Music Fans- You are the annoyance

I have a variant on the "open-minded" one: the whiny gits who think that to be open-minded means that you have to like everything, and that hating certain bands, or styles of music, means you're "narrow-minded" (when you just simply can't stand it). They are usually into "avant-garde" or "experimental" styles, because of course, they are more "open-minded" than you. And they like to whine about elitism all the time, even though they are basically elitist jerks themselves.

Re: the "underground fanatics". I've been referred to as that. It's not entirely false, but the premise is wrong or badly interpreted. Actually, I have never met someone who hated a band simply because they were popular (okay, I did meet one, he was talking about how he liked Slipknot before they became popular when in truth they have always sucked, but he was a 'Lica fanboy so obviously he didn't fit the type otherwise). It's simply very frequent that the more popular a band gets, the suckier they get. The opposite is also rarely true, though it certainly happens (Iron Maiden or Therion come to mind).
What can I say, the correlation is there. Many bands DO simplify or tone down or otherwise alter their sound, in a shitty way, because of label pushing and/or to get more sales. Or maybe they genuinely want to experiment (and coincidentally it's more accessible and make them more popular...), but they still suck. The result is frequently disastrous. There are too many examples, but here are some obvious ones: Megadeth, Metallica, Sepultura, In Flames, Soilwork, Samael, Children of Bodom, Iced Earth... all these bands reached a "peak", usually with the second album, and then became progressively more popular and progressively inferior for the most part.

But we so-called "underground fanatics" hate these bands because they start sucking, not because they are more popular. It's merely a correlation. After all, I like many bands that are getting more and more popular, and some that even changed their sound (gasps) - only difference is they do it well.

Anyway, I don't think that the "I hate them because they're popular" cliche really exists. I don't know anyone who really thinks that way.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by knkwzrd

How exactly are these people elitist jerks (I include myself here)? If we "like everything", as you have put it, that's pretty much the exact opposite of elitism. I listen to Fred Frith as much as I listen to Warren Zevon as much as I listen to Wu-Tang. Hating bands is one thing, but as soon as you hate an entire genre, yes, you are narrow-minded.

Hmm, I suspect you didn't read my post carefully enough.
Anyway, the people I have in mind are elitists in the sense that they dismiss those who are not as "open-minded" as they are (i.e. that don't like their avant-garde weird stuff because they don't "get it").

And hating a genre does not make you inherently narrow-minded. It just means you hate a certain type of sound. If my grandma can't stand the sound of a distorted electric guitar, and thus hates rock music, that doesn't make her narrow-minded. Open-mindedness is defined by an attitude towards music (the desire to try new things, to discover more, to not judge hastily, etc.), not by your tastes. If grandma's been exposed to enough rock music to know that she can't get over the sound she finds so grating, she's not narrow-minded for refusing to pursue this path further.

Originally Posted by Skexis

You might think I'm picking on you. Well, I suppose I am, but only because of your infuriating smugness. NOPE COULDN'T POSSIBLY BE A PROBLEM WITH ME SO HERE'S THE REASON WHY EVERYONE ELSE IS WRONG, NOT ME, NOPE, COULDN'T BE.

Have you honestly ever entertained the notion that you are judging music based on some set of personal--not universal-- criteria?

I have no idea what you're babbling about here, nor why you are so hostile, so I'll just assume you didn't read my post past the sentence you quoted, and that it must be that time of the month.

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Technically proficient music doesn't mean it's objectively good. I mean really, who doesn't like "Born to be Wild?"

See above. Since I enjoy Venom and Mötorhead, I'd love to know where you got the notion that I equate technical proficiency with quality.
Smoke on the Water, baby!

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And no, you don't have to like certain types of music so long as you don't make it some sort of crime to like them. It wasn't long ago that the mere mention of certain bands set your heart to palpitating and got your typing fingers all a-flutter. Frankly I'm surprised you let the comments about Fear Factory go without some tired rhetoric about making a thread of their own.

...Ok?

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Crash Landon

Or you can just be like me and a lot of other people who don't care what we listen to as long as it sounds pleasing to us. No, we don't and won't like everything but we really don't care if the genre is rap, trance, rock, country or whatever, so long as the song is well-composed and has an interesting sound.

Sure. But if the songs you like the most follow a pattern (or several patterns), then you will find yourself focusing on what fits the pattern of what you like. I don't think doing that makes anyone narrow-minded or stupid. Likewise if a certain type of sound, prevalent in one style, displeases you, and you avoid it.


(I'll add, for the record, that I don't only listen to metal. I'm saying this because I'm sure some people belive that... )

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I wish people would stop trying to affix labels on everyone else.

Labels aren't the problem per se, they can be useful as descriptive. It's just a matter of not becoming obsessive, and not limiting yourself to them.

Double Post:

Originally Posted by Sian

I think the most annoying to me would be the people who think that everything other than their type of music is crap.
[...]
Everyone is entitled to like whatever they want and it just annoys me when people consider anything other than their taste to be shit.

Hmm, I spotted an obvious contradiction here. Can you see it?

(Hint: people are also entitled to hate whatever they want. Why should that annoy you?)

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I really don't get your sudden hostility. Take a chill pill, for crying out loud.

It's not my fault you misinterpreted my comment (what can I say, you did - interprete that as smugness if you want, it's not my problem). It said nothing about technical proficiency being synonymous with quality. "Simplify" can mean many things, and not just refer to technical aspects. And then there was "tone down" and "otherwise alter", which should have been more than enough to tell you I was referring to various other things than technical skills.

As for the rest of your projecting/strawman, I'm merely amused at your pettiness. Bringing back old arguments from before, that I for one hardly remember at all, transcends mere whining. And with that Fear Factory comment, it's as if you wanted me to have made a nasty comment, and practically yelled at me for not doing it... sheesh, get a life. :|

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Skexis

I'm sure you don't believe me, but I am not attempting to needle you. I'm asking you how you expect me or other people to read you if you insist on making everyone else the source of the problem (which was all I really cared about to begin with).

Look, this isn't even really about metal. Or music. You offered an explanation that conveniently left you free from any responsibility in the discussion, and I wanted to make sure you understood as much.

Well, I don't. I don't see that I was doing that. I simply disagreed with one of the stereotype's premise, because in my experience it's really not that commonplace. And the gods know I've been around many narrow-minded elitist metalheads, that make me sound like the "open-minded" stereotype I described in comparison... But even they, as elitist as they are, don't fit this "I hate them now that they're popular" description. Though, I can see that it could be perceived as such, because of the correlation I described initially. I just think that a lot of people confuse the correlation with the motive, that's all.

If you want, I can provide actual stereotypes of narrow-minded metalhead I encountered a few times. My favourites are the anus.com / Prozak wannabe intellectuals elitists. They like to use big words to say nothing, and that's supposed to make them smarter than the rest of us. They're amusing.

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Forget it. You are right in the sense that it's not that important. I tend to crusade a lot more often than is good for me.

*shrugs* Okay then, fair enough.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Huh, so that's what happened. I was wondering why the thread suddenly got so much shorter.

Originally Posted by Living Legend

The other day, I got yelled at by a slayer fan

Hahahaha... hold it right there. You, friend, encountered a Slayer fan *, which explains everything. They are quite the interesting specimen, in the sense that they are impossible to reason with, and tend to have a collective IQ in the double digits. Their brutish stupidity is only matched by that of the Pantera fan, who give the Slayer fans quite a run for their money. So far, I have yet to encounter a dumber metalhead specimen than the Pantera fan, however. Now, those are great examples of types of "annoying music fan".


(*I like Slayer. Their first few albums are legendary, and the first one's a masterpiece. But the typical Slayer fanboy, from my experience, is pretty much as described... )

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by knkwzrd

Because we all know that anyone who likes all of Slayer's albums is clearly below us, and can't listen to anything that might be different.

Yeah. We also all know that knkwzrd has no sense of humour whatsoever, and that it's perfectly fine to make fun of some music fan stereotypes but not others.

FELIPE NO

Hyperboles don't mix well with sarcasm.

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