My musical education took off when I discovered the Metal Hammer Podcast. It was the show that kindled my love of hardcore and introduced me to a whole host of bands that I still love today. When it ended, I was genuinely gutted. It was a weekly insight into heavy music provided by a group of guys who knew what they were talking about. Therefore, I was rather chuffed when Terry Bezer and Stephen Hill, who were both on the aforementioned podcast, started That’s Not Metal. A new podcast which is looking to fill the gap the death of that show left in my life.
Headliners
Where is the next Metallica? Where is the next Iron Maiden? Where is the next (insert big rock and roll band here)? They are questions that pop up at least once a year. Usually around the time that Download announces a batch of headliners who are near identical to the ones announced a couple of years before. But the question is, do we need a new Metallica? Do we need Iron Maiden? Or is this obsession with bands needing to sell out arenas preventing the next generation of metal bands making the step up to festival headliners?
Controlling the Hype
Media hype is an unusual thing. In the last year or so we’ve seen organisations like Team Rock throw their weight behind bands like King 810 and Babymetal, two groups that arguably couldn’t be more different. Yet, both apparently have the dubious honor of being worthy of taking their place as a ‘hyped band’. Whether they would have succeeded with or without that is of course impossible to say, but there’s no denying that they will have come to many people’s attention through the mainstream rock press.
A Modern Masquerade
‘We write songs with massive guitar riffs, but with the catchy hooks of an indie pop song.’ That’s how lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Alex Cameron describes A Modern Masquerade. Having released their first single earlier this year, they are hoping those catchy hooks can lead them to a bright future.
Discover Weekly
With competition rearing its head from Apple Music, Spotify have introduced a new feature. Discover Weekly. A weekly playlist put together by, I assume, an algorithm buried away in Spotify which look at what you’ve listened to and comes up with other bands that it thinks you might like. It’s a nice feature for those wanting to move outside of their musical comfort zone, but does it really work?
Music Vs Money
Gene Simmons has a habit of opening his mouth and having shit spew out. He’s proven himself an ignorant bell end when it come to issues like mental health, but his recent comments on music fans having to bear the brunt of the responsibility for the decline of the music industry are at least interesting.
Bullet For My Valentine: Where Did it all go Wrong?
Here’s a little secret for you, that isn’t actually at all a secret. The first heavy metal band I truly got into was Bullet For my Valentine. They broke at the same time I was moving from Nirvana and Jimmy Eat World onto Metallica and Iron Maiden (not that I stopped loving either of those bands). They were the first band that felt like one of my bands and The Poison is still a cracking album. However, at some point in the last few years things have gone a bit off the rails for Bullet. Rather than, as many predicted, a rise to festival headliner status, they have seen themselves flounder around the same level. Never able to make that next big step.
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Where do we go from here?
Music constantly evolves. For every album that lasts forever, there are thousands that ten years after their release sound dated and old. The world goes past them and that is the natural way of things. However, it doesn’t stop people clinging to the past. You just have to bring up a band like Bring Me the Horizon to a group of diehard metal fans and see the reaction. ‘That’s not metal!’ blah blah blah. All of this ignores the fact that it is without a doubt metal, it is just the next stage in a constantly evolving sound.
Sharon Osbourne and Rock and Roll’s Problem
Towards the end of last week, I made the mistake of stumbling into the comment section of a post on Metal Hammer’s Facebook. Anyone with any experience of that horrible place, will know it tends towards the unpleasant, filled with trolls trolling trolls and people generally acting like dickheads. However, on this particular comment thread people were throwing around an accusation that I have seen many times before and yet still get pissed off at.
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The Rise of the Panther
A hair metal band singing songs about gloryholes. If you were asked, you probably wouldn’t pinpoint that as the kind of band who could headline Wembley Arena. Yet, somehow this last weekend saw that happen, as Steel Panther continued their remarkable rise to the top of the rock and roll food chain. Yet how have they done it? How have a band, that on first glance are little more than an elaborate joke, achieved so much?
Ramblings About Wrestling 