Last night we saw Ozzy at the old Malmoe Stadion. I confess, I have no genuine "relations" to neither Ozzy nor Black Sabbath. I have listened to a whole bunch of songs and appreciate/like many of those. I also agree that without Ozzy and Sabbath maybe Heavy Metal wouldn't be what it is today. When I grew up basically the only Metal music I heard was through the wall when my kid brither played Kiss, Dio, WASP, Metallica, Iron Maiden etc.
What I have experienced though is that most of those metal heads that grew up with the old metal gets stuck there? It's like the old timers grewing up with Elvis and still only listen to Elvis. (Just to make it clear I think Elvis was great!) The only new heavy metal bands they start to like are those who sound like the old 70's (or 80's) bands.
I like to say that I listen to Heavy Metal/hard rock (and punk and pop and...) but somehow, in those "old timers" eyes I always seem to get dismissed as not being a metal head since I don't love the old ones. I've never listened to more than a couple of songs from Deep Purple, Thin Lizzy, Rainbow, Led Zeppelin, Whitesnake and so on. Some of them I liked most of them I didn't. I am one of those that started listening to Metallica after the black album (even though I have now gone back and find many of their old songs to be quite good). I'm sorry that I can't appreciate a 10 minute guitar or drum solo and I definitely can't see the point of that. I don't like the "blues-style" metal so AC/DC and ZZ Top is OK for a song or two then they get boring in my ears.
In these days with Spotify etc I often find new and interesting bands to listen to and I don't glue myself to my old record ceollection and dismiss everything else. When it comes to conserts I've seen a few. With bands I loved, bands I hated, bands I didn't know anything about and, as the case of Ozzy last night, bands I know some about but have no "relations" to. Last night's show I found boring and uninspired.
So to all "old time"-metal heads out there I ask: Why must I love the old to love the new?
And I ask a question back: Why are you so hung up on the music you grew up with that you can't appreciate anything else? Are you afraid of loosing your genuin metalness?
Come On! The world of music is endless. Keep rocking, popping or whatever, but open your minds and ears. There might be some really good tunes out there that you're missing because you're afraid to let go.
