Listening to music in the 70's and 80's and trying to categorize it was so much easier. Hard rock, Prog, Heavy metal and that was pretty much it. Now you must about 40 sub genres of Metal/rock. Plenty of music coming out now, plenty of Nordic and European bands bands as well as the more traditional places UK/USA Has it died or gone away ? NEVER. It has just evolved ,which is why the current music scene is so healthy
Did metal die in the 1990's? Nope, not at all. In the eyes of MTV...metal probably was dead by the mid 90's. The sudden disappearance of Headbangers Ball in January 1995, when MTV abruptly canceled the show without any prior warning to viewers, host Riki Rachtman, or the production staff. To me, that was the death knell for MTV...right there. Slightly OT...sorry.
The mantel holders of metal are the new jazz/punk snobs. Not music lovers. Just dictating. Heavy is a feel. Much of what you call metal is just pure pop. Metal goes on. More metal today than ever.
If metal had stopped in the mid 1990's, we wouldn't have genres such as Atmospheric Black Metal and Dungeon Synth to enjoy in 2022.
No, but it's probably a lot tougher to break through now. Metal is over 50 years old at this point and so a lot of ideas have been cultivated. That's not to say there can't be a continued evolution, though. I've heard some really creative stuff over the last few years. But it's not on the same consistent basis compared to when I was first getting into the music. I'm probably just out of loop and need to check out more recent releases.
Metal seems more alive right now than ever. Nostalgia and new bands. Lots of really dedicated young fans. Really broad field. Accepted by the press now too. Never was in the 80s. I find the genre minutia too much. But it’s also out of love. Metal is accepted and outside and all over the place.
On the contrary. While tribalism is mostly a thing of the past in music, the metal subculture is one of the few remaining subcultures still standing.
I guess that's because it's always been extremely open to outside influences. There's some truly amazing, very fertile stuff around.
Metal became significantly less popular then in the wake of Grunge and Nu Metal. The European and Scandinavian brethren kept Metal alive. They created the genres of Death, Black and Power Metal. It's glorious stuff and has been very much alive for over thirty years. There are thousands of bands and artists who still worship at Metal"s blackened; titanium Church.
South American countries, like Brazil and Chile, has a lot of great underground metal bands. Belo Horizonte in Brazil has great metal bands like Sepultura, Sarcofago, Chakal, Holocausto, Mutilator, and others. Middle-Eastern bands are also very underground due to the sociopolitical oppression in Iraq, Iran, and Lebanon. My favourite, Damaar, is definitely one of the best but only released a demo and has since broken up. Israel has a few decent bands like Melechesh (since relocated to the Netherlands, though), Orphaned Land, Salem, and Sonne Adam. The book, Rock in a Hard Place: Music and Mayhem in the Middle East, is a great read about metal bands in that region.
Ningen Isu (and other bands from Japan) are doing their part in keeping metal alive. Here's one of Ningen Isu's most popular songs. Regards, Dave
Metal just became less popular then. And frankly, that's a good thing for the genre. Now that metal isn't as popular we won't have another overblown, exaggerated, ridiculous excuse for metal (I'm looking at you hair metal) and more people will be making projects in the vein of black and death metal