Boo, hoo, hoo!

I've just been called a 'Thrash elitist' by a Meshuggah fan!



It got me wondering though, because we know and love so many lesser-known Thrash bands and believe them to be better than a lot of well-known Thrash bands, are we 'Thrash elitists'?

I think it's a close call and some of us will be hesitant to admit one way or another.

What do you all think about yourselves?

I can't summon up a long answer at the moment because I'm extremely tired, but this sounds like it could be a good topic.

What I will say now is that Yes, as with any genre that someone has a passionate interest in, they are going to want to pursue it as deeply as possible. This inevitably leads to discovering bands that many other music fans won't be too aware of, and therefore it is easy to come across as elitist when talking to other people about these bands, because your tastes are that much more specialised.

So basically, people will often get the impression of elitism if they don't share an interest in something, but really it is just your more extensive awareness of that particular area of music.

Also, 'elitism' is commonly considered a negative thing - I don't think it needs to be viewed that way. It is natural if you are extremely enthusiastic about a particular musical style to dive into it as deeply as possible, and this causes you to raise your standards and expectations. Therefore, you might come across as 'elitist' to others when really you just have specialised tastes and can no longer settle for relative mediocrities.

Ok, I suppose I managed to summon a long-ish answer, but I doubt it was very coherent! Time for bed.

I think a lot of you on here are Thrash elitists. My favourite Thrash band (any band really) is Slayer and a lot of you would look down on that because you're all into your Destructions, Dark Angels and Exodus' and Heatens etc etc. Elitism sucks fuckin balls.

MartinC wrote:Elitism sucks fuckin balls.

Thats my favourite quote from you so far.

I'm an elitist, and proud, of course I think my taste is better than other peoples, why would I choose to like something if I thought what other people liked was better, sureley I'd just like that!

I certainly don't consider myself a thrash elitist. I listen to and appreciate all genres of heavy music.

Although I don't like the term, I suppose I must be. I prefer Thrash-snob.

"On darrrrrrrrling, what d'ya mean you don't just luuuuurve Wargod's second demo?"

eh not sure really I consider myself rather tolerant and open minded when it comes to music in general not just thrash. Fair enough I, like quite alot of people, have a good interest in Thrash but its not like we're like "OMGZ! TEH ONLY GOOD SARCOFAGO IS TEH SATANIC LUST DEMO LAWLZ" and basically look down and any band that has had a semi-popular career.

But at the same time if people dont like Gammacide they will be branded as Gay.

I think some people are wandering off Iain's point here. You can listen to and appriciate all forms of music, but still be a thrash elitist. I know for one that I fall directly into that catagory.

Technically, yes we are all probably thrash elitists or snobs or posh thrashers or whatever, but only because we're a minority of people who like some really obscure shit!

I don't really know any thrashers who aren't into bands like Forbidden, Dark Angel, etc...

I don't care whether someone thinks I'm 1337 or watever, I fucking love thrash so they can fuck off

I guess what Thrash elitism boils down to is when someone is raving about a band like Metallica and we take an attitude and say something like, 'What you listening to them for?! You should listen to x, y, and z instead'. There's a fine line between recommending people other bands and telling people what they should and shouldn't listen to.

I'd say I do tell people what they should listen to but it's for their own good God dammit!

Metal Iain wrote:I'd say I do tell people what they should listen to but it's for their own good God dammit!

Damn straight!

I am a thrash metal elitist!

I agree with James, it's all about being passionately into a type of music. You automatically dig deeper. Having said that, most of the chat here isn't about particularly obscure or underground bands. I haven't read much about Organized Kaos, or Casbah. Or even new thrash bands like Oppression and Nailgunner. Shit, the snob in me is never far from the surface...

Shugmaster wrote:I certainly don't consider myself a thrash elitist. I listen to and appreciate all genres of heavy music.

Even Niggerpuncher-core?

Ripper wrote:Oppression

See 'All Thrash'.