Short read: Ozzy Is Gone, but Heavy Metal Lives On, Stronger Than Ever

Last week, some of us who grew up in the 80s and 90s listening to heavy metal music were saddened by the news of the passing away of Ozzy Osbourne, one of the genre’s icons and fondly called the Prince of Darkness, reflecting the genre’s dark themes and ominous sounds.

“Osbourne, the front man of pioneering metal band Black Sabbath, gave his last performance earlier this month in a concert that served as a farewell. Sitting on a black throne, he sang in front of a crowd of tens of thousands in Birmingham, England. A lineup of metal bands—including the lead singer of Ghost—played in tribute.

Osbourne died about two weeks later, but heavy metal is stronger than ever.”

The last part of that quote is not only heartening for a metalhead to read but also says something about GenZ and their refusal to be stereotyped for their tastes. The article quotes a 50yr old executive:

““My four girls are Taylor Swift fans for sure, but it warms my parental and musical heart to hear them singing ‘Satanized’ [a song by metal band ‘Ghost’] along with me in the car on the way to school,”…

Their family is part of a resurgence in heavy-metal fandom that has stormed a music industry more dominated in recent years by pop stars.

…Ghost’s rise to the top ranks of global music, and its popularity among Gen Z listeners, is a testament to how the once-ironclad boundaries of musical genres are eroding in the age of streaming.

…Tobias Forge, the 44-year-old lead singer of Ghost who founded the band in 2006, said when he started buying death-metal records in the early 1990s, the crowds at metal shows were mostly young men, no older than their late 20s.

“Over the decades that have followed, that base has almost exclusively expanded,” Forge said. “Now you have people who are 70 years old down to seven years old, who are interested in this music, which I find really amazing.”

Steve Davis, manager of longtime heavy-metal bands Cannibal Corpse and Ministry and newer bands like Lorna Shore, said the groups are bigger today than they ever have been, selling thousands of tickets on tour every night.

Older music fans grew up identifying with their favorite genre, but younger listeners ages 15 to 25 don’t care about the label, he said.

“They care about one thing: Does it impact me?” Davis said. “If it does, I’m into that band, not that genre. It’s a totally different consumer today…These kids have no interest in being sold to, at all. They’re picking on their own.””

So how meaningful is the resurgence in heavy metal:

“Live Nation, the world’s largest concert promoter, said heavy-rock shows are up 14% year-over-year, and bands like Korn, Deftones and Linkin Park are anchoring festivals alongside mainstays like Metallica and Iron Maiden. System of a Down, a band formed in 1994, immediately sold out shows at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, Soldier Field in Chicago and Rogers Stadium in Toronto. The band added second shows, amounting to more than 60,000 tickets sold in each city.

So far this year, streaming songs in the hard-rock subgenre have been up more than 12% in the U.S., compared with about a 5% increase in overall streaming in the U.S., according to data tracker Luminate. Rock music overall was the fastest-growing genre by market share, outpacing expanding genres like Christian, country and Latin music.”

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