Do metalheads listen to other non-metal music?

Metalheads are very quick to confirm they belong to a tight-knit community where the music is holy. Where metal is religion.

Because of that, both insiders and outsiders have developed the idea that metal fans don’t listen to anything but metal. Or better yet, that we shouldn’t listen to anything but metal.

But is that even true? Are we really not allowed to dip our feet in the pool of other music?

For me, I would be the first to acknowledge that metal is indeed like a religion. We are dedicated to the bone. We wear matching clothes. Concert halls are our places of worship. We have a shared sign with which we can recognise each other. And we sing along with the holy men on stage.

(Well, if you put it like that, we are almost like a cult…food for thought…)

Anyway, our loyalty goes so far that we often spend a considerable amount of free time on the genre and its community.

So, it is not completely without merit to thinking that we dedicate every minute of listening to music by listening to metal.

Obviously, I can’t speak for every metalhead out there. I do believe though that, whenever a metal fan tells you he only listens to metal, he says that because he feels he has to in order to prove his allegiance and show the world how metal he is. It’s just a straight-up lie, though.

There. I said it.

Metalheads are full of themselves. For us, being a metalhead means you need to be metal. Admitting you know the entire lyrics of Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way” (GUILTY!) isn’t very metal, is it? So, we pretend we have never listened to Backstreet Boys, to begin with.

However, I’d dare to argue that even priests read other books than just the Bible.

I have no problem admitting that I am simply not always in the mood for a thrashing by some of my favourite metal bands.

Sometimes I need quiet or soothing tunes.

Sometimes I need a guilty pleasure to sing along with in the car.

Sometimes I just want to dance with my kids to Disney songs.

Sometimes I just need a guy with an acoustic guitar.

That doesn’t make me less of a metal fan. It doesn’t make me less loyal. It for sure doesn’t make me a disbeliever.

Anyone who reads this article and is now shouting at his screen “Yes, you are a fake metal fan!” can suck it. There is no way in hell you have never bobbed your head to a song on the radio that isn’t even close to metal.

So, let’s all agree (to disagree?) that there is more good music out there than just metal.

Oh, and let’s not get started on fans from one spectrum of metal who also like metal from the other side of the spectrum. Please. It is perfectly fine for a grindcore fan to also like power metal.

It’s the same temple. Just different altars.

Let’s have it in the comment section!

What is your non-metal guilty pleasure?