Ive had my share of BS growing up in high school in the Bronx being the only black kid into metal I was picked on called a devil worshiper the brother with no soul Oreo cookie whatever but it was at the point where the music gave me such inner power and confidence I did not care. When summer was over and 1st day of school began I came in my ripped jeans and my exodus t-shirt while listening to slayer on my walkman It was at that point I did not care what others thought I was a metal head and proud. At that point secretly they kind of admired me but never admitted it. And when I went to concerts some of the white kids would look at me in surprise like I was a unicorn and would just come over to me and asked questions they were happy about it. This music has been good to me ever since KEEP CALM AND METAL ON
I don't care if it's frowned upon by people. You do you, I'll do me. Personal freedom is what makes the west so great and why metal and rock in general became a thing.
Are you like a social justice crusader for metal or something? You don't have to act like people are threatened by you because your t-shirt has a fucking skull on it, because they probably arent.
metallitron9000 So you wouldn't feel proud of helping and elderly person? What if op is just a genuinely nice person? And with that said why wouldn't you want to remove a negative stigma from yourself, if in fact you are a nice person?
You don't get it. We have nothing to prove, and shouldn't feel like we are somehow a group misconceived. I have volunteered as an EMT for 5 years of my life and know what it is like to truly help the elderly and other people in need. Im not saying people shouldnt feel proud for helping people in need or for being nice to people. What I am saying is that you should not feel ashamed for liking metal when showing it to the public. Be yourself and let the judgmental people determine for themselves whether the metalheads they meet in their life are decent people or not. Going out of your way to prove to people that you are somehow a good guy when wearing metal attire is like admitting that you associate with a bad crowd and feel the need to act better than them. I take offense to this; we are the same as anybody else and should not have to prove it to fucking anyone.
My brother is a prog head, I like death Metal, and my other brother likes classic rock. So I’m pretty lucky. I know a rap fan in my school who likes Megadeth and Slayer and they even once played Black Sabbath’s Paranoid on the bell once.
bang your head ..they also have forgotten when they were young themselves btw, my brother in law used to needle me about it.. until the day I told him... " the genre of music that I love isn't something that you'd listen to" and the teasing stopped
I will start making more metal covers on my channel to show people a different side of metal, I only got a Metallica cover and I was drunk when I made it. lol
Well son, back in the early days of rock and heavy metal yeah it was frowned upon even when I first became an even dressed like a metalhead in 1989. We had the PMRC and awesome spokesman like D Snyder to handle them. But my personal experience of wearing a leather jacket even around town was people would avoid me, in crowds would part like Moses was parting the sea lol. It was pretty empowering lol
Lisa C I had a bunch of samoan kids try to talk shit untill I turned around. Most of them are cowards once they realise you may be about to do something.
Lisa, it's a shame that you weren't born at a time when metal wasn't looked down upon at all... the late 60s... I was a kid back in the early 70s& I got into heavy metal through deep purple& Uriah Heep
Exactly, most people honestly won't really care what you listen too, they will be surprised at first and have some questions. But they will respect your music taste, even if they dont like it at all.
I was wearing a Pantera T- shirt and a person said to me "You don't look like the type of person that's into that kind of music" Lol I said "you have no idea. Lol I said I love Death, Cannibal Corpse, Slayer and on and on. Lol. I have been a metal head for 30 years and I normally dress very girlie girl. Lol Oh and I am from the suburbs of Washington DC
This is been going on since Metal was created. Even more so today but there’s a HUGE fan base for metal in general so it will never tear them down. Like the song from Iron Savior “Heavy Metal never dies” we need to keep it alive
I'd say my personal experience is fairly similar to yours, but I was more bullied for being a bookworm than being into metal. I get the occasional "cut your hair" or "urgh, what is that noise?", but I've never really had anyone go "you shouldn't be listening to that" or looking down on me for it, and yeah, I've had a few people ask about the t-shirts I wear too which can be pretty nice. The closest I think I've come to having my music "frowned upon" is when we've been talking at work about what music we'd put on if we could have control of the sound system. The only two genres, more or less, that have been outright "banned" in these discussions are metal and, I suppose, "gangster rap" (the one with people swearing a lot, seems to be the general thinking). I completely agree with them, though, given that we work in a shop. The lyrics, for the most part, can be aggressive, dark, shocking, and divisive, while the music can be equally as jarring, I guess, if it's not something you like. If you're not into it, it's hard to just walk into without expecting to walk into it, and I think generally it is harder to tolerate or put up with metal than most other music, especially given how more widely represented other music is. But that's not really "frowned upon" and more a group recognition that while it is my thing, and that's fine, it's not going to be for everyone, especially compared to what they would have put on in this extremely hypothetical scenario :P (plus, I do get to play my music at work when I'm working in the deli on my own, so win win for me! Solitude at work and metal for 9 hours :D )
That's been my experience, even in the "Bible Belt" - you get a few jerks everywhere (and I can't think of a single one who I could say "bullied" me over music), and in the Bible Belt you still get a bit of the Satanic-Panic thing where I get warned that my soul is in peril for listening to music and concern that I will commit suicide or get eaten by Satan or something, while for the most part women in my experience just don't "get it" even when they try to listen to it, but over all, it seems more like an unusual but harmless hobby to the vast majority of people, with the worst "bullying" I get as an adult over metal being a shrug, a vaguely puzzled look, and a comment like "you don't look like one of THOSE people, the sort that would listen to THAT!" In other words, I've kind of isolated myself with my favorite music, but I can't really say I've singled myself out for "bullying". I also totally got more grief for being a bookworm, and that grief happened mostly as a youngster - as the man says in the video, after high school, people have much bigger fish to fry. I would say I started listening to the music I did in high school because I felt like an outsider, thanks to the hassle I got for being a socially anxious and unpopular nerd, more than the other way around. Instead of getting "frowned upon" for most of my adult life, it seems like people will try the meet me on some sort of middle ground if they can by trying to talk about whatever the popular version of metal has been over the last several years, which is awesome of them to make the effort, but I can never do more than say I vaguely recognize the band names (the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Soundgarden, Creed, Slipknot, Metallica, or whoever), and I usually get more mileage by talking more popular '70s and '80s music, since that's more likely to be a musical taste that I have in common with other people, than trying to explain Obituary, Celtic Frost, Carnage, Arcturus, Emperor, or something to someone who is lucky if they can pick a Black Sabbath or Iron Maiden song out of a line-up.
I loved those Swedish death bands, still do... I'll be the first to say they would generally become a mass-produced assembly-line product manufactured by about the same dozen musicians at the same studio with the same producer with the same sound effects CD and same album cover artist, but it was a quality mass-produced assembly-line product, and hit all the right spots for me. Carnage, though, was special - the songs were just weird, always going in strange and unexpected directions, and Michael Amott's guitar leads sounded like something from a hellish alien planet - like they didn't follow any human musical theory, but still came across as music.... There was almost a psychedelic, mind-altering quality to their one and only album. Beautiful stuff! 'Dark Recollections' is the first Swedish death metal album I reach for when I'm in the mood for Swedish death metal!
I started listening to metal when I was around 14. Never made a big deal out of it, just like nobody else made of their choice of music. Most people knew what my music taste was like, and they were just as cool about it as someone liking say blues, reggae or just mainstream pop. The only difference is that I don't get shared the same songs they like, because they know I'm not a huge fan of pop. That's pretty much it, people have different interests in every subject and they seem to acknowledge that just as well as I am.
I've been listening to metal since age 4 with classics like kiss, acdc, areosmith, maiden, black Sabbath and as usual the older I got the more extreme the bands I listened to got heavier. I would get the rare comment of "is that devil music" by peers once in a long as while. But in the grand scheme of things people I know are usually fascinated with the artwork and aesthetics within the metal genre. And like it's said in some of the comments below; METAL IS GETTING STRONGER 🤘😎🤘
I think it depends on where you live. When I was younger, people on the street used to give me shit. Now, not so much. When I’m In a smaller city, then you can definitely see the stigma. On the European continent it’s much more widely accepted I find
*Lives in a relatively small city in Florida* You know I think you have a point, even though Florida, along with New York and California, is one of the most metal states of the country.
Kaelan McAlpine - I’m not even in America (where I would have thought it would be more liberal) I’m in Ireland where people generally don’t like metal. When I travel though people do seem to be more open minded
Gee I wonder how Jacksepticeye was treated in Ireland assuming he said anything about it. Though I think as of right now, America is more on the conservative side and I'm guessing we flip flop between those two every 8 years for the most part, at least as late. Though the South tends to be almost exclusively so. I would know since I live here. Meanwhile I'm basically the in the very center of it all, though it's most likely because I just refuse to give a shit about politics in general.
Kaelan McAlpine - I tbh never heard of him before so I checked him out. He’s got a strange blend of Irish and American accent I think. He seems to be a gamer? I could be wrong though as I turned him off after about a minute. Yeah. I guess politics does play a lot into people’s mindset. I’ve travelled around America a bit. Was in the Bible Belt which was an interesting experience. Lovely people in general but very conservative and not appreciative of my clothing choices. New York was drastically different as to how I was treated. Both great but in different ways. It’s the same here though, go to smaller cities than where I am (Dublin, the capital) and people do not like or appreciate you being different to them. Conservatism at its best
Missi McCarthy in my home town it is much easier to notice, but now I am living in a student city and only old ladies and foreign store owners give me side eye
The only time I’ve seen anyone has had a problem with me liking metal is my parents understandably expressing concern for the lyrical themes I’m exposing myself to. At the end of the day though, they trust my judgement.
My father, bless him, was the same way - he kind of shook his head at the music, shrugged, and said something like "Why not? It's not like I didn't listen to my fair share of noise... I've got a Yoko Ono album somewhere that bugs your parents more than anything you've got!" (He had a point - I called his bluff, and the old man wins in the bug-your-parents department!) Both my parents were curious/watchful about what I was doing, and somewhat concerned about the morbid themes of everything I was interested in, but left it up to me what I was into at the end of the day, and managed to mostly strike a good balance between neglect and over-protection.
I started listening to Metal when I was 13, but the problem is my stepdad wouldn't let me listen to Metal, because he's strict and I had to get away from him. Now I moved out, I can listen to Metal anytime I like and I'm stoked to be a metalhead.
ChronoWind He has everything against metal. Whenever I listen to metal, he starts flipping out at me and all he does is look at metal like it's poison music and it's for devil worshippers. All he wants me to listen to is that poser ass shit ass garbage r&b music.
The only real experience I have with getting shit for liking heavy metal was when I saw Slayer in Charlotte (that was also my first time in the moshpit) there was a guy protesting with a megaphone outside the venue (I have footage of it on my channel) He gave everyone a good laugh I told him I'd see him in hell😂
Honestly, I have never been given all that much of a hard time for liking metal. My brother used to take minor jabs at me here and there when I was a teen and I had a "best friend" who would constantly rag on me for liking metal and rock, but I didn't let it bother me all that much. I just cranked it up and had my fun the way I saw fit.
I think it really depends on the type of metal, you’re definitely going to get more looks if you’re wearing and aborted, cattle decapitation or cannibal corpse shirt than if you wore a Metallica shirt. I don’t think that the more extreme genres will be accepted worldwide for a long time
Lol I'm wearing a Cannibal Corpse shirt right now. I actually changed into it the day my family went to Disney Springs. Not to freak anyone out, though I would be surprised if that didn't happen, but more like to create an inside joke on Disney and the song Hammer Smashed Face.
Shay B That is true. My Black Metal shirts and my cannibal corpse shirt definitely gets me more lookd than say my Iron Maiden, Arch Enemy and Pantera shirts
I know that some of my friends was afraid of me when we first met, i've also been stared at by all kinds of people! And a older man even thought i was going to beat him up! 😅 #Metallife
My personal experiences with metal overall were pretty pleasant to say the least! I met a few people at high school who liked metal and managed to have pleasant conversations about bands and different sub genres of metal. When people asked me about my taste in music, they are usually surprised or confused since my appearance is not "the typical metalhead" but what I listen to has been never frown upon. I think it's important to understand that music taste is subjective and if someone listen to something different the best way to handle the situation is just respecting what that person listen to and not act like the asshole from the truck in your story. I really enjoy the video, your way of thinking, the band recommendation and, you have earned a new sub! Greetings from Mexico \m/
being a finn, people probaply expect metal being mainstream here and playing on the radio which isnt entirely true, i would say metal music is more accepted here and i know a lot of people from all ages who listen to metal from just school and such, but we still have the obnoxious electronic pop music that other first world countrys have that is the mainstream music that plays on the radio. although we do have a couple hard rock bands that get radio play aswell and are actually quite popular. the difference with Finland and lets say USA when it comes to metal is that its just more accepted and of course we just have fucking tons of bands, even my own aunt is in a black metal band
I'm married to a Finn and Finns listen to more suomipop, electronic and hiphop. It's usually the Swedish speakers that lean towards metal. Being from NZ, my wife was surprised by the casual way metal heads (or bogans too) are just part of the culture. But do go hostile towards anything like Nu-metal to Symphonic. My own sister became a crowd fave when she shouted about a band having opera in their metal: "We didn't bloody come here to be cultured!". It's all we understand being at the ends of the earth really. It can vary on the genre too.
I used to get a lot of shit from people, partially about being a metalhead and partially because I’m nerdy, unathletic, and obsessed with music, but once I got into high school it actually all changed. I still get stares a lot but I’m so used to it now and I don’t even notice it anymore. I think part of it has to do with the fact that I’ve established myself within my school (I’m hugely involved in the music/theatre departments) and the fact that people are more open nowadays if that makes any sense. This isn’t really important but it was just kinda what I was thinking so thanks for reading if you did, I guess
It is actually funny to see that your experience with non-metalheads people is very close to mine, I live in France (at Dunkirk to be more precise), and actually, people don't give a damn of my clothes or my music, there are even some people that say "I love your style" or "I love your jacket", I'm very fine with it. ^^
I grew up in the Dad metal era and got bullied. It made me a etter person. Some fellow students were shocked when I told the. I was seeing Iron Maiden in 1987.
I used to get picked on and my parents still don’t understand it but mostly now a days people just accept it and therefore accept me for liking it. Good video today some good points as well
I live in romania and i am 14. The teachers are bigger assholes than the kids. The music teacher saw that I was wearing an overkill shirt and that I had pierced my ear. She found it fiting to ask whether I was planning to finish school.
I was never a metal head myself, but I enjoy being friends with them. The only reason I really have any metal in my music collection to begin with is because I’m a Cthulhu Mythos fan, & all of the multi-song albums (barring OSTs & the like) that I’ve been able to find based entirely around stuff from it happen to be metal.
Great points man. Yeah back when i was a kid i did get bullied or picked on. I remember once getting bottles chucked at me from a car driving past. I guess i was a weird looking teenager at the time. Now a days no one would do anything of the sort. And like you said many times regular people would compliment my vest and ask questions about it. Probably because i look like a reasonable and pleasant person. Last year i was at an all inclusive resort, fuck yeah i was on the beach wearing a metal vest. I was constantly being approached
At some points the whole class would dedicate a few minutes everyday to ridiculing or making fun of me for the music i like and my t shirts and how i dress my friends all told me to sit at a different table they made songs and shit making fun of me and it got to the point where the teacher went to the guidance counselor requesting to have my classes switched however because i left that table i ended up sitting with a girl who also liked rock and heavier music etc. And who ALSO was starting to be resented by her friends because of it now all these months later me and her are dating and its completely flipped my life on its head im happier than ever and i have my asshole classmates to thank for that 🙄🤘🖕
People need to realize that Metal brings out the Warrior spirit for those who listen to it and take it to heart. Metal kicks us in the ass and helps us get shit done.
I haven't met anyone that gave me shit for liking heavy metal. What usually happens is they say something like "I fucking hate the music, but you do you" if it comes up in discussion.
I grew up in cal&there were so many metal heads never had any bs i started rocking metal at 13&stil rocking metal at 50. I live in pa now&i get some weird looks some times but no haters.
In the 1990's it was very frowned upon but after 2000 I saw no big issues except with my stepdad after 2000. I've never had any big fights over it with any strangers in public.
I was more made fun of for my weight rather than my musical taste. I got into metal when I bought Iron maidens powerslave. Still love that album and still listen to it without skipping a track.
I'm like the only metalhead in my whole town, and because of that people se me as a cool guy even though sometimes I get weird looks from people because they just don't understand the music. But generally I can't complain.
My experience is somewhat similar, though I've had less outright positivity about it and more ambivalence. I find most people simply don't care, and aren't interested at all. I do find that it being a somewhat niche interest, alongside most of my other interests being in a somewhat similar category, can make things challenging socially, but that's not an issue with it being frowned upon so much as it just makes it hard for me to find things in common with most people. They don't look down on it, really, they simply aren't interested.
i have been put down for liking HEAVY METAL all my life and still am were i live they like rap or country so i have been a outcast all my life and i am 53 and nothing has really changed but back in the 80's it was never that way till the 90's people look at me now like a oddball but i don't care METAL IN MY HEART TILL THE DAY I DEPART!!!!!!! METAL ALLWAYS RULEZ!!!!!! love your vids please keep it up
1. When I was in high school. My teachers thought metal would die off in a few years. That was in the 90's. 2. I got into metal in the early hair metal days. I was like 5 years old. I saw MTV for the first time. They had this long haired lead guitarist going. I thought so this is what all the cool people are into. I was a poser ever sence.
There seems to be a sort of 'uprising' (for lack of a better term) of awareness about the genre. A lot of modern day hip hop is influenced by metal and occult themes, and things like tattoos, body piercings, etc. has become a lot more mainstream. I mean, there are all these rap-loving UA-camrs doing reaction videos of metal songs, and they all seem to be pretty open minded. Nowadays it's a lot less common to be picked on for liking metal or other non-mainstream genres because more people either listen to it, respect it, or have a better understanding of it.
From my personal experience or at least my one from school is that people usually don’t even pay attention when I wear band shirts and if they do it’s other metal heads and they say nice shirt and shoot the devil horns and that’s about it
I had some guy walk past me in college today, he was with a few girls and he put his fingers in a cross at me, implying I was some sort of demon or whatever. They all started giggling and walked away. So I don't know if it's frowned upon by kids but it's definitely joked on. It's annoying that these people think us wearing metal shirts and battle jackets entitles them to take the piss.
from my experience, ive barely had any problems at all. the only person whos ever given me any trouble is my dad. but other than that all my friends dont care at all and ive actually gotten a few to start liking it. most people who know i listen to metal at my school just understand that it's a personal taste in music and it really has no difference in the way i have to act and dress
I got yelled at by someone just because I asked him why he wore a Maiden shirt when doesn’t even like metal. He started yelling at me and his friends joined in.
It also depends on the visual aspect how you were supposed to dress like and the genre I listen to. When I was younger I listen to rock and then gradually to heavy metal. In my experience being a girl it was different people question who I liked why I liked them. It was never for the sound and talent. The only reason they thought I like them was for how the looked. It was always what is your favorite song ,album , etc. I got the third degree by people who listen to metal and everyone else.
My music taste ranges all the way from Beethoven to Death Metal. It all just depends on my mood for what I listen to that certain day, although Metal and pop punk are my favorite genres of all time.
I’m surprised that people are still being bullied today because they like Heavy Metal. I never got bullied for being a metalhead, however I did turn to Metal because I was being bullied and I wanted to be a part of a community that understands what it’s like to be different simply because of the fact that they enjoy Heavy Metal. I don’t know exactly how it did so but simply expanding my tastes for Heavy Metal by playing guitar, learning about new bands, and things of that nature have made me who I am today, and has put me on the path of becoming a musician myself. I should also mention that it has surprisingly made people more accepting of me. Idk if it’s because they want to know more about Metal or if they think my long hair and my band tees are cool or whatever it may be.
I was in a city where is a huge metal shop in germany, when me and my friend went to the bus station some guys were waitinh for the green light, at the beginning they were really nice to us and then they started to make fun of us for the way we looked like. It was pretty strange. Then one of them has threathened us and they drove off
I get looked down on a lot and people tend to avoid me for having long hair and wearing band tees in my high school, its bullshit but like at the end of the day im doing me and im not afraid to be myself and i dont think a lot of people who take the piss on me can say the same.
I have never had the problem with being bullied, I just finished I guess you could call it high school here in sweden, I’m sixteen and I haven’t to this day ever had a problem where someone criticized for listening to metal. Sure, people have asked What it is i like about it, but not in an asshole kinda way, they have always been respectful, and most of my classmates were metalheads aswell, but not all of them! Sometimes it could lead to some pretty heated discussions, but it always got solved and at the end of the day everyone were still friends
Great video bro! Here's a think though, some of us don't look like someone who loves metal. I mean like you for instance, you wear your heart or should I say band logo on the back of your jacket. I would love to wear my favorite band shirts but I'm big dude so it's hard to find them. I'm also really not into the spiked collars or the battle jackets or the spike bracelets that's just not my thing. So I just let the music do the talking LOL.
In middle and high school, I only really got ripped on by people who only listened to rap, so I didn't care much for it. Recently at work, a couple coworkers called my music trash. Like one girl came over and turned my Meshuggah off and said "I know music and that isn't music" and was adamant that I stop playing it. I paused it until she walked away and put it back on. I personally don't care if people dislike me liking metal, I get more offended when they say it isn't music or go out of their way (like my one coworker) to rib me on it. But even then, it's no big deal. I like the music I like, and they can have whatever opinion they want on what I like.
Here in Chile, (almost?) Every time that there's an Iron Maiden concert there is at least a preacher in the waiting line yelling to the maiden fans for going to the concert. So yeah, it is frowned upon, but it depends on what kind of person is expressing the opinion
Only people who don't get metal think it's frowned upon. My mom is 62 and she's into the stuff I'm into. Which is Amon Amarth, Anthrax, Testament, etc. So therefore it isn't frowned upon. Good video by the way :)
Ok so being into metal for basically my whole 16 years of life and living in the direct middle of Florida should hopefully give someone an idea of what it's like to be me. Add that to me liking video games and anime and me being kind of quiet and see where it goes from there.
I have lived here my entire twenty years and never meet another metal head. I know of a few people who like the classics, but not really anything else. So, where is everyone hiding?
It seems many American metal heads are only into the classics and thrash. Personally I'm really into black metal and it's very hard to meet like minded people in small town Missouri. I guess just try to go to shows and talk to people there or save up and move to a bigger city.
It seems frowned upon by some people where I live, because nearly all of the local venues where I live refuse to allow metal bands of any kind perform there. But then again, these local venues don't even allow punk, hard rock, or even pop-punk (!) bands to book shows. Almost anything that gets accepted is country music, fiddle music, and acoustic folk music. If the owners of these venues don't like metal music, that's their opinion and I respect that, but make no mistakes, this is pretty frustrating for people into anything other than the genres that typically get booked. I know people into alternative and indie rock who wish more alternative and indie rock shows could come here. There are others who are more into rap music that have expressed their frustrations about the minimum of rap gigs in the area. However, metal is by far the most difficult genre to find shows of within a two hour radius of where I live, and the most difficult to try and arrange a show for. Where I live, there might be about two, maybe three metal shows a year within a two hour radius of where I live. It's the least represented genre by a landslide. The sad thing is, there's a metal show that is coming here next month (there is one punk band on the bill, but two metal bands, so it's a metal show), and I can't attend because of my work schedule (I can't actually book time off or have a temporary schedule change, so I'm not able to attend). Given that it's incredibly rare for a metal show to come here, it makes me incredibly sad that I can't attend it.
I guess it all depends on where you live or who's around you. Not metal per se, but Sophie Lancaster was a goth who was killed for how she looked and what she listened to, but I'm sure most people haven't been in a situation like that thankfully.
yeah my view on it is that its not frowned upon its just that people don't understand why we like it or what the people who like it are like. i just wish people would ask more questions rater than being ignorant , i really hate it when people ask somethinmg then ignore or start talking to a friend when i try to answer like this girl who was asking about the pentagrams on my slayer hat cus she thought it was a cult thing?
So I wasn't really able to get too deep into metal as a teen, so a lot of it's still new to me. I lived in a more reserved family, so I was only really able to dabble in Alt-Metal and Nu-Metal (Korn, Slipknot, Marilyn Manson, yeah I had that phase). Why? Because it wasn't the sound that bothered them. The imagery for a lot of Heavy Metal, Thrash, Doom.....pretty much anything not Iron Maiden, Slayer, Metallica, or Black Sabbath was really off putting for them. And that really ties into my experience with the "Everyone hates metal" stigma. I always got more comments on the look, rather than the music itself. Whenever I blare Terrorizer, or Dystopia no one really pays much mind. But the second I step out wearing a Cannibal Corpse or Obituary t-shirt, or have on spiked anything, that's when I get the head turns, the eyebrow raises, and the occasional "I didn't know I was better than you" sneer. But even then, it was never world ending. Just let it go and move on. I've met and made good friends thanks to metal, so I consider it a win.
Even though I'm still in high school, I've only had one experience where heavy metal was looked down upon. One time in my personal fitness class, which is simply my workout gym in school, I wanted to blast out my music, consisting of AC/DC, Guns N' Roses, 'Black Album era' Metallica, Iron Maiden, and one song from X Japan, to name a few bands. There was a sophomore in my class who came up to me and said that my music was "suicidal" music. What I consider "suicidal" music would be what I call "teen angst" bands such as My Chemical Romance, Skillet, Three Days Grace, Papa Roach, etc. (Disagree with me all you want. That's what I consider "teen angst"). I didn't want to make a big fuss about it because I have a "don't give a fuck" attitude on certain situations. Now, funnily enough, the sophomore described my music in a little boy voice, as if a 9 year old's vocal cords was transplanted into a 5'4 or 5'3 16 year old. In addition, prior to that time in personal fitness, I saw him wearing a Metallica shirt and when asked if he likes the band, he doesn't though he's been to a concert with his dad and in my head, I go nuts as in, "Dude, you call that suicidal if that's classic dad rock?" Okay, sure, some metal songs in the 70's-80's may have had suicidal lyrics, though in my opinion they're more associated with emo and alternative bands. Some weeks later, the sophomore blasts out his music and jokingly puts on some fucking remix of "Bodies" by Drowning Pool (a.k.a Let the Bodies Hit the Floor), assuming he was calling me out though he didn't say it directly. At that point, I still didn't give a fuck and thought, "Eh, metal has a bad reputation anyway, so why care?"
It's interesting that you point out how most metal fans become fans in middle school/high school. I was one of the kids that didn't like metal at all (I never gave anyone shit, though). It's only now, at THIRTY FUCKING YEARS OLD, that I'm really starting to get into metal. Which is kinda weird. So I don't really get any shit for it. Most people my age have better things to do than give someone else shit for their taste in music. I miss being a teenager in some respects but there are definitely nice things about being an adult and being around other adults.
I mean, to be fair, I’ve been made fun of for listening to metal (mostly things like death metal and deathcore), but usually, people frowning upon metal just makes it better.
My experience is pretty much the opposite of yours. I never had trouble with friends or people from school making fun of me or pick on me because I’m a metalhead. But, growing up in a religious family (my grandpa was a preacher) and living in a Christian/conservative town, the adults were the ones I had trouble with. A couple of times I would have adults walk over to me and look me up and down and then just shake theirs heads and walk off without saying a work. Not to mention the numerous time I had adults pull me off to the side of a group of people and try to tell me I was going to hell for listening to “the devils music” and how they could help me repent and come to Jesus. While it drove me absolutely insane, it just made me love metal even more!
I was about 15 or so when I got into metal and I just got into homeschooling a year before so I’ve never experienced any bullying besides like people my age on the streets would call me a Satanist and I would just stare at them or ignore them lmao. Mostly because I wore a pentagram necklace though. But I had a kid one time about a year younger than me sitting there telling me that Heavy Metal sucks and Kendrick Lamar was way better so I kinda started to argue with him lol But as I grew up I realized that older people had a lot of respect for me because I reminded them of themselves when they were younger lol. But I feel like back in the 80s you would get a lot of hate for being a Metalhead but now days the older people were into the rock and roll and metal when for them back in their days the older people were hardcore Christians. But main times I get people saying something to me is when I wear an inverted cross or pentagram even then I don’t have much people saying anything ,they mostly look kinda nervous and frightened lmfao. But I’m 18 now so yeah lol if anything I probably look intimidating so people are scared to say anything.
I come from Ecuador, and I can say there’s actually a true stigma about Heavy music, not only extreme or satanic related music (which are actually things that are strange or incorrect to common people). I got into metal when I was 10, listening to stuff like Guns N Roses, Kiss and Metallica, and all I remember (and not only from my relatives, but from my classmates and even strangers) was constantly getting bullied about the things I was kin to. But appart of my experience, talking to other people in my country about their idea of metalheads was always the same, and it was “They are just a bunch of misfits, drug addicts and devil worshipers who are dumb dirty and worthless”... Now, this way of thinking is almost over because some people (specially young people between 20 to 25) opened their minds to what was feared before, but there are still guys out there who keep this stupid idea. Let’s just be ourselves and let others be too, freedom is what society needs for me.
I was more of a punk in the early teens, I would spike my hair with jell, go out with my dad, and because am in a wheelchair, he would take my seat belt off, reach over and purposely mess my hair. He doesn't like the music I like, but he also grew up with Black Sabbath and Deep Purple, so
People always said they hated metal to me and then I showed them that metal was one of the most varied types of music there is and there's no way in hell you don't like it at least in some form. I also do want you did tell people to fuck off then ignored them as they should be ignored.
Just say metal not heavy metal, you probably know heavy metal is a specific genre of metal, if you are talking about all of it in general say “metal” not “heavy metal”, besides that I love your channel keep it up!
some guy asked me if i worshipped the Devil because the band i listened was As Blood Runs Black the song was “My Fears Have Become Phobias” i posted it on my snapchat story and he heard it and when he met me irl he thought i was weird,i mainly listen to Christian Metal though, one time i played Impending Doom and my sister thought they were Satanist i told her they are a christian band and there are many christian genres but she didn’t listen to me,if she read the lyrical content then maybe it might changed her mind the song i played by Impending Doom was Nailed.Dead.Risen off of their album Nailed.Dead.Risen
So far I haven't gotten too much crap from people about liking metal. Mostly only older men will mess with me about my hair however, I get a lot of compliments from women about it.
Personally I haven’t gotten any hate for liking metal , I’ve only found that when I tell metalheads I like other genres or occasionally a pop artist they’re the ones giving hate or calling me a “ poser “ or some other shit. 😂 I didn’t know I could ONLY like metal bands I guess I didn’t get the memo
Most of the students at my Highschool think that I'm a Satanist or a Neo Nazi. I love it! They are too afraid to ask me for help or something like that, and most important...they know that it is not wise to play pop or rap when I'm around🤘
Papi Loto I wouldn't blame peoplr thinking I was a Neo Nazi considering the brother I np longer talk to is one. But it is purely dumb to judge someone from.music ttaste
From my experience it's a fairly even mix between hate and interest, for every old woman on a bus telling me I need god or bastard shouting at me in the street (I don't live in a very accepting or diverse area) there's the same if not a larger amount of people who take interest in me for my jacket and obscure band shirts or people interested in my view of stuff due to my slightly alternative appearance. It seems to be younger or less educated people who take the piss and older people who don't care or are interested
Ive had my share of BS growing up in high school in the Bronx being the only black kid into metal I was picked on called a devil worshiper the brother with no soul Oreo cookie whatever but it was at the point where the music gave me such inner power and confidence I did not care. When summer was over and 1st day of school began I came in my ripped jeans and my exodus t-shirt while listening to slayer on my walkman It was at that point I did not care what others thought I was a metal head and proud. At that point secretly they kind of admired me but never admitted it. And when I went to concerts some of the white kids would look at me in surprise like I was a unicorn and would just come over to me and asked questions they were happy about it. This music has been good to me ever since KEEP CALM AND METAL ON
Fuck yea man, wear that shit with pride!
THANKS MAN MUCH LOVE IN LIFE AND THE PIT \M/ \M/
man, the brother with no soul oreo cookie must be your slogan, keep it brutal mate
Power to the metal people dude
Metal is inherited from rock, which from what I know was black american music
"They can't stop us - let 'em try.
For heavy metal, we will die!" - Manowar
DEthe5150 \m/
I'm looking for a patch that says that for my vest!
DEthe5150 ... i've seen you... comment on Vargs Video \m/
“A metal heart is hard to tear apart!” - HammerFall
Could Dio be a precursor band for power metal ?
I don't care if it's frowned upon by people. You do you, I'll do me. Personal freedom is what makes the west so great and why metal and rock in general became a thing.
Seriously Mikey, I think that Metal is the music of the middle class..
what do you think?
the west has almost no personal freedom anymode
When wearing my metal stuff in public I’m always super polite and respectful.
Sounds like me.
Are you like a social justice crusader for metal or something? You don't have to act like people are threatened by you because your t-shirt has a fucking skull on it, because they probably arent.
Jay Volner same
metallitron9000 So you wouldn't feel proud of helping and elderly person? What if op is just a genuinely nice person? And with that said why wouldn't you want to remove a negative stigma from yourself, if in fact you are a nice person?
You don't get it. We have nothing to prove, and shouldn't feel like we are somehow a group misconceived.
I have volunteered as an EMT for 5 years of my life and know what it is like to truly help the elderly and other people in need. Im not saying people shouldnt feel proud for helping people in need or for being nice to people. What I am saying is that you should not feel ashamed for liking metal when showing it to the public. Be yourself and let the judgmental people determine for themselves whether the metalheads they meet in their life are decent people or not. Going out of your way to prove to people that you are somehow a good guy when wearing metal attire is like admitting that you associate with a bad crowd and feel the need to act better than them. I take offense to this; we are the same as anybody else and should not have to prove it to fucking anyone.
My brother is a prog head, I like death Metal, and my other brother likes classic rock. So I’m pretty lucky.
I know a rap fan in my school who likes Megadeth and Slayer and they even once played Black Sabbath’s Paranoid on the bell once.
Haha i was just listening to Darkthrone's the wind of 666 black hearts and the look on my stepdads face was brilliant.
people who criticize heavy metal are close minded anyway, so their opinion does not matter
bang your head ..they also have forgotten when they were young themselves
btw, my brother in law used to needle me about it.. until the day I told him...
" the genre of music that I love isn't something that you'd listen to"
and the teasing stopped
I will start making more metal covers on my channel to show people a different side of metal, I only got a Metallica cover and I was drunk when I made it. lol
I agree
Well son, back in the early days of rock and heavy metal yeah it was frowned upon even when I first became an even dressed like a metalhead in 1989. We had the PMRC and awesome spokesman like D Snyder to handle them. But my personal experience of wearing a leather jacket even around town was people would avoid me, in crowds would part like Moses was parting the sea lol. It was pretty empowering lol
Lisa C I had a bunch of samoan kids try to talk shit untill I turned around. Most of them are cowards once they realise you may be about to do something.
Lisa, it's a shame that you weren't born at a time when metal wasn't looked down upon at all... the late 60s... I was a kid back in the early 70s& I got into heavy metal through deep purple& Uriah Heep
Exactly, most people honestly won't really care what you listen too, they will be surprised at first and have some questions. But they will respect your music taste, even if they dont like it at all.
I was wearing a Pantera T- shirt and a person said to me "You don't look like the type of person that's into that kind of music" Lol I said "you have no idea. Lol I said I love Death, Cannibal Corpse, Slayer and on and on. Lol. I have been a metal head for 30 years and I normally dress very girlie girl. Lol Oh and I am from the suburbs of Washington DC
do you have to say "LOL" after every sentence? It makes you look stupid....
Please dont say lol this much
The more they hate us the stronger we get. That's the motto I live by.
They can never conquer the wolves (metalheads) !!
No one hates you. Stop thinking you are special.
I love you too
Opuskrokus thx for not hating use.
I actually do hate you, not for being metalheads but for playing the victim. Boohoo ppl are mean to meee!
This is been going on since Metal was created. Even more so today but there’s a HUGE fan base for metal in general so it will never tear them down. Like the song from Iron Savior “Heavy Metal never dies” we need to keep it alive
Yah I dont think i've even been asked the most stereotypical question of "how do you like that screaming shit?" since high school.
I'd say my personal experience is fairly similar to yours, but I was more bullied for being a bookworm than being into metal. I get the occasional "cut your hair" or "urgh, what is that noise?", but I've never really had anyone go "you shouldn't be listening to that" or looking down on me for it, and yeah, I've had a few people ask about the t-shirts I wear too which can be pretty nice.
The closest I think I've come to having my music "frowned upon" is when we've been talking at work about what music we'd put on if we could have control of the sound system. The only two genres, more or less, that have been outright "banned" in these discussions are metal and, I suppose, "gangster rap" (the one with people swearing a lot, seems to be the general thinking). I completely agree with them, though, given that we work in a shop. The lyrics, for the most part, can be aggressive, dark, shocking, and divisive, while the music can be equally as jarring, I guess, if it's not something you like. If you're not into it, it's hard to just walk into without expecting to walk into it, and I think generally it is harder to tolerate or put up with metal than most other music, especially given how more widely represented other music is.
But that's not really "frowned upon" and more a group recognition that while it is my thing, and that's fine, it's not going to be for everyone, especially compared to what they would have put on in this extremely hypothetical scenario :P
(plus, I do get to play my music at work when I'm working in the deli on my own, so win win for me! Solitude at work and metal for 9 hours :D )
Marc Telfer I dunno, when I worked into an electronics store and heard Megadeth I felt pretty damn good.
That's been my experience, even in the "Bible Belt" - you get a few jerks everywhere (and I can't think of a single one who I could say "bullied" me over music), and in the Bible Belt you still get a bit of the Satanic-Panic thing where I get warned that my soul is in peril for listening to music and concern that I will commit suicide or get eaten by Satan or something, while for the most part women in my experience just don't "get it" even when they try to listen to it, but over all, it seems more like an unusual but harmless hobby to the vast majority of people, with the worst "bullying" I get as an adult over metal being a shrug, a vaguely puzzled look, and a comment like "you don't look like one of THOSE people, the sort that would listen to THAT!"
In other words, I've kind of isolated myself with my favorite music, but I can't really say I've singled myself out for "bullying". I also totally got more grief for being a bookworm, and that grief happened mostly as a youngster - as the man says in the video, after high school, people have much bigger fish to fry. I would say I started listening to the music I did in high school because I felt like an outsider, thanks to the hassle I got for being a socially anxious and unpopular nerd, more than the other way around.
Instead of getting "frowned upon" for most of my adult life, it seems like people will try the meet me on some sort of middle ground if they can by trying to talk about whatever the popular version of metal has been over the last several years, which is awesome of them to make the effort, but I can never do more than say I vaguely recognize the band names (the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Soundgarden, Creed, Slipknot, Metallica, or whoever), and I usually get more mileage by talking more popular '70s and '80s music, since that's more likely to be a musical taste that I have in common with other people, than trying to explain Obituary, Celtic Frost, Carnage, Arcturus, Emperor, or something to someone who is lucky if they can pick a Black Sabbath or Iron Maiden song out of a line-up.
Pietyr Ayday so happy you mentioned Carnage man, really overlooked in the late 80s/early 90s Swedish death metal scene
I loved those Swedish death bands, still do... I'll be the first to say they would generally become a mass-produced assembly-line product manufactured by about the same dozen musicians at the same studio with the same producer with the same sound effects CD and same album cover artist, but it was a quality mass-produced assembly-line product, and hit all the right spots for me.
Carnage, though, was special - the songs were just weird, always going in strange and unexpected directions, and Michael Amott's guitar leads sounded like something from a hellish alien planet - like they didn't follow any human musical theory, but still came across as music.... There was almost a psychedelic, mind-altering quality to their one and only album. Beautiful stuff! 'Dark Recollections' is the first Swedish death metal album I reach for when I'm in the mood for Swedish death metal!
Marc, I got harassed for being different.... and by another girl...
I could told her that everyone in town knew about her
I started listening to metal when I was around 14. Never made a big deal out of it, just like nobody else made of their choice of music. Most people knew what my music taste was like, and they were just as cool about it as someone liking say blues, reggae or just mainstream pop. The only difference is that I don't get shared the same songs they like, because they know I'm not a huge fan of pop. That's pretty much it, people have different interests in every subject and they seem to acknowledge that just as well as I am.
I've been listening to metal since age 4 with classics like kiss, acdc, areosmith, maiden, black Sabbath and as usual the older I got the more extreme the bands I listened to got heavier. I would get the rare comment of "is that devil music" by peers once in a long as while. But in the grand scheme of things people I know are usually fascinated with the artwork and aesthetics within the metal genre. And like it's said in some of the comments below; METAL IS GETTING STRONGER 🤘😎🤘
Kiss, Aerosmith, and AC/DC are not metal bands. They are pure rock and roll.
*insert name here* I'm totally aware of that. They we my gateway though, so I always throw them into my list 🤗
Riffs,I've been a metal head since the age of 9 1/2 .. I started with Both deep Purple & Uriah Heep
Technically all three bands play hard rock..not rock& roll
I think it depends on where you live. When I was younger, people on the street used to give me shit. Now, not so much. When I’m In a smaller city, then you can definitely see the stigma. On the European continent it’s much more widely accepted I find
*Lives in a relatively small city in Florida* You know I think you have a point, even though Florida, along with New York and California, is one of the most metal states of the country.
Kaelan McAlpine - I’m not even in America (where I would have thought it would be more liberal) I’m in Ireland where people generally don’t like metal. When I travel though people do seem to be more open minded
Gee I wonder how Jacksepticeye was treated in Ireland assuming he said anything about it.
Though I think as of right now, America is more on the conservative side and I'm guessing we flip flop between those two every 8 years for the most part, at least as late. Though the South tends to be almost exclusively so. I would know since I live here. Meanwhile I'm basically the in the very center of it all, though it's most likely because I just refuse to give a shit about politics in general.
Kaelan McAlpine - I tbh never heard of him before so I checked him out. He’s got a strange blend of Irish and American accent I think. He seems to be a gamer? I could be wrong though as I turned him off after about a minute.
Yeah. I guess politics does play a lot into people’s mindset. I’ve travelled around America a bit. Was in the Bible Belt which was an interesting experience. Lovely people in general but very conservative and not appreciative of my clothing choices. New York was drastically different as to how I was treated. Both great but in different ways. It’s the same here though, go to smaller cities than where I am (Dublin, the capital) and people do not like or appreciate you being different to them. Conservatism at its best
Missi McCarthy in my home town it is much easier to notice, but now I am living in a student city and only old ladies and foreign store owners give me side eye
The only time I’ve seen anyone has had a problem with me liking metal is my parents understandably expressing concern for the lyrical themes I’m exposing myself to. At the end of the day though, they trust my judgement.
My father, bless him, was the same way - he kind of shook his head at the music, shrugged, and said something like "Why not? It's not like I didn't listen to my fair share of noise... I've got a Yoko Ono album somewhere that bugs your parents more than anything you've got!" (He had a point - I called his bluff, and the old man wins in the bug-your-parents department!)
Both my parents were curious/watchful about what I was doing, and somewhat concerned about the morbid themes of everything I was interested in, but left it up to me what I was into at the end of the day, and managed to mostly strike a good balance between neglect and over-protection.
I started listening to Metal when I was 13, but the problem is my stepdad wouldn't let me listen to Metal, because he's strict and I had to get away from him. Now I moved out, I can listen to Metal anytime I like and I'm stoked to be a metalhead.
ChronoWind He has everything against metal. Whenever I listen to metal, he starts flipping out at me and all he does is look at metal like it's poison music and it's for devil worshippers. All he wants me to listen to is that poser ass shit ass garbage r&b music.
The only real experience I have with getting shit for liking heavy metal was when I saw Slayer in Charlotte (that was also my first time in the moshpit) there was a guy protesting with a megaphone outside the venue (I have footage of it on my channel) He gave everyone a good laugh I told him I'd see him in hell😂
I was at that show. Didn’t see a dude with a megaphone though.
Honestly, I have never been given all that much of a hard time for liking metal. My brother used to take minor jabs at me here and there when I was a teen and I had a "best friend" who would constantly rag on me for liking metal and rock, but I didn't let it bother me all that much. I just cranked it up and had my fun the way I saw fit.
I think it really depends on the type of metal, you’re definitely going to get more looks if you’re wearing and aborted, cattle decapitation or cannibal corpse shirt than if you wore a Metallica shirt. I don’t think that the more extreme genres will be accepted worldwide for a long time
Shay B is slayer extreme?
Simas Pašakinskas Not really ,compared to some stuff, but for people that haven’t been exposed to metal then they could see it as extreme
Lol I'm wearing a Cannibal Corpse shirt right now. I actually changed into it the day my family went to Disney Springs. Not to freak anyone out, though I would be surprised if that didn't happen, but more like to create an inside joke on Disney and the song Hammer Smashed Face.
Kaelan McAlpine Cannibal Corpse shirts seem to always freak at least one person out when I wear them
Shay B That is true. My Black Metal shirts and my cannibal corpse shirt definitely gets me more lookd than say my Iron Maiden, Arch Enemy and Pantera shirts
It is in my school, I'm only 14 so I still go to school and I'm the quiet kid stereotype one of the main reasons being that my main passion is metal
I know that some of my friends was afraid of me when we first met, i've also been stared at by all kinds of people! And a older man even thought i was going to beat him up! 😅
#Metallife
My personal experiences with metal overall were pretty pleasant to say the least! I met a few people at high school who liked metal and managed to have pleasant conversations about bands and different sub genres of metal. When people asked me about my taste in music, they are usually surprised or confused since my appearance is not "the typical metalhead" but what I listen to has been never frown upon.
I think it's important to understand that music taste is subjective and if someone listen to something different the best way to handle the situation is just respecting what that person listen to and not act like the asshole from the truck in your story.
I really enjoy the video, your way of thinking, the band recommendation and, you have earned a new sub!
Greetings from Mexico \m/
being a finn, people probaply expect metal being mainstream here and playing on the radio which isnt entirely true, i would say metal music is more accepted here and i know a lot of people from all ages who listen to metal from just school and such, but we still have the obnoxious electronic pop music that other first world countrys have that is the mainstream music that plays on the radio. although we do have a couple hard rock bands that get radio play aswell and are actually quite popular. the difference with Finland and lets say USA when it comes to metal is that its just more accepted and of course we just have fucking tons of bands, even my own aunt is in a black metal band
I'm married to a Finn and Finns listen to more suomipop, electronic and hiphop. It's usually the Swedish speakers that lean towards metal. Being from NZ, my wife was surprised by the casual way metal heads (or bogans too) are just part of the culture. But do go hostile towards anything like Nu-metal to Symphonic.
My own sister became a crowd fave when she shouted about a band having opera in their metal: "We didn't bloody come here to be cultured!".
It's all we understand being at the ends of the earth really. It can vary on the genre too.
I used to get a lot of shit from people, partially about being a metalhead and partially because I’m nerdy, unathletic, and obsessed with music, but once I got into high school it actually all changed. I still get stares a lot but I’m so used to it now and I don’t even notice it anymore. I think part of it has to do with the fact that I’ve established myself within my school (I’m hugely involved in the music/theatre departments) and the fact that people are more open nowadays if that makes any sense. This isn’t really important but it was just kinda what I was thinking so thanks for reading if you did, I guess
It is actually funny to see that your experience with non-metalheads people is very close to mine, I live in France (at Dunkirk to be more precise), and actually, people don't give a damn of my clothes or my music, there are even some people that say "I love your style" or "I love your jacket", I'm very fine with it. ^^
Aragorn09 we are pretty lucky in France, general thought seems to be that metal is totally accepted, and that’s pretty cool
HOLY SHIT, ALMOST 50K SUBS! congrats man, i remember when I watched when you were at 2k
Why can't people just understand that everyone is different and like what they like
Your videos are always really good and I completely agree.
I grew up in the Dad metal era and got bullied. It made me a etter person. Some fellow students were shocked when I told the. I was seeing Iron Maiden in 1987.
I used to get picked on and my parents still don’t understand it but mostly now a days people just accept it and therefore accept me for liking it. Good video today some good points as well
It definitely used to be. Times have changed though, and I think it's generally more accepted.
I live in romania and i am 14. The teachers are bigger assholes than the kids. The music teacher saw that I was wearing an overkill shirt and that I had pierced my ear. She found it fiting to ask whether I was planning to finish school.
I was never a metal head myself, but I enjoy being friends with them. The only reason I really have any metal in my music collection to begin with is because I’m a Cthulhu Mythos fan, & all of the multi-song albums (barring OSTs & the like) that I’ve been able to find based entirely around stuff from it happen to be metal.
Great points man. Yeah back when i was a kid i did get bullied or picked on. I remember once getting bottles chucked at me from a car driving past. I guess i was a weird looking teenager at the time.
Now a days no one would do anything of the sort. And like you said many times regular people would compliment my vest and ask questions about it. Probably because i look like a reasonable and pleasant person. Last year i was at an all inclusive resort, fuck yeah i was on the beach wearing a metal vest. I was constantly being approached
Imma do me, whether people like it or not! You rock man, great video as always.
At some points the whole class would dedicate a few minutes everyday to ridiculing or making fun of me for the music i like and my t shirts and how i dress my friends all told me to sit at a different table they made songs and shit making fun of me and it got to the point where the teacher went to the guidance counselor requesting to have my classes switched however because i left that table i ended up sitting with a girl who also liked rock and heavier music etc. And who ALSO was starting to be resented by her friends because of it now all these months later me and her are dating and its completely flipped my life on its head im happier than ever and i have my asshole classmates to thank for that 🙄🤘🖕
People need to realize that Metal brings out the Warrior spirit for those who listen to it and take it to heart. Metal kicks us in the ass and helps us get shit done.
I haven't met anyone that gave me shit for liking heavy metal. What usually happens is they say something like "I fucking hate the music, but you do you" if it comes up in discussion.
I also agree that as you get older in these days it’s very few and far between that anyone has anything negative to say about heavy-metal
Unless I walk into a church or something, I've never had a problem with dressing in black and wearing a band shirt.
Spüdley I have worn Mayhem shirts into churches. That was pretty awkward for me but they didn't give a shit lmao
Noah G. Just a Jerrycan.
I grew up in cal&there were so many metal heads never had any bs i started rocking metal at 13&stil rocking metal at 50. I live in pa now&i get some weird looks some times but no haters.
In the 1990's it was very frowned upon but after 2000 I saw no big issues except with my stepdad after 2000. I've never had any big fights over it with any strangers in public.
I was more made fun of for my weight rather than my musical taste. I got into metal when I bought Iron maidens powerslave. Still love that album and still listen to it without skipping a track.
I'm like the only metalhead in my whole town, and because of that people se me as a cool guy even though sometimes I get weird looks from people because they just don't understand the music. But generally I can't complain.
My experience is somewhat similar, though I've had less outright positivity about it and more ambivalence. I find most people simply don't care, and aren't interested at all.
I do find that it being a somewhat niche interest, alongside most of my other interests being in a somewhat similar category, can make things challenging socially, but that's not an issue with it being frowned upon so much as it just makes it hard for me to find things in common with most people. They don't look down on it, really, they simply aren't interested.
i have been put down for liking HEAVY METAL all my life and still am were i live they like rap or country so i have been a outcast all my life and i am 53 and nothing has really changed but back in the 80's it was never that way till the 90's people look at me now like a oddball but i don't care METAL IN MY HEART TILL THE DAY I DEPART!!!!!!! METAL ALLWAYS RULEZ!!!!!! love your vids please keep it up
If I’m wearing any metal merch outside of my house I act as polite and friendly as possible just to show people that metal isn’t bad🤘
1. When I was in high school. My teachers thought metal would die off in a few years. That was in the 90's.
2. I got into metal in the early hair metal days. I was like 5 years old. I saw MTV for the first time. They had this long haired lead guitarist going. I thought so this is what all the cool people are into.
I was a poser ever sence.
There seems to be a sort of 'uprising' (for lack of a better term) of awareness about the genre. A lot of modern day hip hop is influenced by metal and occult themes, and things like tattoos, body piercings, etc. has become a lot more mainstream. I mean, there are all these rap-loving UA-camrs doing reaction videos of metal songs, and they all seem to be pretty open minded. Nowadays it's a lot less common to be picked on for liking metal or other non-mainstream genres because more people either listen to it, respect it, or have a better understanding of it.
From my personal experience or at least my one from school is that people usually don’t even pay attention when I wear band shirts and if they do it’s other metal heads and they say nice shirt and shoot the devil horns and that’s about it
I had some guy walk past me in college today, he was with a few girls and he put his fingers in a cross at me, implying I was some sort of demon or whatever. They all started giggling and walked away. So I don't know if it's frowned upon by kids but it's definitely joked on. It's annoying that these people think us wearing metal shirts and battle jackets entitles them to take the piss.
from my experience, ive barely had any problems at all. the only person whos ever given me any trouble is my dad. but other than that all my friends dont care at all and ive actually gotten a few to start liking it. most people who know i listen to metal at my school just understand that it's a personal taste in music and it really has no difference in the way i have to act and dress
I got yelled at by someone just because I asked him why he wore a Maiden shirt when doesn’t even like metal. He started yelling at me and his friends joined in.
It also depends on the visual aspect how you were supposed to dress like and the genre I listen to. When I was younger I listen to rock and then gradually to heavy metal. In my experience being a girl it was different people question who I liked why I liked them. It was never for the sound and talent. The only reason they thought I like them was for how the looked. It was always what is your favorite song ,album , etc. I got the third degree by people who listen to metal and everyone else.
I live in Atlanta I was the only Metalhead at Frederick Douglass High School the one that was in the hood .😈🤘
I just know it's off limits at home, school, and church... so pretty much wherever I currently go...
My music taste ranges all the way from Beethoven to Death Metal. It all just depends on my mood for what I listen to that certain day, although Metal and pop punk are my favorite genres of all time.
I’m surprised that people are still being bullied today because they like Heavy Metal. I never got bullied for being a metalhead, however I did turn to Metal because I was being bullied and I wanted to be a part of a community that understands what it’s like to be different simply because of the fact that they enjoy Heavy Metal. I don’t know exactly how it did so but simply expanding my tastes for Heavy Metal by playing guitar, learning about new bands, and things of that nature have made me who I am today, and has put me on the path of becoming a musician myself. I should also mention that it has surprisingly made people more accepting of me. Idk if it’s because they want to know more about Metal or if they think my long hair and my band tees are cool or whatever it may be.
I could not give a fuck if people don't like it. I am me and that's it. PS I got that shirt design as a patch on my battle vest.
Growing up in the Pacific northwest I have a somewhat wide array of music tastes, the only one no one gave me shit for was listening to metal.
I was in a city where is a huge metal shop in germany, when me and my friend went to the bus station some guys were waitinh for the green light, at the beginning they were really nice to us and then they started to make fun of us for the way we looked like. It was pretty strange. Then one of them has threathened us and they drove off
Nice pic at the end, but the first S in "stay brutal" is backwards/mirrored
used to own THAT shirt. created a lotta probs 'cuz peckerheads automatically assumed i wuz giving THEM the finger,ay.
I get looked down on a lot and people tend to avoid me for having long hair and wearing band tees in my high school, its bullshit but like at the end of the day im doing me and im not afraid to be myself and i dont think a lot of people who take the piss on me can say the same.
I have never had the problem with being bullied, I just finished I guess you could call it high school here in sweden, I’m sixteen and I haven’t to this day ever had a problem where someone criticized for listening to metal. Sure, people have asked What it is i like about it, but not in an asshole kinda way, they have always been respectful, and most of my classmates were metalheads aswell, but not all of them! Sometimes it could lead to some pretty heated discussions, but it always got solved and at the end of the day everyone were still friends
Great video bro! Here's a think though, some of us don't look like someone who loves metal. I mean like you for instance, you wear your heart or should I say band logo on the back of your jacket. I would love to wear my favorite band shirts but I'm big dude so it's hard to find them. I'm also really not into the spiked collars or the battle jackets or the spike bracelets that's just not my thing. So I just let the music do the talking LOL.
In middle and high school, I only really got ripped on by people who only listened to rap, so I didn't care much for it. Recently at work, a couple coworkers called my music trash. Like one girl came over and turned my Meshuggah off and said "I know music and that isn't music" and was adamant that I stop playing it. I paused it until she walked away and put it back on.
I personally don't care if people dislike me liking metal, I get more offended when they say it isn't music or go out of their way (like my one coworker) to rib me on it. But even then, it's no big deal. I like the music I like, and they can have whatever opinion they want on what I like.
They can't stop us, watch them try...
FOR HEAVY METAL WE WILL DIE!
Here in Chile, (almost?) Every time that there's an Iron Maiden concert there is at least a preacher in the waiting line yelling to the maiden fans for going to the concert.
So yeah, it is frowned upon, but it depends on what kind of person is expressing the opinion
Only people who don't get metal think it's frowned upon. My mom is 62 and she's into the stuff I'm into. Which is Amon Amarth, Anthrax, Testament, etc. So therefore it isn't frowned upon. Good video by the way :)
Ok so being into metal for basically my whole 16 years of life and living in the direct middle of Florida should hopefully give someone an idea of what it's like to be me. Add that to me liking video games and anime and me being kind of quiet and see where it goes from there.
Kaelan McAlpine Fuckin' nerd
I know what you mean, I'm also in Florida.
Death metal started in florida. Florida is a better place to live for a metalhead than most of the middle of the united states
I have lived here my entire twenty years and never meet another metal head. I know of a few people who like the classics, but not really anything else. So, where is everyone hiding?
It seems many American metal heads are only into the classics and thrash. Personally I'm really into black metal and it's very hard to meet like minded people in small town Missouri. I guess just try to go to shows and talk to people there or save up and move to a bigger city.
I've had people be shocked that i listen to metal bc im a chick and young
That's what I love, everybody's shocked you're into metal and not Justin Bieber. Check out Murp.
MaidenLiberty same
Maiden,why don't you ask me how young I was when I got into metal?
(I'm a hermaphrodite..by the way)
It seems frowned upon by some people where I live, because nearly all of the local venues where I live refuse to allow metal bands of any kind perform there. But then again, these local venues don't even allow punk, hard rock, or even pop-punk (!) bands to book shows. Almost anything that gets accepted is country music, fiddle music, and acoustic folk music. If the owners of these venues don't like metal music, that's their opinion and I respect that, but make no mistakes, this is pretty frustrating for people into anything other than the genres that typically get booked. I know people into alternative and indie rock who wish more alternative and indie rock shows could come here. There are others who are more into rap music that have expressed their frustrations about the minimum of rap gigs in the area. However, metal is by far the most difficult genre to find shows of within a two hour radius of where I live, and the most difficult to try and arrange a show for.
Where I live, there might be about two, maybe three metal shows a year within a two hour radius of where I live. It's the least represented genre by a landslide. The sad thing is, there's a metal show that is coming here next month (there is one punk band on the bill, but two metal bands, so it's a metal show), and I can't attend because of my work schedule (I can't actually book time off or have a temporary schedule change, so I'm not able to attend). Given that it's incredibly rare for a metal show to come here, it makes me incredibly sad that I can't attend it.
My Testament Dark Roots of Earth tour shirt made an old lady scared. My Nailbomb shirt; Feels Good To Be A Punk Loser gets a lots of laughs.
I guess it all depends on where you live or who's around you. Not metal per se, but Sophie Lancaster was a goth who was killed for how she looked and what she listened to, but I'm sure most people haven't been in a situation like that thankfully.
yeah my view on it is that its not frowned upon its just that people don't understand why we like it or what the people who like it are like. i just wish people would ask more questions rater than being ignorant , i really hate it when people ask somethinmg then ignore or start talking to a friend when i try to answer like this girl who was asking about the pentagrams on my slayer hat cus she thought it was a cult thing?
So I wasn't really able to get too deep into metal as a teen, so a lot of it's still new to me.
I lived in a more reserved family, so I was only really able to dabble in Alt-Metal and Nu-Metal (Korn, Slipknot, Marilyn Manson, yeah I had that phase). Why? Because it wasn't the sound that bothered them. The imagery for a lot of Heavy Metal, Thrash, Doom.....pretty much anything not Iron Maiden, Slayer, Metallica, or Black Sabbath was really off putting for them.
And that really ties into my experience with the "Everyone hates metal" stigma. I always got more comments on the look, rather than the music itself. Whenever I blare Terrorizer, or Dystopia no one really pays much mind. But the second I step out wearing a Cannibal Corpse or Obituary t-shirt, or have on spiked anything, that's when I get the head turns, the eyebrow raises, and the occasional "I didn't know I was better than you" sneer. But even then, it was never world ending. Just let it go and move on. I've met and made good friends thanks to metal, so I consider it a win.
I don’t think any music should be frowned upon
We should be proud of what we listen to, no matter what people say
Just placed an order for a patch.
Even though I'm still in high school, I've only had one experience where heavy metal was looked down upon. One time in my personal fitness class, which is simply my workout gym in school, I wanted to blast out my music, consisting of AC/DC, Guns N' Roses, 'Black Album era' Metallica, Iron Maiden, and one song from X Japan, to name a few bands. There was a sophomore in my class who came up to me and said that my music was "suicidal" music. What I consider "suicidal" music would be what I call "teen angst" bands such as My Chemical Romance, Skillet, Three Days Grace, Papa Roach, etc. (Disagree with me all you want. That's what I consider "teen angst"). I didn't want to make a big fuss about it because I have a "don't give a fuck" attitude on certain situations. Now, funnily enough, the sophomore described my music in a little boy voice, as if a 9 year old's vocal cords was transplanted into a 5'4 or 5'3 16 year old. In addition, prior to that time in personal fitness, I saw him wearing a Metallica shirt and when asked if he likes the band, he doesn't though he's been to a concert with his dad and in my head, I go nuts as in, "Dude, you call that suicidal if that's classic dad rock?" Okay, sure, some metal songs in the 70's-80's may have had suicidal lyrics, though in my opinion they're more associated with emo and alternative bands.
Some weeks later, the sophomore blasts out his music and jokingly puts on some fucking remix of "Bodies" by Drowning Pool (a.k.a Let the Bodies Hit the Floor), assuming he was calling me out though he didn't say it directly. At that point, I still didn't give a fuck and thought, "Eh, metal has a bad reputation anyway, so why care?"
Immortal’s new album? Anyone 😁😁😁😁 come on its one of their best album
Edit: I see the poster in this video👍
yeah it's really good. there's no bad song on the album imo and mighty ravendark is epic af.
It's interesting that you point out how most metal fans become fans in middle school/high school. I was one of the kids that didn't like metal at all (I never gave anyone shit, though). It's only now, at THIRTY FUCKING YEARS OLD, that I'm really starting to get into metal. Which is kinda weird. So I don't really get any shit for it. Most people my age have better things to do than give someone else shit for their taste in music. I miss being a teenager in some respects but there are definitely nice things about being an adult and being around other adults.
I mean, to be fair, I’ve been made fun of for listening to metal (mostly things like death metal and deathcore), but usually, people frowning upon metal just makes it better.
My experience is pretty much the opposite of yours. I never had trouble with friends or people from school making fun of me or pick on me because I’m a metalhead. But, growing up in a religious family (my grandpa was a preacher) and living in a Christian/conservative town, the adults were the ones I had trouble with. A couple of times I would have adults walk over to me and look me up and down and then just shake theirs heads and walk off without saying a work. Not to mention the numerous time I had adults pull me off to the side of a group of people and try to tell me I was going to hell for listening to “the devils music” and how they could help me repent and come to Jesus. While it drove me absolutely insane, it just made me love metal even more!
I was about 15 or so when I got into metal and I just got into homeschooling a year before so I’ve never experienced any bullying besides like people my age on the streets would call me a Satanist and I would just stare at them or ignore them lmao. Mostly because I wore a pentagram necklace though. But I had a kid one time about a year younger than me sitting there telling me that Heavy Metal sucks and Kendrick Lamar was way better so I kinda started to argue with him lol But as I grew up I realized that older people had a lot of respect for me because I reminded them of themselves when they were younger lol. But I feel like back in the 80s you would get a lot of hate for being a Metalhead but now days the older people were into the rock and roll and metal when for them back in their days the older people were hardcore Christians. But main times I get people saying something to me is when I wear an inverted cross or pentagram even then I don’t have much people saying anything ,they mostly look kinda nervous and frightened lmfao. But I’m 18 now so yeah lol if anything I probably look intimidating so people are scared to say anything.
I come from Ecuador, and I can say there’s actually a true stigma about Heavy music, not only extreme or satanic related music (which are actually things that are strange or incorrect to common people). I got into metal when I was 10, listening to stuff like Guns N Roses, Kiss and Metallica, and all I remember (and not only from my relatives, but from my classmates and even strangers) was constantly getting bullied about the things I was kin to. But appart of my experience, talking to other people in my country about their idea of metalheads was always the same, and it was “They are just a bunch of misfits, drug addicts and devil worshipers who are dumb dirty and worthless”... Now, this way of thinking is almost over because some people (specially young people between 20 to 25) opened their minds to what was feared before, but there are still guys out there who keep this stupid idea.
Let’s just be ourselves and let others be too, freedom is what society needs for me.
So on point
HEAVY FUCKING METAL🤘☠️😈
I was more of a punk in the early teens, I would spike my hair with jell, go out with my dad, and because am in a wheelchair, he would take my seat belt off, reach over and purposely mess my hair. He doesn't like the music I like, but he also grew up with Black Sabbath and Deep Purple, so
People always said they hated metal to me and then I showed them that metal was one of the most varied types of music there is and there's no way in hell you don't like it at least in some form. I also do want you did tell people to fuck off then ignored them as they should be ignored.
Just say metal not heavy metal, you probably know heavy metal is a specific genre of metal, if you are talking about all of it in general say “metal” not “heavy metal”, besides that I love your channel keep it up!
some guy asked me if i worshipped the Devil because the band i listened was As Blood Runs Black the song was “My Fears Have Become Phobias” i posted it on my snapchat story and he heard it and when he met me irl he thought i was weird,i mainly listen to Christian Metal though, one time i played Impending Doom and my sister thought they were Satanist i told her they are a christian band and there are many christian genres but she didn’t listen to me,if she read the lyrical content then maybe it might changed her mind the song i played by Impending Doom was Nailed.Dead.Risen off of their album Nailed.Dead.Risen
good point, one day the world will come to their sense and love heavy metal😂
So far I haven't gotten too much crap from people about liking metal. Mostly only older men will mess with me about my hair however, I get a lot of compliments from women about it.
Personally I haven’t gotten any hate for liking metal , I’ve only found that when I tell metalheads I like other genres or occasionally a pop artist they’re the ones giving hate or calling me a “ poser “ or some other shit. 😂 I didn’t know I could ONLY like metal bands I guess I didn’t get the memo
Most of the students at my Highschool think that I'm a Satanist or a Neo Nazi. I love it! They are too afraid to ask me for help or something like that, and most important...they know that it is not wise to play pop or rap when I'm around🤘
Papi Loto I wouldn't blame peoplr thinking I was a Neo Nazi considering the brother I np longer talk to is one. But it is purely dumb to judge someone from.music ttaste
From my experience it's a fairly even mix between hate and interest, for every old woman on a bus telling me I need god or bastard shouting at me in the street (I don't live in a very accepting or diverse area) there's the same if not a larger amount of people who take interest in me for my jacket and obscure band shirts or people interested in my view of stuff due to my slightly alternative appearance. It seems to be younger or less educated people who take the piss and older people who don't care or are interested