Heavy Metal music is about to enter a second Golden Age. How do I know this? I don’t. It’s a prediction. However, we have some signs:
1. People are saying that Metal in America is dead. We’ve heard this before when in the late 70s, the talking heads declared Metal dead and punk to be king. We all know what happened next.
2. The experts are declaring that music in general is dying because nobody can make money except for a very few pop acts. I hesitate to call these pop acts “artists” because most of these people are performers, not artists. Artists involves making art. This ain’t art.
3. The kids need something to listen to. I’ve talked to so many kids who are musically stuck in previous generations because they can’t stand the most of the music coming out today. (You may interpret this as a bad thing, but it’s a really good thing. It’s like buying into the stock market when everyone else has left it).
4. You don’t need a major label to record good music. There’s an excess today of extremely talented Producers and guess what? They’re charging less than they were charging in the 80s and 90s. Bad for them. Good for young bands with limited budgets. For the first time in your lifetime, you can hire these people with a bank loan or credit cards to record a full album. This has never happened before. You’d always need a record label to front you the money. Now, you can do it yourself.
5. There’s an excess of places where you can get people to listen to your music. Not too long ago, you had the radio and MTV. And that’s it. If you don’t get on the radio and/or MTV, you don’t get heard. Period. You had no career. This is a pretty epic change.
So, what does this all have to do with Metal?
Everything. Except for the 80s, Metal has been underground. Metal still has a strong, devoted following. More devoted than any other form of music. By far. Metalheads are more devoted to their music than punks are to theirs, or rap fans to theirs, or ska fans to theirs, or jazz fans to theirs.
Just being realistic. You know this is true because you’ve seen it first hand.
All we need now is for four or five Metal bands to lead the way. When it happens, it will be the second Golden Age of Metal. Mark my words. It will happen sooner than later.