I'm too lazy to write a tailor made reply to your post, so I'll just copy the reply I made to another post in another thread, which seems to work for your point too:
"So, I'm just going to piss on your post for a while.
that was my kind of sarcastic and ironic statement.
i don´t care bout the metalscene anymore, cause I think it´s really embarrassing to say "I´m a metalhead". sad to say, very sad.
it makes we wanna puke to see and read how narrowminded a lot of the so on called "metalheads" are. NO sign of tolerance, NO sign of showing that we are a community. that WE made the metalscene as it were before and as it should be.
no, everyone wants to claim his opinion as the one and only opinion which is right.
the metalsscene seems to be restricted, everything that may be succesful or is big in the media, is "commercial" is "untrue" or "not metal". like metalcore, bands changing there musicstyle - maybe they evolve...
what would had they said 20 years before?
maiden were commercial, they sold millions of records, played before hundred thousands of people.
but times seems changing, younger people think they made a great show of learning.
in MY generation we were happy to listen to new bands, to new kinds of metallike music and to new records.
and THAT was the point what counts, live and let live.
but the new generation don´t seem to be able to do that.
in fact, I think that a lot of younger people are just "music-racists"...
a petition against bands you don´t like, that is so fuckin untrue and against ALL what metal once stand before.
so metal-scene of today - FUCK YOU!
Let me get to my first point. Metal isn't about universal musical openmindedness, and it never fucking has been. Period. If you think otherwise you're living in a fantasy world. Metal is about.... well... metal.
The thrash movement was a rise against the glam movement, the original NWOBHM bands, as well as Sabbath (the original Doom band) were a statement against the rising pop music industry with it's processed and insincere garbage.
To claim that there would be no innovation by the criteria of "true metal" is just more bullshit. It's perfectly possible for bands to innovate their sound without surrendering their integrity. Unfortunately, a lot of the time a band does drastically alter it's direction it is to achieve greater mainstream appeal.
This leads onto the point of "selling out". Selling out doesn't refer to a band selling a lot of albums, it refers to.. now listen carefully to this... a band surrendering it's artistic integrity and abandoning it's original fanbase in the pursuit of money and or fame. The great capitalist nightmare. A band can sell trillions of albums, and they won't be sellouts for that reason in and of itself. Assuming they "stayed true", they will just be a successful / well renowned metal band.
If however that same band suddenly dumbs down their sound, or adapts it in a way to appeal to a more mainstream audience, starts marketing themselves ruthlessly at children, and selling themselves in the mainstream media - while, say, adopting the typical rockstar "I'm better than you" attitude then, yeah, they've sold out. Example? Metallica. They went from playing some great Thrash in the 80's, come the 90's they decided to abandon their original fanbase, drastically alter their sound and change it to a far more simplistic hook-filled style, they cut their hair to appeal to the biggest market of the day (Nu Metal, i.e. shit), began putting themselves in the media limelight at every opportunity, and appearing at as many "mainstream" events as possible.
Despite the fact that Metallica originally became known through bootlegs, they also went on a little crusade against music sharing to ensure that they made as much money as possible.
Now here's the deal... Metal isn't and never has been "mainstream music", it's not something a casual listener is meant to be able to pick up, listen to, and appreciate - it goes deeper than that. It's not just a form of music, it's a lifestyle. It generally appeals to people with a certain mindset, and world view, which is very different from your blind Britney Spears fan. the complexity of the music is something that has to be appreciated properly, it's like a fine wine, not an alcopop (like for example, the pop music industry.)
Add to that the fact that many metal bands, and metal as a whole is counter-cultural, and that a big emphasis of often on the corruption and failures of mainstream society (including the media), how would any self-respecting metal band allow themselves to become just another part of it?
Metal changes and adapts all the time, but changing and selling out are two different things. There is such a thing as true metal whether you like it or not.
I'm from your generation, and I sure as hell don't think like you.
"Corporate rock really does suck" - Carcass."
