I don't have low self esteem.
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2005
- Messages
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[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIKqgE4BwAY"]BABYMETAL - ???????- Gimme chocolate!! - Live Music Video - YouTube[/ame]
Oooooooooooookay...
These girls have been around for months by now. When I first heard them, my reaction was "**** THIS BULLSHIT!!!!". I thought it was basically AKB48 with Heavy Metal music. I had earlier ranted on FaceBook about how Heavy Metal is dead in Japan and that they don't have bands like Mad Capsule Markets anymore, and that BabyMetal was Japan's way of putting the final nail in the Heavy Metal coffin while letting AKB48 and other bullshit take over. "Doki Doki Morning" was the first music video I watched and I think I stopped the song halfway.
But then after a few months of ignoring them and eventually forgetting about them, I watched an episode of A Dose of Buckley where he ranted not so much about the band itself, but about the critics criticizing BabyMetal for being commercialized metal. I have to agree with Buckley on this. I think those critics seem to have got the word "commercialized" confused with "cute" or "popified" (if that's even a word).
The funny thing is, WAAAAAAY before BabyMetal, Kelly Osborne did a metal cover of Madonna's Papa Don't Preach, and in the UK we had Point Break, a trio from Newcastle who combined the style of a boy band with the music of Heavy Metal and rock. I guess you could call them the darkest boy band. So perhaps now isn't really a time to complain about Metal being 'commercialized'.
So eventually I found myself listening to BabyMetal more and my opinions changed from an angry raging freak yelling "**** THIS BULLSHIT!!!" and flipping the bird at the monitor... to an expressionless face, and I thought to myself "Wait a minute, maybe I'm not looking at BabyMetal right. Maybe BabyMetal are supposed to be a sort of novelty or a style parody or something. If I'm gonna flip the bird at BabyMetal then I may as well flip the bird at Weird Al Yankovic too".
Although I didn't hate them anymore, I still wasn't sure what opinion to make. They definitely are cute, which is not what I hated about BabyMetal and is also not what I hated about AKB48 (I loved Kyary Pamyu Pamyu). The thing with AKB48 is that they are 90% cuteness and 0% talent. They are basically a Japanese female Justin Bieber / One Direction. BabyMetal on the other hand, there is SOME talent at least, and a good sense of humour. They can sing, they can rap (I guess), they can dance, they can look cute..
But then BabyMetal said something about they wanted to save Metal (or something). I presume this means they wanted to be taken seriously as a proper Heavy Metal band. Well I'm sorry but I for one don't think I can. After all, the way they mix Heavy Metal with cutesy JPop music, and their overall cuteness... I just think comparing BabyMetal with the likes of Iron Maiden, Slayer, Guns and Roses, Metallica, and even the likes of Slipknot and Mudvayne... is like comparing MC Skat Kat with the likes of Eminem, 50 Cent, NWA, etc...
And it's not because they're girls. There have been loads of Metal and Punk bands with female lead singers, some are even all female as a band, some even only have a female drummer while the rest are all male.
To conclude this, I guess I like BabyMetal now. They are fun to listen to after all. They're definitely not "Fucking Bullshit" as I called them earlier, I take that remark back. As a novelty or a style parody they're great, but will it 'save metal'? I doubt it. Maybe I'll consider buying their album.
Guess the moral of the story is give them a chance and you'll might like them!!
Interestingly, their music is being released in the UK (where I live). They've even had a gig in London. I doubt they'll have much of an impact here as they probably had in Japan, because.. 1 - They're Japanese. Sure PSY was popular here but Gangnam Style was a fad. It's not very common that we get stuff from Japan and when we do it's not guaranteed to be big here. Anime is only released directly on DVD to a niche audience here, it's not on any mainstream TV channels (imagine watching One Piece on ITV? ), and Tokusatsu we only have in the form of Power Rangers. 2 - Heavy Metal doesn't seem to me as big in the UK as it used to be. We no longer listen to Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park, we listen to a bunch of drunken idiots go "TONIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGH!!!!!! WAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYY AAAAAAAARE YUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNG!!!! SO LETS SET THE WORLD ON FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRE!!!!"... No, how about you set YOURSELVES on fire you idiots!!!
(just kidding).
So anyway, that's my take on BabyMetal, now what's yours? Do you like BabyMetal? Do you hate BabyMetal? Do you think BabyMetal can be taken seriously as a Metal band? Do you think they're worth the hype or do you think they're overrated?
DISCUSS!!
Oooooooooooookay...
These girls have been around for months by now. When I first heard them, my reaction was "**** THIS BULLSHIT!!!!". I thought it was basically AKB48 with Heavy Metal music. I had earlier ranted on FaceBook about how Heavy Metal is dead in Japan and that they don't have bands like Mad Capsule Markets anymore, and that BabyMetal was Japan's way of putting the final nail in the Heavy Metal coffin while letting AKB48 and other bullshit take over. "Doki Doki Morning" was the first music video I watched and I think I stopped the song halfway.
But then after a few months of ignoring them and eventually forgetting about them, I watched an episode of A Dose of Buckley where he ranted not so much about the band itself, but about the critics criticizing BabyMetal for being commercialized metal. I have to agree with Buckley on this. I think those critics seem to have got the word "commercialized" confused with "cute" or "popified" (if that's even a word).
The funny thing is, WAAAAAAY before BabyMetal, Kelly Osborne did a metal cover of Madonna's Papa Don't Preach, and in the UK we had Point Break, a trio from Newcastle who combined the style of a boy band with the music of Heavy Metal and rock. I guess you could call them the darkest boy band. So perhaps now isn't really a time to complain about Metal being 'commercialized'.
So eventually I found myself listening to BabyMetal more and my opinions changed from an angry raging freak yelling "**** THIS BULLSHIT!!!" and flipping the bird at the monitor... to an expressionless face, and I thought to myself "Wait a minute, maybe I'm not looking at BabyMetal right. Maybe BabyMetal are supposed to be a sort of novelty or a style parody or something. If I'm gonna flip the bird at BabyMetal then I may as well flip the bird at Weird Al Yankovic too".
Although I didn't hate them anymore, I still wasn't sure what opinion to make. They definitely are cute, which is not what I hated about BabyMetal and is also not what I hated about AKB48 (I loved Kyary Pamyu Pamyu). The thing with AKB48 is that they are 90% cuteness and 0% talent. They are basically a Japanese female Justin Bieber / One Direction. BabyMetal on the other hand, there is SOME talent at least, and a good sense of humour. They can sing, they can rap (I guess), they can dance, they can look cute..
But then BabyMetal said something about they wanted to save Metal (or something). I presume this means they wanted to be taken seriously as a proper Heavy Metal band. Well I'm sorry but I for one don't think I can. After all, the way they mix Heavy Metal with cutesy JPop music, and their overall cuteness... I just think comparing BabyMetal with the likes of Iron Maiden, Slayer, Guns and Roses, Metallica, and even the likes of Slipknot and Mudvayne... is like comparing MC Skat Kat with the likes of Eminem, 50 Cent, NWA, etc...
And it's not because they're girls. There have been loads of Metal and Punk bands with female lead singers, some are even all female as a band, some even only have a female drummer while the rest are all male.
To conclude this, I guess I like BabyMetal now. They are fun to listen to after all. They're definitely not "Fucking Bullshit" as I called them earlier, I take that remark back. As a novelty or a style parody they're great, but will it 'save metal'? I doubt it. Maybe I'll consider buying their album.
Guess the moral of the story is give them a chance and you'll might like them!!
Interestingly, their music is being released in the UK (where I live). They've even had a gig in London. I doubt they'll have much of an impact here as they probably had in Japan, because.. 1 - They're Japanese. Sure PSY was popular here but Gangnam Style was a fad. It's not very common that we get stuff from Japan and when we do it's not guaranteed to be big here. Anime is only released directly on DVD to a niche audience here, it's not on any mainstream TV channels (imagine watching One Piece on ITV? ), and Tokusatsu we only have in the form of Power Rangers. 2 - Heavy Metal doesn't seem to me as big in the UK as it used to be. We no longer listen to Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park, we listen to a bunch of drunken idiots go "TONIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGH!!!!!! WAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYY AAAAAAAARE YUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNG!!!! SO LETS SET THE WORLD ON FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRE!!!!"... No, how about you set YOURSELVES on fire you idiots!!!
(just kidding).
So anyway, that's my take on BabyMetal, now what's yours? Do you like BabyMetal? Do you hate BabyMetal? Do you think BabyMetal can be taken seriously as a Metal band? Do you think they're worth the hype or do you think they're overrated?
DISCUSS!!