10 Things Only Old School Heavy Metal Fans Will Understand
Bang your head!
There are a lot of stereotypes about Heavy Metal music and its fans. Some say that the music glorifies evil or the Devil, that it promotes violence, that it encourages drug use. Heavy metal fans are often depicted as dangerous, maladjusted loners, addicts, or even cult members who have had their brains warped through subliminal messages and now seek to sacrifice innocents in the name of their dark lord.
Of course, that's all nonsense. We don't become Satan worshipers because we listen to Heavy Metal - we pledge our allegiance to Satan first, and in return, he tells us which music is best. We salute you, oh Prince of Evil!
In all seriousness, heavy metal gets a bad rap, but most logical, intelligent people understand that it's just a form of music like any other, and that as such, it's filled with metaphor, storytelling and songwriters' personal experiences. The music is beautiful, and if you spend enough time listening to heavy metal - and you truly gain an appreciation for classic bands like Black Sabbath, Motorhead, Judas Priest, and more - you start to realise a few things about the genre as a whole.
Here are ten things that only old school Heavy Metal fans will understand:
10. There Are Many Different Kinds Of Metal... But It's All Rock And Roll
"Heavy Metal" is a catch-all term for a certain kind of music - hard, hard rock - but it's a genre that's just as broad as any other. Some older metal is very heavily based in the blues, while most bands got away from that trend in the 1980s. Which is the best? That's very much up to the specific listener, who can choose from Industrial Metal, Power Metal, Speed Metal, Doom Metal, Death Metal, Power Metal, Thrash Metal, Stoner Metal, Classic Metal, and much, much more.
Still, it's best not to get too bogged down in classification - if it's hard and heavy, it's metal, and everything else is secondary.
The men who invented metal grew up listening to early rock 'n' roll like Little Richard, Buddy Holly, and The Beatles, and that's what they consider themselves - rockers. If one were to ask Ozzy to explain the difference between Speed Metal and Thrash Metal, he'd probably respond with an unintelligible string of expletives - so just listen and enjoy.