[net.music] HM: time to clear the air

rlr (01/10/83)

OK.  I've received my share of abuse for my "tirade" on "Heavy Metal".  Allow
me to say that my news item was prompted out of sheer disgust at (mistakenly)
being associated with the genre.  Everyone is entitled to their own individual
musical tastes.  Everyone is also entitled to their opinions about music (and
just about everything else, for that matter).  Perhaps the net was not the
proper venue for me to proffer my opinions on this topic.

It should be said that the number of polite, simple "Bravo"s that I received
equaled the number of impolite, boorish, insulting "You stink"s.  I hope the
tirades and counter-tirades on this subject have become a part of the past,
at least on the net.  Anyone wishing to discuss the subject of corporate
control of music or the number of highway deaths attributable to heavy metal
(by mail, and in a rational frame of mind) can find my address in the header
of this news item.

To those who called me closed-minded with a narrow range of musical
tastes:  if I receive enough requests I will post a list of the musical
genres that I enjoy to net.sources (that's where the very long articles go,
isn't it?)  You might even find heavy metal in that list, or at least a
small fraction of the heavy metal repertoire.  By the way, how many of you
"open-minded" listeners gave any thought at all to listening to the group
I described in my article---Joy Division???		Rich