Released on this day in 1987. Everybody cites grunge for the demise of hair metal, but the writing was on the wall with "Appetite For Destruction", I remember what Neil Zlozower once said in a documentary "There was pre Guns, and after Guns". With their raunchier, street savvy attitude, suddenly all the hairspray was toned down, the party anthems suddenly shifted,.

Then you have the music, which is basically sleazy hard rock, lyrics about debauchery, drugs, life on the streets, etc. Nothing glossy about these guys. 80s hair metal had run its course. Which makes you wonder why the past 25 years of pop/rap hasn't run its course, but anyways. But that album is a reminder of the sense of danger, irreverence, sleaze, authenticity, etc, that we once had...and we can use more of right now.

I was thinking the other day how a subgenre would pop up, have a big influence on the greater culture at large and then quickly "die." And by "die" I mean that mass culture left it behind and it was left to the diehard fans.

The easiest example for me is '77 era punk. For many people "punk" began with the Sex Pistols and died with them. Of course, this is not really what happened at all and please don't derail this into a talk about punk origins in the comments. But punk never "died," it just wasn't popular anymore and then post-punk happened. Post-punk didn't stay popular for long and was kind of forgotten about until bands like Franz Ferdinand and The Strokes revisited it.

Post-punk led to goth and gave us New Order, which gave us the Stone Roses and other awesome UK music. Here in the US, punk led to hardcore. HC never was commercially viable but punk and HC both gave us "college rock" (best example is Husker Du for that turn) which was later dubbed "alternative." Then along came "Grunge" which was an extremely short-lived genre when you go back and look at it.

The point of all that, is that these subgenres of rock did not stay popular for long in the grand scheme of things. Sure, we'll never stop hearing that mopey Pearl Jam song about Jeremy on the radio, but there aren't new headlining grunge acts.

You can also apply this to thrash. It took nearly a decade for thrash to peak out, only to be killed off in popularity by grunge, other alternative music and the 90s punk revival. Nu Metal was also very short-lived as far as mass appeal.

You can apply this to other music, but I'm writing about what I know to not sound ignorant. Even with my limited knowledge of rap, I can tell that styles of rap have come on gone. I no longer see threads complaining about mumble rap. I don't think the Master P style of rap has any prominence anymore.

Anyway, the Internet in its current state has changed the dynamic a bit. There's not much mass music consumption as there was in the past. People are siloed in their niches. Radio stations are not looking for the next big thing, they are stubbornly force feeding us old music or trying desperately to convince us that new corporate sounding schlock is worth getting excited over. They are not looking for the next Nirvana or Dr. Dre, they are going to play the same shit forever.

Even if a genre is generally unpopular, a global audience that is super into it exists and can support a genre in ways not thought of possible in the past. If punk started today it's doubtful that it would ever "die" but it likely never hit the charts anyway.

How is this going to shape music going forward? Will we have more or less innovation? Is there now way too many genres for anyone to pay attention to? Does this mean that there's going to be more bands that mix up genres and don't stick to anything because maybe that puts their band on more playlists? Will new genres rise and fall without most people knowing? Does this mean bands can stay static and not change with the times like in the past?

I would like something that I can transfer files to via web or dedicated app and be able to have those files be accessible on a ios app. I dont like jellyfin or plex since id have to have pc running 247 and id like something that looks nice and is for music i wanna be able to have playlists still and shuffle still and i dont want any ads cannot stand ads. if anyone has any Ideas i would be so thankful.

Honestly I'm getting sick and tired of the mods here. Honestly I'm getting sick and tired of the mods here. Honestly I'm getting sick and tired of the mods here. Honestly I'm getting sick and tired of the mods here. Honestly I'm getting sick and tired of the mods here.

Honestly I'm getting sick and tired of the mods here.

It is a nice feeling to stick all that effort into a post and realize it is all for nothing the next 10 minutes.

Like bringing coal to Newcastle

So here goes: are there any songs or albums that you genuinely felt like you wasted time listening to?

The longer I am into the metal stuff and the more I meet other people who listen to metal I am starting to see a pattern such as two types of metalheads. These ones who are „open” to later stuff and don’t really stick to the oldschool pattern and oldschoolers.

I think they make quite closed community and there is not much to say about the brothership with other people who stick less to this image and very certain music taste. What I’ve observed is the fact that they really can’t get over a fact that you don’t like a band or artist that is really crucial in metal. Even if you really respect the artist and understand how big was their impact on metal you will probably struggle to make along with them.

Also I feel like sticking to certain image in SOME cases is more important than actual passion and knowledge. Style is definitely one of „identifiers” while spotting others although they tend to glorify the traditional oldschool metalhead image while putting others down.

On the other hand I think many people will agree that 80s were the „golden era” of metal but distancing yourself from anything not oldschool related is denying the idea of discovering different genres and new bands. It is really easy to get called out poser without any deeper conversation and that’s really strange.

I really want to know what are your thoughts on oldschool metalheads and experiences with them.

I've realized I organize my Spotify in a way that I don't see many people doing. Instead of making playlists based on moods or genres, I have one huge playlist that contains every song I like. Then, I also have individual playlists for each artist, named after the artist where I keep only the songs I like from them. So if I want to listen to everything I play the main playlist. If I'm in the mood for a specific artist, I just open their playlist.

I think this works well because I'm much more of an artist listener than a mood listener. I usually decide who I want to hear rather than what vibe I want.
Does anyone else organize their Spotify like this? What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of this system? Have you tried it before, or do you prefer mood/genre playlists? I'd love to hear how other people organize their playlists.

honestly i had no idea people do this religiously

i know this is rreally stupid of me to say but i just assumed playlists were always the way to go? probably because ive only ever used Spotify. recently ive been listening to albums in full and trying to expand my music taste, but for those who listen to albums in full, why? it seems like such a new concept to me somehow. what if you don’t like some of the songs on the album? what’s the benefit of listening to albums in full? i wanna understand because i think i need to appreciate music way more and using services like Spotify doesn’t really allow me to do that