The 90s have spawned many one-hit wonders, groups with no longevity which quickly lose any commercial momentum they may have had even months before. A lot of that stems from mediocre musicianship and songwriting abilities. "What you're seeing, hopefully, is the return to better musicianship," says French. "What Sevendust has is great players. They've got a great guitar player in Clint Lowery and a great drummer in Morgan Rose. They're players' players, and hopefully they'll be appreciated as such and they'll fit into the new format. I don't really see that many great players."
Another unfortunate trend in 90s rock has been the distinct lack of showmanship. "With the whole alternative scene, most of those bands were awful live," says Slagel. "We call them shoegazers - they just stand there, look at their shoes, and don't really move around. Obviously metal shows throughout the years have been big and energetic. I think when Kiss came back and did their original show, that was one of the biggest concerts people had seen in a long time." Slagel also points to German industrial-metallists Rammstein as another act with an exciting, pyrotechnics-laden stage show.
"More than anything, I have to believe that the public is not being served by the so-called major record labels," says Magna Carta Records president Pete Morticelli, "because they're in such disarray in terms of their A&R and who they think their audience is. I think they have forgotten about 18 year-old guys. There's an audience there that really wants to hear their own music. At a certain point, some kid is going to wake up and be so embarrassed that he was a fan of the Barenaked Ladies that he won't even believe he could have ever liked them. Yet that band, in a weird way, got to their popularity in a legitimate way because they toured, and congratulations to them. But what a travesty that something like that could rise to the surface."
Some insiders are cautious in their view of a metal comeback. "The [idea of having] a guitar and amplifier and standing in front of a mirror thinking of being a rock star like I dreamed of years ago, I don't believe is what drives kids anymore," states French. "I don't believe that it is a glib statement on my part. The reason I can say this with some authority is that I have friends in the retail end of the music business who own a giant chain in the United States. They said that last year was the first year in 20 or 25 years that amp and guitar sales went down for the first time. This says something in a really big way. This says that maybe the kids are thinking about being DJs or about buying video games. They're certainly aren't standing there like I was with a guitar and a dream of blowing the world up. That has kind of gone by. Does that mean we'll never see that again? Of course not. Does that mean there won't be metal bands or thousands of Marshall amps sold? Of course not. But what it *does* mean is that, for the time being, the expansion of that idiom is over. So the bands who can succeed under that format have to be really special."
A point well taken. Then again, this *is* a time when Iron Maiden reforming has made headlines, when Sony is signing hair metal bands like Ratt and Cinderella to record new albums, when a Judas Priest song is being used in Burger King commercials, when Black Sabbath are super cool again, and when Kiss can make the cover of Playboy and play the Super Bowl. Twisted Sister are planning on playing reunion dates this summer, Judas Priest and Rob Halford (solo) are working on new projects, and Dee Snider is planning a collaborative solo record with members of the new metal generation. There is plenty of life in the old school, and the new school keeps on coming as highly anticipated new albums by Limp Bizkit, Coal Chamber, Sevendust, and Machine Head are due this summer. And more indies keep proliferating to keep the torch alive, including Martyr Music, The End Records, Pulse Records, and Dwell Records, the latter having released two Iron Maiden tribute albums and a compilation of women in extreme metal.
"The world's ready," says Barbieri. "Metal has a lot to do with image, and image was out in the first half of the decade. Now I think with people like Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie, people are a little more accepting of wild characters with long hair and silly outfits and aggressive and heavier music. Hopefully it will open the door a bit so it's not quite as absurd as it was [in the past]."
"It's just a matter of the right band making the right record at the right time," states Slagel. "1998 was our best year sales-wise in the U.S. So that's certainly very encouraging. The underground's getting bigger and bigger. It's a matter of time before it gets to the next level. I think it's going to take a new band putting out a great record, but we're still probably a couple of years away here in the States." An important factor will be a band or bands getting that all-important hit single, something some insiders emphasize is important for mainstream renewal.
Connor sees metal evolving in new and different ways, incorporating a wide range of influences. Just as Anthrax assimilated rap and Korn brought in a hip-hop feel, newer bands will continue to push boundaries. "As a result of this, the categorization with metal is going to be even more difficult. There's going to be a whole new legion of younger fans coming into the scene. I think a lot of these kids will be drawn in by the diminishing musical barriers that made the metal scene so segregated during the 80s." However, he does not see a traditional metal revival - it's a phase he thinks has come and gone.
Many would argue that point, but the concept of diversity is indeed a reality. These days there is everything from black metal, goth metal, and grindcore to techno-metal, progressive metal, and even salsa metal. Mason points out that Meshuggah have guitar solos with a jazz improvisation element and hails the new Dimmu Borgir album as "cathedral music for the damned."
Perhaps another telling sign is that, as Jacobson points out, there is a resurgent interest in metal amongst journalists. With recent press for the movement in the New York Times and Rolling Stone, one can sense the floodgates are ready to open. And when modern media hype-makers back something up, word inevitably gets out. Given this situation, Jacobson offers this hopeful hypothesis: "If we see maybe 10 or 20 percent of the people that used to be into it getting back into it - as well as these new people - it could be bigger than ever."
-Bryan Reesman, 1999
bryan@judas-priest.com