Episode 36: Hashtag Hellaton

One comment

1. Similar to the question of “what is metal”, the question can be asked as to what exactly is meant by a band being relevant? Does the simple fact that people are still talking about a band mean they are relevant? No one is talking about AC/DC, Queensryche, or some of these hair metal bands from the 80s even though they are still around. People are at least talking about Iron Maiden, Megadeth, and Metallica which has to count for something. If Dave Mustaine were completely irrelevant then no one would even be talking about him, not even to criticize him. He would just be ignored if he were completely irrelevant. Does anyone even talk about Motely Crue or Def Leppard even though both of those bands put out albums in 2008? (I had to look up when they last put out albums). No one talks about them because they are irrelevant.

   If you want to use a more narrow definition of relevance, then does it mean that the band put out a good album in the past few years? Or does being relevant mean that they continue to influence other artists with their recent work (as opposed to influencing artists with their work from 20 years ago)? If that is the case then very few veteran acts could be considered relevant (Meshuggah maybe).

   Does relevance mean that people are anticipating buying a new release from a band before they have even heard one song the album? If that’s the case, then Anthrax quickly went from irrelevant to relevant for me, because I was not planning on even giving Worship Music the time of day when it came out because Anthrax hadn’t put out a good album in about 20 years. But enough buzz and critical acclaim was heaped on Worship Music that I am glad I did and it became one of the top albums for me from last year.

   And who does relevance apply to? Metallica is relevant to me but I don’t know if they are relevant to 14 years olds today. Bring Me the Horizon is not relevant to me but they may be relevant to 14 year olds today (I wouldn’t know).

   Then there is the notion of not just bands being relevant, but entire sub-genres being relevant. Grunge and “nu” metal are irrelevant, but thrash and NWOBHM (which are both older than grunge and nu metal), seem to still be holding on to some sort of relevance based on all these new bands who continue that style (as you pointed out this week).

   As for Kyle’s picks from last week: Unsane and Ever Forthright are Kyle’s buys, Paradise Lost is the try, and the other two are “not found.”

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