Slipknot mosh pit
This is not to say that bands can't be pop influenced and not retain integrity, but it does take digging deeper than just the surface level. Of course I could never say for certain, but mixing the most banal elements of whatever genre you're claiming to come from with easy pop structures and hooks is never a good sign. on record, but the next time they play around these parts, I'm getting in on that shit. So, there's nothing wrong with appreciating an artist partially or predominantly for the imagery and aesthetics, so long as you acknowledge that's what you're doing. People rave about Alice Cooper, but in all honesty, his music ain't that great. I'm actually seeing them live later this month with Korn and King 810 (can't you just feel that suburban teen angst already?), and I've heard Slipknot are visually an absolute spectacle live, so I'm honestly really excited. And yes, I am someone who enjoys their image as well. I think Corey Taylor's an extremely talented vocalist (though I get why it's not to the taste of many here), I enjoy the straight-forward aggression and simplicity of the music (though, again, I do understand where the 'juvenile' accusations come from), and I appreciate a good pop hook if it's done well. Having said that, despite also enjoying a modest variety of more 'authentic' metal and other music, I am a fan of Slipknot. Whilst I'm not cynical enough to suggest that's the 'entire reason' bands like Slipknot exist (I don't think anyone's really qualified to presume much about any band/artist's intentions), I definitely think a pretty significant portion of their teenage fan-base are more in it for the image it gives them to people outside metal culture than for the music. I definitely agree with this to some extent. It's image over substance, and at the end of the day, regardless of what it is, the better of the two will always be substance. If you peel back those half assed sped up Korn riffs, you'll hear the same pop chorus as any song on the radio, despite appearing to be "darker" because of their masks and "troubled" lyrics. It's really just a vehicle to deliver their angsty message of "anger and rebellion" that confused kids latch on to, like it's a tit delivering mothers milk. I don't give two shits about how metal appears, it's music, so all I care about is how it sounds, but when a band like Slipknot spends all of their time focusing on their image, their music suffers because it comes second. That's entirely the point of a band like Slipknot' date=' to appear menacing enough to satiate the need of teenagers to distance themselves from their parents by listening to music that appears to be "scary", but the music itself is still just tame enough pop music at its roots that it can still reel in all of those fans. Maybe if his opinion was his own and not just a conformist security blanket so that he could have his identity provided by others, he could deal with the fact that not everyone likes the same things, but that appears not to be the case. Even in his fantasy world where he could wield the "badass" title of "metalhead" by listening to pallid radio rock, not everyone is going to like his favorite band. His butt was obviously too hurt to sit at his computer to post hypocritical bullshit any farther. Surely if this forum was as unwelcoming and aggressive as you claim no one would bother and BAN would stand watch over a desolate land devoid of all life? Perhaps you should be asking yourself why a dozen people frequent metal forum and a further dozen post sporadically.
It should come as no surprise that, given the plethora of metal forums out there, some will be more sparcely populated then others. Congratulations Maggot you have successfully provided further evidence to support my previous statement.