hah i thoroughly enjoyed that grunge parody, funny as it is there is also some grain of truth behind it. The main point is that metal killed itself off from the mainstream by at times taking itself too seriously and outside of the context of its fanbase and other times just taking too many left turns. Also the extravagant and reckless spending had something to do with the downfall of many of the popular bands of the day.

In hindsight, I think if grunge did anything positive is that it kicked metal back into the underground where its musical credibility could be restored again. It managed to wipe off the fakey pop hair bands that had oversaturated the music industry at the time. Unfortunately it also took away the support from various metal bands that I think deserved it. Primarily talking about the variety of thrash bands that were on their way up and whose growth was stunned by grunge's popularity.

Nevertheless grunge did not prevent metal from continuing to develop in the undergroud, at the time the death metal scene had gained a lot of momentum and was drawing in a whole new generation of metal fans. Some of those bands like Cannibal Corpse and Morbid Angel also found fame in the mainstream. It wasn't so much that metal was no longer popular but there really weren't too many differrent and intersting bands.

One also wonders how a band like Pantera was able to sustain its growing popularity at a time when metal was seemingly considered dead and buried. I think what ultimately changed is that people were no longer tolerated of having hundreds of watered down Motley Crue and Poison clones. The audiences now wanted variety. it was enough to have one really good band rather than hundreds of sub par clones.

All this was soon to change anyway. With the birth and shortly thereafter the mass proliferation of the internet, music promotion would take on a whole new twist. People no longer needed MTV to tell them what to listen to. Places like Napster provided metal audiences with a vast variety of metal bands, and it in a sense came at the right time for European metal. It came right at that juncture when many European bands were reaching their respective creative landmarks. Whatever had happened to metal in the early 90s was no longer relevant for the late 90s as the scene had once again exploded with new bands and new styles, the only major difference is that metal's poppularity had shifted from the US to Europe.

Glad you dug it ADR. Sh*t, I just thought it was funny.

It's METAL time on my Hub again... here's my review of the new Megadeth...

http://fatfreddyscat.hubpages.com/hub/Megadeth-TH1RT3EN-Roadrunner-Records-2011

Will probably have a review of the new Iced Earth up sometime soon too

nice review Kieth

Been listening to KISS' CREATURES OF THE NIGHT a bunch this week... so I sez "Hey, sounds like the next installment of Retro Metal Review!"

And thus, it was done.

http://fatfreddyscat.hubpages.com/hub/Retro-Metal-Review-Kiss-CREATURES-OF-THE-NIGHT-Casablanca-1982

The newest IT CAME FROM THE BARGAIN BIN entry is up, and this time the lucky winner is 2007's "I AM OMEGA," the uber-low-budget knockoff of "I Am Legend" from our pals at the Asylum:

http://fatfreddyscat.hubpages.com/hub/It-Came-From-the-Bargain-Bin-I-AM-OMEGA-2007

Another day, another Hub entry about another mediocre movie...

http://fatfreddyscat.hubpages.com/hub/It-Came-From-the-Bargain-Bin-VERTICAL-LIMIT-2000

Moving away from Metal and movies, I decided it was time for a Hub about my other geeky obsession, the Simpsons. I give you the Top Ten Rock N Roll Simpsons moments!

http://fatfreddyscat.hubpages.com/hub/Top-10-Rock-N-Roll-Moments-on-The-Simpsons

Great job, dude. I should've known the Ramones would be at number one. I mighta argued for Aerosmith, but hey, it's your blog.

The Homerpalloza episode had one a my favorite "throw-away" gags ever. Homer meeting Billy Corgan.

"Hi, Billy Corgan Smashing Pumpkins"
"Homer Simpson, smiling politely"

It was just dumb & quick, but always gets a laugh from me.

That episode also made me look at Peter Frampton in a different light. He had a pretty good sense of humor about himself.

I could've easily done a top 20 list but the article was long enough as it was. Maybe somewhere down the road I'll do a Part II.

I was e-mailing back and forth with one of my friends/fellow Simpsons geeks all weekend brainstorming possible nominees for that list, and I ended up leaving off quite a few, like the show where Homer went to Rock N Roll Fantasy Camp and met Jagger, Richards, Tom Petty, Lenny Kravitz, Elvis Costello, etc. I actually had that one on an early draft of the list but cut it in favor of Hullabalooza cuz I liked the Hullabalooza episode better.

The "ret-con" episode which revealed Marge & Homer as college students in the 90s (and credits Homer as the inventor of grunge music with his band "Sadgasm") almost made the list too.

...and even though it might not be totally "rock n roll," I almost put in the episode where Homer was in the mental hospital with the guy who thought he was Michael Jackson, just cuz it's an all time classic.

...Geez, that's three right there. I just need seven more for a sequel!!

Bored this afternoon, whipped up a new Hub on some of my favorite bands and how they dealt with the dreaded Lead Singer Change over the years.

http://fatfreddyscat.hubpages.com/hub/The-Dreaded-Lead-Singer-Change

In honor of the forthcoming new album, I wrote a slobbering fanboy entry about Overkill:

http://fatfreddyscat.hubpages.com/hub/OVERKILL-East-Coast-Thrash-Metal-Masters

Well, this is kinda cool... one of my old Hubs about 70s Star Wars comic books got an out-of-the-blue boost from GeekChicDaily.com today when they featured it in a block of Star Wars related stuff on their site. Dunno how it turned up on their radar, but thanks to whoever brought it to their attention...

http://www.geekchicdaily.com/region/national/story/ad-set-a/star-wars-3d-geek-this-week-droid-deliverer

(Click this link, then click on the highlighted bit about the "skinny, whiskered Jabba the Hut" to see my story)

Been on a Ramones kick the last couple of days so I decided to turn it into a fanboy ramble on my Hub blog:

http://fatfreddyscat.hubpages.com/hub/I-Wanna-Be-a-Ramone

A great read and tribute to a great band. Though I own End Of The Century I've never watched it. At some point I just decided I'd rather not know the inter-workings of their history and just let the music stand alone. First saw them in 1990 at two separate college shows on back to back nights. The first night was at my friend's brother's college and since he ran the shows we got to meet them before hand along with playing a killer game of stick ball in the big foyer where the concert was held. One of those things I really appreciate a heck of a lot more now than I did then. We then got invited to the show the next night. Because of that experience Brain Drain will always get my sentimental favorite award. Worst part of it was I had a signed poster and picture of us lined up like a baseball team that was later destroyed in some college relationship drama. What I wouldn't give to still have both today.

Been on an Accept kick this week and with their new album STALINGRAD on the way I felt it was time for a fanboy-babble Hub about them...

http://fatfreddyscat.hubpages.com/hub/ACCEPT-German-Metal-Legends-Return-With-STALINGRAD

Thanx MG. I'm having fun doing those "A Brief history of so-and-so" articles on different bands.

The one I did on Accept got a thumbs-up from Peter Baltes himself on their Facebook page the other day. Groovy!