Metal Monday: What Does BABYMETAL Tell Us About The Music Industry?

So I'm late to the game here, because by now everyone has already weighed in on the Japanese blip that is BABYMETAL. In case you don't know, Babymetal can be summed up like this: a group of teenage Japanese girls who have metal songs written for them and they act like they are preforming them. 

My initial reaction to Babymetal was, "No." Just a simple straight-forward rejection of what I was seeing and hearing. When asked to elaborate, I really couldn't find a definitive reason, and I've been trying to get one since. A few days ago, along comes this video from my friend Roger, the creator of the Japanese rock/video game site Tainted Reality. Here he talks about his thoughts on the group:

Now, though I agree with many of the sentiments held in this video, especially that of elitism existing in metal (and liking and indulging in guilty pleasures in an unabashed way) ultimately, I think this video cemented what I find so distasteful about this band, and I think it breaks down to three prongs.

At first something didn't feel right, and now I know what it was. Before being in this band, these girls knew nothing about metal. It's not that they didn't like it or had other musical interests and talents; they knew nothing about metal. Now, I know they don't write their own songs or play their own instruments, and I have problems with that in its own right, but what is worth highlighting here is that they are the spokespeople for this group. Not only do they dislike the product they're shilling, they don't know anything about it. 

You know that feeling you get sometimes when you listen to a band and something just isn't right? Well, in this case I think that some of these feelings come from the attitude of the band itself. I once read an interview with The Sword (a band I could not get into) saying how they didn't really like metal, and after reading that article, I understood why I couldn't like their brand of stoner stuff. When you're doing anything in front of people, it's not enough to look the part. You have to believe the part you're playing. This is what distinguishes good actors from great ones, and good performances from spectacular ones, and if you don't have that, why should I listen to you?

Second, does it feel like this is just some kind of elaborate formula that has been written out for what metal fans like?

"Well, we need guitars. And since we want to get the most people, we'll throw in a bunch of different types of metal. And the people in the band could be guys, but you know what the male demographic likes more than other dudes? Chicks! But we need something that makes the chicks stand out, so how about teenagers? Where's the first place we can get teenage chicks from? Hmm... Japan? Perfect! And if this keeps going, we can continue to sell it later on by banking on a kind of preconceived sex appeal, which we can vaguely hint at now."

Nothing about this is natural and I guess, sadly, I must acknowledge is most of the media industry as a whole. But all of this adds up to the ultimate problem with Babymetal for me. I like metal.

I know that in this world, everything is clamouring for my attention and more precisely, my money. But here's the thing, I don't like to be reminded of this fact. I don't like to feel like I'm a "target audience" that needs to be sold to. I don't want to feel like a dollar sign ready to hand over my money, even if that's the sum total of my existence. The problem with Babymetal and every other interchangeable blatantly obvious attempt to take money from people is just that: they are blatantly obvious attempts to take money from people. And usually metal is pretty good at seeing through this and rejecting what is false. 

One thing that keeps getting spoken of in metal is if something is "true". Is this authentic? Sure, we all get to laugh when we talk about the "boy band formula", one dreamy guy, one dark broody guy, one smart one, one just not of the race of the others to stand out as being exotic, and so on; and we laugh when we see gullible teen-aged girls flock to it (and of course take their parents' money and throw said money at it as fast as they can). Or when a new teen movie comes out with the "Twilight formula" wherein a dreamy but dark and deeply-flawed guy with an edge falls for the generic every-girl, and teenage girls wait in line for hours to see it premiere. 

But now it's happening here, and not as a gradual "sell out" type of move, but from the beginning, laying bare all of its formulas and designs, and frankly I don't like it. 

Now, I do see positives here. This will be people's first exposure to metal in some way, and maybe it will bring more people in. They can be someone's Marilyn Manson, a gateway into all that metal has to offer. And maybe, some these fans will actually be female and the under-represented group of female metal heads will get a surge and finally people won't be shocked when they see a (gasp) girl at a metal show. Maybe this will help to break down the elitism in metal (I'm looking in your direction black metal). Even in some way, I respect the balls to do an interview and say, "Oh, I didn't even know what I was doing before I was cast into this." 

But don't be crass: I know these tricks. I've seen them work before on other groups. If you're going to blatantly try to sell something as a formula to me, at least try to cover it up. Make the attempt to deceive me. Or better yet, if you want to make money off me, maybe rather than sell me a gimmick, try and sell me an actual decent band. One that has progressed on its own music and merits to obtain fans, and is writing catchy, fun, brutal, technical, or some other descriptor songs that people can like. I know this is a novel concept, but if you really want our dollars, stop treating us like that's all we are.