Why is Metal the dominant music genre on internet gaming forums?

[AeroZeppelinSevenfold]

I like to listen to Grunge music. Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots....they are kinda heavy but poppy enough for me to sing along and stuff.

I don't like being yelled at while I listen to music, so I really don't like screaming stuff.

As for why Metal is popular, I really don't know. A lot of my friends are the type the play Call of Duty, then listen to Slipknot while doing it, then get mad at me because I get tired of hearing the music and playing the game.

I listen to almost anything while I play though. The Killers and Panic At The Disco are kind of different for games. I like the Beatles too.

 

[G1eet]

Because none of us are fruity enough to listen to the pop culture music du jour?

And also because we all have a good taste in music.

 

[matnatz]

"Because Metal is the white man music?" - random dood

I love that .

 

[Kiutu]

Cause Rap sucks and Metal fits alot of the numerous action-filled game? Thats my reasoning as to why.

Wow, why does every music thread have to have someone who needs to voice their disdain for a music genre? By the way it's hip hop not rap, rap is a primary ingredient of hip hop music.

And quite frankly, I could play plenty of action packed games with hip hop in the background, though I only like playing games with the soundtrack that is given to me.

And there is far too much musical elitism on these forums, this won't end well.

I hate Rap, but I can enjoy hip-hop. Most notably Black-Eyed Peas, since they actually have great MUSIC and are not just shooting people and slapping bitches. You assume too quickly, and what you can do is not what everyone can do. I assure you I turn off the 'hip hop' (usually just the crappy rap though) selection in games that allow it. (Or only listen to the rock station in GTA's case) Rap is not music, talking is not music. Music requires music to be music. Instruments and singing help. Also if you are worried of things spiraling out of control, dont be the one to ignite the flame.

 

[9NineBreaker9]

The only time I've ever liked metal music is while playing Painkiller, because it... just fits the mood of relentless murder. Otherwise, the only "metal" music I listen to is Metallica, Live with the Francisco Orchestra, because I love that album.

 

[Lyri]

I've had some serious pvp & kill counts to tunes like this.

 

[speedcoreXdandy]

There's a lot of crossover between the metalhead/gamer/nerd (I don't really mean that negatively) groups so they seem to tend to share ideas and tastes, that's my guess.

I wish there were more raver gamers. Or at least more gamers who listen to generally good music.

 

[Captain Pancake]

Because there is a lot of pent up anger in gamers? I honestly have no idea, i guess with the action packed games there needs to be action packed songs to pump you up. Imagine playing CoD WaW to some poppy tunes...

There are way too many metal threads on the escapist.

this seems to sum it up quite nicely. gamers are frustrated due to a usual social repression, and this frustration is reflected in the music we listen to.

and there can NEVER be too many metal threads.

There's a lot of crossover between the metalhead/gamer/nerd (I don't really mean that negatively) groups so they seem to tend to share ideas and tastes, that's my guess.

I wish there were more raver gamers. Or at least more gamers who listen to generally good music.

what's that supposed to mean? if you don't like my music, there's no reason to slander it so openly, because all you'd be doing is insulting a fair portion of people on this site. i'm not a fan of your kind of music, but i won't go about debasing it for the synthesised noise that it is. (that last sentence is totally reduntant...)

 

[Low Key]

Metal tends to fit the fast paced games it is put into. I would never listen to metal outside of gaming, at least not by my own volition.

 

[Clashero]

I was thinking the same thing the other day. One would think that The Escapist is a metal forum with some gamers amidst the crowd.
There are some good metal bands, and a few really excellent ones, but none of them are better than classic Rock bands like The Who, CCR, The Eagles, etc.

Still, in my opinion the greatest musical genre is Classical music, and by extension Opera. And by further extension, Operatic Pop and Classical Crossover.

 

[ChromeAlchemist]

Cause Rap sucks and Metal fits alot of the numerous action-filled game? Thats my reasoning as to why.

Wow, why does every music thread have to have someone who needs to voice their disdain for a music genre? By the way it's hip hop not rap, rap is a primary ingredient of hip hop music.

And quite frankly, I could play plenty of action packed games with hip hop in the background, though I only like playing games with the soundtrack that is given to me.

And there is far too much musical elitism on these forums, this won't end well.

I hate Rap, but I can enjoy hip-hop. Most notably Black-Eyed Peas, since they actually have great MUSIC and are not just shooting people and slapping bitches. You assume too quickly, and what you can do is not what everyone can do. I assure you I turn off the 'hip hop' (usually just the crappy rap though) selection in games that allow it. (Or only listen to the rock station in GTA's case) Rap is not music, talking is not music. Music requires music to be music. Instruments and singing help. Also if you are worried of things spiraling out of control, dont be the one to ignite the flame.

Wow, just...wow.

Once again, 'Rap' is not music, you are correct in saying that, because rap is not a musical genre, it is a rhythmic technique that is used within the genre of hip hop music. Hating a rhymic technique and then liking the genre that uses it is quite silly. I'm also not quite sure what I assumed too quickly, perhaps you could point it out.

Hip Hop music is a genre which contains over 40 subgenres, and I can assure you that there is mainly one subgenre that talks about shooting people and slapping bitches, and that's gangster rap. There are many other subgenres that don't talk about such things, Black Eyed Peas falls into one of them, but they are a mixture of hip hop and pop music.

Don't worry, I'm not worried at all about things spiralling out of control by the way.

-snip-

Some pretty crazy stuff! I liked both of those, it would be a bit weird for me to listen to those while playing an action packed game, I tend to listen to game soundtracks, but I can easily see how that would work.

 

[Assassin Xaero]

Us nerds like our metal? I've been listening to it for about 10 years now... that and punk... mostly because of Tony Hawk games and their awesome soundtracks...

 

[Kiutu]

Cause Rap sucks and Metal fits alot of the numerous action-filled game? Thats my reasoning as to why.

Wow, why does every music thread have to have someone who needs to voice their disdain for a music genre? By the way it's hip hop not rap, rap is a primary ingredient of hip hop music.

And quite frankly, I could play plenty of action packed games with hip hop in the background, though I only like playing games with the soundtrack that is given to me.

And there is far too much musical elitism on these forums, this won't end well.

I hate Rap, but I can enjoy hip-hop. Most notably Black-Eyed Peas, since they actually have great MUSIC and are not just shooting people and slapping bitches. You assume too quickly, and what you can do is not what everyone can do. I assure you I turn off the 'hip hop' (usually just the crappy rap though) selection in games that allow it. (Or only listen to the rock station in GTA's case) Rap is not music, talking is not music. Music requires music to be music. Instruments and singing help. Also if you are worried of things spiraling out of control, dont be the one to ignite the flame.

Wow, just...wow.

Once again, 'Rap' is not music, you are correct in saying that, because rap is not a musical genre, it is a rhythmic technique that is used within the genre of hip hop music. Hating a rhymic technique and then liking the genre that uses it is quite silly. I'm also not quite sure what I assumed too quickly, perhaps you could point it out.

Hip Hop music is a genre which contains over 40 subgenres, and I can assure you that there is mainly one subgenre that talks about shooting people and slapping bitches, and that's gangster rap. There are many other subgenres that don't talk about such things, Black Eyed Peas falls into one of them, but they are a mixture of hip hop and pop music.

Don't worry, I'm not worried at all about things spiralling out of control by the way.

I hate the stuff, deal with it. I have been in enough of these type of arguments to know neither of us will bugde on our views and will just result in us trying to make the other slip up, So I am just going to stop here. I am aware of my prejudice against this type of lets say entertainment sounds, but this is merely out of experience since most I hear sucks, and most fans of it tend to be people who piss me off.

 

[Harlemura]

I've never liked metal personally, but I do see how it fits into games. Games like Gears of War and stuff.
Whenever I listen to music while gaming, I listen to something completely unfitting to make for the fun times. You ever seen three Scouts fighting to the Benny Hill show theme? Hilarious!

 

[Marbas]

I think it's a variety of things. Metal is popular with nerds. It's fast paced and gets the adrenaline going. That being said, the metal I like is generally slow or experimental. I think I actually would prefer hip hop in many situations while gaming. Especially Glitch Hop. Like eDIT. Seriously, awesome stuff. That being said, my real bread and butter music genres are Goth Rock/Post-Punk, Noise, and Dark Ambient.

I hate the stuff, deal with it.

The problem is some of your statements have demonstrated astonishing ignorance.

 

[SevenStarSonata]

Hmm...because metal is the most awesome genre of music there is?

Kidding (sort of...), but in all seriousness, this could be for several reasons...power metal, for instance, is very fantasy based, talking about dragons and epic battles and the like. It keeps to many of the same themes that draw gamers to gaming, so it follows that a gamer would find it more interesting than music about, say, "bitches and hoes".

Metal in general is very escapist, whether it's the fantasy world escapism of power metal or the raw emotional outlet of screamer metal or death metal...the sort of people who would frequent forums and prefer to put their thoughts to words to a generally anonymous crowd are the sort who might benefit or enjoy a raw burst of emotion. There's also the level of appreciation, that someone like a gamer who might be very detail-oriented could appreciate, the extremely fast and technical guitar parts, the vocal strength and versatility of the singers, etc..

....but mostly, it's just awesome.

 

[Teh_Doomage]

I would rather listen to distorted guitars than recycled loops of previous songs repackaged as new.

 

[rottenbutter]

Because Brutal Legend will be so awesome that it will send shock waves back in time and make most gamers subconsciously love metal.

That's my guess anyway.

 

[Lyri]

Some pretty crazy stuff! I liked both of those, it would be a bit weird for me to listen to those while playing an action packed game, I tend to listen to game soundtracks, but I can easily see how that would work.

Maybe so, but that's what I thought at first that it would be weird not hearing the sound of distortion.
Yet some of the beats, you kinda sink into a trance and just let the violence fly.

It's really good fun when you get into a killing spree to a good musical score.
Both songs have been good to me in PvP.

Hip Hop music is a genre which contains over 40 subgenres, and I can assure you that there is mainly one subgenre that talks about shooting people and slapping bitches, and that's gangster rap. There are many other subgenres that don't talk about such things, Black Eyed Peas falls into one of them, but they are a mixture of hip hop and pop music.

I'm going to be as rude to correct you here, get crunk mo'fucker!
Hilarious mashup but...

Spoiler: Explicit lyrics and content, you've been warned.

 

[Jumping_Over_Fences]

Which is to say loud and generally atonal - much like really old punk.

Loud I will give you, but atonal? What is atonal about The Clash, The Ramones, or Dead Kennedys.

As far as everyone being into Metal, that is just a generalization. People on these forums are into various types of music. Metal just comes up in conversation the most. In fact right now I am listening to one of the greatest bands of all time The Beach Boys.