Is Metal Music REALLY Dying?
In episode 246 of Heavy Metal Philosophy, Jon Barbas breaks down Rick Beato’s latest rant about Heavy Metal’s declining popularity. What did Rick Beato get right? What did he get woefully wrong? Is metal really on the decline or are times just different? Let me know what you think!
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#metal #rickbeato #metalhead
@Rhatid-Mon
January 25, 2026 at 8:03 pm
No! Because Megadeth, HIRAX ,Exodus &'Judas Priest have new albums & still touring.
@voxextremos22
January 25, 2026 at 8:03 pm
That Mike Dye prick annoys me if you aren't active in the scene don't speak on it. There are plenty of innovative bands in the scene just because you stopped caring in 2000 doesn't mean they don't exist. He is a trend chase probably loved Indie Rock when it was popular too. Also the whole "Metal has to scare your parents" trope is so old and tired. If you are in your 30s and your parents are in theier 60s why are you trying to scare your parents. Grow the hell up and just like what you like. Are there "scary bands" yeah Portal, Abyssal and Deathspell omega for expample. But it's the music that sounds scary and not the fucking image. A lot (not all) old school metal fans are overly image obsessed sometimes to the detriment of the music. I have major respect for Maiden, Priest and Metallica but I moved passed them. I am with every band not headlining LalaPalooza or Cochella. Not every band needs to be a their level to be "Good " in a purely subjective sense. This is why you are better at making responses than me I'd just start ranting.
@MiniB79
January 25, 2026 at 8:03 pm
Sometimes the old people suffered from early dementia. I'm talking about uncle Rick
@nunooliveira5338
January 25, 2026 at 8:03 pm
Most of the good stuff, including American, plays in europe festivals, in the USA? a friend told me only in certain parts and kinda underground he's in Portland – OR new york small venues
@scroogemcwillsinntha1st
January 25, 2026 at 8:03 pm
First off thank u bro. This is a great thing you're doing and I hope u keep it up!!!! Secondly, I can't play any instrument correctly other than singing, neither can my daughter, but we love metal. If there's a decline in metal listeners it's because they weren't truly into metal to begin with. Again, thank u John
@StallionStudios1234
January 25, 2026 at 8:03 pm
Thanks for showcasing Rivers of Nile on another one of your episodes. Very interesting band.
@gentlemanjared
January 25, 2026 at 8:03 pm
Anytime someone tells you their favorite metal bands, it's all 30+ year old shit.
@DriftlessDragon
January 25, 2026 at 8:03 pm
ROFLAO your Sabbath comment was a good one! I think ive seen this guy before on another YT channel. Still who is he?? Like myself he is a grey beard, He should know prior to Metallica's Black album metal was confined to live and headbangers ball. Excluding hair metal but that's a different story. Ive said it before Metal is like a Vampire it may fade away but will return. Metal has a link other music does not to a deeper primitive tribal ancient part of our brains. It was a Harvard or some shit study done in the 90s maybe 80s, about the rhythmic drumbeats. Listen to Native powwow drumming. If Jethro Tull winning over Metallica did not kill it all nothing will
@TlayGaming
January 25, 2026 at 8:03 pm
Metal isnt big in terms of main stream success but the culture and the smaller genres in general have grown greatly. Fucking lorna shore has 2m+ followers and personally I dont really care for it but if it was 20 years ago they would be extremely underground. Like how black metal and old grindcore bands used to be
@Metal_Esq
January 25, 2026 at 8:03 pm
It's not dying, it's just commercialized so what was once metal is now pop.
@hinduismwithpremananddasbhagat
January 25, 2026 at 8:03 pm
Yes, and its just about dead. Ever since Elvis started spinning his hips that has been the clear end. Kids these days don't know music. Honestly, there's a book that traces the death of rock. It was first said to be dead and gone, a trend to be forgotten, 6 months before Elvis debuted! As for music itself? I'm 99% sure if you asked Mozart he'd say music died centuries ago. Its not dying no more than it was when Elvis killed. Its just changing and becoming something that sounds different than what folks grew up listening to. Music is no more dying than language is.
@gerardcote8391
January 25, 2026 at 8:03 pm
Hte only cares about biggests bands pushed by Spotify.
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=9lmIB1DxRUo&si=M_72PVyBVWOpa5Rc
This is one band live… look at all the people.
@BingoBongo-e1e
January 25, 2026 at 8:03 pm
..and than came Metalcoreš¤¢š¤®ā¦ but thatās not metal at allš
@djacobmadrigal
January 25, 2026 at 8:03 pm
Beato is forgetting about people who own the CDS or Vinyl. You canāt track, trace or document whoās listening overall.
@qianmutao
January 25, 2026 at 8:03 pm
As we talk about metal music is dying or not, I think how to introduce underground band to more people is more sensitive.
@jaktharipper2768
January 25, 2026 at 8:03 pm
Bring Me the Horizon hasn't been metal since their second album . They're basically pop music now
@BengtNordsten
January 25, 2026 at 8:03 pm
I was an FM radio junkie in the 1990s, my Minneapolis days. There were only two stations that regularly played ACTUAL metal — no, I don't count KISS — and maybe a half-dozen more that played (largely) hard rock. Metal has ALWAYS been a subgenre of a subgenre.
But the stats for airplay and album sales and concert attendant — the Big Three metrics of "success for most of the 20th century — ARE NOT interchangeable… and Spotify is airplay: passive reception. We CANNOT sling the term "popularity" freely around as though this is friggin 1998!!!
The culture has changed, the precious tracking numbers mean the opposite of what they used to, everyone is clinging to what they pretend is familiar even as they ignore the bounty while fantasizing about a past that never actually existed…
@asaprabbit8305
January 25, 2026 at 8:03 pm
Nost of the bands he mentioned are even metal tho š¤·
@LB-vf2hm
January 25, 2026 at 8:03 pm
To be fair, I think his instrument point is almost a good one. Even for non musician metalheads, there's some cred associated with playing an instrument, and that cred is related to the draw of metal. It's like a chicken vs egg cycle where people think metal is cool because you play it on cool instruments, and people think those instruments are cool because you play metal with em.
But, if people care less about playing instruments, then they have less reason to care about metal vs, say, industrial electronic, or something else that sounds "heavy" but doesn't have guitar.
@kyleanderson9281
January 25, 2026 at 8:03 pm
I wonder what the age metrics look like on those listeners. Rick might be onto something, but only if younger listeners were preferring older metal acts to newer ones. If young people were going to the back catalogs of older acts rather than listening to the newer bands that were around, there would be an argument that Metal is dying, as new listeners are preferring older acts to new ones and aren't starting new ones that they would listen to.
I just dont have any kind of impression on whether that's true or not. I know that I (24) and my dad (50) both listen to a lot of the same stuff, spanning from 90s rock to dad rock and newer metalcore stuff. The venn diagram of our metal tastes is kind of a circle.
@valley_robot
January 25, 2026 at 8:03 pm
What do you classify as an instrument? I have been playing guitar for over 40 years, but an analogue synth or a mobile phone is still an instrument; if you can play notes on it and create music, it's an instrument. Bach, if he were alive today, would use a DAW and an iPad to create music. If you think guitars and drums are the only things that can make music, then you are not a musician; you are a poser.
@valley_robot
January 25, 2026 at 8:03 pm
For me, the electronic music scene has way heavier music than guitar-based music. "Come to daddy " by Aphex Twin is heavier than any heavy metal music
@valley_robot
January 25, 2026 at 8:03 pm
I haven't listened to heavy metal since the early 80s, it's just a joke now, baby metal, pirate metal, chicken vindaloo metal, ned flanders metal. It's just a ridiculous scene now. Im sure there are people making great music out there, but the scene as a whole is not the scene I was into in the late 70s/early 80s, its either stupid djent shite or play arpeggios as fast as you can to impress ADHD sufferers. its shite.
@Goodykos
January 25, 2026 at 8:03 pm
I agree. I got my first guitar (Oscar Schmidt Acoustic Bass) because I listened to metal. I then got my first acoustic guitar because I wanted to be like James Hetfield or Dave Mustane.
@elpeladorobles5013
January 25, 2026 at 8:03 pm
As you correctly state, the underground feels more alive to me, more people are buying those albums than ever. It has an excitement to it. I love not needing MTV or Radio.
@eman2145
January 25, 2026 at 8:03 pm
Legit question, how is Sleep Token considered metal? They have metal influences but I would hardly consider them metal by any means. Metal-adjacent maybe.
@fromBuzzToShred
January 25, 2026 at 8:03 pm
Iām convinced that metal just isnāt as appealing to the younger generation anymore. My theory is that our fast-paced world makes it harder to fully immerse yourself in the universe of a metal album. We used to have more time, energy and far fewer distractions. We could absorb a whole album, read the lyrics, dive into interviews with our heroes, and truly lose ourselves in the beautiful world of metal.
@apologise2bisons
January 25, 2026 at 8:03 pm
in my country it is much less popular. on concerts u can see only old metal heads and some few new ppl. i think it is dying but it will probably become popular again in future when ppl get bored , unless terminator future happens š
@guilhermerodriguesgermanico
January 25, 2026 at 8:03 pm
Basear a popularidade da MĆŗsica Masculina ou mais especificamente do Metal em dados de Spotify parece ridiculidade para venda!
@brucelivolsi
January 25, 2026 at 8:03 pm
I watch #RickBeato when he interviews someone I'm interested in, but otherwise I think he doesn't exactly have his finger on the pulse of metal.
Besides, who cares if a certain musical genre is gaining or losing popularity?
I won't stop listening to heavy music simply because it loses favor with the general populace.
I've mentioned before that the older I get, the heavier my musical taste becomes.
I've recently found that I like #PeelingFlesh, which I didn't think about 2 years ago.
Yes, people's preference in music changes over the years… demand for specific styles wanes and gains over time.
But, we like what we like, no matter what is fashionable. That's just human nature, I think.
@slowneutron6163
January 25, 2026 at 8:03 pm
No. Next dumb question.
@karppinen
January 25, 2026 at 8:03 pm
I don't care one bit if metal becomes quaint, old style of music – hell, I myself play old style traditional metal which ain't gonna ever become a big scene in metal community again. Jazz, blues and even classical music are doing just fine. So will metal. It will never go away completely.
@softwareengineer9307
January 25, 2026 at 8:03 pm
10:47 Jon tries to understand the internet
@RabidGerry
January 25, 2026 at 8:03 pm
There's a lot of those bands i don't even class as metal. I agree, there are many old bands that actually need to retire and one of them is my fav band of all time, and they need to move over for the younger metal bands because they just cannot live up to what they used to do in my opinion with all the downtuning to allow the singers to still cope which is a total fraud. But i worry the younger bands will never get the exposure to replace the top old bands so this is why people hang on to the old names. Ps not all old bands need to retire as some are still capable of representing themselves authentically and accurately.
@misterknightowlandco
January 25, 2026 at 8:03 pm
For Rickās argument to be trueā¦ you have to publicly admit RATT and Def Leppard were metal bandsā¦. Are we really at the point, after all these years, to invite our glam brethren into Valhalla? ššš
Look, Iām 42 and a high school history teacher. Iām around kids in this age bracket everyday. When I was their age in 99, the classroom looked the same as it does now. 2 or 3 kids with dyed hair and band shirts, sitting in the back of course, 2 or 3 kids who listen to the āpoppy-erā versions of metal trying to be their friends and the other 20 kids listening to pop music and ignoring those 6 kids in the back. Btw, at least in history class, those 6 tend to be my best students. Also, these kids know their forefather bands and donāt wear sabbath shirts to be hip.
I honestly think what Rick is confusing is that this is a death of monoculture argument not a death of metal argument, like you mentioned at the end. I think youāre 100% correct. Which is cool with me cuz I listen to more metal now at 42 because of the internet. Youāre around my age, š, you remember how hard it was to actually find metal albums? Best Buy didnāt exactly carry tons of copies of cannibal corpse or death. ššš
Side note: the fact disturbed has more monthly listeners than sabbath should be treated as a war crime. ššš
@Burbund
January 25, 2026 at 8:03 pm
Personaly i listen to little music daily (by hours) but i love the live shows, especialy the local ones
@ssjzero64
January 25, 2026 at 8:03 pm
Been a metalhead for the better part of the last 30 years, and I'm constantly getting new metal bands recommended to me by the YouTube Music algorithm. I've gone down a Japanese metal rabbit hole and I don't plan on coming out anytime soon.
@ozzlayer
January 25, 2026 at 8:03 pm
4:07 š š š
@OrionRahl
January 25, 2026 at 8:03 pm
I think we're going to see more hybrids of metal and electronic genres.
@Nigel-j2o
January 25, 2026 at 8:03 pm
Only metal song i know and still listen to is Worms in Pussy i think they are Deathmetal possy
@Brandon75689
January 25, 2026 at 8:03 pm
Well to your black sabbath point. People do listen to Ozzy and Black Sabbath almost evenly, so there's that. Also, he said bands since 2010. But a lot of those "contemporary" bands have been bands since early 2000s like Motionless in White, Volbeat, etc. So its a weird metric to use too. I do think those bands changed their genre to a more "accessible" metal, a long with different algorithmic exposure on TikTok and what not that younger people are listening to them. Deftones definitely got their fanbase to increase again cause they are retro-cool with the younger tiktokers.
@dr.dionpeoples
January 25, 2026 at 8:03 pm
There are other forms of āmetalā: hardcoreā¦ blackmetalā¦ punkā¦. ā> so, the numbers are more balanced out perhaps rather than being spiked upward to a single bandā¦. ālook at the numbers of lower tiered numbersā¦. Perhaps for example: how many monthly listeners does Darkthrone get?
I purchase albums on Apple Music (sorry Haters), but I mean: there are no stats for that other than what my laptop tells me, but I only hear music on my phone, and when it is plugged into my truck. These numbers are not tracked/tabulated by Corporate Offices.
@Klocc562
January 25, 2026 at 8:03 pm
Yeah 15 years ago bands like Static-X, Slipknot, Hatebreed and Metalcore bands were on MTV before they stopped airing videos in Feb 2010. I was in middle school and some of my friends turned to dubstep, more so freshman year. I remember Lamb of Godās Contractor was on Star Trek in 2009 and it seems they havenāt been using new songs for new movies, like how it was more prevalent in the 90s and early 2000s. The early 2010s I remember Blackened Thrash being the new big but underground thing with bands like Cruel Force and Midnight. Also Ghost was emerging in the Stoner/Doom circles. A few dry years mid 2010s then we had the whole Death Metal/20 Bucks Spin label revival. Then in the 2020s (Metallic) Hardcore and bands that sound like Spiritbox and Bad Omens (not a fan of both) and Deftones revival sound became the norm. I keep thinking back to those days in 2010 because it happened halfway through 7th grade and if MTV kinda already predicted music would fail to reinvent itself and it didnāt. But I will agree the underground is thriving.
@linktojinx
January 25, 2026 at 8:03 pm
Yeah but some old guy is honestly I hate to be cliche going to be out of touch with what's up and coming and I'm hearing some revolutionary stuff. I'm in my 40s and the best music I've ever heard in metal has all come out definitely in the last 10 years but especially the last handful of years. Production quality definitely has a lot to do with it, and now you have a lot of dudes who are great metal heads who don't need to rely on the old system of gathering a band that not only do they mesh with but they can hold it together and live a life where they can play their gigs and have time for it and all that…
Look up shades of Black here on YouTube. Multiple albums all made by a single guy, an ex-soldier, younger than me I presume. Literally the best metal I've ever heard in my life and it's all instrumental
@edhc5480
January 25, 2026 at 8:03 pm
Ese Rick es un mamĆ³n los datos que ofrece son solo estadĆsticas y bandas comerciale en este momento y hace unos 10 minutos terminĆ© de escuchar incipit satan de gorgoroth,tengo 58 aƱos y desde los 10 escucho glam rock cuando empecĆ© este viaje.
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