The original argument was: metal was never popular. And that assertion came with the condition that neither Hair nor Nu metal count as metal. That poisons the well from the get go. Let's not needlessly split hairs, metal, in all it's forms, was/is very popular and successful.

One of the most popular genres of all times? I don't think anyone claimed that.

Good stuff, I think I've enough tonight.

Heavy metal in the early 80s was Ozzy, Priest, Maiden, Dio, AC/DC, etc.

The mid to late 80s saw a lot of pop-metal with Bands like Poison, Britney Fox, White Lion, Winger, et al becoming popular. The pop crossover probably began with Quiet Riot's cover of Cum on Feel the Noize, which was immensely popular, and then Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet album was a huge pop hit and opened the floodgates for all of these other pop metal bands.

Most music sucks. There's maybe 15 artists that have stayed with me.

Pink Floyd is the only "big artist" that is in. The Beatles, Springsteen and lots of other "great" artists are out.

Cool - sorry for getting so fired up. It's close to the heart for me.

Sweet a made a bold statement that went so far it got a "beating a dead horse" emoji :-). Just to clarify, I never said Hair or Nu weren't metal, I was just saying that their popularity was due to a movement within metal, not a movement of metal itself. Meaning that the people that loved Bon Jovi were not listening to the likes of Slayer, Sepultura, Bathory, or Death (all different genres of metal, none of them talked about within the mainstream community).

I'm also not saying that just because they liked those groups they should like other parts of metal, but none of the other subgenres of metal were getting the kind of attention hair was. This is talked about in numerous documentaries, namely Metal: A Headbangers Journey and Heavy: The Story of Metal. Metal is a different beast anyways because it does have so many subgenres that make up metal as a whole. I guess the statement would've been less bold had I said black, death, trash, speed, and so on were never popular, but how many would I have to include before it is easier to just say Hair was popular?

Yep, pretty much. If Foo Fighters disappeared completely I doubt I'd even notice.

An interesting question. I was in high school from 1981-1985 and those bands were played heavily on the radio. But this was the rock station. Their concerts in the area were always sold out. But in the grand scheme of popularity, I'm not sure where they were. (For the record, Iron Maiden was opening for Priest and Ozzy - they were not on the same level at the time. )

I would consider the early 80's metal bands to be hugely popular. Record sales alone don't tell the story. Their tours did very well, they sold tons of merchandise, and were constantly being played on radio and MTV. Only thing that was missing was the female audience, and the hair band movement eventually brought in that element as well.

Although his worldview and lyrics never really appealed to me, I thought Cobain was a really excellent songwriter in regards to well-constructed, hooky, melodic yet edgy tunes. I never really got the appeal of Foo Fighters.

Bob Dylan's version of "All Along the Watchtower" is superior to Jimi Hendrix's.

Agreed. I'll go even further and say that if Hendrix's AAtW disappeared off the face of the Earth, forever, we'd all be the better for it.

It has now replaced "For What It's Worth" as the ridiculously unimaginative audio cue that is supposed to announce "THE SIXTIES!!!" in movies, television, trailers, etc.

Mainstream America has the world's worst taste in music

I'll sum up by saying Maiden Rules! ... saw them 3 times on the Maiden England Tour Dallas, Gdansk, and Austin. (5 if you could the 2 times I saw them on the Seventh Son Tour when the album came out).

Incredible show, best band out there even still ... they play great live and their new material is still really good.

I've seen them probably 17 times or so. Always put on a great show.

But I'd be happier if they dumped Gers off the side of the stage. He's not needed. I know he's Bruce's best mate and everything, but enough's enough. He just gets in the way. And steals solos off Murray and Smith that they play better.

Maiden is still selling out stadiums around the world, while Priest and Motley Crue can't even sell out the local Hard Rock Live. I think their legacy is pretty secure

Mainstream music has sucked ever since MTV came along, making substance take a backseat to style. Video really did kill the radio star.

Oops, I forgot the thread title, let me try again.... Video really did kill the radio star.


Also, every single song by Bruce Springsteen sounds like he's drunk or he just woke up. Hell, Frankie Goes To Hollywood's borderline homoerotic version of Born To Run had more energy than Springsteen's.... you can actually hear Bruce yawning during the verses.

-

I love that version.

He's their Bez.

Or Linda McCartney. Maybe they could just give him a tambourine.

The UK, with a population of roughly a quarter of The US, is responsible for almost twice as much great pop/rock music than The US.

I'm not sure that's bold as much as it is simply the truth.

I'll add to this one...

Although I am a fan of Jimi Hendrix... I think the original or other earlier versions of pretty much everything he covered are better than his versions.

A couple of examples:

The Leaves - "Hey Joe"

<iframe width="320" height="240" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/d1XysdgoQzo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


The Troggs - "Wild Thing"

<iframe width="320" height="240" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Hce74cEAAaE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

(note: I couldn't find a video for The Wild Ones)

Hendrix was an amazing guitar player (especially in his "live in concert" recordings), but he did tend to take the fun out of songs he covered.

The Kinks have the greatest 5-consecutive-album run* of any artist ever, including Beatles, Stones, Dylan, Zeppelin, etc.


*Something Else ('67), Village Green Preservation ('68), Arthur ('69), Lola vs. Powerman ('70), Muswell Hillbillies ('71)

Street Legal is Bob Dylan's best album.

Wow, that's a bold one.

The Motley Crue "farewell" tour was very well attended, at least at the summer shed I saw it in, but sadly Priest were only able to sell about a third of the college basketball arena they played in last weekend.