Is it harder to make it big in metal now that there are so many bands... and if so what do you think the odds are of making it big now compared to back in the 90's... may be a rediculous post but oh well

Depend what you mean by big.

For instance, in the metal world, Overkill and Exodus are considered pretty big and by some, (including myself) legends.

As for pretty big "metal" bands, Mudvayne and Slipknot are up there.

So, it's not hard to be big if you play "metal", but if you want to be a good metal band, odds are, you'll be paid more in praise than wage.

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A lot of people in fairly well known, actual metal bands haven't been able to quit their day jobs. Though that's at least partially due to the fact that the economics of the music industry are designed to get the band in debt to the label in 90% of the cases. Or more.

But I do think the achievement of a reasonable level of respect would be a bit easier now, since metal subgenres are gaining a bit of respectability. Or it seems that way because I was too young to really know the 90's metal scene as intimately as I know the current one.

On the other hand, American cities that traditionally had stronger metal scenes seem to be losing them. Half of the clubs I knew in Chicago were closed when I got there this year. I'm not really sure where this is heading.

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If you mean Metallica big then yes it's quite hard now considering how many more musicians there are. Luckily for me, all the people in my town are playing hardcore and emo, so I'll be big in Northampton
Though you could just think up some random shit, call it metal and be famous for originality only.

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Yes, Chicago has gone down the shitter

If you have Cookie Monster Vocals.. then yes its hard as hell.

If have screaming like Slayer and Pantera... then not as hard. Catchy music is easier to sell then overly complicated death metal.

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Yeah. What the hell happened? I was talking to a friend of mine about his band's shows and just about every venue collapsed a little after they played, starting with the Fireside Bowl. I told him he should stop playing shows, but he might not have a choice soon.


True, to an extent. Extreme metal's reaching a respectable level now. The band's won't get huge, but they can get very big considering it's an underground genre.

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It was always hard to make it big in any genre. Don't expect your tiny, underskilled band without proper promo to be big. You have to have an image, yadda yadda. Look at Marylin Manson - pretty average music, but damn, he's a smart marketer. Almost every song carefully written to be a hit, with the exeption of a few. You have to be very, very smart to make it "big". Also, you have to guess the next fad(emo only recently became popular), or be a pioneer (nu metal, metalcore). The chance of you making it big is 0.00000001%.

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I don't think he meant that big. Metal bands, as a rule, don't make it beyond middling size. Playing in a genre that 90% of the population considers noise is like chain-smoking and drinking coffee non-stop when you're seven: it stunts your growth. There are some metal bands that are big by objective standards, just as some kids whose growth should have been stunted reach gigantic stature, but it's the exception, not the rule. If he did mean that big, he should give up the dream now. That's all the advice I have.

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do you realize that youve started 7 fucking threads in the last 24 hours? stop being a cunt.

Jim Root honey.. how about a big, hot cup of SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU RETARD!

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awww sweetie, i love it when you talk dirty
will you be my e-girlfriend?

3 1/2 hours later, and no reply. REJECTED!

and JIMROOT4, I nominate you for chairman of the board of the Stupid and Unecessary Thread Makers Committee! ....Oh...wait, you already got elected! Congatulations!

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hey calm down people , at least he has somet good to say not like other newbies around here, he obviously has a lot to say so dont rip into him

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Do you people realize that if people didn't start threads then their would be no point in the existence of this board?
So shut the fuck up.


I agree with you credit.

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I consider it much harder now to become "big", or even recognized as opposed to 10-15 years ago. Just in my fucking city alone there's about 100-150 metal bands, ranging from Nu-Metal to Nintendo-Metal (yes, it exists) to brutal insane technical shit. And my city isn't even considered a "good" metal city......head east for 2 hours and you arrive in Montreal, and there you've got about a couple thousand metal bands trying to make ends meat.

There's an overload of musicians now, and only about 5% of them are talented. Of the 100's of bands in my city, i think i like about 3 of them; Deamon, Tribunal and probably 1 more that i've forgotten. The rest is shit. You pretty much have to be original nowadays because if you sound like Cannibal Corpse or Morbid Angel, then who the hell is gonna want to listen to you when they have CC or MA that's probably much better to listen to anyways?

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Hmmm. Are you a Canadian, Memnoch?

I live about 3 hours west of Montreal.

There are no good metal bands in my town that I am aware of. Just a couple of gimmick type bands and there somewhat annoying in a sense. It's more like punk/metal. Maybe I'm just jealous.

Good luck making it big anywhere. There are so many more people out there that it will be even harder to stand out. Is this going anywhere?

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Thrash is not doing so well nowadays.

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Melodic death and metalcore are doing better nowadays. I guess it went through phases. Remember when Industrial was big? Hair metal days? Only recently nu metal died off. It's all phases and fads. Emo is going to die soon, but rap and pop are forever kings of the market. I wonder why.

again we forget to mention how getting "big" works. someone mentioned the record companies and being in debt to them. this is quite often true. but of course there is marketing as crimson talked about. you want to make it big? frankly to make it big look at what is selling like mad and copy it. yes it's selling out, no you're not playing deathmetal anymore but you are making money. sucks for it to be that way but frankly there seems to be a tradeoff of musical integrity for paychecks enough to support you. at least early on, i mean if you ever reach metallica status as we've seen you can masturbate onto a cd and ur label will release it with a big smile and will find a way to sell it on your name alone, hell at that point you could record urself taking a shit in the mornings, add a drum beat and theres ur next gold album. but thats just me ranting, i don't think any of us are there yet

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They did on the cover of Load.




Burzum anyone?

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hahaha!

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WhoA! HAH. johnmansley you rascal..

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New Kreator is ment to be awesome, it is on soulseek, very hard to find.

It has to be very difficult to make it big nowadays....especially with the way pop dominates everything. You would figure with the way shit is that more people would listen to metal!!!!

I guess it is all about being lucky...me and my other guitarist were in a guitar store back home (Jacksonville, FL.) a while back and fred durst came in there when me and my boy were jamming out....and he just kinda non-chalantly listened to us...or what not. Anyway, he gave us his card in the parking lot (LOL)....and told us to call if we had anything written.....it didn't take long for that card to get torn the fuck-up and thrown away. Even if that was the only way I could make it "BIG".......I would say fuck that!!!!



Never sell your soul for money



By the way

Is Burzum really that bad? I've never heard them before.

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don't bother.



i guess that could say it all. I liked the music, but Varg isn't a good vocalist at all.

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take a listen man. if you like fucking extreme vocals (albeit, without much talent) then burzum is for you. its actually damn good black metal, his older works.....haha, it beats a kick in the face. and 99% of other black metal.

I am actually embarrased FOR varg when he does vocals.

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I recently decided to download the Burzum catalogue so I could judge it on its own merits rather than on a handful of songs, and I made this discovery: it's not very good. The ambient stuff is fairly peaceful and relaxing (great music to sleep to, especially as he doesn't sing on these tracks), but the metal fails to get past mediocre on every scale I judge music by. I have no idea why the production gets worse with each album, but it does. The vocals will automatically make you feel hungover and don't really convey the emotion that's supposed to justify their atrociousness; other vocalists can do as much or more to sound anguished without also sounding like a grizzly bear's rape victim.

Though it's possible SR Prozak's right and I'm just stuck in the groupthink part of metal history, unable to attain to the level of enlightenment required to appreciate Varg's genius. I doubt, but it's possible.


You shouldn't be. Apparently he wants them to sound like that; he could easily have hired another vocalist when he was free, or not pushed his voice to such an extreme. He seems to be something of a perfectionist (one-man bands often are), so I doubt he'd keep those vocals in the recording if he didn't want them there. Though I am embarassed for an aesthetic that requires that voice.

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That all depends on what you consider big...

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You know how to make it big, u gotta start a EMO CORE band, its the rage, so is hardcore, but alot of hardcore is now selling out, adding clean vocals, acoustics, and etc.. Also NU Metal is still the rage no matter what, but people are looking for a nu metal with more diversity, more heavier influence since peopl are getting in to heavy stuff but also have break downs where the music doesnt get harsh for the labels ceo to fucking hate it indefinately.

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yeah, just you guys wait, youll be seeing gorgasm and psycroptic with britney and rick martin soon enough!

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The whole question is stupid in the first place. It's obvious the kid wants to be "big" above wanting to make good music. There are thousands of awesomely orgasmic bands out there who never make it big(sometimes because they don't have a good ethic, like zero respect towards their fans and/or other bands/genres, sometimes because of poor promo), and he just wants to put together an iffy band out of his school buddies and their dog and be "big". He's selling out before even starting. I don't blame bands who are in debt and are on their last penny for selling out, because it's often the fault of the people who don't buy albums and prefer to download instead, and then scream about the bands changing, but doing something with the intention to be "big" doesn't seem too worthy or ethical to me.

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so true broken... most bands that i listened to just progressed over the years. Take my favorite musician/band for instance, DEATH and chuck. The change from individual thought patterns to symbolic is fucking huge, and no one complained about that one because it was still good music.

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Change in a group is good so long as it's not TOO drastic.

As for making it big and playing metal, it's VERY unlikely. I don't expect to get big, I just like playing the shit.

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exactly

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I think it is still possible to make it big in metal. In Cleveland, the scene is still pretty big. Originality helps of course, it is surprising how many long term bands in cleveland are rap-metal.

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maybe...

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