You didnt like Cryptic Writings?

If you for one minute think that either metal died or that one or two bands kept metal alive at a certain point you really don't know what you are talking about when it comes to the genre.

My knowledge of grunge isn't great, but consider the height of grunge from 1989 - 1997.

Here are some bands that were releasing popular, influential or acclaimed albums from that time

Acid Bath, Amorphis, Anacrusis, Angra, Annihilator, Arcturus, Artillery, Asphyx, At the Gates, Atheist, Autopsy, Bathory, Blind Guardian, Bolt Thrower, Blut aus Nord, Brutal Truth, Burzum, Candlemass, Carcass, Carnage, Cathedral, Coroner, Cryptopsy, Cynic, Danzig, Dark Tranquillity, Darkthrone, Death, Deicide, Demigod, Demilich, Demolition Hammer, Destroyer 666, Bruce Dickinson, Dimmu Borgir, diSEMBOWELMENT, Dismember, Dissection, Down, Dream Theater, Edge of Sanity, Electric Wizard, Emperor, Enslaved, Entombed, Esoteric, Exodus, Eyehategod, Fates Warning, Fear Factory, Forbidden, Gamma Ray, The Gathering, Godflesh, Gorguts, Heathen, Hypocrisy, Iced Earth, Immolation, Immortal, In Flames, In the Woods..., Incantation, Judas Priest, Katatonia, King Diamond, Kreator, Kyuss, Machine Head, Massacre, Mayhem, Megadeth, Mercyful Fate, Meshuggah, Metal Church, Ministry, Moonspell, Morbid Angel, Motorhead, My Dying Bride, Napalm Death, Neurosis, Nokturnal Mortum, Obituary, Opeth, Overkill, Ozzy Osbourne, Pantera, Paradise Lost, Pentagram, Pestilence, Psychotic Waltz, Repulsion, Rotting Christ, Running Wild, Sabbat, Sacramentum, Samael, Satyricon, Savatage, Sepultura, Skepticism, Skid Row, Slayer, Sleep, Sodom, Solitude Aeturnus, Strapping Young Lad, Stratovarius, Suffocation, Suicidal Tendencies, Summoning, Symphony X, Terrorizer, Thergothon, Therion, Tiamat, Devin Townsend, Trouble, Type O Negative, Ulver, Vader, Ved Buens Ende, Virgin Steele, Voivod, WASP

Also:

Alice in Chains
Faith No More
Melvins
Metallica
Soundgarden
Tool

I just don't think whether Pantera or any other metal band "saved metal" has anything to do with what I think of their music.

Nesquik, that's basically a list of every band that has released a mayor album in their respective genre, none of those are acclaimed in the mainstream which is what the issue was about. I think no one here agrees Metal was dead in the 1990's, just that it didn't really have a mainstream force to back it up. The only ones that could qualify for that are indeed Pantera, Metallica, Faith No More and maybe Tool. Even AiC and Soundgarden are still partly grunge so that doesn't really make them Metal flagbearers. Hell FnM, and Tool are also still technically part of the Alternative scene too.

It's easier to read than black on white.

My reasoning here is that with or without mainstream success, the genre never died. If people are discussing who kept metal alive in the mainstream, then that is a stupid topic of discussion. Who is keeping metal "alive" in the mainstream right now?

I also listed AiC, Sg and FNM separately for a reason.

and next to none of those bands were doing anything in the charts or had any MTV sway, which is my point about metal going back underground.


For those who say chart positions don't matter, Black Sabbath's first album got in the top 20 on both sides of the Atlantic without any airplay. If it didn't their record company would have dropped them right then and there.
True metal needs a mainstream ambassador, whether that band in question wants to be it or not.

Also, all the bands I underlined ran as fast as they could away from the heavy metal tag because they saw metal was dying in the mainstream and it would hurt their marketability. No they were "alternative" rock bands. Now 10/15 years later Alice In Chains saw metal was becoming "cool" again so they are like "yea we were metal the whole time!" Nuh-uh. Fuck you. You don't get to be in the club.

Also LOL at WASP, Skid Row, Ozzy and Mercyful Fate being offered as bands keeping the scene alive. They all released their worst albums after 1994.


Vh1 Classic. Barely.

I think his point was that they were still around during the 90s and metal was still thriving during that time, just not as much as it did in the previous decade. If metal was "killed off" then the whole genre would have been dumped and all those bands would have disbanded.

Metalheads

No that's in general. And even then, I think the more appropriate answer is "the internet."

Black Sabbath got airplay on FM stations, which were a lot different then than they are now. It wasn't until the release of the "Paranoid" single that they started to get some limited AM airplay.

I cant really agree with this at all.
Alice In Chains were LUMPED IN with the grunge scene because they were from Seattle and had kind of a 'different' sound, but it seems pretty clear to me that they were a metal band from day one.
I mean, how the hell can you listen to something like We Die Young and not say that's metal?!
Dam That River? Grind? It Ain't Like That? Real Thing? Dirt? Come on now...



Agreed.



Metal is being kept alive by the people who love it. Period.

In what way are grunge and metal mutually exclusive concepts? Alice in Chains had influences outside of metal, but most metal bands are derivations of the original formula rather than slavishly adhering to it. If AIC wasn't metal, then The Eagles weren't rock because they incorporated country. It's alternative metal.

Well said

I stated 1989-1997. So The Headless Children and Crimson Idol for WASP, Slave to the Grind for Skid Row, No More Tears for Ozzy and In the Shadows for Mercyful Fate. Also, good is subjective because I'm not a fan of any of those albums. I just feel they had popularity, acclaim or influence enough to be included. Learn how to read before you say stupid things.