Metal Underground.com

OpEd

Giving Thanks For Metal And All Involved

I've avoided writing any sort of giving thanks Thanksgiving message for years, but since we're doing more personal op-eds and columns these days, I figured "why the hell not." Besides, I really am thankful for all who have helped me along this 8+ year journey of Metalunderground.com, directly and indirectly.

Publicists

While the music industry is often reviled, there are a lot of people working their asses off for sub-executive level salaries to make stuff happen for the bands. Nine times out of ten, publicists are the ones who get us set up with exclusive coverage and access to the bands themselves, all the while juggling a million things at once. I can relate. Thank you all for working with us on so many mutually rewarding and beneficial projects, and for your patience when things are sometimes slow moving or hard to nail down (because you know how swamped we are too probably), and being cool people to work with.

Metalunderground.com Staff

We've got a killer staff this year - the best staff ever - who have helped bring you all the latest news daily, review tons of releases, gain more insight into bands through interviews and show reports, and help you discover new music with some of our latest columns and countless other ways. We've added many excellent writers and our senior staffers have all been steadily improving their writing over time, even those who are not writers by trade. So thanks to all of you for your efforts and making this site better than I ever imagined and of a quality that I am proud.

Metal Bands

We only get to work with or speak to a fraction of the bands we cover, but bands are central to everything we do. Checking out thousands of bands can be tedious work, but in the end, the bands we get to chat with, see live, and the many bands that connect with our musical tastes and sense of discovery give us the inspiration to continue doing what we do day in and day out. We love metal and without the bands, successful or underground, there would be nothing to write about and enjoy as we do now. Thanks for inspriring us and creating the music that we enjoy and plays such a big role in our lives.

The Metalunderground.com Community

Thanks to everyone who comes here to read our articles, interact in our little community, and aid others in discovering more great metal bands and music.

I'm very thankful for all the people who have helped make this journey an enjoyable one, providing the help and encouragement to continue all these years and many more.

And to those who celebrate it in the U.S. or abroad, have a safe and metal Thanksgiving.

A self-described "metal geek," Doug Gibson has been listening to heavy metal for more than twenty five years and designed and coded Metal Underground.com from scratch over ten years ago.