Title says it all. I had a rant on Tumblr, thought I’d post it here as I’d like some opinions/discussion/or just some of you may enjoy it for the lulz.
My Tumblr is http://liamr599.tumblr.com/ if anyone’s interested. 
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[size=12pt]Let’s Talk About Music.
Or more specifically - metal.
More specifically again - metal fans.
I recently read an article online about a performance at a well known rock and metal music festival. It gives the band a good review, pretty much everything is positive. The music is tight, the band members have charisma and get the crowd going extremely well - singing along to entire songs, lighters and phones waving in the air at certain points, etc etc. All sounds pretty good, right? Right.
That is until you look at the comments attached to the article from metal “fans”.
You don’t have to read particularly far before you get the general gist of the hundreds of responses. A large amount of them ignore the actual article and focus on the image of the band at the top. These are some of the actual comments people had made:
"Little pretty boy faggots lol"
"Doucher needs to take off that pantera shirt. Fucking crap!!!"
"Look at them, bunch of faggots"
What so, the guy can’t wear a T-shirt with a logo of a band he likes because you don’t like his band, or they don’t fit your oh-so-specific criteria for what classes as “metal”? Okay then.
This is the problem with this genre. Actually, the problem with music or even society in general. However, you see it a lot more in and metal due to the huge variety of sub genres and styles.
People will always complain when a band doesn’t match their preferred sound or image - what they consider to be “metal”. Yet, if they do in fact fit that style, the same person will label them as unoriginal and claim they ripped off someone else.
So what if a band uses masks? If they dress in black? If they wear face paint? If they use stage names? Freddie Mercury - that’s a stage name. Does that mean Queen suck as a band, or mean anyone else who has used a stage name since has copied them? No, because that would be silly.
Of course not all of the comments were bad. Some of them sum up my feelings on the matter pretty well:
"They’re making the music they want to, they look how they want and they’re clearly doing something right."
You see, this guy makes sense! Logical thinking prevails once again.
Metal fans tend to incorporate their music into their lives a hell of a lot more than those who just go with generic pop music (but hey, if you’re into that, good for you). Many play instruments, wear band T-shirts and other merchandise, will pay money to see their favourite band multiple times, get logos as tattoos, etc. Image can be a huge part of how metal fans show their support for the bands they like.
Unfortunately this means some fans get a little too passionate or protective over their musical niche. A lot of those who enjoy being particularly vocal via social media are absolutely toxic.
Need some examples?
[ul][li]You’re not wearing the T-shirt of this obscure black metal band? Your commercial metal sucks.[/li]
[li]You have a side fringe? Poser. Gaaay.[/li]
[li]Wait, you like THAT album? Let’s ignore the fact that we like the same band, you’re a lesser fan than I am.[/li][/ul]
In theory metal should have an amazing community (and don’t get me wrong, for the most part it is pretty damn awesome), as we all have something in common.
The fucking music.
It would make a whole lot more sense if people were to focus on the similarities between different metal fans, rather than the differences.
The point I’m making is, sure, everyone is entitled to an opinion. But that doesn’t give you an excuse to be an asshole - in real life or on the internet.
It seems pretty stupid to slate a band for writing and playing the music they want to write and play, just because you don’t particularly like it/it’s not heavy enough/too screamo/not enough guitar solos/too many guitar solos… You get the idea.
If you really feel strongly that music should sound a specific way, form a band and do it yourself. If you become huge and successful then you must have done something right. Until then, simply don’t listen to music you dislike just so you can bitch about it, stick with what you know and love and share it around.
Metal is awesome. Can we please keep it that way?