What makes a band bad? Nothing. That’s it. Nothing makes a band bad. They could be badass, but just plain bad? Nope. Doesn’t exist. Now before you people start rattling off a list of bands you don’t like because they’re “s**t”, “pussies”, “not true metal/[insert sub-genre here]“, “they’re a wannabe [insert more famous band here]“, and/or “they caused the breakup of [insert more favored band that’s on hiatus’s name here]” let me just say that that list of yours is completely stupid and arbitrary if that list name has anything negative in there. There is absolutely no way that a band can be universally referred to as bad in the sense of generality. The one and only way to tell is if the band just didn’t sell any records ever and had 0 fans anywhere at anytime, and even then it’s just in a business sense that they’re bad.
And as you might have guessed by now, I’m defending a popular band, Hellyeah, from being called “a douchebag metal band” or “a complete waste of time that should never have came into existence in the first place”. But before I go anywhere with this, know that I’ve no problem in the world with you if you don’t like Hellyeah (or any band for that matter) if you don’t like their type of music or what they sound like and you don’t proceed to bitch about it on the internet like a little coward. Otherwise, you need to read the rest of this.
I was looking among the various metal websites for more information about whether or not one of my favorite nu-metal bands, Mudvayne, was going to get back together anytime soon. For those of you who know your metal know that Mudvayne was a popular band from 2000 to 2008 with great songs that stuck out like “Dig”, but after their fifth release, lead singer, Chad Gray, and guitarist, Greg Tribbett, decided to continue on making music with their side project band, Hellyeah, with Vinnie Paul who is widely known as the former Pantera drummer and Tom Maxwell of Nothingface. There were some line-up changes as things arise and changes are made that can’t be helped, but the latest change is with Greg leaving the band and being replaced by Kyle Sanders of Bloodsimple.
Now everyone who is a strict Mudvayne fan, like myself, and is always having the thought of when/if Mudvayne will get back together. Personally, the members can do whatever they want to do as long as they have fun with whatever it is they’re doing. Many other people out there don’t agree with me to varying amounts, but it does not matter to me. Why make music when you don’t enjoy making what you’re making. It’s like a painter painting something he doesn’t like but the public wants him to keep doing it even though it’s the exact opposite of what he wants to do. You can’t tell someone how to have fun with their lives. But that’s what a lot of Mudvayne fans are doing to the band members. They are constantly yelling at them relentlessly to get back together even though that a more or less recent post to the band’s official Facebook page said “with respect to all the band members, we are all doing something in music that satisfies our appetite right now.”
That should’ve been the end of the matter right there, but of course it wasn’t. Now back to what this whole rant is about. I saw an article randomly that had something about Chad Gray saying something about Mudvayne, click on it, and lo and behold there was one sentence in there that I will paraphrase for you: basically, the guy thinks that Hellyeah is a plague upon humanity and Chad should just get back together with the other Mudvayne members instead of making supposedly s**tty music that he does for Hellyeah.
Now I skipped over that site and moved on, but almost every other article I read almost always had something negative to say about Hellyeah and it just pissed me the f**k off because (1) I didn’t understand it and (2) it’s so goddamn stupid!
What is the point of bashing a band? They aren’t going to change because you say you want something else. They will make whatever music they want to make because it’s their band and they are the only ones in the world who have the first and final say on what they make at any point in time. When you make your own band, make albums, and do the various processes that those two involve, then you can do whatever the f**k you want to make, but until then just shut up and deal with what you get. Now if you want two examples of bands not giving two s**ts about trying something new whether or not the fans care or not then here they are: Korn’s “The Path of Totality” and Metallica’s “Load”. Both albums have been widely known to be completely different from both bands’ previous works and that cause a lot of frustration amongst their fan bases who thought they should just stick to the same music that they were making before. Both the bands didn’t care, they made what they wanted to make and that in no f**king way makes that bad music. Sure, I may not have enjoyed the majority of those albums myself particularly, but I didn’t call it bad because I can’t.
If it were up to me whether or not Hellyeah left and Mudvayne got back together, I’d leave it up to the band because I can’t force them to do what I love because it may not be what they love to do. And if a band doesn’t like making that music, then chances are you won’t either because it won’t have all the energy and work they poured into that music like they did before which would make all the complaining and bitching all the more redundant and ironic.
Hellyeah can keep doing whatever it is the f**k they’re doing. End of the line. If Chad and Greg hook up once more with the rest of Mudvayne and suddenly decide to get back together, by all means go ahead. And if not, then by all means go ahead. We don’t have the final say. They do. And if you want to be calling Hellyeah bad because “they’ve destroyed Mudvayne”, “are the s**ttiest band ever played”, “proof that Chad has lost his sense of good music”, and/or “is a plague upon humanity” then you need to get the f**k out of here or just give them another chance by listening to their latest album “Blood For Blood” which is more Mudvayne than their recent albums in my opinion.
Now shut the f**k up.
Original Source: Head-Banger Reviews
