I do think however, that fans of "niche genres", be that extreme metal, or ragga, or drum 'n' bass or whatever, tend to be far more passionate, enthusiastic and opinionated about music than more mainstream (for want of a better word) listeners, which is how I tend to think of the majority of this forum, especially after being so disappointed reading so many posts of "nothing good has come out this year" or "I don't really listen to any new music".
I feel like I (along with many others) am being damned as "mainstream", which I find a bit insulting. I was listening to what we then called "metal" 30 years ago. Back then we had a few heavy bands but we also had funny little bands with poppy tunes and keyboard players.... we still called them "metal". The singers (even the "heavy" ones) could sing, hardly anyone dressed up in black or covered themselves in fake blood or oh-so-scary corpse paint. It didn't make it any less of a "niche genre".
Don't tell me I'm not passionate about music just because I like tunes you can sing in the shower. Because I don't understand the appeal of death grunts or never-ending 100mph drumming.
I'm not accusing you personally, but I believe some people are into "extreme" music just because it
is extreme. They want to be as "underground" and elitist as they possibly can, the more unlistenable the better. They don't actually give a shite about the music.
As for "nothing good has come out this year" and "I don't really listen to any new music"..... try being 45. It gets harder to keep up. Young bands start to look like self-important overgrown babies with ridiculous hair and stupid key chains dangling out of their hanging-round-the-arse jeans. Tattooed, fat 35-year-olds in smelly t-shirts and bullet belts, clutching bottles of JD, don't look hard or cool, they look like immature tits. Everything begins to sound like something you've heard before.
It'll happen to you one day. Just wait.
