The many Metalheads that I met acted like their music tastes were somehow better than everyone else's, were quite intolerant of those who had different musical tastes than theirs, and berated them too. Is there a reason for this?
Everybody probably likes their own music more than others. That isn't a bad thing inherently because I can respectfully disagree that the music my friend listens to is the best while I prefer mine. But the problem is narrow minded people who don't need any excuse to attack something that's different. I don't think it's fair to say Metal or any other genre encourages it more than others, though certian groups (and fans) within their respective genres may be a different story. Anyway I don't know why it's hard for people to not listen to a band they don't like.
In my experience most of the elitism is only on the internet. You get some losers in every circle that are so insecure they project their fears onto other groups. Even between metalheads we sometimes judge band shirts. I'm a metalhead and I once dated an emo girl, so f**k stereotypes. I believe you can find beauty in almost any music genre. Emo music makes my ears bleed, but whatever, man! People can listen to whatever music they like if it doesn't harm others or spread hate.
I'm no expert, and can only speak for myself, obviously, but I think the problem might be two-fold, if we're to generalize: metal has traditionally been an underground scene of music, going where mainstream artists weren't willing to, so a lot of fans pride themselves on being "unique" in some way or another, and not playing into what the masses have wanted. Second, there's the fact that when it did become known to the public, it received a lot of negativity, being called "noise" and "devil music", while taking a lot of the blame behind social issues when someone who listened to the music was involved... similar to the video games make school shooters out of innocent children argument. I think this has made some feel misunderstood, isolated, and insecure, not surprisingly, since metal has tended to draw in these types of people from the beginning. Finally, like it has been mentioned, you have your elitists in every genre, and even subgenre, who think their music is superior to all others, and since a lot of metal listeners don't listen to more "acceptable" forms of music, ie rap, pop, and other top 40s, it's likely that most people who do listen to them will have more negative encounters, especially online, where there's more centralized visibility. If it makes you feel any better, I listen to metal (as well as other genres of music), and have gotten crap from fellow metal listeners, for listening to a certain band, liking specific qualities in songs, or preferring one era to another. It's silly: we're our own worse critics, and the clique wars are beyond ridiculous. Why can't everyone just listen and be happy?
I couldn't tell you why. It's funny you should bring this up. Someone on my Facebook keeps sharing a bunch of status from some Metal appreciation page on there and they're all about how every other kind of music sucks and junk. It's kind of annoying. I should consider blocking their statuses or something, but I'm sooo lazy >.> Personally I listen to pretty much everything. The only music I have zero appreciation for is country music. Something about it just irks me in so many ways. I don't let it get in the way of things though. If I have a friend who likes country music and we're flipping through the radio and some country song they like comes on I just sit back and try to ignore my bleeding ears xD
Many think their own favorite music is objectively the best. Whoever is right is proven by how well they back it up.
I think there's people like this in any music fandom, but with metal, you have some added things that might make it appear more pronounced: As a genre, it tends towards the macho/masculine in imagery, emphasizing strength and power, with themes of war, death, Hell and so forth. It exudes good deal of Yang energy, so to speak. It's sorta the opposite set of symbols you'd find in My Little Pony.
I'm a metalhead and i've always hated the elitist thing. Its so dumb that metalheads are in a niche culture and then berate other people in similar niche cultures. It makes no sense because of how different they are, they should be more accepting and proud of the fact that there are other diverse and different groups in the world expressing their own opinion and tastes. Thats how I am at least.
Goes with the territory. You'll find elitism and arrogance in any medium, not just metal. Granted, I don't listen to a great deal of the genre, but I definitely see it in the music scene I'm part of. What is boils down to I think is, there's always going to be those asses who have a superiority complex. Best to just ignore them and enjoy what YOU like.
I have dealt with this so many times, because I'm in the metalhead, punk, AND classic rock fandoms. Everyone tries to know more obscure bands than each other as if it means they have better taste, and berate you for being into any of the "mainstream" bands. Nirvana is easily a favorite of mine and the reaction is, "Everyone's favorite band is Nirvana, c'mon." And if you like any music outside of those genres you get teased for it? I think this is present with any music fans though. Punkers are a bit better about it in my experience because the whole point of punk is to tell everyone else to go f themselves lol