Best Heavy Metal Band of all time. (Do people still listen to metal?)
Has metal essentially died, if not what metal bands would you say are the leaders of metal right now?
Naw, it hasn't died, it's just gone the route of many music genres, you have to look to find good music these days IMO.....the mainstream music today, heck the last 20+ years has, with few exceptions, not much to do with instruments.....or actual musical talent....
Metal, like Prog rock, jazz, R&B, gospel, blues, bluegrass don't have the huge wide mainstream appeal that they once did. I think part of the problem is the electronic age, kids/young adults just aren't playing instruments at the rate that they used to....but some still do and create some great music you just aren't going to hear it on the radio much....
My prime example is Tedeschi Trucks band, in the 70's Derek Trucks would have been considered a guitar god, Susan would have been all over magazine covers as the next Janis Joplin/Bonnie Raitt....they would have sold out stadiums....Today, they make a very good living in medium size venues....