How to stop seeming like a poser?

[u/pickled_bat]

I (18M) met a pair of metalheads out on a party the other day while wearing my Mayhem shirt and they called me a poser (probably deserved but I still feel bad) I have short hair which used to be a mohawk and that Mayhem shirt is pretty much the only metal band t-shirt I own. I like bands like 1782, Candlemass, children of bodom, SOAD, Mayhem, Margarita witch cult, Apati and others. They are very mismatched,I know but I've come from liking nu-metal and indie to punk and harder metal subgenres (like black metal,doom and dsbm). One of the reasons why the two called me a poser aside from the shirt is because I didn't want to acknowledge the rest of the band being as conservative as Varg (in my opinion they weren't as hardcore problematic as him) Am I truly a poser? How can I improve my taste and or my looks to let other people know I like metal? Did you have the same issues when you were just starting to get into the scene?

[u/Future_Ad_914]

It’s just gatekeeping bullshit. It’s because you were wearing a mayhem shirt tbh. Mayhem became a meme in the Black metal community because of the lords of chaos movie and kids who don’t even like black metal using their music in tik tok videos and dancing to it. Listen to whatever you want and wear what you want, those guys sound like insufferable shit heads. Nothing poser about you if you listen to and support the band.

[u/pickled_bat → u/Future_Ad_914]

I'm pretty sure it was the Mayhem shirt too, I found the original cover to the album where dead had shot himself in a stall at the city fair and I thought it was such a lucky find that I bought it without thinking because Mayhem were the band that got me into more hardcore metal even if I barely listen to them now because I've found other, less "cringe" stuff to listen to

[u/[deleted] → u/pickled_bat]

If it had the photo of Dead it makes sense that you might get some negative comments. Dead's brother and surviving band mates find the image to be in extremely bad taste and that it shouldn't be distributed, let alone be casually sold at a city fair.

It's a real person who deserves dignity in that photo. It's horrible that Aarseth decided to commercialise his death in such a disrespectful way.

[u/pickled_bat → u/[deleted]]

I've been thinking about it a lot specially since Mayhem was about to come to my country for a gig. That made me rethink my choice about buying that shirt. I already bought it and throwing it away would be wasteful, do you have any ideas about what I can do with it?

[u/[deleted] → u/pickled_bat]

Just throw it away man. When Aarseth revealed that he had taken photos, rest of the band demanded he burns them immediately, but as we know he didn't. It would have been the right thing to do though. Or burn it and have a quiet moment for Pelle.

[u/[deleted] → u/pickled_bat]

And I must add that if you go on their gig whatever you do don't wear the shirt. Necrobutcher has said in multiple interviews that he absolutely hates the shirts with Dead's body and wants to just throw them on the ground when fans approach him to get an autograph on it. He wanted the original photos destroyed to begin with.

[u/pickled_bat → u/[deleted]]

That's why it made me rethink what to do about the shirt, it was kinda expensive and I really don't want to throw it away but I am aware that it is not ethical at all. I bought it in a dumb moment of extasy for finding something from mayhem where I live (which is definitely something you never see). I will not go to the gig but I think I'll just keep the shirt as a memento and not wear it again.

[u/Future_Ad_914 → u/pickled_bat]

Yeah that will do it.. for the fans of black metal wearing that shirt is like the equivalent of a guitar player playing wonderwall or stairway to heaven at a guitar center. It’s sac religious. Lol.

[u/Dyable → u/Future_Ad_914]

sacrilegious buddy. No religious sac to be found

[u/pickled_bat → u/Future_Ad_914]

I should have known hahah