Voto:
Ashanti's comment was something I was about to write myself. Anyway, I don't want to interfere because I’m the type who gets bored easily, and just reading through everything has already made me lose interest: this page is the worst I’ve ever read on Debaser. However, regarding the statement "Metal STARTED as a niche genre and only later (in the '90s, from what you said) became popular," I’d like to clarify: Metal in the '80s was by no means disreputable, but it’s NOT TRUE that it was a niche genre meant not to sell. Judas Priest sold between 15 to 20 million copies from "Sad Wings of Destiny" to "Ram It Down" (by the way, "Turbo" and "Ram It Down" are their worst albums and among those that sold the least: if I'm not mistaken, the best-selling is "Painkiller," 1990). To date, Judas Priest has sold over 47 million copies; Iron Maiden: their first two albums didn’t sell much, but "Number of the Beast" (which is from '82, let’s remember) sold well over a million copies globally soon after its release. The albums up to "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son" all sold well, averaging over 2 million copies per album. By ’96, Maiden had already sold 50 million copies ("The Best of the Beast" was released to celebrate this milestone); today, they are close to 70 million (their best-selling album is "Dance of Death" from 2003). Megadeth has sold 23 million copies to date; "Peace Sells..." sold well over a million copies right after its release (we're talking '86) and "Rust in Peace" ('90) did the same. Metallica has sold 95 million copies to date, over 30 million of which are just from the Black Album. But even after "Master of Puppets," Metallica had already sold a lot (for a Thrash Metal band), in fact, by '87 they were counting around 20 to 25 million copies sold. In fact, Thrash Metal bands in the second half of the '80s (well away from the "glories" of NU/Power/Death/Black/Gothic) had a significant market in the USA (which alone represents 1/4 of the entire GLOBAL record market), while NWOBHM groups from '81 to '88 sold from several hundred thousand albums (the least fortunate bands: but as you can understand, these are certainly not insignificant numbers) to a few million copies per album (Maiden and Priest). Of course, it's OBVIOUS that the dominant market, especially today, is Pop. For example, for a Roadrunner band, selling 400,000 copies worldwide upon debut is a good success; for some "over-hyped" Pop "artist" signed by Universal who has access to a Timbaland or a Max Martin (the latter is the producer who has sold the most worldwide, 600 MILLION copies, if I'm not mistaken, he's the richest man in Europe), thinking of selling 400,000 copies is unacceptable; it would be a monstrous FLOP, sales expectations are no less than 2 million records worldwide. This is obviously an example of how the record market works. But that doesn't change the fact that a few hundred to a few million copies sold per album is a lot, in fact, it's definitely TOO MUCH for groups belonging to a genre that STARTED as niche. As explained before, Metal groups were already selling well in the '80s, when Metal had just emerged. Finally, one last note: the vast majority of NWOBHM groups from the early '80s, riding the wave of the new genre, sold quite a bit, as I've already mentioned; but in the '90s to today, HOW MANY OF THOSE GROUPS ARE STILL AROUND? How many of those groups that were alongside Iron Maiden in the '80s sell nothing anymore or have disappeared without anyone caring?.. In fact, how many NWOBHM groups that sold well in the '80s are still selling a lot and riding the wave today? I’ll tell you: ONLY IRON MAIDEN AND JUDAS PRIEST. The vast majority of those groups sound outdated today, extremely "‘80s," and haven't stood the test of time; but when they first emerged, they sold their million copies (at minimum) for sure! Today, Metal has become quite disreputable in many of its sub-genres, with some unpresentable groups that would make Madonna look good
