I used to listhen to alot of metal when i was younger and i think it gets to the stage where you kinda become a metal geek like a sci fi fan or a horror fan , alot of sci fi fans will watch anything thats sci fi ! Even if its crap because there fans of the genre . The only bands i would listhen to from those days are AC/DC and the Deftones .

I tried the same myself but to no avail. A mate in college was into metallica and the like. I got him to put some of his collection on my MP3 when I got it and most of it is long gone at this stage. I've since given up trying to understand metal

I once saw a documentary on the beach boys which said that about 5% of any musical movement adds something to the progression of music and the rest just hangs off the coat tails. I whole heartedly agree with that. I just have to find that 5% of metal bands

Metal makes your ears bleed. Its deadly !

When I was younger I bought Ace of Bass's album when all my friends were listening to Deicide, Sepultura, Metallica etc.. that takes guts.. it also takes s**t taste in music.. but also guts none the less! But sure we all have our musical skeletons in our closets!

Don't we..?

*nervous*

that also took guts!

PQ

I liked that single "I saw the Sign".

Ah I'm sure everyone's got at least one CD in their collection that they hide when they invite friends over! ;-) One of my friends, into Helmet, QOTSA and similar heavy-ish music had a Spice Girls CD stuck in the middle of his collection, and wasn't ashamed of it either!

To each their own I say..

most metal is terrible granted, and i think metal is in the unusual position that when it's awful it's really shockingly bad, it plumbs depths of uselessness not often seen in other genres.

however, the stuff that's great, mastodon, meshuggah, nile (and try reign in blood by slayer again!) is absolutely astonishing.

meshuggah in particular have been an obsession around these parts. incredibly visceral and brilliant music, doing more to advance the potential of guitar based rock music than almost anything out there. if you can stomach it check out their mini ep, "I", it's one track, 21 minutes of the heaviest sludgecore twisted with beefheartian dynamics and just leaves me breathless. "catch 33" is similarly fantastic.

things like zeppelin and qotsa or NIN definitely ain't metal either

maybe you need to try something to bridge genres and ease your way into it. check out either 'pink' or 'heavy rocks' by boris from japan

Or ... not strictly metal but loud and sunburned is Comets on Fire, Avatar.

that is indeed excellent... but is not metal...

...for those wishing to try out something different (as per dudley's post), both mastodon and isis are playing dublin in the coming days / weeks...

All music is crap if you don't get it. Simple as. The problem with metal, I've found, is that there is a much greater proportion of s**tty one-song, instantly forgettable bands than in most genres, so it's harder to find the gold.

uh oh...I usually dont join in the metal discussions in person cos it wrecks my head that some of my mates will chatter with apparent authority on metal when I know the heaviest thing they have is a beer belly and an Alice in Chains CD collection, but here I can walk away! )
I listen to so many types of music cos of a music mad family upbringing and getting involved with alchohol at much too young an age. Two genres get a roasting. Jazz gets a tough going over from alot of people (Homer Simpson's legend of a line) but by far metal gets the hardest time.
Maybe thats why I like it, you never get many people that are on the margins at a good metal gig. Best audiences to be a part of by a long long long shot. Never any hassles or attitudes from fools, nor is there too many feckin camera phones (seriously like I'm gonna start a campaign or something so many nights ruined cos of some eejit taking terrible videos of a fantastic gig).
I'd recommend that anyone with a passing interest go to a GOOD metal gig...you may want to hunt me down for ruining an evening or you may have the best buzz in ages...Slayer live is something unreal. (whether they are you're cup of tea or not, they have been consistent in their recording career also) Especially in a cool venue like the Ambassador or the upcoming show in Cork. The energy is mad. Very intense and angry. Thats all you get but you get alot of it! And yeah there is something adolescent about metal, musicians tend to be competitive about unusual aspects of playing (e.g. technique over melody) but fukit, its better than a folk singer desperatly tryin to seem world weary in his/her early twenties! (insert your chosen victim here! ))
However if you take for example Slayer and S.O.A.D., they spend most of their last albums attacking the right wing of American politics, relegion being used justify horrible acts and what they see in general that they dont like about their country (remembering that those who love a country will sometimes also give out about its faults, per John Lyndon's comments about God Save the Queen)...so dungeons and dragons are no longer a major lyircal theme, to be fair, in most metal. (Btw...dont some Flaming Lips songs concentrate on robots and mad scientists?!P) I'm not slaggin FL, just that thing about throwing glasses in stone houses or something)

Remind me, I can only think of Jimmy Rabbits in The Commitments about Jazz being musical w**king. Glorious.

If you like mogwai and explosions in the sky, it wouldn't take an emormous musical leap to buy a pelican, red sparowes, isis or jesu cd. you would then be listening to metal.

You could try
Meantime by Helmet or
Angel Dust by Faith no More or
..And the Circus Leaves Town by Kyuss
though not strictly leather jacket and drainpipe metal, it's still at least 50% metal.

dismissing all metal as rubbish is the same as the lads on metalireland who dismiss anything vaguely 'indie'. And if you don't like War Pigs by Black Sabbath then you don't like music.

I think I love you, drummer pete.

Heavy bands that rule:

Mastodon
Isis/Pelican/Red Sparowes/Jesu (I think of these guys as post-metal, Jesu actually sounds rather shoegazery)
Converge (one of the most brilliant bands making music today)
Opeth (one of the most brilliant bands making music today)

I'm much more into doom metal than I am what passes for typical metal today, though. Yob/Middian, Electric Wizard, High on Fire, etc.

I also enjoy metal much more live than I do on iTunes.

Heehee.. the number of views for this post was just at 666 there..


well I thought it was funny..

...so... eh...sue....what are you doing this saturday night?

I'll be watching Spinal Tap with my husband. Thanks for asking though!

Speaking of Homer i do remember him being a member of the Trade Union of "Nuclear Technicians, Pastry Chefs and Jazz Musicians."