Is Metal Stagnating?, Borders Bookstore - Bestseller List Options

[jer]

So I got a giftcard to Borders Books for Christmas.

I'm bored so I head to their website to see if there is anything neat that I need.

I head to the music section.

Sweet, they have a METAL section, nice!!!!

And here is the front page. The bestsellers list....



SIGH......

[begin rant]

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not here to bash AC/DC, Metallica, Slipknot, etc.... As far as I know I have everything those bands have done in my collection too. (Well, except AC/DC's newest one) But when I see a list like this, and you see it everywhere in the USA, it irritates me to no end... It's like metal hasn't gone anywhere in the last 10-20 years. And that just isn't true. Don't people take chances on NEW bands anymore? Aren't people getting tired of the same old stuff? Not so tired as to quit listening to it, but tired enough to start looking into some new talent? There are TONS of great bands out there to be discovered. Its like the metal bus is stuck in neutral and can't get over the hump that is Metallica.

People. Branch out. Try something new. You can have your old standbys. We need those. But who doesnt own Back in Black by now????? Jeez....

Don't know where to look for new music? Pick up a magazine... Browse myspace. Look for friends of the bands you like. My favorite way to discover new bands is by going to shopping sites, Amazon, iTunes, etc... Looking up my favorite bands, and seeing what else people that bought my faves bought. Go about 4 steps in like that and you are guaranteed to find new stuff. And both Amazon and itunes allow you to listen before you buy.

Do yourself a favor, expand your horizons. Find some new bands. Support the new emerging artists. Metal didnt die in 1991.

[end rant]

[sigma7]

i completely agree, usually the reason why they are best sellers are 1) very good and popular albums and 2) posers who think they like metal like to dive right in and see what the definitive albums are

I do not believe AC/DC is metal either, probably hard rock

anyway all those albums are mainstream, many customers who buy from that website do not like metal as much as real fans do and choose not to expand their collection. I have all those albums and then some, but people, expand your tastes in metal and discover something new for yourself! haha

for all those who are metal heads , dont you have a bigger exxpansion of metal than what this list gives?

thank you jer, ive been wanting to rant about that for a while

This post has been edited by sigma7: Dec 26 2008, 10:08 PM

[jer]

It's not even the metal vs hard rock thing. Though I agree with you.

Its just the idea of barely scraping the surface in whats available... I couldn't fathom owning only owning the top 100 metal cd's out there.

Uggg how boring would that be?!?!?!

But I guess the mainstream public's cd collection is pretty well defined right in that image.

To me its the aural equivalent of everyone wearing blue jeans and a white T-shirt. And all driving the same car......

Sooooo vanilla.

[opeth.db]

All I know is that American metal has been sucking for a while for me. I think all the bands I really enjoy come out of Sweden and that side of that world.

It seems to me that hey are the ones progressing true metal. Which is another reason why I dont like American Rock that much anymore.

One of the better new bands out of the states IMO is Sanctity.

[jer]

I'm embarassed about what comes out of this country.... It's a musical wasteland.

There are a few good ones. Lamb of God. Circle II Circle. Symphony X. & Kamelot come to mind...

But yeah, Sweden... What's in the water over there?????

Europe has all those to die for festivals every summer...

What do we get? Ozzfest and Rocklahoma. The biggest collection of mullets and el caminos the world has ever seen...

OK, we have ProgPowerUSA. And Gigantour was a good idea, but I think its going downhill now too....

[Disturbed21]

[begin rant]

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not here to bash AC/DC, Metallica, Slipknot, etc.... As far as I know I have everything those bands have done in my collection too. (Well, except AC/DC's newest one) But when I see a list like this, and you see it everywhere in the USA, it irritates me to no end... It's like metal hasn't gone anywhere in the last 10-20 years. And that just isn't true. Don't people take chances on NEW bands anymore? Aren't people getting tired of the same old stuff? Not so tired as to quit listening to it, but tired enough to start looking into some new talent? There are TONS of great bands out there to be discovered. Its like the metal bus is stuck in neutral and can't get over the hump that is Metallica.

People. Branch out. Try something new. You can have your old standbys. We need those. But who doesnt own Back in Black by now????? Jeez....

Don't know where to look for new music? Pick up a magazine... Browse myspace. Look for friends of the bands you like. My favorite way to discover new bands is by going to shopping sites, Amazon, iTunes, etc... Looking up my favorite bands, and seeing what else people that bought my faves bought. Go about 4 steps in like that and you are guaranteed to find new stuff. And both Amazon and itunes allow you to listen before you buy.

Do yourself a favor, expand your horizons. Find some new bands. Support the new emerging artists. Metal didnt die in 1991.

[end rant]

I know what you mean. People don't really expand in their musical interest when they should. You never know what you might find out there. I expanded my musical interest and found my favorite band (Draconian) and my favorite genres (Gothic/Doom/Funeral Doom,etc.) at the same time . Then I found another band that was similar that led to other bands and the chain goes on and on.

Oh and I agree that a lot of stuff from the U.S. isn't that good and that other countries (Mainly in Europe) have better bands.

This post has been edited by Disturbed21: Dec 26 2008, 11:02 PM

[VinceG]

I would choose the American Metal scene over any other country in the world. That may sound like a blasphemy especially since Europe is the epitome of Metal superiority, but US offered me so much Metal, that it just beats other countries hands down.

Metal is pretty hard to find in US, but the underground scene it produces beats em all. Screw Wacken. Its becoming like ozzfest now. Maryland Deathfest beats it hands down. Then we have our own Ogrefest here in Michigan featuring awesome underground metal bands like Sauron, Satyrasis, The Vala etc. Thrash is also so much better here. California Thrash scene is probably the best scene in the Metal world right now. Death Metal hasn't offered much as of late, but so does Sweden. Black Metal here is also much better considering we have the biggest band Black Metal band right now, Wolves in the Throne Room.

As far as the original post go. People who doesn't branch out of those 80's Metal scene, never really cared about Metal. It was just big at the time, and when the hits stop, so did the "fans". Borders, like every other mainstream music carriers, will never carry underground stuff because there is no money in real Metal. Immolation is one of the biggest Death Metal act in the world, and Ross Dolan is a truck driver.

I really stopped carrying about this stuff about Metal stuff because when it comes to Metal, I won't look for Borders top Metal list for recommendation. I would be browsing Hell's Headbangers for it.

[jer]

Borders isnt my shop of choice... But thats the giftcard I got.

You see my point though. Based on your response.

Immolation. I've heard that name a few times. I need to check them out.

[sigma7]

does kamelot technically count as American though? Isn't Khan from Norway or something? Ehh doesnt matter, they are a really good band and it is a shame that the Black Halo or Ghost Opera isnt on that list.

[Fsgdjv]

I don't think this is something unique to metal, I think all music that isn't produced just to sell suffer from this phenomena. I bet The Beatles and Zeppelin, even ABBA are still on lists like that.

But yes, people do need to discover new stuff, allthough sometimes people don't like it. I know I will probably never embrace the whole modern technical death metal circus, it all sounds like noise to my ears. I don't want people tapping and sweep picking 486416516531 notes per second when I can have a good old brutal and groovy riff instead. But, there's other good music that I like listening to, so I won't ever just listen to old music.

Also, I agree with the fact that American music isn't that bad. I mean, they probably have at least 5 bands that I love listening to. Including my current favourite band, Wolves In the Throne Room that VinceG mentioned. That's a lot for a country. But given the size of the USA there should be more great bands coming from there.

[Outlaw2112]

I'm embarassed about what comes out of this country.... It's a musical wasteland.

There are a few good ones. Lamb of God. Circle II Circle. Symphony X. & Kamelot come to mind...

But yeah, Sweden... What's in the water over there?????

Europe has all those to die for festivals every summer...

What do we get? Ozzfest and Rocklahoma. The biggest collection of mullets and el caminos the world has ever seen...

OK, we have ProgPowerUSA. And Gigantour was a good idea, but I think its going downhill now too....

what about all that remains.... there's still some good metal in the states, just gets no airplay

[FrankW]

I'm embarassed about what comes out of this country.... It's a musical wasteland.

There are a few good ones. Lamb of God. Circle II Circle. Symphony X. & Kamelot come to mind...

But yeah, Sweden... What's in the water over there?????

Europe has all those to die for festivals every summer...

What do we get? Ozzfest and Rocklahoma. The biggest collection of mullets and el caminos the world has ever seen...

OK, we have ProgPowerUSA. And Gigantour was a good idea, but I think its going downhill now too....

Don't forget that we have hip hop and rap! Wowee!

[Eat-Sleep-andJam]

what about all that remains.... there's still some good metal in the states, just gets no airplay

All That Remains is getting some airplay around here. With the song "Two Weeks".

Don't forget that we have hip hop and rap! Wowee!

and I missed this post ( )

[Fran]

It's hard to believe those are today's best selling metal records for sure. Maybe they are an overall (all-times) selling records at the site. Could that be?

Anyway, big bands such as these always outsell newer/smaller ones, so don't take it seriously

[skennington]

I personally think it's all about the times and what's selling in any given area. Unfortunately in the States, rap, hip hop and top 40 type of rock are what's being promoted. In the 80's, MTV supported metal, not anymore. Kid's are growing up buying in to what they see and hear so naturally this is the music there going to follow.

I know VH1 classic still supports metal, but just look at the term "classic", huh.... You can definitely find some good new metal bands coming out of the States, you just have to look for them.

This is a European label but has some great bands signed. When I ordered Emir's CD, I found some cool music from bands I had never heard of. Check it out...

http://www.lionmusic.com/home.html

[jer]

Lots of good points.

I just think its sad that there are so many good bands that people will never discover cuz they just gobble up whats put in front of them assuming its all good.

Its on the radio, must be what I'm supposed to listen to.

[Jesse]

AC/DC is hard rock.

[SonofDestiny]

No offense, but did you expect Cradle of Filth to be number one in Billboard Chart?

There are a couple of metalbands that get enough attention, but the thing is: once metal bands get attention they are emo all of a sudden.

[jer]

No offense, but did you expect Cradle of Filth to be number one in Billboard Chart?

Me? No. Though Dimmu Borgir's last album debut'd rather high didnt it?

You know what I'm saying. Look at all the great bands hat have come out in the last 10 years. (worldwide) People are still stuck on the old stuff.

Movies stay in the theaters for a matter of weeks over here at times. Very quick changeout. But apparantly when it comes to music the public is perfectly content being spoon fed "Paradise City" and "Cat Scratch Fever".

[TreyDeschamp]

I think it bands like Metallica and Disturbed and what not that have hit the mainstream and society doesn't get that there are other bands out their that people would probably like 20x more than them.

It really annoys me when I go to school in on the radio all you hear is Disturbed blah blah and other crappy mainstream bands( by the way I'm not bashing Disturbed I'm just using them as an example).

For once when I go to Wal-mart or a bookstore ore listen to the radio I would like to hear some Children of Bodom or just something that isn't mainstream and takes a chance ya know what I mean?