The Wall Street Journal Reports on Metal’s Universality

We knew the Wall Street Journal wasn’t quite the stuffy institution it often seems to be when they premiered a new Graveyard song in 2012. But that band is kind of crunchy and appeals to a wide audience. Today, the paper officially stepped their game up.

The WSJ published an article today called “The Weird Global Appeal of Heavy Metal.” Written by Neil Shah, the Journal’s music expert, the article focuses on how metal’s fanbase grows throughout the world and maintains a loyalty that other music only dreams of. You can read the piece here.

Don’t get me wrong, Shah’s reporting is more on metal as a phenomenon than a cool genre of music, and as such the article is occasionally kind of dry. There’s a heavy focus on emerging markets and coverage of the Century Media and Candlelight buy-outs. In general, the piece is full of bands and information that most well-versed metalheads — anyone who reads this site regularly, anyway — would already be aware of, and it treats metal the way business institutions have always done, as a fascinating and somehow-profitable outsider culture.

That said, Shah is obviously interested in the music, and has done his homework. Throughout his article, he’s informative about metal’s appeal and includes samples of five metal bands from around the world, and since the WSJ is most meant for stuffy businessmen and older readers, that’s a good start. I just hope it doesn’t mean every finance goon is going to try to start a metal band. WE ARE TRADING FLOOR FROM MARTHA’S VINEYARD!

Anyway, go read the piece and let us know what you think. It isn’t filled with arbitrary opinions from Corey Taylor and Ghost, but hey, they can’t all be MetalSucks.

Thanks for the heads up, mom!