It was all inclusive, really fun and totally not racist at all.

Another reason I never was really into Death Metal despite having been in the exact right time and place.

I have an infamous story of how I dated a white supremacist for like two weeks before it came up that he was a racist and I was a Jew.

It seriously didn’t come up. He was a thrasher. Had long hair. He was cute. We went out. Did stuff. Talked music. It didnt come up.

But without naming names or citing circumstances, this fella was connected to some folks on the cutting-edge of coolness at that moment. … which always made me wonder if those bands were racists too.

My suspicions aside, those same bands always had other folks wondering too. Probably because of the company they kept.

I backed away from that dude. For obvious reasons and I guess I really separated myself from that whole scene entirely.

Funny thing is that now, the biggest fans I know of the Metal that came out of that scene that I was sort of vaguely part of for a little while are all black dudes.

People keep asking me this as if I should be excited but I never did Death Metal at all. I guess in recent years I’ve warmed up to singers that don’t really sing but that’s a new development for me and there’s not a single Death Metal band I ever listened to for any length of time. I didn’t go to the Death to All show either and I don’t feel like I missed a thing.

I think its weird people think I should be into that. Because for me theres a clear division between Thrash and Death. But I guess the kids who grew up in a world where both had already happened don’t care about the difference.

I guess it’s sorta like how I’m into a lot of Black influenced thrash and rock and roll bands now and I don’t care even a little that theyre not *real* Black Metal bands.

I have a gap somewhere in my Metal history where I checked out for awhile. I was busy loving/following/working for Manowar. I totally didnt care about Death Metal at all. I missed a lot of stoner rock and doom and sludge. I’m okay with that. I also missed a lot of Nu Metal. Slipknot. Insane Clown Posse.Who knows what else.

When I got back in the game, I picked up now. and went forward. I don’t think it matters what I’ve missed. Because it wasn’t like I was completely unaware of what was going on. I pretty much chose to ignore what was going on.

I picked back up with Valient Thorr. Because they’re awesome.

and I found I was hungry for new bands again like I used to be when I was a girl and Thrash Metal was new and exciting.

The kids (and by “kids” I mean people in their 20s and 30s) come at it from a different perspective. It’s all the history of Heavy Metal to them. The subgenres are descriptors not identities the way they were when I was a girl.

Death Metal was the kids rebelling against me. Thats how I saw it at the time. Doing something I didn’t quite get. And that was okay because thats what us Thrashers were doing when we came along.

For me, Death Metal was the passing of the torch. This world belonged to the kids now and I was one of the fogies. I took my place in this Metal universe with good grace having no idea that 20 years later I’d be hanging with young people who don’t know or care about any of that and just listen to all of it.

I had no idea that I’d join in and become one of them and I’d give all the subgenres a try myself. I had no idea that my favorite bands of the future would mix subgenres that hadn’t been invented yet.

And yet somehow, People still always think I should like Death Metal. Which I still don’t.