From record stores to online message boards, gatekeepers are a fixture of any music scene. Forums and websites have given elitist music fans an even bigger space and platform to hold court and ridicule genre newcomers, and nowhere is this more true than in metal.
Typically, gatekeepers want to preserve the authenticity and exclusivity of a community by keeping people out who they think might pollute it or make it mainstream. Common metal gatekeeper behaviors include mocking “newbies” and “poseurs” and making fun of mainstream or “sellout” artists and their fans. If you listen to mainstream bands such as Slipknot, Metallica or Iron Maiden you are a “normie” and uncool.
Unfortunately, there is no clear solution to gatekeeping. Quite frankly, the best thing to do about gatekeepers is to ignore them, and in order to avoid becoming one it is important to understand some of the causes of gatekeeping.
Gatekeeping has been variously attributed to insecurity, a desire to prevent the genre from becoming mainstream and fear of no longer being unique. Additional factors that play into gatekeeping are sexism, as well as racism, homophobia and transphobia, which are unfortunately but not surprisingly prevalent in a genre populated by white men.
The presence of “poseurs” is one of the main excuses given for gatekeeping. Poseurs, people who adopt the trappings of a group to look cool and edgy, are a boogeyman in every alternative subculture. I think that in many ways this is a valid concern. Social media, TikTok especially, presents a diluted and commercialized view of subcultures, turning them into “aesthetics” or “cores.”
It’s hardly surprising that metalheads would be anxious about people co–opting their subculture. Despite bands such as Metallica being accepted by the mainstream, metal fans have been historically stigmatized. A portion of the The Satanic Panic of the ‘80s, a period of religious moral hysteria around supposed satanic cults and media, revolved around metal. This culminated in metal musicians having to defend themselves in Senate Committee hearings. In European countries such as Poland, musicians are attacked by restrictive blasphemy laws. The genre is eternally brought up in discussions around forms of media that encourage violent behavior, such as school shootings.
Sexism is particularly insidious in metal gatekeeping. The classic “name three songs or you are a fake fan” attitude is often directed towards female fans. Bands fronted by women are often dismissed as less serious or more mainstream, and women wearing metal styles such as battle jackets and corpse paint get told they are doing it wrong.
One example of this is Myrkur, a female artist in the black metal genre. Myrkur’s artistic abilities have been overshadowed by the controversy and hate directed towards her as a woman. Likewise, the band Liturgy’s vocalist has faced intense sexism after coming out as a trans woman. Gatekeepers will claim they aren’t being sexist, they are criticizing these women for valid reasons. Yet the criticism invariably returns to the person being “not metal” enough, thinly veiled sexism at best.
Fans of the black metal subgenre are particularly infamous for their gatekeeping. There is a famous joke in the black metal community that if your favorite band isn’t some guy in Finland with 31 monthly listeners on Spotify, you are a poseur. This may be a joke, but the attitude is very real. There is intense fixation on being what we black metal fans call “trve kvlt,” authentic and not a sellout. These are good ideals to aspire to, but oftentimes it goes too far.
There are entire subreddits dedicated to making fun of newer and inexperienced black metal fans. These forums are home to some of the worst of the metal community, people throwing slurs at any post featuring a woman, POC or LGBTQIA+ person. These people’s usual response to accusations of bigotry is to say that black metal is rooted in darkness and evil, and if you are concerned about discrimination you are not a true metalhead. Of course, these are the people who defend NSBM (Nazi black metal) artists and fans, so that negates any stance they have in my opinion.
I often find myself falling victim to the impulse to gatekeep, though never to the degree mentioned above. I am reluctant to listen to certain bands because they are too mainstream. I think metalcore fans are annoying. I wouldn’t call you a metal fan if you only listen to Ghost. I instinctively cringe at the sight of a Mayhem shirt. But in doing so, I am a hypocrite.
I was a metalcore fan once. I listened to Ghost as well. I myself was once a 13 year old Slipknot fan and while I no longer enjoy their music, other people have every right to. It seems rather ridiculous to expect a new fan to immediately listen to Agalloch or Warlock Corpse, and there is nothing wrong with listening to popular bands no matter how long you have been a metalhead.
The metal band I have been an unwavering fan of is Sabaton, a Swedish power metal band whose lyrical topic is military history. Due to their melodic sound and use of synthesizers as well as their massive popularity, Sabaton is a frequent target of gatekeeper’s ire. The usual insult leveled at them is that they are “not metal.” While I agree with many gatekeepers that they are not the heaviest band ever, as some people make them out to be, they are a metal band and a fan of them should be deemed a metalhead. I am an ardent Sabaton fan, and if that makes me a poseur in the eyes of gatekeepers, so be it.
There is no authority who gets to determine whether or not you are a real metalhead. If your favorite band is an Austrian dungeon synth band with one album, you are a metalhead. If your favorite band is Iron Maiden or Korn, you are a metalhead. If your favorite band sings about being dwarves in The Lord of The Rings, you are still a metalhead. Letting gatekeepers discourage you is letting them get what they want. You do not need to dress a certain way or believe certain things to like metal. Being a metalhead is about whatever you want it to be, not what a bunch of trolls on the internet say it is.
