Changes in metal and hard rock popularity, community and public perception you have personally observed

New bands, new releases, new metallic events, reissues, post-millenia-Metal in general...
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Noisenik
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Re: Changes in metal and hard rock popularity, community and public perception you have personally observed

Post by Noisenik »

@Prowler: Didn't know you hail from GDR. Well, from 1992 onwards our paths match. Almost...

To add to the thread, here we go:

I started with heavy metal in spring of 1989 (14th of April, to be precise, it was Friday) and it was in an era when my hometown witnessed a strong wave of new interest in it. This was most visible in our school, and schools, I dare to say, were/are important hubs for dissemination of our beloved genre, and where according to my estimates almost half of all pupils were interested in heavy metal at least for a half of year, girls included, and among those, some that were very pleasant to eyes. There must have been a lot of different motivations throughout all grades so the things developed that way (competition for inter-sexual attracting of interest was one, judging by behaviour of those in 8th grade). The ranks have not lasted, of course, but my interest in music did, thanks to relatively constant flow of acquired releases. My hometown was and maybe still is considered a heavy metal town as perceived by people from other towns, and at least some metalheads have been living within its localities regularly.

I don't think that such upsurge was ever repeated since, but the presence of heavy metal is continuous. Of course statistically this is perceived as a decline (comparing 1989 to 1999 or 2009, because quantity has not been matched. However there was enough of »new« blood brought to and converted into, as every few years new bands are established. The wave of mid 2000's gave us VIGILANCE, for instance. There is some »father to son« way of keeping HM alive present around here as well. For example, the mayor of our hometown is a rock-musician, his son is a rock-musician and mixing board assistent at national radio (I suspect him of having helped MARY ROSE attained a reissue of their debut on national broadcasting system label). Many children of band members of HR/HM bands from 80's are musicians themselves. Btw., how do one get their own children into the same music? Not so easy, I guess. Maybe MANOWAR are not so amiss with their relatively childish gig rituals after all. Could be one way, tho.

The general perception has changed, but only because the generations grown up are generally more tolerable towards everything, because they witnessed that themselves and more or less learned to be more tolerable.

Heavy metal community has changed or maybe I wasn't observant enough when younger to remember how older members if they were present, clothed like. Today the school attendees wear metal vests regularly, but my gen has almost abandoned that completely, dress casually and if their hair has gone (such as mine), you cannot tell them from the rest of society. They(We) have attained all sorts of occupations and primarily accomodated to that (moneymaking is important, it helps one buy more records, etc.). There are entrepreneurs, accountants, public servants, social security counselors and so on. I myself went to gigs straight from the working place a few times and fortunately remembered to remove a tie. Away (yes, Away himself) must have been at least slightly suspicous regarding my shirt, haha. (Thinking this one probably wouldn't throw Molotows (as in 'Gasmask Revival'.).

Within media, especially national ones, heavy metal isn't much popular (hear, hear). Of course, that could only mean that there aren't enough influential ppl that would push it through programmatic documents of national broadcasting firm, possible there is no-one who would want to push i through. When I started heavy metal occupied half an hour weekly on national radio in a state which was then still part of Yugoslavia), then for a shorter period they acquired another hour midweek (unfortunately it intersected with sports programme, so it was cancelled many times, then it only remained half an hour midweek, which lasted up to at least around mid 2000's, afterwards it has gone. In that respect the past was cooler than the present (again?). On the other hand Internet have taken much influence from the hands of national broadcasting systems as virtually anything could be found (t)here. On the other hand metalheads don't seem care for radio/television much, old nostalgic farts like myself are almost extinct, hehe. The number of heavy metal pubs/venues has remained about the same. The old ones have gone, a few new ones were opened, unfortunately covid-19 has taken its toll here as well.
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Lord_Sauron
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Re: Changes in metal and hard rock popularity, community and public perception you have personally observed

Post by Lord_Sauron »

Thank You all for those magnificent stories, it was a pleasure to read it. I didnt reply earlier since I didn't have anything substantial to add and I don't want to personalize the topic by answering every single post, so I waited until I have something useful to say.

So, after a long time I have met another younger traditional metal/hard rock fan (though still not born after that 1997 "threshold" I have mentioned in the opening post), who has joined as a reserve for the rowing team I belong to. Although it is, of course, a good thing that there are younger people into traditional metal/hard rock, I was a bit shocked by the reaction of some younger (those born 2000-2002) members of the team (especially the girls), to whom he seemed to be some kind of a real oddity. I mean, the guy has a semi-long hair, sideburns and moustache, but his looks would be nothing unusual even 10 years ago.

From what I have read here, it seems that the situation is different than that in most countries, but I am still baffled that (semi-)long hair has gone from mainstream (or at least relatively common, at least for people under 25) to some sort of a relic in about a decade. I am not even talking about a really long hair. Few months ago I had an even shorter hair than the guy in question (think of the Beatles-style, maybe SLIGHTLY longer) and I got a significant amount of questions why I let my hair grow so much :/

I don't usually care a lot about the public image of other people, but long hair was always the most instantly recognisable "feature" of hard rock fans, so I am a bit shocked that it has become so unusual (or even downright strange) to have it these days.
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Keir
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Re: Changes in metal and hard rock popularity, community and public perception you have personally observed

Post by Keir »

1. I've listened to hard rock pretty much since I was born (1974) but really got into it in 1987. Didn't really get into metal until a year or 2 later.
2. Well, metal's popularity has obviously gone way down. In my high school days nearly everyone my age listened to at least some hard rock or metal, and full on metalheads were easy to find. Since the big decline in the 90s I honestly don't think it's changed much, now it's just easier to connect with other metalheads online. Locally, I occasionally bump into someone who'll see me wearing a Megadeth shirt or something and say "Oh, I used to like them." Otherwise the only time I see other metalheads outside of my close circle of friends are at shows.
3. Thinking about the public perception of metal I'm reminded of a time in 1991-92 when I was wearing my Death - Crusade of Brutality tour shirt and someone asked me if I beat women. Despite metal's popularity there was still a lot of distrust and disgust aimed at metalheads then. Now I feel like the most negativity I encounter is the opinion that I'm suck in the past or haven't grown up because I listen to metal.
4. It used to be that I could see someone wearing a metal shirt or they'd see me and there was this instant connection. Now I feel like the metal community is more fragmented, where people fall into their little niches like this place where we discuss old vinyls that no one else cares about.
5. Since Headbangers Ball went off the air in 1995 I'd say heavy metal's presence on TV has been pretty much non-existent, aside from the occasional nostalgic nod (e.g. Eddie on Stranger Things). Metal on the radio has seen a steady decline locally and if there is any left it's either extreme metal on some college station or one of the few non-Clear Channel classic rock stations left occasionally playing "Crazy Train" or something like that. Boston used to be a major stop on any metal tour, but since some time in the 90s most bands (other than the big names) bypass New England entirely and there are basically just 2 clubs in Worcester that cater to metal crowds.
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