Once called a metalhead,Now a simple mortal...

Cochino · Post by **Cochino** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 2:55 pm

Most people who quit metal (at least the ones I know) is because they were never REALLY into metal, and were listening to it because of the people around them. They quit metal when they change the kind of people they hang out with, or get a girlfirend and stuff. Is never actually their choice (both the liking metal, and the quitting), they're people with weak personalities.
Anyway, that's from my personal experience, I don't find it outrageous to not liking metal anymore, maybe I won't understand it, but is not impossible. If you're heart is not with it anymore you should just quit and start doing what you want. I will always respect more someone who listens any other genre because of a personal choice, than listening to metal just to follow someone's lead.

MEXDefenderOfSteel · Post by **MEXDefenderOfSteel** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 5:07 pm

exactly!...you can grow older but the passion will remain if you really love the music. just forgetting about it as you grow older is betraying a part of you,and maybe metal was never a part of them,maybe just a fun pose

Post by **DaN** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 10:21 pm

The only situation I can think of where this would be a problem is if the guy was an obnoxious, (un)holier-than-thou, "tr00 Met'l" loudmouth to begin with and then did a 180-turn towards "adulthood" and general snobbery. Thankfully I've never had one of those in my circle of friends but they sure do exist.

Most of the Metal crowd I hang out with in the 80's and 90's still listen to Metal to some degree, even if genres like Stoner- and "Action Rock" seem more popular these days. I can respect that since we still share some common ground. Then there were always those hangarounds who you'd know already back than that they'd cocoon and join Respected Society in a few years. I've lost contact with most of the guys from back then, long before they "sold out" or whatever you wanna call it.

Thankfully the few close friends I have still totally dedicated to Metal have long since passed the point of no return. I guess it takes a certain obsessive personality to stay in this scene for so many years.

Maybe we should have a poll about our teen members and who's Most Likely To Exceed?

What say you, Dirty Rocker? Will those neck muscles still get their daily exercise at 35?

...and I'm moving this thread to Into Battle since it's very much Metal-related.

MEXDefenderOfSteel · Post by **MEXDefenderOfSteel** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 11:31 pm

..i dont understand why people leave metal all of a sudden,maybe it was not enough "filling" music for their hearts and souls...its stupid,cause in metal you have almost everything: agression, ballads ,speed ,virtuousity,"happy songs" "angry songs", revolutionary lyrics,fantasy lyrics,antireligiuos lyrics, even nice "sing-a-long-choruses"...man you got everything with heavy metal! you name it!

metalmaster · Post by **metalmaster** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 12:11 am

Well Diego, you couldn't believe how much of those "true" guys I have left behind in all these years... Of course they all come with this "mature" thing... I have to grow and so on... As someone just said, they simply didnt feel Metal, they didnt have metallic blood running throught their veins and heart.

Anyway, I dont give a shit about them. I am glad and very proud I am the same Metallic guy since the late 70's and as I see it, things wont change. You cant show an old dog new tricks.

ION BRITTON · Post by **ION BRITTON** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 12:22 am

DaN wrote: Thankfully the few close friends I have still totally dedicated to Metal have long since passed the point of no return.

I generally agree with most of the comments above, i have similar experiences with some super-badasses who felt sorry and were embarassed with their involment with that silly thing called metal, but i would to ask which age you actually consider as "the point of no return" like Dan said? Or you think that that hasn't got much to do with age?

As far as i am concerned the critical point is somewhere between 19-23 years of age. That's the period when some heavy shit life experiences make their first appearance, final exams, army, the end of a serious realtionship etc. If you pass that point, it's quite probable that you have made it. I'm not sure if it's about not quiting metal but i'm quite sure that at least someone will not lose his love for music generally and maybe that's what counts more after all...What do you people think?

Helm · Post by **Helm** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 1:20 am

MEXDefenderOfSteel wrote:..i dont understand why people leave metal all of a sudden,maybe it was not enough "filling" music for their hearts and souls...its stupid,cause in metal you have almost everything: agression, ballads ,speed ,virtuousity,"happy songs" "angry songs", revolutionary lyrics,fantasy lyrics,antireligiuos lyrics, even nice "sing-a-long-choruses"...man you got everything with heavy metal! you name it!

As an avid HM listener I can tell you which mood it hits almost never: reverence, quiet resonance, moments of stillness and rest, careful heeding, meditative trance. This is why I mostly listen to HM, and microelectronica and/or ambient. Because I need calm as well. I mean, we have The 3rd And The Mortal's 'Painting on Glass' and about a million bedroom black metal ambient projects, but really the first is not enough and the second is mostly shitty, so you have to go to the pros.

Having only one friend into heavy metal as much as me I can understand where you are coming from. If all of a sudden I was the only one listening to metal and he got a really short haircut and was listening to dave matthews band or something I would be pretty pissed.

I have no problem to see someone gradually ease out of HM and into some other passion. People grow in all sorts of directions (not only 'up') so I can see someone going from HM to predominantly punk, or contemporary classical, or ambient, whatever. Just as long as I look at them and still see their passion, their lust for art and it's reflection of what is worth living life for.

What makes me sad is when people quit HM (or quit any of their loves) because they finally caved in to peer pressure. That guy, is he passionate about Mattews Band? If he is, bless him, he'll still be fun to be around and he'll tell you allll about Dave Mathews' second divorce (as fun as learning about how overpiced the Paradoxxx disk is). But if Dave Matthews is just a front, if he's just in the closet again just so his long hair and love for passionate HM doesn't alienate the people around him, then that makes me a bit sad. Still not saying it's not the right choice for him (sometimes obsession goes to far, you know? If I didn't also write and perform HM I would probably consider my own passion for it a bit overboard) perhaps what he needs more is not to listen to HM than to listen to it.

It's very passionate and energetic music and it can unbalance you, you have to take what it gives you and put it towards a proud and meaningful life (this is why I always go on about the 'white' side of HM and not the savage dionysian one so much. White metaller at heart

). HM should optimally give someone the means to self-achieve, not be a loser (in their own hearts, not in how other people see them. I might be the biggest loser in the eyes of some yuppie but fuck them, I know). Perhaps your friend realized he was a loser in his own eyes.

If you get good returns from your passion for HM, even if they are the most private ones that nobody will understand, if you get strength and meaning from it, I don't think you should give up on it.

I know it's too late for me. It says 'Walk hand in hand with the fear-striken child, strengthen the weak and the lame/ Perpetual Journey into the Realm, the Sovereign Servitor' on my back, and this never goes away.

Metalipeiklo · Post by **Metalipeiklo** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 9:50 am

Who cares? People come, people go. It's just a style of music. To blame people for changing their taste in music is a mentality that most people grow out of in their teens.

deathster · Post by **deathster** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 11:12 am

I think many ex- metalheads re-discover metal after 5-10 years pause. I have noticed this quite often.

MEXDefenderOfSteel · Post by **MEXDefenderOfSteel** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 1:14 am

metalmaster wrote:Well Diego, you couldn't believe how much of those "true" guys I have left behind in all these years... Of course they all come with this "mature" thing... I have to grow and so on... As someone just said, they simply didnt feel Metal, they didnt have metallic blood running throught their veins and heart.

Anyway, I dont give a shit about them. I am glad and very proud I am the same Metallic guy since the late 70's and as I see it, things wont change. You cant show an old dog new tricks.

ill patrone has spoken

Astaroth · Post by **Astaroth** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 7:57 pm

I agree with Metalipeiklo.

I don't see the big deal over this. Who cares really?

Piotr Sargnagel · Post by **Piotr Sargnagel** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 4:21 pm

deathster wrote:I think many ex- metalheads re-discover metal after 5-10 years pause. I have noticed this quite often.

It was a pause of about that length for me, fruitfully spent learning about other types of music like Beefheart, Zappa, Steve Reich, Stravinsky, West African percussion etc., loooong list... and when I came back to Metal I was listening to it with new ears in a much more critical way. This has led me to seek out real quality acts like Sabbat (jap.) and Metalucifer, Root, Master's Hammer among others and enjoy them on a new level. I totally respect anyone's taste in whatever music they like because I know what it feels like to be hit in the head and in the stomach by a killer tune, be it "The rite of spring" or "Brothers of demons"! I never felt betrayed by my ex-Metalhead friends either.

AlexBlume · Post by **AlexBlume** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 11:22 pm

Hello all. I just stumbled on this forum recently, but here's my take on this topic.

I've been into metal for close to 20 years now, and I've had plenty of buddies drop out of the scene. When I was younger, I'd get pissed about it, but as you get older, you just look back on the good times had with old friends, and say fuck it!

And then you listen to some metal.

The Erlking · Post by **The Erlking** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 3:28 am

AlexBlume wrote:but as you get older, you just look back on the good times had with old friends, and say fuck it!

And then you listen to some metal.

There's the spirit

Black Axe · Post by **Black Axe** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 4:43 pm

AlexBlume wrote:but as you get older, you just look back on the good times had with old friends, and say fuck it!

And then you listen to some metal.

That's what to do with (almost) all facets of life.

Life's a bitch and then you die.