Changes in metal and hard rock popularity, community and public perception you have personally observed
Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2022 4:16 pm
First of all, sorry if there is a similar topic already, but I couldn't find any.
One thing that has always interested me is the change of the popularity and general perception of metal music during the years, but not only on a general (worldwide) level, but also on a local, personally observed level. By "personally observed", I mean "during the time the person was a fan of metal music", so all information from the stories of older generations are excluded (not meaning they are not interesting, just not what this topic is meant for). By "local" I mean in your country (for smaller countries) or federal state/region (for larger countries) or even cities or sub-regions.
The questions would be the following:
a) How long are you a fan of either metal or hard rock music (or both)?
b) How has the popularity of metal changed since you had started listening to metal?
c) How has the general perception (from people who don't primarily listen to metal or hard rock) changed during that time?
d) How has the metal community changed during that time?
e) Change in metal MUSIC presence on TV, radio, in pubs and other public places compared to when you have started to listen to it?
My take (please note that these are my abservations and yours could be entirely different, but still true ):
a) I have been listening to metal since the mid-00s (being born in very early 90s)
b) I would say a definitive decline, at least based on visual observation. When I started going to high school (some 15 years ago), there were at least a couple dozen of visually identifiable (long hair, band shirts, etc.) hardrockers. If we include those listening to classic rock/punk/grunge who have more than occasionally also listened to metal or harder rock, the number could go up to 40-50 (or 10% of the students). There were at least two heavy metal/hard rock bands and a few extreme metal solo projects featuring students during my time at high school that actually made some recordings.
I have recently found a high school yearbook from my brother-in-law (seven years my junior, so the book is likely from 2015-2017) and there were only two guys in the entire school sporting long hair and maybe one person wearing a band shirt. Of course, it could mean that many young people are only metal music fans and don't look like metal fans from previous generations, but I personally know precisely zero metal fans in my city born after 1997 (and I regularly train football and rowing with younger people, so no issue of not knowing younger people). My wife is few years younger than me and the only younger metal fan she knows is a member of her powerlifting team, who listens exclusively to NSBM (and some "ordinary" black metal).
c) This is actually interesting. Although the popularity of metal has definitely declined (or even because of it), I think the general public has become more acceptable of metal. Even in the mid-to-late 00s, hardrockers still had reputation among some (mostly older people) as troublemakers (alcoholics, drug users, generally aggressive), which was, of course, mostly untrue. I think this is partly since the first generation of people who started listening to harder rock was born in late-40s and early-50s and a most people born earlier are now retired or deceased, not present in workplaces, or as schoolteachers, university professors, etc.
Another reason for this could be that some types of modern metal generally attract members of geek culture (power metal, fantasy-themed extreme metal) and some (prog metal, djent) attract people with formal musical education, both of whom are viewed as "peaceful" by general public.
d) As somebody who never considered himself a part of "metal community" (I always had, and still have, friends who listen to metal, but it was not and it will never be my main criteria for friendship), this is harder for me to answer, but I can definitely see the shift towards what I mentioned in the previous section.
e) I think this is the area with the least change. There are definitely less rock-oriented pubs compared to 10-15 years ago, but apart from that, there was not much metal or hard rock was played on TV or radio or in non-rock pubs even back then.
One thing that has always interested me is the change of the popularity and general perception of metal music during the years, but not only on a general (worldwide) level, but also on a local, personally observed level. By "personally observed", I mean "during the time the person was a fan of metal music", so all information from the stories of older generations are excluded (not meaning they are not interesting, just not what this topic is meant for). By "local" I mean in your country (for smaller countries) or federal state/region (for larger countries) or even cities or sub-regions.
The questions would be the following:
a) How long are you a fan of either metal or hard rock music (or both)?
b) How has the popularity of metal changed since you had started listening to metal?
c) How has the general perception (from people who don't primarily listen to metal or hard rock) changed during that time?
d) How has the metal community changed during that time?
e) Change in metal MUSIC presence on TV, radio, in pubs and other public places compared to when you have started to listen to it?
My take (please note that these are my abservations and yours could be entirely different, but still true ):
a) I have been listening to metal since the mid-00s (being born in very early 90s)
b) I would say a definitive decline, at least based on visual observation. When I started going to high school (some 15 years ago), there were at least a couple dozen of visually identifiable (long hair, band shirts, etc.) hardrockers. If we include those listening to classic rock/punk/grunge who have more than occasionally also listened to metal or harder rock, the number could go up to 40-50 (or 10% of the students). There were at least two heavy metal/hard rock bands and a few extreme metal solo projects featuring students during my time at high school that actually made some recordings.
I have recently found a high school yearbook from my brother-in-law (seven years my junior, so the book is likely from 2015-2017) and there were only two guys in the entire school sporting long hair and maybe one person wearing a band shirt. Of course, it could mean that many young people are only metal music fans and don't look like metal fans from previous generations, but I personally know precisely zero metal fans in my city born after 1997 (and I regularly train football and rowing with younger people, so no issue of not knowing younger people). My wife is few years younger than me and the only younger metal fan she knows is a member of her powerlifting team, who listens exclusively to NSBM (and some "ordinary" black metal).
c) This is actually interesting. Although the popularity of metal has definitely declined (or even because of it), I think the general public has become more acceptable of metal. Even in the mid-to-late 00s, hardrockers still had reputation among some (mostly older people) as troublemakers (alcoholics, drug users, generally aggressive), which was, of course, mostly untrue. I think this is partly since the first generation of people who started listening to harder rock was born in late-40s and early-50s and a most people born earlier are now retired or deceased, not present in workplaces, or as schoolteachers, university professors, etc.
Another reason for this could be that some types of modern metal generally attract members of geek culture (power metal, fantasy-themed extreme metal) and some (prog metal, djent) attract people with formal musical education, both of whom are viewed as "peaceful" by general public.
d) As somebody who never considered himself a part of "metal community" (I always had, and still have, friends who listen to metal, but it was not and it will never be my main criteria for friendship), this is harder for me to answer, but I can definitely see the shift towards what I mentioned in the previous section.
e) I think this is the area with the least change. There are definitely less rock-oriented pubs compared to 10-15 years ago, but apart from that, there was not much metal or hard rock was played on TV or radio or in non-rock pubs even back then.