I'm not sure whether this should go here or in the Metal Discussions forum, but seeing how this focuses more on rap/pop, I'd say this belongs here.

Now, I got this idea the other day when I listened to Trippie Redd's "Neon Shark" album because he adopted a rock style on it instead of the usual rap he does. I thought the album was okay, but it got me thinking about other rappers and popstars experimenting into the rock and metal genre. You got someone like Machine Gun Kelly who made a good pop punk album with "Tickets to my Downfall", and you got people who have been comparing Ghostemane's music to black metal and he even has his own metal project. But while some artists do the rock/metal genres alright, others... need some work. Like, remember when Justin Bieber did a cover to a Pantera song?



So what are you thoughts on this idea? Should non-rock musicians make rock/metal music at all? And if so, then could it open their fans to a genre that they have little to no experience in? I would like to see a good discussion on this.

I've never found something I truly connected with. I'm not opposed to it but popstars like Justin Bieber do not interest me at all so outside of morbid curiosity not something I'd enjoy.

That said, the album by Th1rt3en which is essentially a band with Pharoahe Monch, one of my favorite rappers, as frontman that came out early this year is fucking amazing. It is heavy but not just musically - it generates a genuinely dark and gripping atmosphere. That, and stuff like Clipping's heavy atmospheric horror-themed albums are the only times in recent memory I enjoy the rap/metal blend.

Miley Cyrus is making a Metallica cover album.

The more of this the better. I think there's a lot of other factors holding back metal and rock from being as mainstream as it once was (factors out of anyone's control, more business related stuff), but I have noticed a bit of an interest in legacy metal bands from a younger audience these days which is nice, and I wonder what avenues they're using to discover metal/rock. A lot of new hip hop artists will wear metal shirts and stuff in their music vids/interviews/shows/etc, so that literally just acts as free publicity.

My respect for Bieber went up when I found out he was a fan of Taake and Behemoth (and metal in general). Always felt a little bad for that fellow, or any of these kid celebrities to be frank. It's gotta be way isolating, and I wonder if that same sort of feeling is what connects him to extreme metal.

I legit thought you were joking at first, but then I found this article to confirm it.

To be fair, I think it would be really cool to see Miley cover songs from Master of Puppets and Ride the Lightning.

Miley doing Metallica would be... interesting. Interesting enough that I'd give it a listen, even out of morbid curiosity, although it's clearly not necessarily something that I would ever purchase.

Of course there's Hank 3's metal stuff, but he's supposedly been into metal for a long time and also drums for Arson Anthem.

Anyone remember Vanilla Ice's Hard to Swallow? It wasn't even bad.

I'm of the view that if I like it then I'll listen to it , so I could definitely theoretically listen to a good metal album made by ( f.ex ) Justin Bieber ...

OTOH I highly doubt that the fellow could pull off making a good metal ( or any other genre of music IMHO ) album , so it's highly unlikely that such a scenario will come to pass .


I'd wager that the same applies to upwards of 90% of present day rap/pop musicians , if for nothing else then the simple fact that they probably don't tend to have the musical chops needed to create metal music , the same way most metal musicians would probably fail at being worthwhile rap/pop musicians .

I could be completely wrong on that count though/wouldn't mind being shown good examples of rap/pop artists making totally mind blowing/worthwhile metal music .

I'm voting for it. MGK and Yungblud now make songs that I can actually listen (as opposed to rap). ModSun has a nice song called Bones and his duet with Avril is exactly what I need from bubblegum pop-rock with embarrassing emo lyrics.

Music doesn't grab me, but his style is phenomenal, I have that hoodie from 1:36-1:40. XD

That article is dated April the 1st...

gotta be fucking kidding me, I fell for a 5 year old april fools joke. Oh well

A tricky one tough! The beginning was kinda believable, but the Taake part was a bit too much

The obvious answer is Body Count. Ice-T got famous for rap first, then formed a crossover band. Not really hip hop style music at all, and his vocals are only a little rap influenced, depending on the song. I think they’re so good because it’s not just a one-off thing, or a vanity project, so you have him and the musicians taking it seriously. And being pissed off helps too, I don’t think Miley Cyrus will deliver the same quality with her Metallica covers.

Saw Body Count at the Gwar bbq they were entertaining. Wouldn't buy an album but they are really into what they play and respect the music. It doesn't bother let people try what they want

I'm pretty sure Justin Bieber never covered Pantera.

I'm pretty sure it's real. I don't think anyone would be able to replicate Justin's voice perfectly. Especially in 2010.

I don’t think that Pantera cover is him. Pretty sure it’s some music students, making a joke, I saw it years ago, it said so in the comments.

Yeah, it's fake as a 3 dollar bill. It was uploaded by a meme channel and you can't really find any informations about it online, if something like this truly happened you can bet internet news sites would be talking about it for few weeks
Check the sources, always!

I like the idea, yes, and yes. Michael Jackson had Eddie van Halen doing guitar work for him; listen to some other 80s / 90s pop, a lot of it is guitar driven, or would be if the guitar wasn't actually an electronic facsimile (Kenny Loggins !). Taylor Swift was the best modern example of that, guitar-driven pop that was actually written by someone rather than a record label's committee (she's been gotten at now of course).

Yep, can only be good to get more people engaging with picking up an instrument and writing some rock / metal. The next generation of rock superstars have to come from somewhere, after all - extreme metal isn't it, and Bon Jovi aren't going to carry on forever.

I know Post-Malone is pretty big on metal and classic rock (see his collaboration with Ozzy in Take What You Want and the various other references to rock he makes in his lyrics) but he's also surprisingly pretty good at the guitar too.



It'd be interesting if he had his metal side project, I think.

Well I never enjoyed Malone's parts in Ozzy's "Ordinary Man" album (nor did I enjoyed that album in general), I gotta admit, his guitar work is pretty good. In fact, he even did a Nirvana Tribute concert just a year ago, and those covers were amazing!



So yeah, I'd be interested to see him make a rock album.

Being honest, I think anyone can make whatever type of music they want to. I don't really care if the person in question was doing something that wasn't metal before, I find it silly to think that people can only make a few types of music and never experiment with anything else. I mean, a lot metal bands did covers of non-metal songs, or straight up made albums and songs in different genres, I think it's fine for the opposite to happen too. I actually would encourage that, because I'd be willing to check some out just out of curiosity, I know there are some pop musicians (and rappers too I guess) who allegedly enjoy metal, so if they did one metal album, I'd find it interesting.

Truly beautiful but I don't think it works. Rap relies a lot on "realness" and I just can't see Vanilla Ice of all people bashing people over the head with his diamond-encrusted magnum. Backing track ain't half bad though.

As someone who doesn't hate pop celebrities on principle, I also think it would be cool.
As someone who tends to be a toxic negative influence, I have a bad feeling it's going to be less "Ride the Lightning/Master of Puppets" (except for maybe The Thing That Should Not Be or Sanitarium) and more Load/Reload/Black Album and desperately want to be proven wrong.