U.S/North American metal scene and E.U. metal scene and the international scene

mc666 wrote:

Lari wrote:

I think one difference that I've noticed, is that North American metal fans don't just like the music they like personally; they have this need to judge other people and the music they like. I'm talking mostly fans online, so I might be completely off the mark here, but half the pleasure people seem to take out of music is finding bands they don't like and criticize them and their fans. This kind of culture of finding a niche or a marginal style of music you do like, and then hating all the other niches. Label everything you don't like with derogatory names like "noise, shit, mallcore, butt rock, hair metal, flower metal, cookie monster", whatever you don't like. And oh my god if that band you don't like is popular! Then you just have to let everyone know you don't like them. It could just be the amount of online trolls though that has given me this impression. But there's a lot of "haters" of bands like Metallica and Nickelback. And melodic metal, and black metal, and so on.

This is 100% truth.

I don't really agree with this when it comes to meeting actual people in real life. I've never had anyone at a show tell me a band I like sucks. Quite the contrary actually. Usually people will come up to me and want to talk about a band based on a patch I have on my vest or a shirt I am wearing. Those interactions have been 100% positive.

Unfortunately, people can have a completely different personality online and trolls abound. All societal norms/restrictions are removed and you can be as vicious as you want. I think that warps perceptions of how a "scene" really is.

I can say that the metal scene here in the Midwest is healthier than it's been since the 80s. You couldn't scrape 10 metalheads together into a tiny club to see Dio in 1996 and now I can see shows practically every month and they are usually well attended.

I was agreeing with his views on "mostly fans online". I personally don't go to shows, & rarely chat about music in real life. At least not metal anyway.

mc666 wrote:

I was agreeing with his views on "mostly fans online". I personally don't go to shows, & rarely chat about music in real life. At least not metal anyway.

Ah, okay. I agree with this 100% then!

When it comes to overall preferences, I think that Europeans typically dig beyond just the accepted standard of your big-name bands that were whored out in their prime years.

Most American metalheads that I've met don't even know a lot of bands that formed in their parts of the country, which is quite laughable.

When more people stop thinking that metal or rock began and ended with Metallica or Kiss, we'll be seeing more good festivals and other gigs popping up around the country.

Something I wrote about my local "scene" or lack of..

http://wwwtotalmetal.blogspot.com/2015/02/inland-empire-metal-and-music-scene.html