# Looking like a metalhead



## Batrider (Jun 11, 2009)

I know some like to indulge the whole metal aesthetic of long hair, band shirts and optional piercings, tattoos and drug use.

Others do not.

Here's a considered opinion: if you stay true to the spirit of the culture, formed of the ideas of those innovators among the music, you're doing fine.

Otherwise, you're just another rock n roller even if you wear an Armani suit.

Metal descended out of the mess of mass culture that includes rock music. Rockers tend to have long hair, wear band shirts, and have optional piercings, tattoos and drug use.

Hmm. Sounds familiar.

Too much of metal consists of trying to not be rock music by being a more extreme form of the rock aesthetic. I don't think this would work.

So if you ask me, be a Hessian with long hair or short hair, depending on your career demands, but don't just become another stupid rock n roller. The world has enough of those useless, self-impressed people.


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Batrider said:


> those useless, self-impressed people.


Great description of typical metalheads.


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## Bach (Jun 2, 2008)

metalheads are ugly and gross. Those 'metal' girls make me want to hurl and the boys look like smelly unkempt yokels with tasteless, revolting piercing through every flap of skin. (and if they don't look like that that's only because they're too pussy or their mum won't let them - not through want of desire) They all look brain dead (which they must be) and they all deserve to be shot.


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## BuddhaBandit (Dec 31, 2007)

Bach said:


> metalheads are ugly and gross. Those 'metal' girls make me want to hurl and the boys look like smelly unkempt yokels with tasteless, revolting piercing through every flap of skin. (and if they don't look like that that's only because they're too pussy or their mum won't let them - not through want of desire) They all look brain dead (which they must be) and they all deserve to be shot.


My sister is a metal girl...


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## Dedrater (Mar 2, 2009)

Bach said:


> metalheads are ugly and gross. Those 'metal' girls make me want to hurl and the boys look like smelly unkempt yokels with tasteless, revolting piercing through every flap of skin. (and if they don't look like that that's only because they're too pussy or their mum won't let them - not through want of desire) They all look brain dead (which they must be) and they all deserve to be shot.


I love how substituting the word 'metalhead' here with 'black person' or some derogatory stand-in and then replacing the metalhead cliches with black people cliches would cause a massive uproar. Luckily, we can feel good about suppressing our evolved capacity for group inclusiveness (where modern society says we should, at least) by pretending to like directionless jazz music!

Hypocritical humanism at its finest.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Wait - -didn't Beethoven have long hair? I'm confused.


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## Dedrater (Mar 2, 2009)

Don't forget about Paganini!


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## Conservationist (Apr 5, 2007)

Aramis said:


> Great description of typical metalheads.


Why are you posting in this forum? Trying to get a good circle jerk going? Some people just come on the internet to be jerks to others, and hope it makes them feel better about their failing lives. You would never want to be mistaken for one of those, I assume?


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## Conservationist (Apr 5, 2007)

Dedrater said:


> I love how substituting the word 'metalhead' here with 'black person' or some derogatory stand-in and then replacing the metalhead cliches with black people cliches would cause a massive uproar.


Yeah, like those jerks on some forums who really do like to persecute blacks. Even if we agree that many metalheads are a mess, it's just as nonsensical as harassing black people because of crime rates or average IQ figures -- pointless and hurtful.


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## Bach (Jun 2, 2008)

only typical white supremacist metal heads would bring race into this. Comparing metalheads to a race is bordering on offensive - and as one of the few black members of this forum, I'd quite like to see you banned for that hyperbolic comparison. My estimation of metalheads goes down by the second. Nobody of any worth is a metalhead.


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Conservationist said:


> Why are you posting in this forum? Trying to get a good circle jerk going? Some people just come on the internet to be jerks to others, and hope it makes them feel better about their failing lives. You would never want to be mistaken for one of those, I assume?


Sorry, but I just can't stand when someone is talking such nonse as our dear metalheads do. Calling rockers "those useless, self-impressed people" by metalhead is absurd. Who are metalheads? They are talking, talking and talking about their "philosophy", "wrong system", "ill society" without any purpose. Probably just to show people how "sophiscitated " they are. Aren't they self-impressed? And what they really do about these things, except talking about it? They burn churches? Rotfl. They're useless too.


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## Bach (Jun 2, 2008)

If there is an ill society - how can they not think they are part of it / part of the cause of it.

True reformers of an ill society are people who encourage learning and culture - not these revolting morons..


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## Dedrater (Mar 2, 2009)

Bach said:


> only typical white supremacist metal heads would bring race into this. Comparing metalheads to a race is bordering on offensive - and as one of the few black members of this forum, I'd quite like to see you banned for that hyperbolic comparison. My estimation of metalheads goes down by the second. Nobody of any worth is a metalhead.


I predicted this knee-jerk reaction and was aware that only the term 'black person' would be gleaned from the post, rather than the content that was expressed. The point is that any blanket generalization is the result of our associating ourselves with umbrella-symbols. This prevents us from seeing reality for what it is through our subjective veils, which hurts not only our perception of our own lives, but the intersubjective relations between ourselves and those occupying the same social spheres. That you inferred hatred, racism, or any partiality to the analogy provided is hardly surprising, given that most humans are more interested in holing themselves up and hiding from anything which irrationally makes them uncomfortable than doing something constructive and healthy.

Your reaction alone warrants the analogy; you make my point by spewing vitriol and clamoring for the banning of sober posters. If you're this terrified of an inaccurate, symbolic summation of a reality-particular and irrationally define yourself by it rather than by your actions in life, then you have no business in working with generalizations in the first place.

I don't understand what your skin color has to do with how 'offensive' a statement is. Do you get offended when racist remarks are made in regards to a white person? If not, you're letting your life be dictated by crass selfishness just like the rest of the moderns. It saddens me that my attempt to point out the absurdity of racism (both the obvious kind and the "I'm this color therefore I should be offended" kind) by correlating it with the absurdity of defining individuals by their association with a music culture resulted in this totally baffling inference, although I was expecting it.

A person may not be able to help what type of body they're born into, but if we don't buy into the nonsense about the 'subjectivity' of music 'taste', we'll quickly see that individuals with higher awareness will be more likely to gravitate towards correspondingly complex music (complex in motivation and logic, rather than technicality); they have as little choice in the matter as one who is born into a race or non-elective culture. Obviously, this doesn't mean they all have to dress like 'metalheads', in this case, but black people don't have to dress like gangsters either, right?



> Nobody of any worth is a metalhead.


Reiterating this quote, I hope you come to realize the destructiveness that is personal enmity, and consequently overcome it. Remember always to judge one not by any finite association, but by the contributions made through his particular life-process within the universe.


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## Dedrater (Mar 2, 2009)

Not that it matters in the slightest, but here are some pictures of 'normal'-looking people from metal culture. Their hair is a little long, but they don't look like insipid malcontents. Really, a hulking picture of an archaic band of rock 'n' rollers like Judas Priest, while having nothing to do with the quality either of their music or of themselves as human beings, can easily be used as a blanket symbol for 'winning' a game on the Internet. Michael Moore is notorious for this, as are many ******* politicians here in the United States.

Anyway, on with the pictures (edit: and quotes):

Varg Vikernes (BURZUM)










Ihsahn (EMPEROR)










Richard Lederer (SUMMONING)












Bach said:


> If there is an ill society - how can they not think they are part of it / part of the cause of it.
> 
> True reformers of an ill society are people who encourage learning and culture - not these revolting morons..


To complement the images, here are quotes by each of the above persons, in the same order:

Varg Vikernes



> People are like books, and the world is like a library. Some believe that it is important to be known with the most possible people, and have what we call superficial relationships with mass amounts of people. If you go in a library it's not important to see the cover of the most possible books, what you will learn if to get out a pair of interesting books and take a good amount of time to read them. Those who want to know the most possible only see the cover of many books, maybe they get as far as a few pages through the books, but they never get to read some of them. So there is actually no point in finding the books in the 1st place.


Ihsahn



> Everybody needs some excitement, and if you look at youth today, they're all very boring. In my town all they do is have their cars and they drive up and down the one main street. They have nothing else to do it's a kind of competition for who has the finest car and the loudest stereo. They basically live in their cars. Those who are younger, who don't have a car they sit at the side of the road and look at the cars. Their lives are extremely boring, and I can see that some people want more out of existence, they want to have their own personality and expression which makes it impossible to be associated with all those meaningless humans who walk around everywhere.


Richard Lederer



> In the past I got quite angry when all of those conservative classical musicians told the people what's good, serious and intelligent music, and what's low, entertaining music. Anything that did not wholly match the strict classical rules of the centuries before was just stupid entertainment, and specifically metal was just some noise for them that makes people stupid. So I associate this distinction very much with conservative arrogance that was always the enemy to metal music.


In addition to these insights, I suspect you never clicked on any of the YouTube links I provided in the other thread, and probably even ignored the reply about instrumental metal. It is primarily for this reason that, even after such demonstrations of quality music, you're lumping metalheads in with Judas Priest.

Give the following composition a try, please. It doesn't have any recognizably metal elements aesthetically, but it was composed by the guy in the second picture above. I am asking you to consider it, the quotes, and what metal has to offer as a whole in earnest, because I don't like seeing people fueled by negativity in life.


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## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

These discussions are stupid and fairly worthless on a classical music forum.


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## Conservationist (Apr 5, 2007)

Bach said:


> metalheads are ugly and gross...They all look brain dead (which they must be) and they all deserve to be shot.





Aramis said:


> Great description of typical metalheads.


These are de facto ad homs and you've opened up other groups to criticism.

I suggest we start with Finns or Africans.

Either that, or you can choke down your bitterness and tolerate a metal group among you until such time as it proves unnecessary.

If I were the admin, I would've canned your *** for that. If Batrider and the rest of us are going to refrain from ad homs, you need to do the same.


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## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

Conservationist said:


> I suggest we start with Finns or Africans.


What have the Finns done?


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## Mirror Image (Apr 20, 2009)

Tapkaara said:


> These discussions are stupid and fairly worthless on a classical music forum.


Then why make a comment? Aren't you contributing to the very thing you disagree with, which would be these metal threads?

I certainly don't agree with these threads either, Tapkaara, but at this point you're only fueling the fire.


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## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

I'm just saying this discussion of what metal-heads look like is causing all sorts of nastiness...and why? Over a stupid conversation.


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## Conservationist (Apr 5, 2007)

Tapkaara said:


> I'm just saying this discussion of what metal-heads look like is causing all sorts of nastiness...and why?


100% agreed. Logic yes, nastiness no!



Tapkaara said:


> What have the Finns done?


Nothing. I love them. Ditto selected Africans, although I know even less about Africa.

My point is that, given someone's group-identification and google, we can escalate nastiness easily.

Pick any ethnicity, any religion, any race, any social class, any social group, any activity, etc. and there's plenty one can level at the discussion. But this goes back to your first point: it's counterproductive, so if people stop doing it to metalheads, it stops.


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## Conservationist (Apr 5, 2007)

Bach said:


> only typical white supremacist metal heads would bring race into this. Comparing metalheads to a race is bordering on offensive - and as one of the few black members of this forum, I'd quite like to see you banned for that hyperbolic comparison. My estimation of metalheads goes down by the second. Nobody of any worth is a metalhead.


Actually, I think it's a fair comparison.

You want us to tolerate other cultures? Tolerate ours.

I'd like to see you banned for your insulting ad homs. Being black doesn't give you a free ride to be a bully, and I've called you on it.

And calling people "white supremacist" may work in some circles, but others are simply over that universal excuse.


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## Metalheadwholovesclasical (Mar 15, 2008)

Bach said:


> only typical white supremacist metal heads would bring race into this. Comparing metalheads to a race is bordering on offensive - and as one of the few black members of this forum, I'd quite like to see you banned for that hyperbolic comparison. My estimation of metalheads goes down by the second. Nobody of any worth is a metalhead.


Ah, pipe down, would you? You are so strung up on bashing metalheads for some reason. If you don't like them, how about you don't waste your time and look elsewhere on the forum?

Anyway, I believe dressing in any way to fit in is quite stupid. I used to be in the big metal fashion thing until I realized it is all about the music rather than the way you dress, so I started dressing Normally, except, of course, I do indeed wear band shirts a few times a week. I have a collection. Otherwise, I dress normal, and my hair is pretty long, but not REAL long. my hair pretty much goes a little past my shoulders. As for drug use, I use marijuana on occassion, since I do not enjoy the feeling or the taste you get from alcohol. And once a year, I go on an LSD trip, which helps me expand my ideas on things and helps me get better grasps on certain problems. I never use LSD recreationally.

EDIT: Oh yes, I just wanted to say this, I LOVE my "Ill Be Bach" T Shirt. Mah favorite shirt of all time.


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## Dim7 (Apr 24, 2009)

Well preferring LSD and marijuana over alcohol - that's very unmetal  I don't think drug usage is a part of metalhead stereotype.


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## Metalheadwholovesclasical (Mar 15, 2008)

Cmaj7 said:


> Well preferring LSD and marijuana over alcohol - that's very unmetal  I don't think drug usage is a part of metalhead stereotype.


Yes, lol the stereotype is metalheads love beer. I am alone on this one lol


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## Dim7 (Apr 24, 2009)

You're a hippie in closet perhaps.


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## Metalheadwholovesclasical (Mar 15, 2008)

Cmaj7 said:


> You're a hippie in closet perhaps.


That is actually a good prediction LOL, despite the fact I hate the school hippies.


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## Metalkitsune (Jul 11, 2011)

Bach said:


> metalheads are ugly and gross. Those 'metal' girls make me want to hurl and the boys look like smelly unkempt yokels with tasteless, revolting piercing through every flap of skin. (and if they don't look like that that's only because they're too ***** or their mum won't let them - not through want of desire) They all look brain dead (which they must be) and they all deserve to be shot.


He seemed to use ableist insults and threatening violence against a group of people.


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## Metalkitsune (Jul 11, 2011)

Bach said:


> If there is an ill society - how can they not think they are part of it / part of the cause of it.
> 
> True reformers of an ill society are people who encourage learning and culture - not these revolting morons..


Is this guy srs?


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

This is one awkward thread. Wow.



Metalkitsune said:


> He seemed to use ableist insults and threatening violence against a group of people.


Surprised he got away with it. Maybe because for fear of being labelled racist.


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