2. Economics
When I was broke, living in Pittsburgh and working an awful medical collections job, I put up a collection of metal shirts on eBay. I made $80 off a long sleeve shirt from a Swedish black metal band called Dawn. Out of curiosity, I just glanced at eBay now and found a COMPACT DISC of the same band, selling for $84.54. Listening to underground metal taught me the value of collecting obscure crap and selling it years later.
1. How To Cope With Loss
The greatest thing about heavy metal is that most of its' icons remain firmly planted in their beloved genres. Aside from the obvious exceptions, our heroes generally curdle and mold like the fine mutants we all hoped they'd become -- Danzig hasn't taken off his mesh shirt and Lemmy from Motorhead still has gigantic moles on his face. Unfortunately, this integrity is what also brings us to tragedy. You know how the rock world felt when Lou Reed died? Well, the comparatively small world of metal loses a relative equivalent every single year. 2013 was the year thrash metal lost Jeff Hanneman from Slayer, while 2012 claimed Keith Deen from Holy Terror and Mike Scaccia from Ministry/Rigor Mortis. Luckily, we've learned to cope.
RFT MUSIC'S GREATEST HITS
The 15 Most Ridiculous Band Promo Photos Ever "Where Did My Dick Go?" The Gathering of the Juggalos' Best Overheard Quotations I Pissed Off Megadeth This Week, My (Former) Favorite Band The Top Ten Ways to Piss Off Your Bartender at a Music Venue
Follow @rftmusic
