Why does the US suck for Heavy Metal?

[guwapo_rocker]

Blame it on the nations RAP music station.

MTV, and Muchmusic in Canada.

[Soul Reaper]

radio stations get more money for playing 'image' music than underground music....which is why good bands are rarely played....

btw, wouldn't hair metal count as image music? we moan about rap and pop being about image more than music, but weren't the hair metal bands about image....most of them sounding similar and looking similar....

[mako_kimura]

True, but hair metal wasn't really all that mainstream either. Usually that stuff was either on the Heavy Metal Half Hour or Headbanger's Ball. And binnie, there's definitely a new underground scene going on here, you just don't hear about it. Nowadays, it's death metal and metalcore (metal with punk elements)

[Soul Reaper]

Originally posted by mako_kimura
True, but hair metal wasn't really all that mainstream either. Usually that stuff was either on the Heavy Metal Half Hour or Headbanger's Ball.

I think New Romantics was more mainstream....

but in terms of rock music, hair metal was the most 'used' in the 80s....I'm sure of it....

[Va Beach VH Fan]

An excellent question, when you really think about it....

Lemme give it a shot...

#1 - Musicianship, that is, playing your instrument well, has completely gone out the window.... Along with that, the entire arrangement of songs nowadays is so watered down now compared to the late 70's and early 80's....

#2 - Socially, a lot of teen males (including one of my sons !!) nowadays would rather have their fucking pants dangling below their ass cheeks and having their hat on sideways to blend in with their peers...

So where does that lead ?? You're not going to look like that and blend in with a crowd that listens to heavy metal music....

I also think that there are a lot of alternatives for young people to do nowadays on their off time, compared to earllier days.... Most teenagers would rather spend 5 hours playing their XBOX 360 than attempt to learn how to play guitar....

So, maybe I'm full of shit, but those are my views, as a dad to a 19 and 12 year old sons....

[sadaist]

There is a garage band of some 15 & 16 year olds near me. They play old school metal. They used the sidewalk chalk and in the driveway have drawn the band names for Priest, Maiden, Metallica, etc... Rare to find kids nowadays that like "the old stuff". The pants below the ass bugs the hell out of me. Or the short hair except long bangs that cover the eyes.

[VAN HLN CA]

Program Directors for most radio stations dictate the flow of music trends-and Metal has ALWAYS been shafted. The only one station that has mixed up the genres is KROQ. Consistantly taking chances with new sounds and questionable acts since the 70's. No other radio resource in America has even remotely had the balls to set the stage for new bands with the golden rule of music, 'if it sounds good it is good.' The others, even listenable stations are all dictated by commercialistic trends or pop flavors of the month. The stations DJ's are merely personalities that have basically nothing to do with the music played, again its the program director who compiles his weekly request lists as a barametor to guide everything from which shows to sponsor to who they want to have as guests, EXCEPT for what to play. 99% of radio airplay is predetermined by the PD regular rotation which is why the predictability causes stations to go stale in cyclical 5 year shifts causing format changes and station facelifts. Even stations wanting to go against the grain suffer because the corporate strongarm of theses outlets in every state flow back to the same governing networks ala CBS INFINITY politics.
There is tons of great new music out there Never heard because bands exposure is limited by such narrow windows of opportunity that underground, and college and now Indie resources are the only hope of getting media exposure and airplay.
Podcasting is the future and only hope for this to change and dissolve pop flavor of the month shit. There is clearly a revolution of the suits taking notice to what impact itunes, XM and Sirius have made. Enabled on-demand content providers are now driving present day re-alignment via subscription marketability and something new-VARIETY.
The music tides been flowing the wrong way and its good to watch the currents change.
My formats an exact opposite of any radio station offered on airwaves today.

[binnie]

I would be ecstatic if once, just once, I turned on the radio and there was something decent coming out....