alt. to metal?

I'm 43- been into metal since I began buying tapes at age 7.
From age 7 until about 30(ish) I played metal 97% of the time, BUT......
I am a music fan specializing in metal but there is so much more than metal.


How do you listen? all metal or do you play jazz or opera occasionally? What styles of music (besides metal) do you like?

I like metal and most of it's sub-genres, rock, blues, classical, jazz, bluegrass- I don't dig rap, modern country, country rock, top 40, pop, r&b, any -core metal, opera, dance, polka, most shit on radio.....

In my car - it's metal for sure.
I do fall back on classical music....but on certain CDs - not the radio.
I also dig the blues, as long as I can remember. 20 or so CDs.
Those are my top three go-to's - my main foundation 😛

I do enjoy underground punk.....enjoy show tunes....Clancy brothers, irish.
Enjoy Sinatra for sure.....even disco is fun ! Bob Marley Jamaica sounds.
Folk guitar - Taylor, Croce, Lightfoot, Chapman, Simon/ Garfunkel.

Never rap - never country and western....
never dance teen oriented music song...

Metal and Hard Rock is my first love but Im pretty open to other genres of music. I do like country along with some jazz and some top 40. My philosophy is that if it's a good song it's worth my listening to it.

The older I get the more open I find I am to non-hard rock music.

I've never been a "metalhead" but I've always gravitated to various forms of hard rock and punk  But now that I'm older I find that:

1) I actually enjoy music by Steely Dan, Fleetwood Mac, Bruce Springsteen; all artists I used to hate
2) I listen to industrial metal quite a bit, stuff I used to dismiss as noise like Ministry, KMFDM, Skrew
3) I also listen to just plain old weird, unclassifiable stuff like Alabama 3, Sonia Dada

So nowadays I don't even try to classify music I listen to.  It's simply stuff I like versus stuff I don't.  And if I'm trying to describe a band to someone I try to use comparisons to other bands because genre classifications are becoming increasingly useless.

i am one of those pretentious shits who says they listen to almost everything. like i go from avant-garde experimental music to 80s US power metal, to hard-bop jazz and technical death metal. so i don't just think of myself as a metal fan, like i used to, but rather just as a fan of music with integrity (which i do recognize can be sort of a subjective judgment to pass on music at times).

my favorite non-metal subgenres, though if i had to choose would look something like this:

prog-rock (and almost all of its subgenres; avant-prog, symphonic prog, canterbury scene, krautrock, rock in opposition, heavy prog, etc.)

folk music of most varieties, even including bluegrass, folk country, etc. mostly a lot of singer/songwriter material, really, amongst obscure acid folk, british folk, celtic/irish folk, and whathaveyou.

jazz and all of the related subgenres that stem from those that i like: jazz fusion, hard bop, post-bop, modal jazz, free form, avant-garde, cool jazz, etc. it seems that jazz is the only other subgenre as compartmentalized as heavy metal.

punk and its subgenres have a place within my favorites, though i'm not as well versed as i'd like to be in the ins and outs of the underground of the genre as i am with metal. i mainly love black flag and bad religion within the hardcore parameters, but my biggest weakness is post-punk. i really really love joy division, nick cave & the bad seeds, the feelies, talking heads, gang of four, sad lovers & giants, xtc, wire, etc.

art pop / synthpop would probably be the next contender, although it's much easier in this genre to find complete duds than it is to find endearing classics. a few modern groups like chvrches, purity ring, and grimes hit the spot, but mostly i find enjoyment in bands like yazoo, depeche mode, early talk talk, the the, and other seminal 80s bands in that vein. and i suppose you could either attach kate bush to this genre or prog if you want, but wherever you put her she stands as some of the cream of the crop. she has written some of the best music that exists, to put it plainly.

a dude who defies easy genre classification that i love is peter gabriel, too. i mean, art pop or prog-rock would work at times, but the ways in which he melds genre is usually so acutely specific to a song, usually it's even in line with the intended meaning of the song. it's not just random music with inconsequential words stuck on top, which is refreshing at times.

oh and robert fripp of king crimson is one of my non-metal role-models, as well. just the attitude of real progression that is embodied by him and his music is respectable as hell. their music is always a challenging experience, but more often than not, it's one that's ultimately rewarding.

I listen to mostly metal and classic rock, and punk. I do love classical music, some new age, and every once in a while I listen to techno. I can't stand rap, country, or opera music. Jazz and blues are okay, depending on the song.

I dig all kinds. I like Bluegrass, classical, blues,jazz. Although metal is my first love.

Thrasher73 wrote:

I dig all kinds.

No, you don't.

Lari wrote:

Thrasher73 wrote:

I dig all kinds.

No, you don't.

I don't?

I pretty much listen to every genre, with the exception of Opera and Classical. Even genres I usually dont care for like Dance, Folk, and R&B have at least one act I like in those genres.

I listen to some southern rock, sythwave and big band music, but I would say 99.8% of my collection and my listening is metal or hard rock.

My collection and listening habits are confined mostly to metal and hard rock. I do listen to some classic rock and 50s music but that's only on rare occasions.

moonspell67 wrote:

I'm 43- been into metal since I began buying tapes at age 7.
From age 7 until about 30(ish) I played metal 97% of the time, BUT......
I am a music fan specializing in metal but there is so much more than metal.


How do you listen? all metal or do you play jazz or opera occasionally? What styles of music (besides metal) do you like?

I like metal and most of it's sub-genres, rock, blues, classical, jazz, bluegrass- I don't dig rap, modern country, country rock, top 40, pop, r&b, any -core metal, opera, dance, polka, most shit on radio.....

Ill be 43 in 2 months and 1 day

In my teens to early 20s - Metal 99% of the time
20s-mid 20s Metal 50% of the time
Mid 20s to now - Metal 10% of the time

I find I enjoy all sorts of music, jazz, blues, rock, country, rap, pop, swing but in the last I dont know how long now I find i enjoy mostly now a days David Bowie, Metric, Pink Floyd, Queen, The Doors, Beatles, Foo Fighters, STP, Scott Weiland

I like hardcore punk, old school hip hop, grindcore, hard rock, stoner, grunge, indie, etc, etc.

Thrasher73 wrote:

Lari wrote:

Thrasher73 wrote:

I dig all kinds.

No, you don't.

I don't?

No. It's an exaggeration. Unless you actually listen to nazi punk, Ugandan tribal music, terrorcore, screamo, nu-metal, muzak and about 50.000.000 other styles of odd-ball, sometimes offensive, sometimes super marginal genres.

My music collection is about 90% hard rock/metal but over the past year or two I've been buying a sh*t ton of CDs second hand at thrift shops, which has added a lot of classic 70s/80s rock, 90s alternative, even some country (!) to my collection...some of my recent pickups have included the Police, Yes, David Bowie, the Pretenders, Boston, R.E.M., Green Day (!), Liz Phair, etc.

Many of these are artists/bands that I may have liked a couple of tracks when I heard them on MTV/ radio, but never heard enough to wanna spend $15 on a full CD by them. Now that those CDs are turning up in Goodwill for $1.99, though, hell yeah, on the pile they go.

My listening habits are mostly metal and hard rock. I do like some punk, classic rock, some blues, older country and even some folky- Americana type stuff like Wovenhand and 16 Horsepower.

You people are a bunch of posers and you need to leave the hall!

Witchfinder wrote:

You people are a bunch of posers and you need to leave the hall!

Bah! Thou hast professed thine own love for Big Band in this very thread, which means thou art just as Pozer as the rest of us.
Big Band ist not krieg!  

Lots of classic rock, some old country and at times even New Wave but probably 90% metal.

polka or die !

Fat Freddy wrote:

Witchfinder wrote:

You people are a bunch of posers and you need to leave the hall!

Bah! Thou hast professed thine own love for Big Band in this very thread, which means thou art just as Pozer as the rest of us.
Big Band ist not krieg!

May Gene Krupa forever drum on your skull after your dead

Lari wrote:

Thrasher73 wrote:

Lari wrote:

Thrasher73 wrote:

I dig all kinds.

No, you don't.

I don't?

No. It's an exaggeration. Unless you actually listen to nazi punk, Ugandan tribal music, terrorcore, screamo, nu-metal, muzak and about 50.000.000 other styles of odd-ball, sometimes offensive, sometimes super marginal genres.

You are taking sh*t too literally. It's obvious that he meant he digs a wide variety of styles. Not that he enjoys every single style of music ever.

I would love to be able to retire - at Witchfinder's music room !
I can't imagine how many hours of metal you have !
On the lighter side....
I wonder if blues forums ...and classical forums....have posed the same question !
and they answered " metal " !

mc666 wrote:

Lari wrote:

Thrasher73 wrote:

Lari wrote:

Thrasher73 wrote:

I dig all kinds.

No, you don't.

I don't?

No. It's an exaggeration. Unless you actually listen to nazi punk, Ugandan tribal music, terrorcore, screamo, nu-metal, muzak and about 50.000.000 other styles of odd-ball, sometimes offensive, sometimes super marginal genres.

You are taking sh*t too literally. It's obvious that he meant he digs a wide variety of styles. Not that he enjoys every single style of music ever.

Right, maybe I should have said a lot of different styles.Its cool Lari.