Can someone be a collector and a metalhead at the same time?

Priamos · Post by **Priamos** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 4:14 am

ION BRITTON wrote:At this rate, building a decent vinyl collection will be impossible for the majority in a few years

Guys, like it or not it, there are two distinctive paths that everyone has to choose from. You can't serve two masters. You can either be:

METAL COLLECTOR

Love the item more than the music (so no reissue is good for you)
Buy low, sell high ( closer to a bussinesman than a metalhead)
Buy the desired item at all cost (money, time, moral etc)
Buy plenty of garbage only inorder to sell and trade.
Feel like a big shot and boast because you have some rare shit that very few have (either if in your real life might be a miserable worm).

or you can be what I call:

HEALTHY AND BALANCED METALHEAD

Buy and sell only at a "normal" price.
Buy things only if you want to listen (especially in the old days when there was no you tube available) or if you like them and want to have them in your collection.
Buy reissues and CDs if it is easier and cheaper, and you can't do otherwise (love more the music than the item)
Buy the albums the time they are released!!!This is the only way you won't cry later over spilled milk.
Be modest of your collection because this is not the point of being a metalhead and actually noone cares.
Wait patiently until you find the desired item in the desired price. If it can never happen buy the reissue or the Cd. IF IT CAN'T HAPPEN ANYTHING FROM THE ABOVE, GET USED TO IT!!!! IT'S NOT THE END OF THE WORLD.

As I see it, it's your call to decide what you want to be.

ION BRITTON · Post by **ION BRITTON** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 7:55 am

I agree with you, Priamos. By saying decent collection I didn't mean of course having everything of every band, classic or not. However I believe that there must be quite a few albums that it's hard not to like while being a metalhead, and which you would like to add them to your own collection. They might not be the exact same albums for everyone of us, but I think the core is more or less the same. That's what I have observed over the years with most people anyway.

I don't collect anything I see or come across myself, having, for example, complete discographies of bands that are supposed to be 'classic' and have released 100 albums while really liking only 1-2 of them is a waste of money for me. No point in having 5000 records and enjoying only 10% of that.

sovdat · Post by **sovdat** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 9:34 am

IMO metal collector and metalhead are two different things, but 1 person can be both at the same time. The only miserable thing is telling other people what do to and how to act or either making your own conclusions of their actions and the path they've taken in life.

LethylSteel · Post by **LethylSteel** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 9:45 am

Priamos wrote:
ION BRITTON wrote:At this rate, building a decent vinyl collection will be impossible for the majority in a few years
Guys, like it or not it, there are two distinctive paths that everyone has to choose from. You can't serve two masters. You can either be:

METAL COLLECTOR

Love the item more than the music (so no reissue is good for you)
Buy low, sell high ( closer to a bussinesman than a metalhead)
Buy the desired item at all cost (money, time, moral etc)
Buy plenty of garbage only inorder to sell and trade.
Feel like a big shot and boast because you have some rare shit that very few have (either if in your real life might be a miserable worm).

or you can be what I call:

HEALTHY AND BALANCED METALHEAD

Buy and sell only at a "normal" price.
Buy things only if you want to listen (especially in the old days when there was no you tube available) or if you like them and want to have them in your collection.
Buy reissues and CDs if it is easier and cheaper, and you can't do otherwise (love more the music than the item)
Buy the albums the time they are released!!!This is the only way you won't cry later over spilled milk.
Be modest of your collection because this is not the point of being a metalhead and actually noone cares.
Wait patiently until you find the desired item in the desired price. If it can never happen buy the reissue or the Cd. IF IT CAN'T HAPPEN ANYTHING FROM THE ABOVE, GET USED TO IT!!!! IT'S NOT THE END OF THE WORLD.

As I see it, it's your call to decide what you want to be.

There's a third sort as well:

Love the item more than the music in some cases (so no reissue is good for you, because a re-issue is actually not the same like the original).
Buy plenty of garbage only inorder to find out what it sounds like because noone else shares opinions or sound samples just because of the fact their crap record could loose it's value and they can't resell it anymore.
Buy only at a "normal" price.
Buy things only if you want to listen (especially in the old days when there was no you tube available) or if you like them and want to have them in your collection.
Wait patiently until you find the desired item in the desired price.
Sells and trades (when he sells or trade) to normal prices to his friends and doesn't cares for the actual value of the record.

Priamos · Post by **Priamos** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 10:52 am

@Sovdat,Lethylsteel: I didn't mean to insult every metal collector, although it may sounded this way. Neither I wanted to generalize and present everything black or white (even if it sounded this way too). I guess there must be some OK guys being hardcore metal collectors that they don't match to the description above, it's just I didn't have the luck to meet any of them so far. All I've seen, is miserable worms playing the proud eagles because they had some rare records gained with immoral means. And later boasting and preaching this "metal lifestyle" as the only acceptable one, if you want to be considered true and respectful metalhead. This doesn't mean that every serious collector acts this way, but I was mainly reffering to them. If you don't feel comfortable with this description you are probably not one of them.
And as Lethylsteel said earlier (using different words), there are many points of view, some of them might be unpleasant to some. Let this one be heard as well, even if you strongly disagree with it.

LethylSteel · Post by **LethylSteel** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 12:11 pm

I didn't feel insulted, you just forgot the 3rd group that didn't loose their moral while starting to collect obscure/rare records and lost the important property of thinking if the requested price for a record is really smart or not. If certain "collectors" would finally start up to refuse to pay all those insane prices those records wouldn't be that expensive. That's the simple law of the free market. You cannot sell a record at an absurd price? Than lower the price. But no matter how absurd that price may appear (see that Graf Spee LP recently), people pay it and it are exactly the same people who later mock about high record prices.

Piotr Sargnagel · Post by **Piotr Sargnagel** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 12:56 pm

Although I'm more than happy to buy re-issues, in some cases re-issued albums feature different artwork and/or have a different sound/tracks to the original. That to me is a sub-par experience and one where I don't mind waiting to find the original, even it is at a slightly inflated price. I love music, but i also like to have the full experience of an album, artwork and sound contribute to the overall atmosphere which is where the value lies for me.

ION BRITTON · Post by **ION BRITTON** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 12:59 pm

Piotr Sargnagel wrote: I love music, but i also like to have the full experience of an album, artwork and sound contribute to the overall atmosphere which is where the value lies for me.

Have to add lyrics there as well, I wholeheartedly agree with you. Not sure whether mp3 'collectors' know what you're talking about though. But that's another discussion.

chatzial · Post by **chatzial** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 11:13 pm

I don't get the classification between "metal collector" and "healthy balanced metalhead".

I have been a fan of metal music for almost 30 years. I listen to heavy metal or hard rock on a daily basis. I have been at nearly 80 to 100 metal concerts in my whole life.
Don't these facts make me a metalhead?

I have a quite big collection (it's inevitable for someone who buys records and CDs for almost 30 years). I am 41 years old with a business career, so i can afford to pay much more than "normal prices" (if normal price is 15 for a CD and 20 to 30 Euros for a vinyl LP) for a vinyl or CD that i am looking for a long time and is hard to find.

Don't these facts make me a collector?

P.S: As for reissues, if they have bonus material, i buy them. In general I prefer original vinyls over reissues because most of the times they have a better sound.

Priamos · Post by **Priamos** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 11:43 pm

chatzial wrote:I don't get the classification between "metal collector" and "healthy balanced metalhead".

I have been a fan of metal music for almost 30 years. I listen to heavy metal or hard rock on a daily basis. I have been at nearly 80 to 100 metal concerts in my whole life.
Don't these facts make me a metalhead?

I have a quite big collection (it's inevitable for someone who buys records and CDs for almost 30 years). I am 41 years old with a business career, so i can afford to pay much more than "normal prices" (if normal price is 15 for a CD and 20 to 30 Euros for a vinyl LP) for a vinyl or CD that i am looking for a long time and is hard to find.

Don't these facts make me a collector?

P.S: As for reissues, if they have bonus material, i buy them. In general I prefer original vinyls over reissues because most of the times they have a better sound.

I don't judge you man (eventhough I could). Neither of you... I'm no metal inquisitor to say who's wrong or right, who's sinner and who's righteous. If you are OK with your conciousness and no one has something specific against you, I'm OK with you too. I'm just trying to inform and awake, especially the younger ones, that the collector's world is not as "glamorous" and harmless as most of you are trying to convince us. It's a dirty bussiness and if you go too deeply inside it's hard (but not impossible) to remain clean. At least, in the way I define the word "clean".

chatzial · Post by **chatzial** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 12:39 am

Priamos wrote:
chatzial wrote:I don't get the classification between "metal collector" and "healthy balanced metalhead".

I have been a fan of metal music for almost 30 years. I listen to heavy metal or hard rock on a daily basis. I have been at nearly 80 to 100 metal concerts in my whole life.
Don't these facts make me a metalhead?

I have a quite big collection (it's inevitable for someone who buys records and CDs for almost 30 years). I am 41 years old with a business career, so i can afford to pay much more than "normal prices" (if normal price is 15 for a CD and 20 to 30 Euros for a vinyl LP) for a vinyl or CD that i am looking for a long time and is hard to find.

Don't these facts make me a collector?

P.S: As for reissues, if they have bonus material, i buy them. In general I prefer original vinyls over reissues because most of the times they have a better sound.
I don't judge you man (eventhough I could). Neither of you... I'm no metal inquisitor to say who's wrong or right, who's sinner and who's righteous. If you are OK with your conciousness and no one has something specific against you, I'm OK with you too. I'm just trying to inform and awake, especially the younger ones, that the collector's world is not as "glamorous" and harmless as most of you are trying to convince us. It's a dirty bussiness and if you go too deeply inside it's hard (but not impossible) to remain clean. At least, in the way I define the word "clean".

I understand you and you have a point that the collector's world/market is not heavenly made (as every business).

I just don't like to categorise people. To me a youngster who owns let's say 50 to 100 CDs, is already having a collection, so he is a metal collector. It does not matter how big a collection is. Everything starts from the love of metal music.

perishinflames · Post by **perishinflames** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 2:06 am

chatzial wrote: I just don't like to categorise people. To me a youngster who owns let's say 50 to 100 CDs, is already having a collection, so he is a metal collector. It does not matter how big a collection is. Everything starts from the love of metal music.

Agreed. My collection is fairly small (<1000 items total), but 90% of it is stuff that I truly love. I would gladly pay $100 for 1 rare record that I think is amazing, than 10 records that I think are merely decent and I will spin once or twice and forget about. That reminds me, I need to cull some stuff soon

MEXDefenderOfSteel · Post by **MEXDefenderOfSteel** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 6:47 am

i have lots of great reissues from Stormspell, HRR and BBTAD and many others.... as well as original copies of S.A. Slayers,Glaciers Heavy Loads etc. I love them both equally (as weird as it may sound) in which category do i fall?

ION BRITTON · Post by **ION BRITTON** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 8:12 am

Priamos wrote:It's a dirty bussiness and if you go too deeply inside it's hard (but not impossible) to remain clean. At least, in the way I define the word "clean".

Have to defend this statement as I've heard lots of stories about how collectors obtained some of their rarities, plus I've experienced a few ones myself.

At end of the of the day it doesn't matter what others think about you, what it does matter is what YOU think about yourself.

The way also people define the term being a metalhead is not always the same for everyone. If someone for example has a collection of 100 metal CDs that doesn't necessarily make him a metalhead as well. This is another discussion though and I'm bit short on time to start expanding on it right now.

LethylSteel · Post by **LethylSteel** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 9:21 am

I think Avenger would call me "insane" or "my own fault" again, but I also refused to get several records (incl. first Warloghe LP) from friends that they offered my for free or 1 on 1 trade (for a normal priced record). Instead I told them to keep the record and sell it at ebay instead. Just recently I was offered an Antidrasi LP from Greece and I refused it although my friend will send it with his next parcel, but my first answer was "NO, to valuable to give away for free!"