One of the best things about being a middle aged old fuck is not only being able to give those five names plus a dozen others is that I’m no longer enough of an idiot to care if someone is wearing a band as fashion instead of fandom.
Mind you, when it’s a band I’m really into, I’m disappointed when it’s fashion only, but at least it’s a chance to have a good convo about a band. But the fact you don’t open up with the bullshit “name five songs” goes a long way. You can just start out not being a douche and mention the band, say they’re great/you like them too, and just be two humans doing the thing we do best: talk about nothing important.
Shit, I’ve made friendly acquaintances by exactly that kind of interaction. See a cool shirt or whatever, strike up a conversation, make it short and friendly without pushing at all, and people remember. The next time you see them, they smile, maybe throw horns \m/ if it’s a metal band and that’s part of how you brought it up, and now there’s two people smiling and waving at each other instead of just grimly looking down and ignoring the world.
Fuck, my favorite cashier at the grocery store was like that. Threw horns, dude looked confused, I explained that the band on his shirt was a metal (ish, depending on how you count Danzig lol) band. He didn’t know it was a band shirt, it’s just the skull logo with no text.
Now he knows me by name and waves me over to his line when he sees me so we can chat a bit while business happens. Turns out, he likes a couple of the songs on the cd I made for him, so now he is a fan of sorts. Cool fucking kid.
Which is a long winded way of saying to do the golden rule thing and don’t be a douche about music.
Man, I love devil horns, it’s a great non verbal communicator. I remember seeing someone wearing a t-shirt of one of my favourite bands at an semi fancy event once. I wasn’t able to go over and talk to them, so I excitedly waved, pointed at my own t-shirt (which was plain), and then threw devil horns. They understood what I was saying and in that moment, a friendship was formed, although unfortunately we never got the chance to actually talk.
I just love the fact that I was dressed quite unlike I usually do, so didn’t have many alt aspects of my appearance, but this one neat hand gesture was sufficient to establish rapport between me and someone cool.
It’s kinda crazy how something that simple can unite people. Metal is membership in a worldwide community, with that nigh universal symbol Apple able to bridge languages and culture in a way that very little else does.
I remember doing the horns at the graduation ceremony for my bachelor’s diploma. I look back in embarrassment but I just sort of didn’t know what else to do.
One of the best things about being a middle aged old fuck is not only being able to give those five names plus a dozen others is that I’m no longer enough of an idiot to care if someone is wearing a band as fashion instead of fandom.
Mind you, when it’s a band I’m really into, I’m disappointed when it’s fashion only, but at least it’s a chance to have a good convo about a band. But the fact you don’t open up with the bullshit “name five songs” goes a long way. You can just start out not being a douche and mention the band, say they’re great/you like them too, and just be two humans doing the thing we do best: talk about nothing important.
Shit, I’ve made friendly acquaintances by exactly that kind of interaction. See a cool shirt or whatever, strike up a conversation, make it short and friendly without pushing at all, and people remember. The next time you see them, they smile, maybe throw horns \m/ if it’s a metal band and that’s part of how you brought it up, and now there’s two people smiling and waving at each other instead of just grimly looking down and ignoring the world.
Fuck, my favorite cashier at the grocery store was like that. Threw horns, dude looked confused, I explained that the band on his shirt was a metal (ish, depending on how you count Danzig lol) band. He didn’t know it was a band shirt, it’s just the skull logo with no text.
Now he knows me by name and waves me over to his line when he sees me so we can chat a bit while business happens. Turns out, he likes a couple of the songs on the cd I made for him, so now he is a fan of sorts. Cool fucking kid.
Which is a long winded way of saying to do the golden rule thing and don’t be a douche about music.
I always thought Danzig was pretty much baseline metal in the 90s. His other band was (is? I don’t keep up) a few subgenres of punk.
But truthfully I don’t try to keep up with how they draw genre lines. I like what I like, and Danzig makes music I like.
I have nothing useful to add to anything you’ve said and agree with your message.
That’s me too. Danzig is metal by nature, even if every album he ever made wasn’t, and I prefer not to gatekeep genres unless it’s absurd.
Rock on, my homie :)
Having lived through the 90s, I only remember his song Mother. Which got a ton of mtv play when it came out. That was definitely metal.
That’s a good tune. One of the first I learned when I figured out power chords on the guitar.
Man, I love devil horns, it’s a great non verbal communicator. I remember seeing someone wearing a t-shirt of one of my favourite bands at an semi fancy event once. I wasn’t able to go over and talk to them, so I excitedly waved, pointed at my own t-shirt (which was plain), and then threw devil horns. They understood what I was saying and in that moment, a friendship was formed, although unfortunately we never got the chance to actually talk.
I just love the fact that I was dressed quite unlike I usually do, so didn’t have many alt aspects of my appearance, but this one neat hand gesture was sufficient to establish rapport between me and someone cool.
It’s kinda crazy how something that simple can unite people. Metal is membership in a worldwide community, with that nigh universal symbol Apple able to bridge languages and culture in a way that very little else does.
It’s beautiful
I remember doing the horns at the graduation ceremony for my bachelor’s diploma. I look back in embarrassment but I just sort of didn’t know what else to do.