A label commonly given by elitists to bands that define themselves as a
metal subgenre they believe is the catalyst of the downfall of heavy
metal.
Elitists, or bullies who diss a band they don't like by using the term, can label metalcore (ex: Attack Attack!, Bring Me the Horizon), glam
metal (Kiss, Mötley Crüe), nu
metal (Korn, the early works of Deftones), alternative
metal (the current works of Deftones, Egypt Central), and some hard
rock bands—even though they tend to get mislabeled as that—as fake metal.
It's gotten to a point where people have even tried to say that the only true genre is the one that came from psychedelic, acid, and blues
rock, common example for that being Black Sabbath, who also paved the way for doom metal by merging metal with classical and more blues (props to them), and that all these subgenres (thrash for example) are just profit-driven fucks. I think.
Regardless, it's a commonly used term, and there may be a holy
war ongoing.
I'm trying to be as neutral as I can for defining this label, so I do apologize if any bias appears.
Elitist: Nu metal is not real metal, you've been brainwashed by the fucking fake metal! Go listen to Carcass,
Death, or even Nile!
"Fake" Metalhead: All that stuff is way too amazingly talented for me. I think I'm gonna go listen to Slipknot now.
Me: Who the
hell are these people?!
My friend: Welcome to today's society…also known as the fifth circle of
Hell.
Me: I'm just gonna…walk away…and listen to whatever the
hell I have in my library…
So I did. And the elitist and the metalhead continued arguing. Christ.
