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Because it sold well, as compared to non-Satanist/non-gore Heavy Metal? Definitely would like to see the data you used to draw that conclusion. And how inclusiv

• _jal 9y ago
  To be fair, I think Slayer gets a lot more play than Stryper, but I have no data for you. That said, the notion that metal bands are fine-tuning lyrical content to minimax paydays is pretty funny. I think income-maximizers generally gravitate towards different careers. But I like picturing a bunch of corpse-paint MBAs sitting on a conference call: "Nice, Sean, I like it, I like it a lot. What about the next line - I think 'Demons dining on your shame' will sell better than 'Demons know this ain't no game'. How does that grab you?"
  • soundwave106 9y ago
    This is a funny thought. But my guess is that if they were income-maximizers, they wouldn't be writing metal with "satanic" or "gore" content. Slayer certainly has been successful, and have built a nice consistent career. You can do well with niches. But by one statistic, album sales... well, they've never created an album that's gone platinum. (Stryper actually has once!) The "money" to "maximize" in music, if anything, is in pop. A large portion of pop these days is written by teams of people these days. I'm not sure how it goes down personally, but I can easily see conference calls coming up with the best love metaphors for a teen idol to croon. :)