Metal is "outsider music"????

Hantra · « **on:** 12 Dec 2004, 10:34 pm »

I really have to ask how many people think that metal is "outsider music"? It attracts people on the "outskirts of society" according to this prick at Guitar World magazine. He's trying to apply some sort of logic to Dimebag's death.

What a prick. I am the most conservative person I know, I work in IT, and I would not consider myself on the OUTSKIRTS of society.

Here's the quote:

""Metal is outsider music, non-mainstream," said Brad Tolinski, editor of Guitar World magazine. "The people attracted to it are outsiders, on the outskirts of society. It speaks to their problems. They identify with it very strongly and invest a lot in the bands, that express what they can't express."

ooheadsoo · « **Reply #1 on:** 12 Dec 2004, 10:46 pm »

I am conservative and I used to listen to metal. Do you think people like us are typical metal fans?

Hantra · « **Reply #2 on:** 12 Dec 2004, 10:50 pm »

Quote from: ooheadsoo

I am conservative and I used to listen to metal. Do you think people like us are typical metal fans?

I dunno man. I think there are a LOT more metal fans than people think. I mean if Pantera can play for a MILLION people in Moscow, who else could draw that?

But it's another case of rampant stereotyping. You see I love the Grateful Dead, and instantly when people find out, they just automatically assume I am a liberal drughead, or former drug user. Amazing. . .

JoshK · « **Reply #3 on:** 12 Dec 2004, 10:50 pm »

I am pretty darn conservative myself, grew up in an ultra conservative family. Always was kinda a preppy kid, but I consider myself a metal head, at least for most of my youth. I loved the music just didn't buy into the your-identity-is-defined-by-your-taste-in-music crap.

Rocket · « **Reply #4 on:** 12 Dec 2004, 10:57 pm »

Hi Hantra,

John Lennon didn't play heavy metal and look what happened to him.

I like most heavy metal and just the other day bought an lp of the 'Angels' No exit.

Regards

Rod

nathanm · « **Reply #5 on:** 12 Dec 2004, 11:24 pm »

Is this article coming from the print magazine or is it something available online?

hmen · « **Reply #6 on:** 12 Dec 2004, 11:37 pm »

People have been making that complaint about various types of rock since the fifties. Of course there are metal bands whose lyrics appeal to "disaffected" teenagers but bands have been doing that forever. You could say the same thing about rap, new wave, punk and a few songs by Peter, Paul and Mary. A lot of people listen to metal more for the music than the lyrics. All kinds of bands have obsessive fans and people who identify with their lyrics.
I bet there are more outsiders, weirdos and misfits listening to Michael Jackson than all the metal bands combined.

ooheadsoo · « **Reply #7 on:** 12 Dec 2004, 11:39 pm »

I think most of us in a forum like this are pretty well off, relatively. However, you must admit that there is more of a violent fringe element in something like metal or rock in the case of Lennon than is in, say, classical - in today's society. Unless you're some kind of Bach drinking psychopathic murderer.

Hantra · « **Reply #8 on:** 12 Dec 2004, 11:54 pm »

Quote from: nathanm

Is this article coming from the print magazine or is it something available online?

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-usdime124081485dec12,0,277190.story?coll=ny-nationalnews-headlines

nathanm · « **Reply #9 on:** 13 Dec 2004, 12:33 am »

I just read the article. I think it's important not to take these little fluff articles in newspapers too seriously or to read too far into them.

Anyway, Brad Tolinski did not "apply some sort of logic to Dimebag's death". His brief quote about metal fans is generally accurate. Just because you or I anyone else does not fit the description doesn't mean the description is wrong. Besides, the "prototypical metalhead" is not going to be reading AudioCircle, so anyone here reading this will likely not fit Tolinski's description anyway.

That said, I don't feel that the label of "outsider" suggests anything negative or that they are akin to crminals or murderers. I think it's a complimentary term and a valid one. Metal IS outsider music, it IS underground music. If it wasn't you would hear it on all the major radio stations next to Creed and Alanis Morissette. Everyone and their mom would have long hair and leather jackets. Well, that doesn't happen. Yes of course there are bands like Metallica who made it big, but that's the exception to the rule.

Nathan Gale doesn't strike me as an outsider though. He seems like one of those archetypal jocks that listened to metal before the Big Game *snicker* I remember this type of fellow from high school. Those guys certainly weren't "outsiders" if you ask me. The "outsider" metalheads were the guys who skipped out of the pep rally to go have a smoke in the back of the school, not the guys IN the damn pep rally!

Anytime sweeping generalizations are made to desperately correlate a certain type of culture with a certain type of behavior the exercise is doomed to fail. How many metal shows have had people get killed at? Not many. How many musicians have been shot on stage? I can't think of one, not even in the gangsta rap genre has this happened, (where lyrics involving gunplay is 20 times more common than in metal) to my knowledge! Gale was a goofy loser with all sorts of social problems who turned violent and now he's dead. It's got jack squat to do with any kind of music style. If anyone is going to take this story to the next logical extreme and point the finger at heavy metal saying it's the Devil's Music and it makes people commit crimes (blah blah *yawn*) it surely won't be from the editor of Guitar World, it will probably be from some windbag preacher from the religious right.

Hantra · « **Reply #10 on:** 13 Dec 2004, 12:46 am »

Good points Nathan. . .

duff138 · « **Reply #11 on:** 13 Dec 2004, 01:33 am »

Nathan Gale doesn't strike me as an outsider though. He seems like one of those archetypal jocks that listened to metal before the Big Game *snicker* I remember this type of fellow from high school. Those guys certainly weren't "outsiders" if you ask me. The "outsider" metalheads were the guys who skipped out of the pep rally to go have a smoke in the back of the school, not the guys IN the damn pep rally!

great point Nathan. My thoughts exactly.

Marbles · « **Reply #12 on:** 13 Dec 2004, 03:01 am »

Quote from: nathanm

The "outsider" metalheads were the guys who skipped out of the pep rally to go have a smoke in the back of the school, not the guys IN the damn pep rally! sm_lyellow.gif ...

Damn if that doesn't hit close to home....glad you didn't clearify what I smoked..er, I mean what they smoked.

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #13 on:** 13 Dec 2004, 03:11 am »

Someone as messed up has he was certainly didn't need music to drive him to violence. To suggest otherwise would be niave. It's easier to look for a scapegoat than to try to get at the real roots of a problem.