Comments on: Big brothers and metal

By: Invisible Oranges

Invisible Oranges — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 17:33:17 +0000

onerode – Good to have you back! I suspect you are right. I hadn't heard of Metro Station until you mentioned them. I still prefer Taking Back Sunday to whatever clones they spawn.

By: onerodetoasabay

onerodetoasabay — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:20:06 +0000

Damn, it's been a while since I've been through my RSS feeds!

Anyway, this entry struck me as interesting, so some thoughts: though I think influence of an older sibling or a parent does help a lot in terms of metal taste. However, I think what you are attempting with your sister is futile. She sounds like my sister (who just turned 16)–she'll say something is cool, but I suspect she says that more to placate me than anything else. If she was really into it, she'd ask me about it way more, do research on her own, and she sure as hell wouldn't own a Metro Station CD right now. You just can't make someone a fan unless they want to be one themselves, no matter how many CDs you share over the years.

By: Ripptuff

Ripptuff — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 11:18:28 +0000

if it wasnt for my older brother , iwouldnt listen to metal. or be very awesome at all for that matter. i now have a 6 month old girl, and im passing along the metal. she falls asleep to nile. so obviously, im fucking stoked

By: Ryan Electrocution

Ryan Electrocution — Fri, 08 May 2009 16:25:27 +0000

…correction–if Maiden started up today, heh.

By: Ryan Electrocution

Ryan Electrocution — Fri, 08 May 2009 16:24:37 +0000

…also, throw Sabbath in there too. “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” (as you noted Cosmo), was that type of album that started to define them as being more than just a heavy band. If they had to just be heavy on every possible song (the singles), you’d never get to a “Fluff”, or even a song like “Planet Caravan” or “Orchid”/ “Solitude” on past albums, where they don’t sound like they do on the obvious heavy singles songs.

Producers are under this pressure to deliver more of the same, too. It’s why you’re getting more and more triggering and more metal albums that sound exactly like the typical genre. Maiden, if they were around today, wouldn’t be able to work their magic. Nor would Metallica–they’d be playing clubs and would have to rely on the exact same things as every other band to get noticed. Just a guess, but it’s my hunch.

By: Ryan Electrocution

Ryan Electrocution — Fri, 08 May 2009 16:20:37 +0000

You’ve touched on something that i’ve noticed in the last long while–albums, as a whole, are going the way of the dodo bird. Bands are under pressure to deliver 3-5 minute doses of the album, and we’re in a singles world to the point where it’s almost 1955-1963 all over again.

The Who started making concept albums because Townshend knew that unless you did so, you’d never really have the respect, you’d just be a singles band. The bands that have lasted the longest are album oriented bands, if you think of it–Beatles (Sgt Pepper’s), Who, Zep, etc. When you take the power of the complete album away from a band, you’re setting them up to fail, IMHO. It will be difficult to get an audience to believe that a band is about more than a song or a few songs, and that’s where the failure for bands is imminent. You can’t have a larger career unless you prove that you can provide more than singles, but if people are just going to listen to the singles anyways, then you’re doomed.

By: C

Wed, 06 May 2009 12:24:35 +0000

Indeed, older siblings have a duty to introduce their ignorant kin to good music. I recall gazing in wonder at my older brother’s Eddie flag, which spanned several feet of wall space. Who was this skeletal beast with shining eyes, I wondered. I’d rifle through his cassettes and be afraid to listen to any, since friends’ parents warned that heavy metal would transform us impressionable children into animal-murdering Satanists. Thanks to years of hearing Sabbath, Maiden, Priest and so many others rumbling my brothers’ bedroom walls, my friends and I finally bought our first metal cassette: Metallica’s newly released And Justice For All. I thought it couldn’t get any heavier or more sinister- until my older brother giddily showed me his freshly purchased Carcass “Reek of Putrefaction” tape.

By: Invisible Oranges

Invisible Oranges — Tue, 05 May 2009 21:35:33 +0000

Well put, Matt.

By: Matt Vogt

Matt Vogt — Tue, 05 May 2009 19:41:10 +0000

My three younger brothers are always fending off my attempts to increase their metal awareness. Interestingly, I have been decreasingly successful as the age gap widens – 4 years difference: likes death, ok with black; 6 years difference: only likes specific bands; 9 years difference: has to be held down to listen to metal!

I agree with Anonymous above, I think there must be a path to metal that Works Every Time (TM), taking baby steps. I mean, you can get the excitement of a distorted guitar on some Beatles records! The power of the drumkit shines through everywhere in popular music. What is metal but the intense celebration of these factors?

By: ballener0

ballener0 — Tue, 05 May 2009 06:45:41 +0000

My small brother is only 4 years younger than me and I've clearly influenced his musical taste. He borrows any album he wants from my collection and, fortunately, is far away from the Internet kid stereotype of our days: actually, it is me the one who downloads any album if it's neccesary, and that's what we listen to, FULL ALBUMS.

We both buy a lot of music (it's not strange to see the same album on both collections), and sometimes his feedback makes me appreciate some albums I already knew from a different point of view. I'm glad we share all these experiences throughout music, but if we didn't I couldn't care less as I think he has the right to listen to whatever he wants to, as that's exactly what I do.

Just kidding. If he didn't like In Vain I would fucking rape his ass off.