@polyat6742

6 months ago

Great video. I was reading the comments section just now, and I guess that motivated me to give my two cents on metal elitism, especially since the video is fairly new and my comment isn't doomed to an immediate burial. From pretty much the very beginning, individuality has been a core tenant of metal music, and for me personally I just don't like to see metal become extremely commercial as metal is often losing something there. I think it's cool if you like Metallica or Slipknot, I think they're solid bands, but I'm always a bit disappointed when that's the only metal that some people will listen to. I may be wrong, but I get the impression that there are a lot of people who listen to super popular bands like those and are unwilling to listen to heavier or more underground bands because they just don't care that much about the music. Additionally, those people aren't really thinking for themselves and developing their own music taste; they're just listening to whatever is topping charts. And I guess that's fine, I'm sure they're still decent people, but they're listening to metal in kind of an impassionate way. I think gatekeeping has its place in metal, because it ensures that the people who are there are really there for the music. Inaccessible genres, especially black metal, really succeed in making sure that people who are there are people who genuinely care about the music and aren't people trying to appropriate the aesthetic or some advertiser trying to get their grubby hands on the music to seem hip, cool, or edgy. Don't get me wrong, though, there are some elitists and gatekeepers who can be total assholes. I've seen people shitting on bands like Mysticum and saying "never tolerate industrial black metal!!!" like, no, fuck off dude. I think gatekeeping should be less about keeping the music itself pure (it's okay for genres to mix) and more about keeping the fans pure. I've said this like three times now but as long as you're there for the music then you're totally fine. Fuck anyone who tells you otherwise. In the spirit of being an individual, I think experimentation is a good thing, and I can really respect artists that are willing to try something new. I am a big black metal fan, and while Deafhaven might not be my cup of tea (I actually enjoyed Sunbather but still, I prefer more traditional bm), I respect what they're doing, and I don't think them seeing a little bit of commercial success is a big deal. I dislike commercial music because it's often bland and formulaic, but if an album that's genuinely experimenting makes it to the top, then I think that success is something that should be celebrated. Anyway, this might just be repeating exactly what the video said or might just come off as some unhinged tangent. I actually had this post like twice as big as it is now and the second half was just about black metal, but I didn't wanna come off as too much of a basement dweller so yeah 🤘

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