Heavy Metal as a Lifestyle.

[bigfootkit]

Three important words to consider & fear. Male pattern baldness.

[VictimeDelExil]

Three important words to consider & fear. Male pattern baldness.

Haha. Good one.

[bigfootkit]

Three important words to consider & fear. Male pattern baldness.

Haha. Good one.

It's no joke, believe me. When it strikes there are serious decisions to be made.
Skinhead or skullet?

[Kraignoss666]

Three important words to consider & fear. Male pattern baldness.

Haha. Good one.

It's no joke, believe me. When it strikes there are serious decisions to be made.
Skinhead or skullet?

I confirm: THIS is trve!

[VictimeDelExil]

Three important words to consider & fear. Male pattern baldness.

Haha. Good one.

It's no joke, believe me. When it strikes there are serious decisions to be made.
Skinhead or skullet?

Skullet like Nifelheim ofc.

[Cochino]

Showing up like this would automatically turn you into a legend at any Metal Fest


Only DaN's Michael Jackson jacket could eclipse you.

[bigfootkit]

Joking aside, I absolutely understand the tribal appeal of the Metal look when you're young & i was a long haired guy in a leather jacket in my youth too. However as the years went by the irony of wearing a 'uniform' to show my allegiance to a style of music that lyrically prizes non-conformity & individuality above most other things was not lost on me.
So when the early signs of baldness became all too apparent when i was about 24 i went for the cue-ball look without too many misgivings. This was at a time (94/95) when a shaven head was usually only seen on nazi skinheads or gay men, and i hadn't appreciated that my new 'do would get more extreme reactions than my prior hirsuite look. For instance, I would often have a bunch of empty seats around me on busy trains as folks would rather stand up for their entire journey than sit beside me.
Different times. Now every other guy over the age of 30 has a buzzcut & youth cult tribalism doesn't really exist in the way it once did.
As a 52 year old guy i simply don't care what anyone thinks about me or how i look nowadays, and i don't mean that in a defiant 'i don't give a fuck' way, it simply doesn't cross my mind. It's one of the great gifts that ageing bestows upon you, you get to be truly comfortable in your own skin & the need for validation from outside no longer matters to you.
You're a young guy & i'm some old cunt so it's right & proper that you should pay me no heed whatsoever, but in time you wil find that the periferal stuff matters less & less. A roof over my head, food, friends, family & some good music is all that i really need these days.
Having said all that, I do still wear a band shirt most days, but now usually paired with tartan 'loungewear' pyjama trousers, because there's no reason that i shouldn't be comfy whilst beng Metal as fuck.

[humus]

'Lifestyle' often comes down to 'dressing style', or I am wrong?
I'm getting close to 25 years in this godforsaken thing called metal and I've learnt that it's hard to distinguish between 'true' and 'false' based on external appearance. So many patch vest (note: if you call it 'battle vest' than you are by default a false)/long haired/tattood guys that just left the scene, and on the other end of the spectrum people with incredible underground knowledge that look like the president of the local accountants union.

I might be overstating it a bit above, but it's definitely the case that the older I get the milder I judge. I hardly care what you look like just like how I hardly care how I myself have been looking. I used to have the long hair but a half inch thick ponytail made me decide to switch back to a shorter haircut at age 22. I feel more comfortable showing less baldness. On the other hand I always liked metal shirts and I still wear them almost every day, although in general I keep the controversial ones in the closet.
In the end, rather than being recognized as a metalhead I prefer not to draw attention to myself. I'm perfectly fine blending in with the masses and -especially- being left alone by the masses.

[Heavy]

Came across this gem today and I had to put it to good use:



It's a bit fucked that as we are getting older, there is a little less of the (perhaps too romanticized idea of) rock 'n roll livin' and various debaucheries that come with it...

A lot of people on the forum seem to be very knowledgeable about and dedicated to heavy metal music - this would hint to me, that it is a part of their lifestyle.

Male pattern baldness??? Never heard of the guy... but after the spectacularly cheap lookin' tribute-to-eastern-block mullet I was rockin' for 5+ years, I became to lazy for hair maintenance... so it's 'business in the front and the back' lately.. but nuffin' but party inside

[VictimeDelExil]

'Lifestyle' often comes down to 'dressing style', or I am wrong?
I'm getting close to 25 years in this godforsaken thing called metal and I've learnt that it's hard to distinguish between 'true' and 'false' based on external appearance. So many patch vest (note: if you call it 'battle vest' than you are by default a false)/long haired/tattood guys that just left the scene, and on the other end of the spectrum people with incredible underground knowledge that look like the president of the local accountants union.

I might be overstating it a bit above, but it's definitely the case that the older I get the milder I judge. I hardly care what you look like just like how I hardly care how I myself have been looking. I used to have the long hair but a half inch thick ponytail made me decide to switch back to a shorter haircut at age 22. I feel more comfortable showing less baldness. On the other hand I always liked metal shirts and I still wear them almost every day, although in general I keep the controversial ones in the closet.
In the end, rather than being recognized as a metalhead I prefer not to draw attention to myself. I'm perfectly fine blending in with the masses and -especially- being left alone by the masses.

Completely agree that "battlevest" is a rather silly term. I find people who call it battlevests tend to have lame mainstream "alternative" rock patches like Slipknot and Green Day, plus a million obnoxious political patches, rather than any actually good bands.

[Burnin_Leather]

Completely agree that "battlevest" is a rather silly term. I find people who call it battlevests tend to have lame mainstream "alternative" rock patches like Slipknot and Green Day, plus a million obnoxious political patches, rather than any actually good bands.

The only battle being done in a "Battlevest" is with some kids parents to stay up past their bed time haha. That word makes me wanna jump out a window.

[VictimeDelExil]

Completely agree that "battlevest" is a rather silly term. I find people who call it battlevests tend to have lame mainstream "alternative" rock patches like Slipknot and Green Day, plus a million obnoxious political patches, rather than any actually good bands.

The only battle being done in a "Battlevest" is with some kids parents to stay up past their bed time haha. That word makes me wanna jump out a window.

If you want a good laugh (and cringe to death) you should check out the "BattleJackets" forum on Reddit. (A website I hate.)

https://old.reddit.com/r/BattleJackets/ ... sial&t=all

[bigfootkit]

https://old.reddit.com/r/BattleJackets/ ... sial&t=all

That was horrifying. I'd assumed that those who were into the whole b****e j****t thing were at least doing so to keep alive the old school aesthetic but apparently not everyone cares enough to find out about the tradition of the thing or about the finished result enough to even sew the patches on straight.
I felt at least partly shielded from the true horror of it all by being blissfully ignorant of a lot of the bands featured & having no idea what the majority of those apparently political/socially aware badges even refer to because of the insider terminology & abbreviations used.
If you're making some kind of an ideological stand by wearing a badge don't you want people to know what it is you're standing for or against?

[VictimeDelExil]

https://old.reddit.com/r/BattleJackets/ ... sial&t=all

That was horrifying. I'd assumed that those who were into the whole b****e j****t thing were at least doing so to keep alive the old school aesthetic but apparently not everyone cares enough to find out about the tradition of the thing or about the finished result enough to even sew the patches on straight.
I felt at least partly shielded from the true horror of it all by being blissfully ignorant of a lot of the bands featured & having no idea what the majority of those apparently political/socially aware badges even refer to because of the insider terminology & abbreviations used.
If you're making some kind of an ideological stand by wearing a badge don't you want people to know what it is you're standing for or against?

Really the furthest I go with political badges or anything is I have an anti-communist pin on my leather jacket. I think it offends the right kind of people. Even then, I cringe typing this as I think I'm being a bit too political for this forum. lol

[fengisriprider]

Fine for whoever wants focus on such things but I as I have gotten older I have begun care less and less about style of dress and hairstyle. Got to many far more important things to care about in my life to get bothered by another humans fashion choices.