Music has evolved through the years. More aggresive music has emerged and has it fans. There reasoning behind heavy aggresive music could be speculated for years to come on this board. I have to admit I like it but then again there is very little music I don't like lol. One thing keeps popping in mind as I read this and think about the things being said. Alot of songs that are staples of the folk scene were in thier time scandalous and cutting edge social observations. Check out the thread on murder ballads for instance. They were dark and violent songs. Aggression being expressed musically is not a new development. The music backing it has changed but the thoughts and emotions haven't. The lyrics and musical ideas behind alot of these songs were pretty extreme for thier time period. I have said it many times and stand by my statement that Folk has a direct link to Punk and Aggro music today. I came from the Punk scene years ago. I noticed alot of guys my age were former fans of Punk. I got to thinking about why so many musicians my age were former Punk cats. Then it clicked Folk is about social observation and documenting social behavior and events so was the Punk I listened to. Folk is still a fringe music form. It is not the commercially mass produced bull that is being shoved down our throats by mega-corporations. So was the punk scene years ago. No coporate board chairperson tells you what you are hearing by playing 24-7 on the radio and tv. It allows originality and truly represents the life of everyday people. The biggest kicker though is that Folk has the best music human beings have ever produced in my opinion. Noone writing a clever line for sales just writing what thier heart tells them or told them whichever applies. It shows a link between all people and cultures. There has been alot of talk about how songs from England, Ireland, and Scotland became American folk songs just with different words and/or names. To me that just shows how people are people regardless of what they call thereselves or where they are from. So we are just witnessing a new bunch of musicians standing up and basically saying "Hey we have the same thoughts and emotions but this is our voice this is how we express it." and I think that is great.