and as i said. i like heavy stuff...but after a point....its just crap...you can call people sheep...but tell me why punk pop blues swing metal and a slew of other genres have been marketable on a grand scale with the exception of todays extreme forms of rock.
these forms which could never be marketable because there could only ever be a tiny minority to enjoy it.
i hope someone would actually engage me on my point about natural human response to sounds and melody.
Ok, I haven't read the rest after this post... nevertheless, let's get down to it.
#1 I question your assumption that marketability or profitability of music make music good. Also I question the converse - that if music is "good" or somehow "positive" that it will be marketable/profitable. Take a long hard listen to any top ten in almost any western musical context.
First although major keys may be used and although there may be the odd ode to love, by far, the most common elements of contemporary pop music are earworms, sound effects, slogans or fragments of widely known melodies. Many of these tracks are driven by what, although imprecise can be considered as "urban" beats (this means quite differently in the UK and the US and other contexts, yet still, IMO holds true).
Second, take a listen to the lyrics, the bitterness, the aggression, the sadness all set to a cacophony of positive/popular beats/refrains. It ain't all happy.
Third, people play genres such as grind for a number of different reasons. When approached with open ears and open minds, this kind of extreme music can radically reconfigure one's appreciation of all other music.
It's sort of like when Jazz was born. The rhythmic devastation caused by multimeters, polyrythms and radically different timbres of West African music was incomprehensible to the melodically and rhythmically crippled European listener (although they did manage to develop harmony to a high level of sophistication, European rhythms were profoundly limited). But after decades of mash up and evolution it is the blues and jazz which form the very root of almost all of contemporary western music (from rock, to country, hip hop and even metal - where do you think we metal heads would be without emphasis on the minor third, modal progression and notions of virtuosity fostered by Jazz culture, huh?).
About a year ago, I revisited some of the earliest, most gutteral death metal - I simply couldn't understand it. Then, after time spent learning its conventions (let's just say the best way to describe this kind of music is that its focus is about developing and modulating rhythmic intensity - see Deleuze for more on this). But I walked away with a more precise appreciation of major key compositions, Western harmony and syncopation - by listening to their total and utter, deliberate annihilation.
Marketable, unmarketable, who cares? There is more to music than money. Indeed, if I only played for pay, I'd be destitute by now.
#2 I also question your conflation of response to music as natural. Almost all physical response is conditioned, learned, taught. Thus if one grows up thinking the tritone is indeed the devil's note then forever will one be scarred by such mind rape. However, unlearning this allows us to appreciate different textures, timbres and melodies. A ring mod synth sound might sound harsh and metallic, but in the right hands, it can create the most beautiful of sounds.
The craziest metal drumming is exhilirating, like a roller coaster ride, but in some circumstances, speed and complexity exceed their purpose and become almost ambient. Try black metal for example, once you suspend judgement on the aspects that you personally find displeasing or are simply unable to comprehend, this kind of music is not that dissimilar to a psychedelic road trip or a classical progression.
Engaged yet?
