National Metal Day: Do We Celebrate On The Correct Day?

Those of us who chase the smallest doses of serotonin know that unofficial holidays are the tiny joys we desperately hold onto, whereas pessimists dismiss them as silly, made-up trends. For the most part, they are just that; silly, made-up trends. However, they are also the excuses we need to treat ourselves to something we enjoy. Personally, I’m all for having a National Coffee Day despite the dismay of some caffeine lacking mope. I will enjoy my free New Englander coffee, thank you very much Margaret; and I will enjoy a treat whenever National Donut Day arrives too. You can’t stop me, especially when it comes to subjects I am passionate about, so you can bet your single serve creamer cup that I would want to actively celebrate National Metal Day. However, I have an issue with what day it’s actually on. 

Landing itself on November 11th, National Metal Day was created in honor of the mockumentary, This Is Spinal Tap, a movie about a metal band struggling to get themselves back onto the charts. The day lands on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, and the annual celebration started on the eleventh year of the millennium (2011). Do you see the trend? The point was to commemorate the scene in the movie that explains the band’s amps and its ability to go “one louder” than the usual 10 on a traditional amp. If you’ve heard the phrase, “turn it up to eleven,” then you’ll understand where the idea of it came from. It would be inspirational; if only the movie wasn't a joke on 80’s heavy metal stereotypes. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsFm6Yk_HkE

Another issue I have with the choice of day is the insinuation that all metal is the same. While solidarity in rock and metal is what fans strive for most of the time, it also ignores the fact that different subgenres provide different vibes, and differing vibes may clash with each other. It’d be one thing if you compared the stats of a football team to another one, even if they were in different leagues, but it’s something else entirely to unsuccessfully rope together a baseball team and a hockey team into playing a game of tennis. You wouldn’t think to try, and sometimes subgenres are the same way. The only time the actual “game” doesn't matter is when a large list of bands play at a festival. Even then, festivals generally have a vibe they stick with, only veering off slightly for the sake of variety. For the most part, tours and local shows stick with up to three subgenres. Whatever those subgenres are determines how the band and fans will conduct themselves. I’ve been to relatively chill classic and soft rock concerts, but also to chaotic death and black metal shows. I have also seen the in-between, especially in my late teens and early adult years when I listened to bands that just barely made it into the metal category. I can tell you from these vast experiences that you’re not going to do much moving to Foreigner, there’s a 10% chance of a mosh pit for Black Veil Brides (but still expect some hype, especially at the front), and I’m pretty sure Frozen Soul would just walk off stage if the crowd didn't tap into their animalistic nature to cause destruction wherever they step. 

So… How does one go about fixing my dilemma? Would we need to find a more common ground than This Is Spinal Tap to justify switching the day, or do we need to split up each genre of metal so they can all individually shine? ¿Por qué no los dos? It would take forever to analyze every song, album, and band to come to conclusions for each subgenre. However, I can give some of my recommendations based on what I consider to be significant moments in the history of metal. After careful consideration, this is what I have come up with: 

● National Death Metal Day: October 4th, in celebration of the successful 2024 album releases from previously un-noted death metal bands such as Undeath, Maul, and Blood Incantation.

● National Thrash Metal Day: October 7th, in celebration of Slayer’s third album, Reign In Blood, which is considered to be the most influential album of the subgenre.

● National Black Metal Day: February 2nd, in celebration of Mayhem’s Spellemann Award for their fourth full-length album, Ordo Ad Chao. 

● National Doom Metal Day: June 10th, in celebration of Candlemass’s debut album, Epicus Doomicus Metallicus.

● National Alt-Metal Day: August 12th, in celebration of Metallica’s self-titled album, iconically nicknamed “The Black Album” for its dark and simplistic cover art.

● National Nu-Metal Day: July 20th, in remembrance of Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington whose life was cut short due to suicide. (You are not alone. Call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255 or send a text to the crisis lifeline at 988 if you are contemplating suicide.)

● National Metalcore Day: May 11th, in celebration of Killswitch Engage’s third album, The End of Heartache.

● National Glam Metal Day: November 10th, in celebration of Mötley Crüe’s debut album, Too Fast For Love.

● National Metal Day: October 16th, in celebration of one of the pioneers of metal, Black Sabbath, recording their entire first album under this new band name in a single day.

Taking this information into consideration, in theory this is a possible birthday of the metal genre. Whether you agree with these new dates or not does not matter to anyone but yourself. If you’d like to celebrate these days throughout the year, then by all means do so. If you’d rather celebrate the original singular day on November 11th, then you are also free to do so. You don't even have to celebrate these arbitrary dates at all if you don't want to. The point is this: if we are to celebrate a day for something in life that we love, we should focus on dedicating it to an event that has had a significant impact on that beloved something. Make that day truly mean something to you.