MetalSucks

Right around this time of year we usually start to see the lineups of all the major music festivals announced. The latest announcement making headlines is that of Bonnaroo, and for the third year in a row the festival has a surprising showing of metal bands on the bill.

Two years ago Metallica headlined Bonnaroo, and last year’s lineup included Nine Inch Nails, Down, and Shadows Fall among others. This year’s lineup is even heavier, with Isis, Baroness, Clutch, Melvins, Gwar and Against Me! all making appearances.

I’m a little baffled by the inclusion of most of these bands on a festival lineup that’s got nothing to do with metal. It strikes me as somewhat odd that anyone who comes to see Dave Matthews headline an event would have any interest in Isis. Surely some of the festival attendees enjoy metal and presumably the metal bands at the past two festivals went over well, otherwise metal bands wouldn’t have been invited back this time around. But I really can’t see any metalheads making the trek to Bonnaroo just because these bands are on the bill; in other words, the festival won’t be attracting a new clientele, just giving its current clientele a little more variety.

So what’s the larger meaning here? Is metal gaining wider acceptance in other music communities? Do these bands all fall into a certain sub-sect of metal that appeals to a more indie rock-centric crowd? Is it simply a case of these bands having the same booking agents? Share your thoughts in the comments.

-VN

No, not really… but you’d think so based on the Canadian pop duo’s new “metal” t-shirt design (above).

Part of me wants to like this t-shirt because it looks cool. Kudos to the designer for that. But the other part of me wants to say, “Man, fuck that.” The co-opting of metal culture, particularly the aesthetic, is not something that metalheads take lightly. I’m no member of the fashion police, but I think it’s fair to say that any Tegan & Sara fan wearing this shirt would be doing so ironically; “Haha, it’s Tegan & Sara but it *looks* metal. Get it?” That irony is a slap in the face to those of us who take metal seriously. I can’t speak for Tegan & Sara themselves — for all I know they could be cranking Gojira at 11 as I type this — but the likelihood of most of their fans being able to name one Metallica song outside of “Enter Sandman” (if that), let alone the name of one metal band new on the scene in the past 10 years that didn’t play at Bonnaroo, Coachella or <insert hipster festival here> is pretty damn unlikely. And something about that makes it seem rather unfair of them to bite off a hunk of metal culture for their own good.

Full disclosure: I loved Tegan & Sara’s 2004 mini-hit “Walking With a Ghost.” Fantastic song. But metal it is not.

So let’s keep apples to apples. Look; if one Tegan & Sara fan picks up a Carcass record because of this shirt, then mission accomplished. But it still rubs me the wrong way. What do you all think?

-VN

In the summer of 2006, before MetalSucks was even a twinkle in our young, stoned eyes, Axl and I headed across the pond to England’s famous Download Festival at Castle Donington to get our metal on. Our minds were literally blown; neither of us had ever been to an event of such magnitude and we were literally shocked at the seemingly endless and welcoming metal community in Europe. In 2007 and 2008 we talked of going to other European festival mainstays like Wacken and Hellfest, and though we never made it back we were continually jealous of the rich European metal festival scene.

Americans have reason to be jealous of their European forefathers no more; a glut of both indoor and outdoor festivals have hit the American circuit in the past few of years, and in 2009 even more promoters are jumping on the bandwagon with a glut of killer destination metal festivals already lined up.

Click to read more…

MetalSucks reported it here first on December 19th, but no, that wasn’t enough for you people. You needed to hear it officially to believe it. Well, believe it motherfuckers: Metallica is headlining the Sunday this year of Bonnaroo, the annual hippie / hipster jam-out in Tennessee, despite prior claims from Metallica’s management that the rumors were not true.

Seriously, folks: MetalSucks is unfuckwithable. Don’t you know that by now?

The real question here is what will be funnier; thousands of hipsters heading for the hills when Metallica plays, or dudes with side-swiped, asymmetrical haircuts attempting to headbang. Or did Pitchfork / NME say it was cool for them to like Metallica this week? Who the fuck knows.

-VN

First we reported a rumor from an anonymous reader of the Lefsetz Letter that Metallica were confirmed to play Bonnaroo 2008, the yearly 4-day hippie freak out in Manchester, Tennessee. That same day Metallica’s management issued a statement denying the rumors. But fuck that shit. MetalSucks has word, straight from the horse’s mouth, that Metallica ARE indeed confirmed to headline the June festival, a traditionally non-metal festival who branched out last year to include Tool. According to an industry insider whose name and affiliation we cannot reveal, the deal is done. The “t”s” are crossed and the “i”s are dotted, and Metallica is confirmed to be at Bonnaroo 2008.

Does this increase our chances of going? No, probably not — who would go to Bonnaroo when you could go to Download or Rocklahoma?

-VN

In the “yeah, right” department, Metallica uber-Management firm Q Prime has denied rumors that Metallica will play the 2008 edition of Bonnaroo, the annual 4-day festival in Manchester, Tennessee. The rumor was started by an anonymous tip sent to industry pundit Bob Lefsetz.

Led Zeppelin’s management, meanwhile, is mum on the report.

Who wants to take bets as to how long it will be until Metallica is announced as a headliner for Bonnaroo 2008? I’ll wager my copy of Suck Anger.

-VN

According to an anonymous tip sent to industry pundit Bob Lefsetz, Metallica and Led Zeppelin are confirmed for next year’s Bonnaroo festival, the annual 4-day hippie and hipster fest in Manchester, Tennessee. Tool played last year’s event, marking a big departure from the usual array of jam bands and blog-flavor-of-the-moment indie rock bands.

Led Zeppelin I can see; generations of people of all types of music grew up listening to Zeppelin. But won’t Metallica be the odd one out? I’d have to imagine that many attendees chose to go to a different stage while Tool was on last year; Maynard himself called everyone a bunch of “crazy hippies.” Or has Metallica reached that level of mainstream ubiquity where they’ll actually go over well with a bunch of snot-nosed indie rockers singing along to “Enter Sandman”?

-VN