Metal is driven by three main instruments; the guitar, bass guitar, and drums. The multi-layered sound of the music combined with its distortion, emotional tone, and different production style make it a genre of music that certainly isn’t for everyone. Fans of metal are known to be very passionate and devoted, rarely ever growing out of the genre.
21-year-old college junior Phil Neale, a student at the University of Michigan, is an avid fan of metal, though he is also a fan of many other genres. “I enjoy metal because of the raw energy it gives off,” he said. “It is a genre that vents out emotions better than most others.” Phil notes metal’s complexity and skill requirement as the driving force behind it. “Regardless of if you enjoy metal or not, you can’t deny that it requires skill to make this kind of music using real instruments,” he said. “Even the most basic types require lots of practice to perform.”
Because of the emotional and sometimes negative subject matter associated with the music, many people negatively stereotype metal, sometimes overlooking it all together. CHS senior Colin Robertson, also a metal fan, spoke about how he believes the public eye sees it. “I’ve heard metal being stereotyped as being ‘devil-worship’ music or music that is angry and only purposeful when you feel like punching someone or something like that. What they don’t know is how expanded and diverse the genre really is,” he said.
Robertson is a guitar player, and believes that musicians appreciate the genre better than people who don’t know too much about music. “People claim that metal fans enjoy nothing but metal,” he says. “But in reality, it’s the eclectic tastes of metal fans that allow them to appreciate the musicianship involved in creating it. Fans are labeled as unopen, abrasive, and narrow-thinking.” Despite their labels, however, it’s the exact opposite. Metal evolved from many genres, as did many music styles we listen to today. So the influences aren’t hard to spot for close listeners.
Because of metal’s standout sound compared to most other forms of music, it can be uncomfortable for some to expose their love for it. “I feel that metal fans are closeted,” Robertson says. “The genre is quite weird, and sometimes I used to not be open about it when I first got into it, because I was cautious of being judged. I think it’s like that for a lot of people.”
