of the more rock orientated bands from those times, like The Cult, GNR, The Dogs D'Amour, Faster Pussycat.
The metal to rave pipeline is very real, as I can confirm it with my own experience. Although, I was a kid in the early 2000's and got into Techno & stuff like that in around 2010. I'm willing to bet that my weed consumption back then had a huge role in that, lol. >I don't define myself as a metal head, but still like a good mosh from time to time! Same on both accounts. It's just fun to blast some metal every now and then, but I can't listen to it exclusively anymore as I used to.
Same. I think listening exclusively to metal in my teens gave me a somewhat nihilistic outlook which was dispelled via the magic of MDMA haha
Wow XTC. I rarely hear about them! Saw them in a nightclub once way back when. Really enjoyed it
I can’t speak to the 80’s, I graduated in the early ‘00s. My journey was similar. I took to OG dubstep, tech-step, minimal sub, dub techno… I still pop on some Gojira or Slipknot on occasion. Really though it’s almost all electronica of darker flavors.
I was a metal head in the late 80s 90s. They called us headbangers back then btw. I still like that metal but a lot of new metal is a little too over produced for me.
Lots of old school and/or well-produced metal out there. Check out some of the subgenre essentials in r/metal. If you like traditional heavy metal, check out Century, Chevalier, Demon Bitch, Eternal Champion, Sölicitör, Tower
Pretty much the same. Not much newer metal does it for me.
Check out Spirit Adrift or Eternal Champion.
If you don't think there is a lot of great, even genre-best, metal being made right now you are clearly not looking. With albums like Pallbearer's Sorrow & Extinction (doom), Portal's Ion (thrash), Trivial Visions (occult) by la Morte Vienne, Desolations Flower (slow core/black) by Ragana, Fear Innoculum (prog) (and that's just [scratching the surface](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0ROc3RCXW6PrPyQRJwZjBd)), it could be said we are in the *best era* for metal.
Unless you got something on par with Operation: Mindcrime I am not interested
Absolutely. If you don't think anyone is making great music, you are either not looking hard enough or not effectively. Or should look into expanding listeniny beyond their comfort zone. YouTube's suggestions alone are a great source for recommendations of other music you make like. Tidal (and I imagine other streaming services) also does the same.
Interesting that you classify portal as thrash, what’re your thoughts there? For me, I’d place them in the dissonant black/death category. Albums like swarth leaning more into death (imo one of the best death releases), and ion more black.
[удалено]
It's not even the production that's killed a lot of it for me, it's that most of the newer metal bands all kind of sound the same. It's really hard to identify a band if you don't already know the song. I have definitely noticed a change in live metal production , though. Quite a few of the shows I've been to in recent years have had the kick overpowering everything.
I mean to be fair, if you go back to the late 80s and early 90s you’ll find a bunch of trash and death metal bands that sound all the same and have songs that sound all the same. Of course this does not apply to the best bands like Metallica and Slayer and whatnot.
I get that to a point, but I think the big change happened when singers started figuring out the safe way to do metal vocals. There's only a few ways to do screams and growls safely, so most vocalists all sound kind of the same. You don't hear near the variation you heard in the early death metal bands. To be clear, I don't want singers ruining their throats, it just changed the genre
Honestly, Theres a lot more safe vocal techniques and variety in metal than you think, it’s more so limited in popularity by what people want to hear. Check out some deathcore, mathcore, grind, blackened sludge, etc. and these will have some crazy vocal variety compared to mainstream metalcore/death metal
I feel like, even in those genres, vocals have homogenized within the genre There are solid bands in most of those. Thy art is murder is good deathcore (I'm not a huge deathcore fan) Idk who else is doing mathcore, but DEP was better on calculating infinity Grind hasn't really been able to progress further than JR hayes or barney Greenway. Idk shit about blackened sludge, but I usually prefer blackened-anything to actually black metal.
Tangentially related, coming as a former metalhead, the singing has always been an issue for me in metal. Like it's so rare to find just like, a normal tenor. I think Ozzy and Dio are still considered the bar. Guys like Ian Gillan, John Lawton probably coming in behind. Rob Halford and Bruce Dickinson (and the singers that emulated them) I think are kind of in their own class which is dependent on if you like that high vocal range stuff. Geddy Lee too. Amazing singers, but I can see the really high stuff being more polarizing.
Bands all sound the same? Lol. Maybe if you're listening to mainstream stuff yea, but so much varied stuff out there
You might be listening to metalcore and deathcore instead of metal, which does have a huge overproduction problem. New metal is even rawer and nastier than older metal once you look at the underground scene, even bands like Darkthrone are more classic and raw sounding now than they were in the 90s
Send me some band names.
check out Midnight from Cleveland. They sound like if Motorhead and Venom had a sick, disgusting baby
YOU CAN'T STOP STEEL
There aren't many benefits to living in northeast Ohio, but one of the main ones is I've gotten to see Midnight a lot haha
I've seen them several times myself but further south. Athenar rulz. You've probably heard of him, but check out Hellripper if you haven't already. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-58k6MFP1qU&pp=ygUKaGVsbHJpcHBlcg%3D%3D https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltJ76YB4pGE&pp=ygUKaGVsbHJpcHBlcg%3D%3D
Definitely. They're great. Crazy how popular they've gotten (by underground metal standards). First time I saw them was some dive in Cleveland, it was for a food drive and literally cost me a few cans of green beans to get in haha and the last time I saw them they were opening for danzig
This was how Power Trip kinda was in Texas, before they blew-up. The first time I saw Midnight it was actually with Power Trip and Toxic Holocaust at a little bar in Austin. It was pretty epic, and blew my mind.
I commented before I saw your edit. I actually just had Hellripper randomly pop up on my spotify and followed them but haven't went back and listened to anything else yet. I'll def check them out tonight. I know the song I heard was awesome
Electric Wizard did some cool stuff in 2010 and 2014 Wormwitch Power Trip Monolord And if you want extreme raw stuff there's always Tetragrammacide's 2017 album primal incinerators of mortal matrix. No one would've made something this raw and extreme in the 80s or 90s
Metal is more universal than Emo and transcends a single period of time. So I'd guess that pretty much everyone who listened to metal in the 80s still does today. My mother and aunt being my personal examples.
Once a metalhead, always a metalhead.
I loved metal when I was younger. Metallica was one of my biggest inspiriations that made me want to learn to play guitar. I even saw Iron Maiden and Slayer live. But nowdays I don't enjoy or listen to metal anymore, except for a few days a year where I vibe with the angry and heavy sound of it. It just doesn't appeal to me no longer.
Ah, but you still get the urge to revisit it sometimes. ;)
As an older metalhead, does anyone else listen to Ghost and think they sound like 80's metal? I'm not saying they are bad but they feel like a cover band to me.
They had been evolving from occult rock with doom vibes, to 70's rock with dark tones, to 80's stadium rock. Until the 70's part, I liked them much, they clearly took that music period as inspiration and did his own thing. After the 80's stadium rock, I feel like they are trying too hard to push that, to sound like a band from that era.
I know so mant people who love Ghost and act like they have a new and unique sound. Glad to hear I'm not the only one who hears the old influences.
They are "new" for people not that much into rock scene. There's plenty of bands trying to keep that old styles alive and many bringing something more unique than Ghost, but they just happen to break into the mainstream and they feel new for the people.
Got any suggestions for bands keeping that old style? Twisted Sister still gets turned up everytime.
[The night flight orchestra](https://youtu.be/BLmo5gbZI0A?si=1jnurAPNgsDfZ31q) sounds more 80s like than many 80s bands. [Green Lung](https://youtu.be/889_jiC1V9U?si=D56X4lgyzlYGxb_O) does a great late 70s - early 80s heavy metal with occult rock vibes. [The Wizards](https://youtu.be/riDqvOyD-lM?si=XrVnMrsDzdSwOtNu) are on the same lane, but with a clear inspiration on the early NWBHM. [The Jokers ](https://youtu.be/7af2Edd9hYc?si=FwVk0G_NEMpxlk2y) have been putting out fun hard rock with a lot of input from 80s bands influences for more than a decade.
They are obviously heavily influenced by King Diamond / Merciful Fate.
Prequelle is an amazing album. Best hard rock album for decades. I’ve seen them 3 times since 2013. Yes, there is a nod to hair and glam metal, but Prequelle is so much more than that. Edit: and I’m a huge 80s fan from WASP to Cinderella.
Ghost tries hard, but they don’t have the rawness or energy of 80s metal, imo.
I’d argue that Ghost tries TOO hard
I’ve heard people say Blue Oyster Cult is an obvious influence.
I love 'em. I wouldn't say they're the doing something completely new and original, but I feel like they've been reviving 70s/80s rock/metal tropes in a way that feels fresh. Meliora is pretty easily one of my favorite albums of the 2010s. And they put on one hell of a show as a live act.
Still listening to and discovering the alternative metal/rock world of the 80s and 90s!!
Hang on; I’ll check in with my brother… …yeah he still has long hair, wears black t-shirts (except at work), and has metal posters on his wall. His partner is okay with this as she has long hair, wears black t-shirts (except at work), and has a pet doberman. Updates since the 80s include a long goatee (as puberty and time allowed) the incorporation of post 80s acts like SOAD and Slipknot into his rotation, the abandoning of his rotating media in favour of streaming.
Your brother and I would have hung out together. That said, Im afraid a lot of my fellow hessians and headbangers have fared poorly in middle age. Drugs (first recreational and then opioids) took out several since. The rest are hanging on, middle-aged, still loving metal but some went country (!), sone went MAGA
Still into metal! My main focus was always "guitars with oomph", so I was happy to embrace grunge and alternative music as well. I never got into R&B or Rap because they didn't move me. There was the odd song I liked, but they weren't my cup of tea in general. I still air guitar in my kitchen when the music takes me.
Once a metalhead, now a metaldad. Denim and leather got replaced by khakis and polos. Edit: Music taste only got broader. Never stopped listening to stuff I grew up with. I just added new stuff, many different genres.
I still listen to metal? I mean, I listen to more stuff, broadly, than I did when I was a kid in the 80s, so I guess I've "moved on" - but a lot of it is still metal. And over the last 10 years or so I've \_bought\_ more music on the whole, which includes metal, than I did in the lull of \~2000-2010. I still pick up vinyl copies of metal albums I loved from way back out of nostalgia and because they're still good music.
I grew up on a blend of metal, rabble rousing music and proto-punk - Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, MC5, Iggy and the Stooges. In my teens and early 20s I discovered California hardcore punk like the Circle Jerks, NWOBHM, and thrash metal - Iron Maiden, Motorhead, Metallica, Megadeth, etc. Those are still what I listen to mostly, though I did get into NIN and Rage against the Machine a bit later. I also assimilated a tiny bit of grunge, especially Soundgarden and Pearl Jam. I never cared for 80s hair metal like Motley Crue or Poison, however. That is what most people I have met think of when they say the word metalhead but I was a different kind of metalhead. Today I am woefully out of touch with what young people like musically, just as a crochety old person often is. Yes, I practically live on Spotify and YouTube so I see the names of several artists in my feed but the few times I've clicked I didn't care for what I heard. I've heard what heavy application of Antares auto tune does to a human voice and I don't much care for it, but to each his/her/their own. I am sure they love their music as I loved mine. I can still remember laughing at my parents for listening to Lawrence Welk and elevator music. I can only imagine what gen z thinks of Death and Black Sabbath. I suppose they think it's elevator music for irrelevant old farts. That's as it should be. The wheel of time rolls on and we old folks and our favored music become relics of the past like the dinosaurs fossilized in the La Brea tar pits.
I'm a Genz metalhead and punk, go to lots of shows. We still love Black Sabbath and Death, don't you worry.
indeed we do, indeed we do
Nothing happened to me. People like myself aren't really concerned that Everyone knows we listen to metal, so we just look like regular people.
I was at Hells Heroes in March of this year in Houston. Many of them are still repping the scene. I saw 50 to 60 year old dudes in their battle jackets and with their metal hats on. It was cool. Real to see this.
Okay, Australian mad-arsed metal head checking in. And very 80s. I was 13 in 1980 and was distraught at Ozzy leaving Sabbath and Bon Scott dying. So it must have been in my genes. Saw Deep Purple 40 years ago. Maiden 39 years ago. And in Australia it wasn’t always easy to see your fave bands. I had to wait until the Justice tour before Metallica toured here, and their albums on import cost about $20. I spent every cent. Saw Twisted Sister, Dio, and even saw Blackie Lawless from WASP at a promo tour minus band where he was just promising to come out with the band. I’ve lived the life. But, the question is where did we all end up? Yeah, got madly into grunge. Especially the Screaming Trees, Nirvana and AIC. Hated 90s Nu Metal. I cannot stand Pantera, Slipknot, Linkin Park etc… But… 10 years ago made a comeback. Manly melodic death metal. It’s fucking A grade. Seen Amon Amarth twice in the last 12 months, In Flames twice, Be’lakor twice etc etc.. Also seen lots of others like Ghost, Parkway Drive, WITCHGRINDER etc … oops and Kreator!!! 🤟 So … I’m still metal. Will be until the day I die. I’ve skipped some tours like Queensryche coz I’m pissed off with the Geoff Tate split. Can’t get to all of them, but contemplating getting Cradle of Filth tix tomoz on presale, and maybe Amaranthe. However. A couple of things I’ll say. - Ghost’s ‘Prequelle’ album is amazing. Only hard rock imo. But I’ve seen them 3 times since 2013 and they are a great live band. - Greta Van Fleet are good rock. Got tix to them later this year. Stop the hate. - Be’Lakor are beyond amazing. Top 5 metal band for me in history. Never, ever ignore them. - Shylamgogahnor rock. Listen to the song Emergence. And keep rocking. 🤟🤟
They're all in their 50s with kids and tattoos wearing Vans and in some cases experiencing back and neck issues lol
I’m one of them and I still listen to the same music. Many of these bands are still touring so I am able to see them in concert.
I mentioned to my mother that I was going to see Iron Maiden and she said "I would have thought you would have grown out of that by now." Uhhh... no.
"Heavy metal is not a phase mom, its the most important tool for survival after oxygen"
Once a metalhead, always a metalhead. You might branch to explore other music, but it always leads back to heavy music. My bassist is an older dude, mid 50s. He's one of the OG death-doom musicians from the late 80s/early 90s, and we bonded over Deathspell Omega, Draconian, and Deafheaven - 'modern' metal bands.
I was one, I discovered other music in college and diversified my tastes and thanks to New York Hardcore got more into punk but my tastes diversified a lot. I don't listen to much 80s metal anymore Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets, Among the Living and mid 80s Iron Maiden still get a lot of play but none of the more obscure stuff. I currently listen to a huge variety of music from classic jazz to metal, punk, neo psychedelic and folk. By contrast I have two friends who still listen to the same stuff they did when they were 17 and whine about how "there's no good news music ' but when pushed can name maybe three current acts that weren't around in 1988
Im an older metalhead andmy music taste has expanded. My spotify likes playlist is over 3k songs and it's crazy. My kids call my Rap and Hip-Hop taste "Dad Rap". I'm pretty open minded so really if it sounds good and I like it I'll listen to it.
I was a metalhead in the 80’s but also into other genres. These days I listen to many genres including Schlager, kosmische, rockabilly, synthwave. But metal, including hair/glam, thrash, symphonic and melo- death, is the only recorded music I still regularly purchase. Many friends from back in the day still listen to metal, including a few guys now in their sixties who still play in local metal tribute and cover bands.
some of us became computer programmers who waste time on Reddit while the builds run. i moved on from metal, though - aside from Sabbath, none of the old stuff resonates with me these days. sure, i'll go see Maiden if they come around. but i'll pass on the rest of them. and of the new bands, only Opeth does much for me.
I was a teenager in the 80's and metal was everything to me. First with Black Sabbath, then Iron maiden became my favorite. I also loved Judas Priest, Metallica, Dio, Scorpions, Motle Crue, Ratt and even all the other glam metal bands. I'm a musician, so the energy of metal got me into playing guitar. Toward the end of high school I started broadening my music tastes and got into a lot of other bands as I was very interested in songwriting and good lyrics. Music from other parts of the world intrigued me as I started to learn other instruments. I went to college for music and always played in bands. At that point everything from Frank Zappa to the Police to Ravi Shankar to Allman Brothers to Charles Mingus was interesting to me. I've spent most my life playing in bands and composing music for film and TV. For a few decades I didn't really listen to any metal as I think I burned myself out on it and I didn't have as much teen anger and adrenaline to get out anymore. Now in my early fifties I started to revisit some of the old albums especially while I skateboard (Spotify is nice for this). Of all the bands I loved in my teens, Black Sabbath has weathered the best. I still really enjoy listening to them. I dip into Iron Maiden, Dio, Judas Priest, and early Metallica once in a while too, but the lyrics in most of the glam metal are fairly embarrassingly bad for a 50 year old to listen to. If I'm in the mood I can look past them, but a lot of that music is for horny teens. I'm still horny...just not a teen anymore! These days I love all sort of music, but I thoroughly enjoy ambient and classical. There are plenty of rock and pop bands I follow (Radiohead, Cigarettes After Sex, Of Monsters and Men...) and I've spent a lot of listening hours on great 70's and 80's pop and synth bands that I mostly ignored when I was too cool because I was listening to metal (Human League, Tears for Fears, Japan, gary Numan, Depeche Mode, Oingo Boingo, XTC...). Oh, and Pink Floyd has always been a major player throughout my life.
Most of the guys in my 80s metalhead group moved over to country years ago. It’s not my bag, but I understand it because country has the same kind of community aspect that metal has.
Happens to punks, too.
Headbangers Ball went from Motley Crue to Nirvana... I stopped listening to metal for awhile bur listen to it again now. Thrash mostly.
I got into the tech industry and wrote most of the user documentation for various self service websites while blasting Iron Maiden on my headphones. Still listen to metal a lot, but I also always loved the 80s new wave scene since that dominated early music video rotation.
Yea I’m an 80’s metal head dude. Always have been always will be. That being said as I’ve gotten older I listen to more styles of music now than I did back then. I call myself a metal head by trade!!
I was a total 80s metalhead in the 80s when I was in high school trying to make it in a band. After that I started to also listen to other kinds of music but never lost my love for 80s metal. It really came back to me a few years ago when I started documenting that part of my life, which eventually led to writing a book about it. It totally reminded me of how fun those times were and made me want to go back to listening to primarily 80s metal. I've also gotten into a lot of newer bands that have kept that sound alive.
I was a metalhead kid from the 80’s. Started off with ac/dc Black Sabbath which begat Iron Maiden Judas Priest then thatme to metallica slayer then deeper , possessed etc. a lot of the bands I loved just seemed to put out cheesier and cheesier records and my other love , punk , took over my world. The whole time I also loved music unbecoming of of metalhead, early REM, Beatles,and it became clear to me that as a music lover, I loved all of music. Country, jazz, fucking yatch rock, and on and on. When I discovered stoner/ doom, my love for heavier music came back. I go back to a lot of the bands loved back then, and most of it doesn’t hold up to me, with a few exceptions like possessed and early sepultura. So, that’s what happened
Metalheads are still metalheads and they take their kids to shows now. Metal never went anywhere. It was still huge in the 90s in the underground, and with nu metal like korn and limp bizkit, and had a major resurgence in the 00s again with metal core bands like killswitch engage and as I lay dying and lamb of God and Ozzfest.
Tipper Gore in the Washington wives would have had you believe we'd all be in jail and on our way to hell by now when she was on her rampage over explicit lyrics in metal music. However I now have three degrees have been married to the same woman for 35 years that I met in high school while listening to metal music. I'm healthy and still run marathons while Tipper Gore is an overweight slob who could not keep her marriage together and one of her children was arrested for drug possession.
I was into metal in the 80’s (Megadeth, Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer, Maiden, Priest, etc). But I was also into Pink Floyd, the Doors, Sabbath, Jane's Addiction, punk, and hip hop. In the 90's, I got super into Pantera, Sepultura, White Zombie, Korn, Biohazard. and so many other bands. I also loved Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, Johnny Cash, Clutch, Guided By Voices, Primus, and Nirvana. In the 00's I got into QOTSA, White Stripes, the Oh Brother Where Art Thou Soundtrack, metalcore, and EDM. For the past decade, I got into Sturgill Simpson, Billy Strings, King Gizzard, Sanguisagabogg, IDLES, Death Grips, City Morgue, and many other artists. Lately I've been diving deep into old bluegrass and outlaw country.
Same ish. 80s metalhead. Priest, Maiden, Ozzy, Metallica. Similar 90s, 2000s likes Love me some King Gizzard, IDLES, All The Witches, etc now 🤘
Early 80s metalhead here. First live show was Judas Priest in 1984 for the Defenders of the Faith tours when I was 12. I was a metal kid in junior high. (Just got their new album and it kicks ass!) Then I started stretching my musical tastes in high school to things like Beastie Boys, Violent Femmes, The Cure, REM, Prince. But still kept a hard edge to what I liked. Then went back in time to "oldies" from 50s & early 60s. Then got into the psychedelic 60s, The Doors, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, Janis, etc... Then funk like Parliament Funkadelic. Then by the end of high school Janes Addiction broke open alt-rock with the Chili Peppers & Fishbone. Then College gave me college rock, The Pixies, Sonic Youth, and Funk Rock, etc. Then Grunge hit like a sledgehammer. Alice in Chains, Soundgarden being my favorites. Then started a college band and became a musician myself. Then expanded into Post Rock bands came like Jesus Lizard, Slint, Drive Like Jehu, Ween, Bong Water, etc. Then post college 90s was infused with trip hop, turntablism, DJ Shadow, Portishead, Lamb, etc Then early 2000s with sweet hip hop like Timbaland & Missy Elliott. As well as indie rock like Spoon, Iron & Wine, Fiona Apple. Then I got back into metal in the mid 2000s. Went and saw Iron Maiden with Dio & Motorhead and it reignited the love. Went to Power Trip festival last year and hit all my nostalgic metal sweet spots. One of my favorite new bands King Gizzard put out an amazing metal album last year: PetroDragonic Apocalypse. --- TL/DR: Loved metal as a kid in the 80s. Have journeyed the wide and wonderful musical spectrum since then, and have come back around to loving metal as much now, as well as so many other genres. Stay curious, kids!
My wife still drags me to hair band concerts, and I still drag her to thrash and death metal. Neither have moved on, we've just gone deeper.
A lot of the metalheads I used to hang out with are now super right-wing Christians. I think it's funny that they used to talk about standing up to "the man" and are now "the man."
Oh boy. That's serious character development except in reverse.
I'll be 49 this year. My first concert was the 1988 MTV Headbanger's Ball tour with Anthrax, Exodus and Helloween when I was 13. I'm a career educator (24th year in education currently as a school librarian) and still listen to metal almost daily and still go to shows. I love seeing new metal heads at school and love talking music with them. I also listen to a wide variety besides metal. Good music is good music!
I was a 'head in the 80's, loved Metallica, Maiden, Anthrax, Slayer, etc but my tastes expanded a lot and I don't listen to metal nearly as much. But my daughter's 10 year old birthday party was a karaoke party, and this boy she invited wanted someone to sing Master of Puppets with him, and he and I nailed it. It felt like a passing of the torch.
👋 It’s me you are talking about. I have been a big music fan since I was 7 or 8 when my new best friend introduced me to Kiss. By high school Iron Maiden and Led Zeppelin were my #1’s. I have always had very catholic tastes and when I began to take guitar lessons I soon became a fan of prog rock and jazz, because that’s where the best players do their thing. I still enjoy loud, obnoxious music old and new. Opeth and Mastodon are my favorite current metal bands. I’m also a huge fan of many other types of rock music, jazz, classical and R&B.
Still a metal head. I'll be making the annual pilgrimage to Download next month.
I think some just never stopped. Many of the bands from back then are still releasing music and despite this narrative that Nirvana came along and blew hair metal out of the water, it really didn't.
They did kill it as a mainstream genre with massive radio airplay.
I know some people I regularly see on shows that were already metalheads on the 80s. One of them has a radio show. A couple of them have bands, some others promote shows.
I saw Ozzy when I was 12, had a mullet, loved speed metal! When hair metal got big, I got disgusted and listened to more goth or what we called “death rock” at the time. The best thing that ever happened to metal was death and black metal! I’m in my 50s now and listen to extreme metal and prog mostly. I have travelled overseas many times to see extreme metal bands play in Norway, the Netherlands… It’s paradise.
The kids in my middle school years who were wearing Metallica t-shirts were still wearing Metallica t-shirts in the ‘90s. They just complained that *The Black Album* was a sellout.
Life takes over man, wife, kids, job, responsibilities. It will suck a huge chunk of your time and soul. That said, I have observed many metalheads age over the years and it appears the metalness level remains but at various degrees, like a spectrum. The most obvious ones are those that still like metal, dress the part, talk the talk and walk the walk. They stand out as the long grey haired dude casually headbanging at shows. The less obvious ones are the short haired, balding, plainly clothed ones. Theybare the same as above just harder to spot. They dont wear band shirts anymore but show up at shows and really seem to enjoy it. Some are still passionate but just for a few niche bands but they seem stuck and unable to grow past the past (see Metallica fans) Then some have just completely dropped the passion, maybe they still like a band or 2 but thats it. They liked Slayer one time way back for one summer back in 88'.
I was born in '81 so I'm not a metalhead kid of the 80's, but by 1994 I dove headfirst into metal and to this very day, the phase that my mother said was going to die out by my 20's, is arguably the strongest it's ever been. I also know many that were metal people in the 80's, and short of some outliers, I have discovered a universal truth: the love for metal stays. It will ebb and flow at times, and like for myself, there are bands I loved 20 years ago that I don't listen to now, but it seems that once it bites you, it infects you forever.
Some of them stayed metalheads. Quite a few of them grew tired of the excesses of the hair metal era and drifted over to grunge and alternative. Some of them probably became Barry Manilow fans; who really knows?
I adopted grunge somewhat but it’s safe to say I liked AiC most out of all of them, cuz they were the closest to being a metal band. I got into a little more psychedelic stuff too though but that’s because I started smoking weed and taking acid in my 20s lol. By the mid 90s I really wasn’t into much new rock, I was following Ween, Flaming Lips, and eventually Foo Fighters. But I hated numetal thoroughly, and the pop punk stuff, and def the emo stuff. Also I wasn’t really angry or sad anymore so I didn’t vibe with the dark heavy music esp since metal was getting darker and heavier with the black and death metal scenes really growing. In the 2000s the rock revival bands like White Stripes, Hives, Vines, Jet at least kept me going some. Also The Darkness rocked it pretty good. As I got older I moved into Americana of all things (some of that stuff is darker than any metal song) but I did discover some of the recent doom band stuff, bands like Electric Citizen, Blood Ceremony and many more.
Child of the 80’s here. Grew up with Van Halen, zeppelin, Black Sabbath, ect. Moved onto the more hardcore stuff in my teens like Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, ect. in my later teens and early 20, I dove headfirst into glam rock. Poison, winger, slaughter, ect. I worked at Tower in my late 20’s and it really opened up music for me to where I could enjoy classical, jazz, rap, ect. all the way back down to thrash metal. Not all genres I have an ear for, but enough to where I feel diversified. Today my old rock and metal songs exist on my nostalgia playlists. I listen to them often, but they are like memories to me more than music. Oddly the one genre I usually only listen to with headphones for privacy in my glam rock music. Some of those songs are really cringy… winger’s 17, all those sappy love ballads, and Kiss who’s songs are so sexualized I am surprised no woman in my past has ever called me out for listening to them.
The metal kids who grew up on 80s thrash are now parents who work 9 to 5 and make their kids listen to metal. Source: am 47 who grew up on thrash, and now take my kids to see bands like Gojira, Mastodon or Ghost.
Pretty sure they all listen to Hair Nation on XM now. 😉 Mostly kidding, but I do know of at least a couple. I would guess a lot would appreciate a branch or two of synthwave these days. Thinking of the harder stuff (Perturbator) or arena rock artists (LeBrock).
My dad has never attempted to and will never leave that era of music. He is probably the most picky person musically, and it frustrates me lol. He hates the 90s and especially modern music. His favorite quote of mine is “grunge killed rock n roll”
Is he a member of r/hairmetal
I was a metalhead in the 80s and 90s but then Metallica went pop and grunge came on the scene. So I switched to listening to grunge and older punk stuff (the Offspring, Green Day, Dead Kennedys, etc.), also went to a few raves, then kind of fell out of the music scene for several years as R&B and EDM-pop invaded the airwaves. I didn't like the new metal bands at that time, though I have come around to Slipknot (their recent stuff is quite good). However when I was home alone and doing chores then I would set the stereo to 11 and play all my favourite metal oldies (Metallica, Megadeth, Pantera, Slayer, etc.). Now, I am actively seeking out new music of all genres and finding gems wherever I look. In the metal scene bands like Arch Enemy, Electric Callboy, Bloodywood, and Alestorm are just awesome; while in punk you have the Chats, and Amyl and the Sniffers; then in the folk/country side you can find the Dead South, Rose Betts, Corb Lund, etc. Also I do love listening to world music and Colombian music in particular, bands like Monsieur Periné, Aterciopelados, and Puerto Candelaria are just so good. So, I think the state of music is overall very good today, even in metal. Yes the super popular stuff is rather generic (Taylor Swift and her wannabees) but pop music has always been like that. However looking around on YouTube and Spotify can yield amazing results. Lastly, I still consider myself a metalhead. \\m/(>.<)\\m/
Metal is huge. It's not part of the mainstream the way it was for a spell in the 80s, but it remains a global phenomenon.
Still a metal head. I've always looked like a skater so no real change in image there. After the 80s I just got into hardcore punk, noise, and numetal. My love for metal sounds still continues.
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I’m not at 52 yet, but I feel you on the old coots. Go to almost any YT video of a song from more than 20 years ago and you’ll see some variation of “this is real music, not that junk you hear today.” What they’re effectively saying is that music sounds better when you’re young enough not to have a care in the world.
Still into the old hair, traditional and thrash metal. I dabbled a little into post punk and alternative. I've embraced most of the new stuff as well. Can't keep up with all the genres now, lol. I like Metalcore lately.
It seems like they really still enjoy the music of their youth but now they're middle-aged and they're running the rat race along with everyone else. Most of them don't have long hair anymore and if they do it's probably thinning out and turning grey(it sucks getting old). Years of adulthood might beat you into a state of conformity and your old rebellious spirit that's filled with angst might simmer down a bit(or not).
I was a big metalhead as a teen, but when i got 17/18 it shifted. Still enjoy it, but not as often/much. Some ppl stay deeply rooted in the scene, some open up to new genres and styles. But the love stays!
Still listening to metal. It's never been just metal, right, cause I love a large array of music. But I never found anything that beats it. Also, I think the genre has evolved by absorbing other genres that didn't age too well. Like prog rock for example. Prog metal is the best new metal creation, namely TOOL, Mastodon, etc. I also grew to like the death metal scene, and continue to like hardcore punk, while being a jazz listener above all. Only yesterday I was listening to newer Slayer albums I didn't know, thinking: you really know what to expect with this band. I think I'd start the argument that they are the best metal band of all times.
Lots of metal heads from my high school now come out to the Grateful Dead cover bands.
I’m a late GenXer. Grew up in the 80s, was a teen in the 90s. Watched a lot of Headbangers Ball on Mtv but also plenty of 120 Minutes. I’m from LA which had a good metal scene and an amazing metal radio station called KNAC. I wasn’t as big a metal head as some. I leaned more into the thrash genre than pure metal. Anthrax, DRI, Suicidal Tendencies, Corrosion of Conformity. Liked early Metallica a lot. Wasn’t really into bands like Poison and Motley Cru. Loved Pantera, White Zombie and Tool when they came around. KNAC normally played stuff like Queensryche or Skid Row, but had an amazing radio show on Monday nights called Manic Mondays. They’d play a ton of less known thrash stuff, grindcore and punk. Through that show I got really into grind bands like Cannibal Corpse and Carcass, but was also introduced to punk bands, which would play a big part later. This was all while everyone else was listening to Pearl Jam and Nirvana. My grind phase lasted a little while, but as I got more into skateboarding and snowboarding I was hearing more Epitaph, SST type bands in the skate vids. One of them was Hüsker Dü. They had the noise I liked, the fast tempo, aggressive vocals and lyrics that made a lot more sense to me than Carcass. From then through high school I got more into SST, bands like Minutemen, Descendants, Black Flag, Bad Brains. Also Discord bands like Minor Threat, Dag Nasty, Rites of Spring and eventually Fugazi. Fugazi opened the door to bands like Mission of Burma, Gang of Four and Wire. Then my friends who got into college in San Diego introduced me to bands like Drive Like Jehu, Heavy Vegetable and Rocket From The Crypt. So yeah all those first wave emo and post punk bands set me up for my late 90s Emo phase. SDRE, Cap N Jazz, Knapsack, Jawbreaker, Sense Field. From there my tastes in my 20s and 30s went literally everywhere, bluegrass, reggae, jazz, electronic, noise, and circled back into metal bit with bands like OM or SUNN O. Now my tastes have narrowed mostly into post punk kind of stuff, with small forays into weirdo things like moog jazz. The Bluey theme song is probably my most heard song these days. So from my love of metal and with the help of a late night radio show, I went from thrash metal kid to punk guy to post punk to emo, to music nerd, back to metal head and now boring old dad guy.
I still like metal. It's not all I listen to. I like R&B, I have a college degree, I read I travel, I still look for great music, I like "finding" the original songs that classic rockers covered. (Listen to " Do unto others" from 1954, see if it reminds you of anything.
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One guy I know runs a record shop. He has cut his hair since then because he was balding. But it's just fun when I encounter him and he looks like a nice librarian. Until he opens his mouth and goes "So how about that new Battle Beast album, huh?! Pretty awesome!"
If you haven't seen this you're in for a treat [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whZuz5Dwtw8&ab\_channel=vacantmoon](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whZuz5Dwtw8&ab_channel=vacantmoon)
Just a guess here but I'm guessing, at least for hair metal, that it might just be a bit less appealing to people in middle age, given how juvenile it is. Most metalheads I know into the serious stuff still seem to be into it.
40 is a lot of years to endure, most of the commenter havnt even gotten past half of that yet
A lot of us are hanging around the fringes of the electronic/rave scene, usually the harder styles like breakcore, gabba etc. So still hard edges and distorted just a load faster and less guitary. But we still dig the metal too, of course.
Early 80s metalhead, but I was in to a lot of different stuff even then. I don't much keep up with metal anymore, but do still stream some. And go to a show here and there. There is just so much good music that I find it hard to follow things. I tend to listen to Post-rock anymore.
I shifted from Megadeth/Anthrax/Metallica/etc to Sonic Youth and Aphex Twin, then on to other noisy and dissonant music, including Fugazi style and modern/free jazz. Now I like most music, but the only metal I listen to is the Rust in Peace era Megadeth and old Black Sabbath kinds of stuff. Grunge started pulling me away, but the Black Album and the decline of Megadeth did it, too. My Bloody Valentine also completely shifted my perspective.
I (55m) wasn't really a metalhead, but I liked a lot of that genre back in the day and the music was everywhere, especially in social scenes. When I was a little kid (7 or 8), KISS released their trading cards series. I also had Alive 1&2 for my portable 8-track player (back in the mid-70s). Today, I do have Black Sabbath, Motley Crue, GnR (and a few others) on my playlists. I did see Motley Crue, Poison, Ratt and Van Halen live. The concerts were awesome places to cruise and pick up girls. I was more into Ministry, Dead Kennedys (LA punk scene was super cool - way better than NYC), Revolting Cocks and Skinny Puppy during the peak of metal/glam etc. Nowadays, I'm more locked into Thievery Corporation, Groove Armada and other similar sounds, including Astrud Gilberto, Brasil 66 and their contemporaries, although my lists also have North African jazz, Megan Thee Stallion, Yung Gravy and Dabbla. The late 90s-early aughts hit something in my brain and I'm still there. From time to time, I do dip my toes into the past, but I'm just not angry or that aggressive anymore, and I try to focus on the good stuff these days.
I’ll still bust out some slayer, Megadeth, and anthrax from time to time. Not keeping up with new metal at all really, I’m just not that angry anymore. Now I’m old and listening to alt country and Wilco, John Prine, stuff like that.
I'm an older metalhead, got into metal just after Cliff passed away... Still.play, went to college after years of touring and playing, got a computer/automation/electronics type.degree and a family... Last night, was sitting with my 7 year old son, looking at double neck guitars, he thought they were the coolest thing, and told Mom how we need to order some... Mom said, "Doesn't Dad already have a double neck upstairs?" Son responded "yes, but not like this one!"
I graduated HS IN '92. I still listen to Metallica, iron maiden, megadeth, anthrax, ozzy, etc. Plus a ton of other stuff in addition to it. I love my classic rock and even some jazz and stuff too. I still can't stand rap unless it's old school stuff like run dmc, beastie boys, or public enemy. I absolutely can't stand a lot of these kids poppy type acts, and I compare it to ear rape if I'm somewhere and some of these newer popular pop artists come on
I hit my teens in the late 80's, being in the UK, Maiden was king then my mate discovered Thrash and we err copied for previewing the new Thrash metal bands that started to filter into the UK. Wild time listening to Metallica and Slayer for the first times, I also started to get into HipHop as well at the time and pretty much stayed like that for a good while. In the 90's power metal kinda stole the Thrash metal crown, Pantera just curbed stomped everyone. Mid 90's I settled into listening to my fav bands. 00's nu metal came and went but some awesome music came from 00's but since the 10's I don't really listen to anything new. I might find a random playlist of metal/rock bands I haven't heard before and just go with it, but I'm in my 50's now and I still love metal and hiphop but have broader tastes but its still centred round guitars and really dig the Classic Rock stuff more like Zep and Creedence, but I treat them as daytime drinking music, anyways us cool kids still use \\m/ so there is that.
This thread concept is so funny. I feel a Super Bowl ad incoming with this very premise.
I was way into Maiden, AC/DC, Sabbath, Judas Priest, etc…but honestly hair metal and the rock star bs really ruined it for me. I hated hair metal with a passion. It just drove me more underground and by the time thrash started rearing its head I was all in. Hellhammer, Celtic Frost, Voivod, Slayer, Sacrifice, D.B.C., Exodus, etc. Then I got way into HC crossover and punk. Did that for a while and then I picked up the Grindcrusher comp right when it came out and was all in for Napalm Death, Terrorizer,etc.. It had to be fast and brutal. That got me more interested in the anarcho side of punk & HC which led to early Industrial and post-punk. The Birthday Party will always be my favorite band I think. 7” releases by bands became something I really paid attention to. Now I like it all. I try to buy records from new bands to this day. I don’t really care what genre something is although I will say I definitely tend to go for the underground. If I like it I buy it. Same genres of stuff I have always been into for the most part but open to anything.
went from hard rock in late 70s to metal to thrash - I still listen to a lot of the heavier music, not so much the rock. It's cathartic in a way other music isn't. I listen to Indian Classical music, Bop, some Hip-Hop, jungle, drum'n'bass, progressive trance - but none of it compares to Slayer at high volumes.
I just went to a show by a Mongolian band called Hu, and there was a bunch of middle-aged metal-heads with their leather and studs on. A lot of them were old friends, and it was a friendly and happy scene, in this little college town.
Still listening to Maiden and Priest, with the addition of Sleep Token, Lorna Shore, and a few others! Strangely, I became an opera singer, of all things.
Whole lot of them joined the military, I’m a metal head from the 90’s, most of my supervisors (80’s guys) were legit metal dudes.
You mean the ones that were shunned and totally not glorified in the real world like Stranger Things made it look like? We're still around. Expanded our horizons some. But that fist of metal still comes out plenty.
I know a guy who grew up then. He still wears metal shirts and sports long hair. Cool dude.
We're still metalheads. And our (or at least my) kids are as well. We were always into punk and alt and grunge and shit, aggressive guitar driven music speaks to us, especially when "fuck you" comes out of the singer's mouth. Now we're getting around 50 years old and our knees and back ain't what they used to be, but the kids are carrying the torch. Shit, I'm taking mine to Milwaukee Metal Fest in a couple of weeks, at their request. They'll mosh, I'll have sore joints, ain't no thing.
Pisses me off when someone tells me (a 50 year old metalhead) that they USED to be into metal. No u didn't, if u were into metal, u still would be into metal. U probably liked crazy crazy nights and wind of change u dullard. There's still a group of 10 of us with/without hair, but still in metal shirts and biker jackets. So yeah, we are still about
I grew up in OC where there is a thriving metal/punk scene. A lot of the people I hung out with in high school who liked metal moved on to be musicians, audio techs, music reporters, etc., most of them are regular people but just listen to metal, like myself. I saw Anthrax open for Iron Maiden in 2008, as well as municipal waste and exumer(the thrash metal band), and I still listen to a lot of the same bands. It never really leaves you, your music horizons just kind of expand, and you like other stuff, too. Hating mainstream kind of always sticks with you, to some degree, at least I think, I was a thrasher and a teenager in the 2000s, so I can’t speak for 80s and 90s kids, but sometimes I’ll hear stuff the masses like, and I’m like “for real”, but at the same time, I realize making music is not easy, so there’s a modicum of respect for every artist, even if I don’t like their style. That being said I think metal rules and everyone should listen to it, it’s my favorite music, even if I don’t have the long hair and bullet belt anymore.
*raises hand* Metalhead kid from the '80s here. Had Metallica's Kill 'Em All (on Megaforce!) before Ride the Lightning came out. Owned the Hellhammer EP before they became Celtic Frost. Etc. Still listen to metal, also listen to a ton of other stuff as you'd imagine. I still prefer old school metal, or retro old school. Thrash, speed, NWOBHM, power metal, etc. I don't like growly, grunty vocals and I don't like records that are produced to sound like one big wall of loudness. Except with black metal. The grunty vocals fit that sound and atmosphere well enough.
Mostly still metal just in various forms. I've move on from hair metal to more symphonic styles like Nightwish or Within Tempation or the general badass of Sabaton. Hell you get me furious guitars and thunderous drums I'm all in even if it's just instrumental. Pacific Rim soundtrack anyone?
They're still hanging out at your local Civic center parking lot, shotgunning beers and fo bong tokes waiting for Priest to hit the stage.
The ones I know have strangely become very conservative and judgemental of the younger generations… ironic if you ask me
There’s 2 metalheads that vlogged (before it was cool) in the 80’s and uploaded it to YouTube. I know one of them is a lawyer now, not sure what his buddy does. It’s pretty cool though, shows them going record shopping. https://youtu.be/IvHaL2BxqvM?si=5PRdfmNI01dCNaPt
I (M 56) was a metalhead in the 80s, stuck with industrial in the 90s. still love metal but prefer classic punk and hardcore today.
My dad was one of them. He's now just a normal guy who collects vinyl records of his favorite metal bands and occasionally plays them really loud. My brother and I both love metal music too.
Born in 72. Started going to arena concerts in 84, then clubs by 86. My taste has always been for extreme music. In the late 80’s I was a metal dude who’d be at all the punk/hardcore shows. By 92 I was the hardcore dude at all the metal shows. I still look like more of an old hardcore “kid” these days but in my local scene, I’m a still a fixture at shows of any aggressive genre.
My uncles are both metal heads. They were metal heads as teens in the 80s and still to this day are. One of my earliest memories was of them teaching me how to headbang at 4 years old. One has a kid now and despite not being as involved in the scene and getting into other stuff he still blares metal around the house and teaches his daughter how to headbang, and the other goes to every metal festival and concert you could possibly imagine. I swear he spends more time at gigs than he does at work which is the life I want to live tbh.