Women and Heavy Metal

[Maatandosiris]

Having come across some v misogynistic attitudes across social media on heavy metal boards I thought I would start a thread were is women fans of all things hard and heavy could hang out, feel free to say hi.

My favourite Sabaton song! I screeched with joy when they played it 😂😂😂

They are brilliant, floor is the best singer they have had, you just don’t want the concert to end, I know they are currently just mixing a new album so waiting for that. I took my kids 17yr and 16yr (boy and girl), to see Tarja in Manchester in April and was very surprised how good she is now she is a solo artist. Must add arch enemy who was support act for Nightwish are also worth a listen.

80’s metal head checking in!
Dokken, Helloween (Dr Stein, fabulous), Motörhead, Ozzy (and the Sabs of course), more old skool with Scorpion & AC/DC, and the big hair wonders of Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Whitesnake & not forgetting the genius comedy of Bad News.

Cashing in on Christmas fills the air from mid November onwards, and of course, from the album, Bad News;

”A domestic animal, the definition of, is a cat or a dog,”
”And how many wild cows have you seen?”
“How many cows have you seen, sitting next to the fire, nestling over slippers, Alan? Not a lot! Probably about none’s the amount you’ve seen. Oh! Go & fetch the paper from the newsagent’s, Daisy.”

I still have split ends from the sheer amount of back combing & drying my hair upside down (and keeping it there whilst a bucket of Silverkrin was applied & dried) to make the biggest, tallest hair possible.

Flap Flap Flap.
It’s a bat.

MY PEOPLE!! Love my rock and metal, and DH and I have brainwashed raised the kids to love it too. Had a great year for gigs - saw Maiden, QoTSA, Massive Wagons and best of all, the whole family took a trip to France to see our current favourite, Ghost!

Taking our teenagers to gigs and watching them lose their shit has been great! Gets expensive though, I was too tight to pay for them to see Rammstein with us, I’ve recommended they get a part time job. :)

I found my people! Big fan of metal here, I grow up listening to Metallica, Korn, slipknot, soad, I could go on. I can recommend sleep token, imminence, spiritbox, bad omens, motionless in White. Thanks for the thread btw .

@Prettypoppies50. I would have said Marilyn as well, but wasn’t sure it that would have gone down well, on here. His voice on some of his songs oh my ….

How do!

Lifelong lover of heavy and alternative music! Favorite metal bands include, strapping young lad ( and pretty much anything else Devin Townsend does to be honest), Pantera, type o negative, nevermore, emperor, carcass, cathedral, cradle of filth, fear factory, machine head, soilwork, paradise lost, white zombie and numerous others.

Being a woman in the scene is... interesting... when I was younger (I'm 41) there was so much gatekeeping and sexism and just out and out misogyny. I was constantly asked to name albums and songs, to prove myself essentially. I very much doubt it's got any better, I reckon I've just passed the age where I need to be 'tested'.

I'm also a part of the goth scene and that has a huge influence on my dress sense and that comes with its own challenges. Because you look a certain way you are expected to be a certain way, and up for a whole plethora of kinky stuff, the big titty goth girlfriend meme is a prime example of that.

And do not get me started on female fronted bands, I'm quite partial to a bit of manhole/my ruin/tura satana, kittie, jinjer etc and the disdain these bands attract purely because they are fronted by a woman is obscene. 'Angry Fanny music' is how one (thankfully ex) boyfriend described it. Women still face an up hill battle in the scene definitely.

Nightwish forever, who's with me?!

Metal fan!!

So many bands, so many concerts! I used to work for Virgin/EMI in the early 2000s and got free tickets for every band under their labels.

I remember going to see Maiden at Shepherds Bush Empire and flashed my boobs at Bruce Dickinson - he saw me, pointed and threw up the devil horns.

My first gig ever was Megadeth in '94, crowdsurfing as a 14 year old was brilliant.

Loved Pantera, saw Slayer, Biohazard, sepultura - the list goes on.

I don't live in the UK anymore so rarely get a chance to go to gigs/festivals unless I fly to US (live Caribbean now)

Yep I’ve been booted out of two forums recently got standing up for women. Apparently pointing out that always commenting on how sexy a female musician is rather than her musical ability is “not standing up for the community I represent). Mentioning women’s rights also gets you monitored and banned!

I’ve never encountered in real life, but forums seem to breed misogyny

Room for one more?! Love metal but do enjoy a bit of pop punk and emo too!

Fell in love with Linkin park and slipknot after seeing them on kerrang. When i was 14 slipknot were playing in my city, my mum refused to let me go. I finally was able to get tickets to see them in 2020, took my 11 year old daughter... it was incredible and well worth the wait!

Also joining the love for skindred, saw them a few times when they were starting out in a local small venue! They were great fun, would love to see them again.

I am currently a bit obsessed with Halestorm ❤

Any one else shocked at the prices for gigs these days?! When I was at college we went nearly every weekend to something, and download was nowhere near as expensive as nowadays 😬 I wish I could go to more gigs but I just can't afford to 😭

I like drowning pool and buck cherry too! Funny story... whenever my 14mo DD gets upset, DH sings Bodies to her and she cheers right up! 🤣

@Maatandosiris Have to say thank you for this thread 😃

This is the MN thread I've been waiting for! Hello all 👋 Long time metalhead/grunge/rock/goth fan. The last band I saw was Iron Maiden in July, with my cousin's 15 year old son in tow. I've also managed to instill a love of heavy rock into my children (we have great party playlists with about 6 of us moshing! 😂).

DD studied A level psychology and they did an experiment once where they had to test their blood pressure while studying with different sorts of music. Most people relaxed to classical. Not her, she relaxed more listening to metal. Her teacher couldn't understand it and I think DD frightened her a bit after that! 😂

Change (in the house of flies) is one of my favourite songs. Really is quite beautiful.

I’m loving all the love for metal - it appears we have a heavy metal mumsnetters community😀

@LetMeEnfoldYou The first Deftones song I heard, and fell in love with, was Engine No 9. Depending on what you usually listen to, that may not be entry level 😂
Change in the House of Flies, or Be Quiet and Drive may be better starting points.
If that fails, try Hexagram

I managed to brainwash one of our daughters to love metal... but the other is a huge Taylor Swift fan 😬 her taste in music is pretty varied, she loves Bowie, Queen and sings along to tears don't fall by bullet for my valentine and in the end by linkin park so there's still some hope she will join the dark side 🤣

I've really been enjoying Scene Queen recently, she does a lot of stuff with feminist themes and talks about the misogyny in the industry.

Also it's really fucking good.

My eldest used to calm down and fall asleep listening to HIM when she was a baby! Probably because I listened to it so much when I was pregnant 🤣

I love that!! 🤣

Yep I’ve been booted out of two forums recently got standing up for women. Apparently pointing out that always commenting on how sexy a female musician is rather than her musical ability is “not standing up for the community I represent). Mentioning women’s rights also gets you monitored and banned!

I’ve never encountered in real life, but forums seem to breed misogyny

Yup. The internet lets them really lay it all out there doesn't it!

I find the goth scene to be much easier and that's saying something as historically we are known to be the very gatekeepiest of all the alternative scenes 😂. But I have definitely found that we don't care if you're a man or a woman or whatever, just like the music, that's all we ask 😂😂. I swear some folk will get 'it's a music based subculture' put on their gravestone!

I'm also another one who loveeeees five finger death punch, I always thought they were quite well known but everytime I've mentioned them it's been met with blank stares lol. I'm happy to have found my people. I guess I am more of a nu metal vibe as that's what I grew up listening to but I really can appreciate almost anything from all the sub genres of rock and metal. Mumsnet metal heads certainly has a good ring to it

Love Scene Queen - she’s very clever! If you like her vibe, you might also like Knife Bride.

In 1991 I went off to my first Download… well, monsters of Rock it was then to see Whitesnake.
Im an old bird, was a young slim, blonde shaggy hair down to my waist kinda gal back then.
Metalica came on.
Never had I heard such power, such thumping power punch through the air. I stopped in my tracks and was mesmerised for the entire time that they were on that stage.
I have loved them (and a bit of papa Het) since.

Still love Whitesnake, AC/DC and Aerosmith were fantastic live too.

Saw Pearljam and had goosebumps hearing the music I had grown to bloody love in my car live in my ears and in front of my eyes.

Strangely Nickleback put on a brilliant live performance too. Really enjoyed them live.

BUT.
My oh my, if you haven’t ever seen the Foo fighters… I urge you.. go. Go and see them. Completely and utterly fucking fabulous.

My favourite all time band was The Cult. Adore their music. Everything they ever did, bloody love it.

papa Roach, Linkin Park, puddle of mud, Creed, all favourites.

I keep it all a bit down low nowadays as it’s a bit unseemly being 50+ years old listening to what I like.