How we discover and listen to metal music

ZombieHavo's thread regarding purchasing new albums prompted me to think about how we discover and listen to metal music nowadays.

Some interesting and very basic statistical data (from rateyourmusic)

For the pre-internet era of heavy metal the highest number of albums were released between 1986 and 1991. In a period of 6 years there were a total of 2526 albums released. This period saw the release of some of metal's most recognizable and now-considered classic albums. From what I can see, it was also a period when the sub-genres of metal known at the time were exhibited in their purest form. No cross-contamination had yet occurred. So a thrash band's sound was very much rooted in the traditional sound of the early 80s metal bands. Similarly a heavy metal band's influence were still directly correlated to earlier metal acts such as Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Saxon and the like.

From my perspective, I would add that approx. 11% (or about 50 albums per year) were 'must-have classics'. Realistically - factoring in budget, time, and means of discovery - most people in the 80s would have probably experienced about 25 albums per year max.

Skipping ahead a few years, from about 1992 onwards (despite gradually losing mainstream appeal) the frequency of new albums increases - rather dramatically. It was during this period that metal ceases to gradually exist in a 'pure form' - meaning there is a higher frequency of multiple styles being played by one band such that you end up having bands belonging in multiple genres at one time rather than the traditional classification of one style per band. This period is marked by a paradigm shift from what had been considered traditional to a more relative and experimental environment. This period sees the rise in popularity (though arguably modest) of sub-genres such as death, black, prog and power metal.

The internet-era for metal music starts around 1998. The internet era for metal music has seen an explosion of albums from every sub-genre imaginable. If for the 1980s in a period of 6 years there were only 2526 albums released in total; since 2000 there are a total of over 1000 albums released annually. Crazy!

Methods of discovery:

I think the biggest change since the 1980s isn't the higher frequency of metal albums, it's more the way in which new music is discovered. In the pre-internet era the means of discovering new music was foremost geographically limited, and then limited to the available means of broadcasting new bands / songs / albums.

I say geographically limited foremost because the internet has completely removed that limitation - you can be in Australia and discover all the new bands from Scandinavia and vice versa. In the 1980s the biggest innovation that in a very limited capacity removed geographic barriers was cable tv and especially MTV. However, even when MTV came about it wasn't available in every country let alone in every state in US. As far as I know MTV didn't arrive in Europe until much later in the decade (1987?) and again it wasn't available all throughout Europe only in select western European countries.

Despite the "pan-global" accessibility of MTV, the station shared the same limitations as radio - content had to be programmed and in most cases had to be cleared for usage in various territories around the world. In some respects, MTV had even bigger limitations than radio - you couldn't discover a band unless it had a video clip of its latest single. The internet has done away with these limitations - content is now largely on demand rather than being fed to you and whether it is video clips or songs you can find them with relative ease on the internet. Youtube is free and virtually anything can be discovered on there. Streaming services such as spotify also help in discovering new and/or older bands.

Has quality increased?

Sure the number of albums released annually is ever higher than for past decades but the figures say nothing about the quality. I think the answer is highly subjective. Nostalgia is always an intoxicating factor when talking music and you will always hear people of all ages - even those that had yet to be born - that the 1970s or 1980s were better than the 90s or 00s. There is no winning argument against nostalgia, at best it is an omnipresent point of reference, at worst it is a debilitating condition preventing enjoyment of anything past a point in time.

With a moderate degree of nostalgia and for the simple fact that but for the evolution of metal we would not be enjoying the current sub-genres of metal, I would say that for every known sub-genre of metal there are about 10 albums released annually that range in quality from 'good' to 'very good'.

If this figure was set in stone, and my means of collecting music were strictly limited to purchasing CDs, I should potentially end up with anywhere between 40 - 50 albums per year. Ironically, not exceeding the number I mentioned above of 80s classic metal albums released annually.

Not enough time:

To some degree I think 50 albums per year is a realistic amount. This is because if you buy music in physical format, you are on a budget and most challenging of all you have limited time to experience all this (be it due to school or due to working hours), it is less likely you can fully absorb hundreds of albums over a period of 12 months. I'm talking about the average person here.

I know there are some who listen to music constantly but to the average person who works 8+ hrs per day and who considers themselves a fan of music, the amount of time per day is anywhere between 2 - 3 hrs max.

This imo remains the biggest challenge in discovering and enjoying music - time. The amount of content available nowadays to satisfy our senses is so incredibly high that we simply do not have the time to fully absorb.

I don't think the above applies the same to those who download illegally. In a very simplistic way of looking at things - if you buy music digitally or in physical format you inevitably need to transact money hence you need a job hence limited time to collect and listen albums. Assuming those who illegally download have no job but sufficient time on their hands to download and listen to music, then of course they will experience a far higher frequency of albums and can be better judges on what is deemed of higher or lesser quality.

In an odd way, the ecosystem of music discovery in the internet era is invariably dependent upon illegal downloading being the biggest content critic. When no monetary barriers are applied and time is near limitless, the illegal downloader can with relative ease experience the many hundreds of albums released monthly and blog, vlog or whatever about them thereby enabling those who legally purchase music to decide what is worth spending hard earned money on. It is in a way a content filter. Still the boundaries of legal and illegal content distribution on the internet are becoming evermore blurred - for anyone can at the same time be illegally and legally experiencing this content.

If anyone says they read that whole post they are a liar.

SpectreFate wrote:

If anyone says they read that whole post they are a liar.

I didn't even read yours all the way!

lol yea I know it's a long one ... sorry but I guess if you end up having the time to read it , it would be cool to read your thoughts

I didn't read much past the comment stating 11% were "must have" and then all I could think about was "subjective" After Brian's (Spectre's) post i went back and tried to read the entire post, but after a few sentences of stuff I already knew (common sense/been there done that type stuff) I just gave up.

I prefer the pre-internet scenario myself. (got that far into the post) It was way more fun, blind buying, word of mouth reading magazines, trading tapes, seeing some unknown opening act and biying everything seen that was on a certain label than surfing the web.

James B. wrote:

I didn't read much past the comment stating 11% were "must have" and then all I could think about was "subjective" After Brian's (Spectre's) post i went back and tried to read the entire post, but after a few sentences of stuff I already knew (common sense/been there done that type stuff) I just gave up.

I prefer the pre-internet scenario myself. (got that far into the post) It was way more fun, blind buying, word of mouth reading magazines, trading tapes, seeing some unknown opening act and biying everything seen that was on a certain label than surfing the web.

Apologies for the length of the thread and if it is already traveled territory - I kinda wanted to put my thoughts a bit into perspective for anyone interested.

In any case, I agree with you on the pre-internet scenario. I think the internet has kinda eliminated the socialising aspect of discovering new bands. Going to a metal store and talking to other metalheads, listening to music there... that sort of stuff.

We have a metal store in Sydney called Utopia and I used to go there a lot, talk to people about metal, buy all my albums from there etc. These days while the store is still opened (somehow) hardly anyone walks in there anymore. They have more staff in the store at any one time than customers. I don't know how they are still opened and how they can cover their rent. Their stock is way overpriced. You can get the same album online for 5 bucks and they sell it for 18 bucks.

The internet has killed that side of business - the face-to-face interaction.

That was cool. And buying the sampler albums to see if something grabbed you.

Dark Horseman wrote:

That was cool. And buying the sampler albums to see if something grabbed you.

When I order from labels directly I sometimes get those sampler albums as a bonus. I believe that is how I discovered Korpiklaani.

The point of my thread was more related to new albums (e.g. 2013 albums). When I said 50 albums per year I meant, 50 new albums released that particular year that you would also buy during that year. Of course in time I think you would end up collecting more from any one particular year but my point was about while the year is still in course.

I actually gave up the ipod and focused back on purchasing physical CDs. It has changed my life. Yes, the quality is better, but moreover it simply puts me back in a time when I appreciated music the most. The thing about an actual CD is that it's a perfect representation of the artist's product, from the jewel case to the inserts. I also feel this need to digest it all since I paid money for it--as opposed to pirating it, another activity I put down--and because it's so much more tangible. But with illegal downloading it can get to the point of overload. I was downloading 50 albums a day. Eventually I couldn't make up my mind on what to listen to and started skipping songs after 30 sec each. Now I find myself investing in music and supporting the artist at the same time, just like I did before.

The thing about the internet that you didn't mention is it's impact on discovering the past history of the music.
When I was young I was dependent on books and magazines for discovery of music (my friends weren't into metal). It was extremely hit and miss. For example I've said here that the music enyclodedia that I used most in the 70's (NME) gave Budgie an innacurate and poor review, so I never heard them until the late 80's. I missed one of my favorite bands.
With the internet you have a much more comprehensive view of the history, and so I spent my first several years on the net learning about and catching up with all that had slipped through the cracks. I collect 70's hard rock, and I'd say 50% of what I have was discovered years after the fact via the internet. I'd never heard many of the great 70's bands. I'm lucky that I can listen to music at work, so I digested my collection there.
Now I'm pretty much caught up, so I can concentrate on the present. Probably my biggest resource for buying new music is this board right here.

SAHB Healer wrote:

The thing about the internet that you didn't mention is it's impact on discovering the past history of the music.
When I was young I was dependent on books and magazines for discovery of music (my friends weren't into metal). It was extremely hit and miss. For example I've said here that the music enyclodedia that I used most in the 70's (NME) gave Budgie an innacurate and poor review, so I never heard them until the late 80's. I missed one of my favorite bands.
With the internet you have a much more comprehensive view of the history, and so I spent my first several years on the net learning about and catching up with all that had slipped through the cracks. I collect 70's hard rock, and I'd say 50% of what I have was discovered years after the fact via the internet. I'd never heard many of the great 70's bands. I'm lucky that I can listen to music at work, so I digested my collection there.
Now I'm pretty much caught up, so I can concentrate on the present. Probably my biggest resource for buying new music is this board right here.

During the pre-internet days...Discovering and acquiring music is hella EXPENSIVE ..I mean really really Expensive

I had to pretty much buy every Metal Magazine that I fancy to keep up to date..then hunt for those dang CD's that I drool for

It was extremely difficult to keep up knowing I only had limited cash to splurge on CDs in a month, most of the time I skimp, I buy cassettes..lots of cassettes

So yeah...thank goodness for the Internet...Discovering music is now a breeze I'm not gonna lie, I download (or steal) FLAC/320kbps rips out there with cover/inlay arts from a Russian site....because it's too impossible for me to acquire those physical copies from where I live

I much prefer NOW for discovering new & older music I'm not familiar with. After 30+ years of buying music I know what I like and I can tell pretty quickly whether something I listen to is necessary to my existence or not. I love being able to easily sample stuff via Spotify or Youtube or whatever. It's much easier to separate stuff that's "okay, but I don't need to spend money on it" and the music that "I must have".

Dark Horseman wrote:

That was cool. And buying the sampler albums to see if something grabbed you.

This, Music for Nations 'Hell on Earth' and 'Hell Comes To Your House

A1 Manowar – Warlord
A2 Ratt – Sweet Cheater
A3 Virgin Steele – Guardians Of The Flame
A4 Battleaxe – Ready To Deliver
A5 Metallica – Metal Militia
B1 Rox (11) – Love Ya Like A Diamond
B2 Virgin Steele – Danger Zone
B3 Talas – Sink Your Teeth Into That
B4 Tank (6) – Just Like Something From Hell
B5 Mercyful Fate – Evil


A1 'Manowar - Blood Of My Enemies
A2 Exciter – Violence And Force
A3 Anthrax – Deathrider
A4 Earthshaker – Wall
A5 Hellion – Break The Spell
A6 Loudness (5) – Esper
B1 Metallica – Creeping Death
B2 Helstar – Burning Star
B3 Rods, The – Hurricane
B4 Tsunami (16) – Fire Water
B5 Earthshaker – Young Girls
B6 Alaska – The Sorcerer

I had barely heard any of these bands and these records were game changers for me

Alex Dee Rokket wrote:

Apologies for the length of the thread and if it is already traveled territory - I kinda wanted to put my thoughts a bit into perspective for anyone interested.

No need to apologize, I post lengthy stuff that is redundant to some as well and it don't stop me. Some folks like to dive in "deep" with stuff while others like stuff "short, sweet, and too the point. Don't let knuckleheads like me and Spectre discourage you

I'm answering the question raised in the title of the thread:
Can't imagine myself without internet tbh, there is no boundaries in exploring any kind of information. Being able to find music, from some old great prog/power cassette tapes of early 90's noone except the homeland fans have heard of, to instrumental ambient prog/djent bands of today, releasing phenomal albums by themselfs for free on, say, bandcamp, is an amazing opportunity. Not sure if quality of music produced now suffers, as it is much easier to record any material you wish, in good quality, at your apartment than it was in the studio in the 80's. You just have to dig deeper.
God bless the internets.

EmoElmo wrote:

So yeah...thank goodness for the Internet...Discovering music is now a breeze I'm not gonna lie, I download (or steal) FLAC/320kbps rips out there with cover/inlay arts from a Russian site....because it's too impossible for me to acquire those physical copies from where I live

Acquiring physical copies from where you live is just as easy as stealing them. Both can be done online!

kmorg wrote:

EmoElmo wrote:

So yeah...thank goodness for the Internet...Discovering music is now a breeze 8) I'm not gonna lie, I download (or steal) FLAC/320kbps rips out there with cover/inlay arts from a Russian site....because it's too impossible for me to acquire those physical copies from where I live

Acquiring physical copies from where you live is just as easy as stealing them. Both can be done online!

I am not sure that you can justify illegally downloading music by saying you cannot purchase it locally. I don't know of many metal fans who can purchase majority of metal releases both newer and older from local music stores. Most album purchases of the metal variety is done online these days.

SAHB Healer wrote:

The thing about the internet that you didn't mention is it's impact on discovering the past history of the music.
When I was young I was dependent on books and magazines for discovery of music (my friends weren't into metal). It was extremely hit and miss. For example I've said here that the music enyclodedia that I used most in the 70's (NME) gave Budgie an innacurate and poor review, so I never heard them until the late 80's. I missed one of my favorite bands.
With the internet you have a much more comprehensive view of the history, and so I spent my first several years on the net learning about and catching up with all that had slipped through the cracks. I collect 70's hard rock, and I'd say 50% of what I have was discovered years after the fact via the internet. I'd never heard many of the great 70's bands. I'm lucky that I can listen to music at work, so I digested my collection there.
Now I'm pretty much caught up, so I can concentrate on the present. Probably my biggest resource for buying new music is this board right here.

Yes! I buy far more old albums than new, and I still buy a lot of new albums. Having the entire history of music at my fingertips has definitely altered what I buy.

Thankfully the days of blind buys are long gone.

I understand the benefits of researching music of the past and recently released stuff via inter-web-thingy. What about getting in the habit of pre-listening to stuff and then going back again and agian and again, Why buy it ?

There used to be that thrill of the hunt aspect involved and the anticipation of getting it home to finally hear it for the first time. I also used to tune into various fledgling metal shows on local radio stations in So. Calif. Those 1/2 hour late night/early morning broadcasts with new bands from around the country, across the ocean, and down the freeway. Back then it wasn't like there was tons of metal at stores towaste money on in the first place. We are over saturated now with the availability of metal on the internet and it gets overwhelming and alot of good music gets overlooked.

Quote :

I buy far more old albums than new

Quote :

It's much easier to separate stuff that's "okay, but I don't need to spend money on it" and the music that "I must have".

QFT x2

Alex Dee Rokket wrote:

kmorg wrote:

EmoElmo wrote:

So yeah...thank goodness for the Internet...Discovering music is now a breeze I'm not gonna lie, I download (or steal) FLAC/320kbps rips out there with cover/inlay arts from a Russian site....because it's too impossible for me to acquire those physical copies from where I live

Acquiring physical copies from where you live is just as easy as stealing them. Both can be done online!

I am not sure that you can justify illegally downloading music by saying you cannot purchase it locally. I don't know of many metal fans who can purchase majority of metal releases both newer and older from local music stores. Most album purchases of the metal variety is done online these days.

Discovering music is much better with the internet, to be sure, but I still cannot justify illegal downloading. I did go through that phase but after a couple of years of searching for underground (rare - impossible to find) Christian metal (my personal forte') it just felt wrong and what I wanted was not available as a DL anyway so I deleted it. I want the physical product. I did discover some great bands like Theocracy, Divine Fire, Impellitteri, Rob Rock, etc... via illegal downloading that are going for stupid amounts that I cannot honestly justify. Then there are bands like the Northern Kings that you still have to pay import pricing on (via Amazon) to get the physical product because the albums were not released in the US. It is frustrating to be sure. Ironically, I stumbled across Ult's site right after deleting all my DL stuff and then with this board, I have discovered even more that I didn't give attention too, back in the day. Stuff like Metal Church, Reverend, Heretic, Armored Saint, etc...

One one hand the internet bums me out. On the other hand it rules harder than anything.

As others have said, the amount of bands I now know of (or ones I had heard of but could never find any physical proof of their existence) is insane.

But I do miss, in many ways, the old way of just looking around for stuff that looked cool. A lot of disappointment came from that, but also a lot of favorite albums were found that way.

My absolute, to this day, favorite album ever recorded is Pretty Boy Floyd's Leather Boyz. I bought that in 1990, at age 12, without hearing a single note, but loving the image/cover. That one blind buy is worth every regret or disappointment I've ever felt from a bad blind buy.

I'm the same way, the WWW can sometimes be not all that great, but at the same time...take my money.

I miss checking out sample CD's and stuff or buying an album because of the cover, doing that from all the stores... but of course now there's, I don't know, one store, there's not "stores" around here anymore, so..... what can you do.

Regardless though my rule is to listen to whatever it is as if it just washed up on an island I was at and I had no bio, no history, no idea of if I'm "supposed" to enjoy it or how much, so as little as possible colors the musical intake.

Well I guess for me it goes back into around 1972. How I found new music was from college people more of the obscure and since then I haven't stopped. As I grew older yes there were radio stations but for the most part I'd find new music by going into vinyl stores and looking at covers whether new or used ones.

I'd say I was successful about 95% of the time and I done that thru and up to the 90's when internet started out. When internet became a part of the everyday culture I went to music or metal forums and read about bands. all thru the 90's, 00's and to the present it has been the forums, ezines, Myspace, FB, Youtube, and record sites. My collection has grown 10 fold. And now being a DJ I get a lot of bands wanting to send me music for the show.

So many factors have influenced my ability to search out new music.

Metalwargod

Early pirating for me was dubbing a friend's CD or tape onto tape and making a fancy 'bootleg' cover for it. Also the local radio station would play full albums on Sunday nights and I would tape them and again slap on some homemade album art. My first was Women and Children First. Took me five times to get the VH logo right.