Nah, I totaly agree with you Turtlepower. You need to hit the mainstream side of things before you look into the forbidden realm as I call it.
The difference between mainstream metal and that which is not is the social aspect. Metal at its inception was a genre intended to produce much shock and open minds to different possibilities that were generally regarded by mainstream society as antisocial. Eventualy, some bands became famous and loved the fame more than the music that they produced. they ditched the original fanbases for poppularity and began to focus more on the entertainment industry and ways to get in on the greatness side of things, ultimately forgetting that which had made them great to begin with.
I believe a great example of what I am describing is the band Metallica. IN the early 80's three bands were dominating the metal scene, those being Judas Priest, Motorhead, and Iron Maiden. Less important acts like Anvil were struggling to get their footing with the giants, and along with Diamondhead, another act who would later become something of a dominant metal figure as well, they created the inspiration for later acts like Venom, Slayer, Testament, Prong, Anthrax, and of course, the mighty Met. The bands first tracks were generally speed metal rifs with thrash elements on the side. When Metallica was unable to record on Metalblade because the label could not aford any additional costs on its budget, the band tried to grab contracts from New York based production outfits and found nothing. As a result, they recorded their first album thanks to the help of a nobody at the time named John Zazula.
It is no secret that the sound was fairly new and catchy amongst the metalheads and almost instantly accepted. What we didn't know at the time is just how great the sound was yet to become. IN 89, the band received a grammy nomination on the album ... And Justice For All for best hard rock/metal album and was expected to receive the award, so much so that the band was actually waiting at the side of the stage at that year's grammies to get it. Upset ensued amongst the metal community when the award was given to Jethro Tull for an album that would never truly see any poppularity or real favor amongst most of its people. At this point, the band goes on to record its selftitled album with Bob Rock as producer, a man who had recently been working with acts like Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, and famous glam rockers Mötley Crüe. The result was something the original fans truly didn't expect. After remixing the album a total of three times and some one million dollars later, Metallica was completely unrecognizable, but favorable to the mainstream community. Since then, the band has never quite been able to get into the good graces of the metal community that it began working with, and I doubt it ever will.
it is worth mentioning that the first song I ever heard with something close to hard and heavy riffing is Fuel by Metallica; I was 10 years old. Today, at 23 going on 24, I listen to Blotted Science when I need an instrumental fix, and The Faceless when I want vocals. Obviously there are many other acts in between, but those are two that I will mention for the sake of example. Metallica is a true subject of upset for me because I went backwards with them and discovered how much better they had been. Nevertheless, it was the right thing to do when approaching metal, and I'm thankful that I did.
When life gives you oranges, demand lemons since everyone else is obviously getting them.
