Comment from JJA
Time: March 24, 2009, 10:26 pm

thank you, I agree. I have been listening to metal since 1981 and they are very average – both live and on record.

Comment from cody
Time: March 24, 2009, 10:48 pm

Thank you for agreeing with me. Its truly shocking how many fans there are of Machine Head.

Comment from Nathan
Time: March 25, 2009, 10:00 pm

Whilst I’d agree they are not the most technically diverse band out there, nor the band with the most creative flair. I find Machine Head one of my top bands. Albeit I think the Burning Red and Supercharger were a bit askew, they were not exatly surprising records. You could say they sold out, but they were actually one of the pioneers of the nu-metal sound. Rob Flynn and other members were always into Hip Hop and Rap and I guess that they decided to try to incorporate that into their sound during that period. I personally think that ‘The more things change’ sounds more contrived than TBR or SC.

Although, that’s not the point. Burn My Eyes and Through the Ashes of Empires, are two absolutely stellar albums. Not because they are creative, not because they are doing something new, but because its about passion and conviction. I can understand why you don’t like them, but for me, Machine Head is a band you feel. You either get that vibe or you don’t.

I don’t think they are sell outs, or not deserved of the attention they are getting. They deserve it, they have worked for it, and people like it.

What you’re essentially saying is: “I don’t like machine head, so they really shouldn’t be played anywhere and people shouldn’t be buying their records. I like bands better than machine head and so think thet everyone should listen to them, because I think they’re better and more deserving of recognition and praise, did i mention I don’t like Machine Head’s Music?”

Comment from cody
Time: March 25, 2009, 10:05 pm

No, what I said is exactly how I wrote it. I think there are other bands far more deserving of the recognition and popularity that Machine Head has.

Comment from Nathan
Time: March 26, 2009, 1:00 am

Funny how it’s not an either/or issue here. It’s not as if the bands you say are more deserving can’t sell albums because of Machine Head. The only thing stopping bands from being recognised and popular is themselves.

If someone is far more deserving of recognition and popularity, then why aren’t they recognised and popular? It could be opportunity, coincidence, exposure, although you would have to agree that that is pretty much a cop out.
Fair enough your article is a blog, but you have to say that this post is entirely based on your taste in music, and not based on their competancy, success, quality or critical reaction to their material.

As I said, this article is basically saying “I don’t like machine head, other bands deserve success more than them”. As I said, if the bands which you allude to are so good, then realistically speaking there is nothing stopping them from being successful.

As for your historical recollection of why Machine Head are successful, I think you may need to research your sources a bit more. Machine Head’s ‘Burn My Eyes’ was the highest selling debut album Roadrunner Records had released at the time. They were huge after that album, Metal Hammer magazines eat your heart out. Same thing with ‘The More Things Change’. The style of music at the time wasn’t Nu-Metal, far from it. It was a dynamic groove oriented off-shoot of thrash / british heavy metal.

With the release of the Burning Red, the period during which you say they sold out, I’m pretty sure they lost more fans than they gained. That album helped start Nu-Metal, but it was not that popular. Logan Mader left for Soulfly, a lot of people lost faith in Machine Head’s direction.

The same thing happened with Supercharger. The album sold so poorly that they got dropped from their label. Hardly sell outs.

They then wrote ‘Through the Ashes of Empires’ whilst they were not on a label, they tried to get it published without avail. Still sell outs? Eventually they released it on a foreign offshoot of roadrunner to the european market and it went insane.

Even so, their latest albums still probably only sell maybe 200,000 sales the world over. I would hardly call that immensely popular. They probably make about as much money as your average worker at that age, being the 50-70k a year bracket.

But anyways, that’s just my take on things. I’m not trying to convince you that Machine Head are better, just that your article is one-sided, and seems to cloud over the way things actually happened to support your notion that they don’t deserve anything thats come to them, because you like “better” bands.

Just so you don’t go and pigeon hole me straight away, I probably adore some of the bands you’re alluding to (such as Mastodon). I just don’t like people going off at how some bands deserve to be successful over others, when it’s an equal playing field, and noone’s saying you can’t buy a Bloodthorn Album because Machine Head are more popular.

Comment from Tim
Time: March 26, 2009, 3:52 pm

It’s his own opinion because he wrote. End of story. You have a bias too being the Machine head fan. So basically we’re all biased. I agree with Cody, I don’t really care too much for Machine Head. And that’s my opinion, take it or leave it.

Comment from matt
Time: March 26, 2009, 6:35 pm

I’m in line with Cody, as well. I saw them live and preferred the local opener. They lacked any sort of enthusiasm. I felt like I was watching a bunch of teenagers in band class, just standing there, playing their instruments. They barely even made notion of crowd interaction.
Now I guess I’m prejudiced against them, and can’t even enjoy their studio stuff.

Comment from cody
Time: March 26, 2009, 7:50 pm

I saw them live once (and only once I can assure you), and they took an hour to set up their shit, and then played a horrible set. Completely turned off by them live.

Comment from cody
Time: March 26, 2009, 7:52 pm

Nathan – Machine Head are free to succeed as much as they want, I just don’t think they deserve their fame. Do you think The Pussycat Dolls deserve their fame? There are plenty of underground acts that are absolutely phenomenal that will probably never see the light of day on MTV2.

Comment from Nathan
Time: March 26, 2009, 10:24 pm

I know i’m biased. But I’m not trying to slag off another band because I don’t like their music and then say they don’t deserve to be there.

Do the pussycat dolls deserve the fame they are getting? Why don’t you ask their few million fans whether it is deserved.

I think you are confusing popularity, fame and success with credibility. Popularity, fame and success are completely based on statistics. If 50 million people want to see your band, want to buy your products and merchandice and as a result of that you earn 50 billion dollars. You could have recorded you picking your nose and released it and you still would have been successful, famous, and popular. Do you deserve to be famous, popular and successful? Well, is there any fraud involved? Has any level of deception been employed in the promotion of your nose picking? No? Well then you deserve it.
You can’t go around saying that something you like, deserves to be successful, famous and popular. Because at the end of the day, they aren’t those things because they haven’t released something that is popluar, that has made them famous, and then as a result made them successful.

Are the pussycat dolls credible? I don’t think so. Do you think Machine Head is credible? Well it’s obvious that you don’t. But thats not the point.

A lot of underground acts don’t release popular music, so they don’t become famous, and therefore don’t become successful. That’s why they are underground. However a lucky thing, is that success depends entirely on your target/goal and your achievement of it. Would Ophthalamia be successful if their goal was to have a number 1 hit on the top 40? God no! Would they be successful if they got to play the music they loves and managed to get a little money back at the same time as travelling to places they otherwise wouldn’t be privvy too? Hell yeah!
Does Jesus Anal Penetration deserve fame and popularity? No.

Unfortunately fame and poplarity in music is entirely dependant on what people want to listen to. Whether you deserve it or not is entirely up to whether you cater to a demographic that would grant you fame and popularity.

You can’t go and create something that is essentially offensive to people and think you deserve to be publicly recognised in a positive light and then praised for it. It would be like me saying “Fuck you!” and then expecting you to like me, even praise me, and then when you don’t, you blame it on your interpretation of “fuck you” and continue to think that I deserve praise for saying it.

I’ve gone off on a tangent there. I don’t care that you don’t like Machine Head. Hell, I hate Mayhem. But You can’t say that they don’t deserve something that they have achieved or garnered. The results speak for themselves, your opinion really only speaks for you.

Comment from coled24
Time: March 27, 2009, 12:46 am

Well this is all well and good but you’re forgetting the simple element that Machine Head sucks. Robb Flynn is a douche and they are still putting out music that sounds like a shitty version of Fear Factory. Who knows why they get airplay. Same goes for bands like Chimaira, Mushroomhead and Mudvayne; lousy nu metal that incites drunken rage in white trash. Machine Head may be badass for Ozzfest, however bands like Trust Company and Crazy Town have been on the Ozzfest lineup before, so that should give you an idea of what I am getting at here.

Comment from CARTER
Time: March 27, 2009, 12:06 pm

Yeah that band is fuckin garbage. I’d rather listen to the song Machinehead by Bush than listen to the band Machine head.

BREATHE IN
BREATHE OUT

Comment from Tim
Time: March 27, 2009, 12:44 pm

Don’t hate on Bush.

Comment from CARTER
Time: March 27, 2009, 2:01 pm

hah i actually do like that song.

Comment from matt
Time: March 27, 2009, 2:13 pm

Ozzfest is shit. Bush is pretty much shit. Machine Head is the product of someone eating the two previous shits, and then shitting on a dead dog.

Comment from CARTER
Time: March 27, 2009, 4:07 pm

matt you’re bringin a lot of negativity around on AMR. go to metalsucks or somethin.

Comment from Tim
Time: March 27, 2009, 5:29 pm

Bush was a gateway band for me back in like…high school. Don’t hate.
I second carters opinion.

Comment from matt
Time: March 27, 2009, 6:25 pm

to address the negativity that you have issues with I’ll begin with Ozzfest. I live in Columbus, OH. Ozzfest hits our town every year, and for the past six or so, ozzy has bailed due to many many different excuses. and when he wouldn’t play, a ton of other bands wouldn’t play either. Its really a waste of money.
And for Bush, I can’t turn on a clearchannel station (which is all there is out here) and not hear 15 different bush songs every hour. I can’t stand them anymore because every negative thing I hear in the music has manifested itself into a general hatred for the band.
and the “shit” comment earlier was a product of living with a roommate, but this site lacks a ‘delete my comment’ option.

Comment from matt
Time: April 7, 2009, 3:29 pm

I walked into a party last night, there were about 30 HS/College Freshmen guys standing around in a room listening to JFAC, oogling how ‘amazing’ the shit was. Everyone was all into it, thrashing like it was something worth listening to. No matter how many other music suggestions were made (they looked at me like i was a rapist when I suggested Cephalic Carnage…), they would not change it off of JFAC. I probably heard each song 3 times.
They earn the lifetime achievement award for overplayed band.

Comment from Darby
Time: April 13, 2009, 3:17 pm

Guys, nobody here has mentioned The Blackening. While I agree that The Burning Red was by no means a “great album” (in my opinion or in the publics opinion i.e album sales), The Blackening was one of the best albums released that year (i forget which year that was, but I am not the only one, again sales records and the opinions of other metal heads i converse with are consistent with this observation). What I say is not fact, just thought I would throw in my two cents.