The problem with talking about heavy metal in a mainstream publication is that metal appeals to people who are not necessarily a part of the conversation. Metal heads are losers. dorks. Probably on drugs. Lowlifes. Long haired weirdos who dress funny. Big scary dudes with tattoos. The guys who hang out in shop class because they have no future and are not going to go to college. The type of people you build gated communities to keep away from. The guys like me that found metal back in the day and the hardcore metalheads are not welcome to have a conversation in the WSJ. People talk about metal fans, but never with them in articles like this.

Everything I needed to know about metal I learned in my first mosh pit. It was at a Slayer concert. It was chaotic, insane, crazy, over the top, completely off the rails. People were slamming into each other, giant guys in boots and no shirts where grabbing people and throwing them into the center of the maelstrom. And yet, there were no true assholes. Someone goes down, 2-3 others grabbed them and shoved them to the side so they didn't get trampled. Mosh pits are amazing, and no video, no description does them justice. Here is a big circle pit NSFW audio. Watch the guys running into the circles. Here is a poor video of a good time the best of the quick search for a smaller pit and yea the audio on all these is not that great so you want to turn it down or mute, sorry about that. It is hard to describe the why looking at video like that. It is even harder to describe what it is like to have 2000-3000 sweaty drunken bastards flailing around on the floor of a concert venue while music so loud it hurts in your lungs is blared at you. One of the best pits I think I was ever at was at Primus during the Tour de Formage where they played the whole Sailing the seas of Cheese album. The room they were in was some warehouse, and they sold some 5K tickets and every one of those jerks was in the general admission area. They played 'Johnny was a Racecar Driver" and the combined movement of that mass of humanity sent shudders through the floor that you could feel like an earthquake. The screaming drowned out the band. And I was somewhere about 50 or so people from the stage doing everything my old ass could to stay standing up. It was glorious.

Metal, and mosh pits by extension are popular, at least in my mind because of the people they attract. Maybe the people that are attracted to these events make them? Sort of a chicken-egg problem isn't it. In the pit you are not the weird looking burnout, the dorky ass nerd, the dork who is too smart for his own good, the loser, the outsider. Nope, in the pit you are family with a few hundred strangers drawn together to vent and release pent up energy from dealing with the other people in your life.

If you've never been in a venue like this, I'm not sure I can explain it. But trust me, it's an amazing experience.

And before you think I'm taking a crap on the article, I'm not. This is the same thing I've seen a few times here and there in the press. But the guy has an interesting taste in music and some of the bands he is writing about are not bad (from what I can tell). I just with he had more conversation with the fans. And holy shit Babymetal is going to tour the US this year! One of the true regrets I have is that here in the Ohio Valley we get nothing concert wise except shitty Portland "indie" bands and country acts. In the last few years I have managed to drive a few hours to see Fintroll, Amon Amarth, Apocalyptica, Primus, and Suicidal Tendencies but that is it. I miss the Metal scene in California.