WHAT IS HIPSTER METAL?

A recent feature in Decibel magazine highlights the burgeoning genre of Hipster Metal, whatever the fuck that is. The thing is, the term hipster metal — or more specifically, bands like The Sword, Early Man, Wolfmother, and lots of doom metal and stoner bands — seems to refer less to an actual kind of music as it does to a certain aesthetic of the fans of those bands. The Decibel article — which is actually a roundtable discussion between metal record label execs, promoters, and Decibel editors — is a very interesting discussion about such topics as what hipster metal is, why certain kinds of metal appeal to the more indie rock crowd, the metal look, Mastodon, Faith No More… you really should just go ahead and read this article! Here’s an excerpt:

Darnielle: I feel like there’s this overtly literary quality to Mastodon and I think that’s what indie rock hipsters are looking for in metal—something that they can tie in to their own tradition, which is largely a liberal arts school tradition where they can say: “Here’s how this connects to the literature that I read or the films that I like and shit.” They don’t want to seem boneheaded.

Gross: I also think that they are looking for someone that’s not necessarily growling at them the entire time. It’s really funny—I don’t know if we’re at this point yet, but if there’s one thing that separates serious long-term metal fans from fly-by-night metal fans, or whatever you want to call them, it’s your relative tolerance for cookie monster vocals. Like, if you can put up with them over an album, you’re in it for the long haul. If you get 15 minutes in and you’re just like, “I can’t fucking stand this any more,” like, you may be a hipster metal fan if…

Read the entire article here.

-VN