The Trouble with Metal Fans

I find it hilarious that a genre of music has such a rabid fan base and includes so many styles in it also causes so many divides within itself.

What am I talking about? Look at any Blabbermouth, Youtube, or Cdnow forums section and you will undoubtedly get a bunch of either A)fanboys or B) Haters. Occasionally you'll get the middle road guy but they're usually ignored because they're too logical and make sense. My personal favorites are the illiterate shit talkers that overuse the text message lingo and go off on tangents, and the arrogant music snobs that nitpick everything track by track down to the mastering level of the recording. Oh and the comparers, you know, the ones that can't just sit and listen to something and decide if they like it or not without comparing it to earlier releases or other bands. These guys can really be entertaining when they compare two completely different kinds of bands altogether.

Now mind you none of this is new. Even when I was a kid there were always arguments of who was better then who, what bands sucked, what bands ruled etc. It just still amazes me though that after all this time people can't just respect someones taste enough to say "That's cool, I think they suck but it's all good". Alot of it has to do with this incessant need to label things within the genre. I can't think of any other type of music that has as many labels and sub genres attached to it as metal. Doom metal, black metal, goth metal,thrash metal....viking metal for gods sake. Anyway you get the point.

I guarantee you that if I stood next to a Slayer fan and said I liked Nightwish I would be called a pussy,fag,or any other number of names. Even if I stated I also liked Slayer. Because....I'm not supposed to like a hardcore thrash band and symphonic metal band at the same time.Ridiculous.

Just unclench the anus people, and put up the horns to each other regardless of tastes. Some of my favorite argument starters:

Metallica vs. Megadeth
Metallica in general
Nightwish pre and post Tarja
Cookie monster vocals vs. clean vocals
Trivium...legit or not

Anyways it would be nice if fans could find some middle ground but it will never happen. I'm just happy metal is alive and better then ever even if no one but these rabid fans know about them.

As a bonus here is another blogspot user with some funny but mostly true lists about metal fans and touches alot on what I've been saying.

http://metalhumor.blogspot.com/2007/04/101-rules-of-metal-genres.html