That's subjective as ****, though. I can give you a decently-sized list of metal songs with bad unoriginal lyrics and mind-numbing repetition, too. Let's face it, most musicians get lazy sometimes. Across genres.

This "quality" you speak about is self-defined, so it can hardly be considered an argument for anything.

Care to give me a link? I'm interested in this kind of stuff.

Slipped my mind already... Elitist, sure. Egotistical and selfish? I don't think I wrote that. Still, I concede that it was a touch insulting. But can you objectively describe and/or criticize without insluting a little?

As a self confessed metal head, my response is... what??

I have never, and dont know any other metalheads, who have stopped liking anything because it became popular.

If anything, I relish it. The chance for a band I have liked for a while to tour and produce more music is awesome!

I wish more smaller metal bands i like would become more popular.

So... if I understand it correctly... you admit that there's nothing special about "hard" music outside your (their, my) head, that it's a mix of nostalgia value and "feel"?

I don't think EVERY metal head is exactly what I described, but metal heads emit that vibe as a group. I know because I used to be one of them. And when I got my sh*t together, I suddenly saw my (former) friends in a different light. And I know that this is more real than what I thought before, because impartial people seem to agree mostly.

Also, it's not elitism to say "I like this". It is elitism to point at something you like and saying it's somehow more "pure", more "athentic", more... just that liking it means you are better than someone who doesn't, even though there is no indication that it might be true except your own feeling.

Metal and punk are also just a product and they always were. It was and to some extent still in a niche product, but a product nonetheless.

Read the whole thread. You'll see I am serious and not dumb.

Happened to Avenged Sevenfold, Disturbed... they reached some level of mass recognition, they were suddenly branded as "sellouts" and  "their older stuff was WAY better" and that's that, Of course not all fans left, but...

I'm wearing Metal Heads beating Hipster dudes black T-shirt at moment.

There's no reason to feel sorry, but sure, it's your right.

a. I never said that all metal is good...not sure where you got that from. In fact, I only really like a few bands that would be classified as metal (although the term metal is weirdly broad). I am praising the specific musicians that get it right, and saying that those musicians who make music for pop radio are almost never the same as those who get it right. 

I also never said the word "quality"...I said "qualities", which would be synonymous with "traits". I wouldn't really call that subjective. 

b. I don't have a link. Its just theres been a few times where someone on here has posted a thread like "Listen to this Taylor Swift song!" and I've gone in and said "here is a bunch of reasons why this song is garbage."

c. "the elitism... the superiority complex... the way they're "non-conformist", yet still similar to each other in clothes and behavior (i. e. conforming)... the close-mindedness and their adamance in denying it... their insecurity..."

Heres a piece of your OP...you may not have said "selfish" in so many words, but that is undeniably insulting

Yes, my first point is that this is for a large part nostalgia and feeling, so it's just in the head of who is listening.

My second point about "authenticity" is more prone to disagreement. Even if not on purpose, it's some kind of elitism. I agree any single group is a product. There are producers, money, organization, etc to produce disks.  But, let's take one example, a group I love, Motorhead (which is indeed a product).

You know Lemmy from Motorhead, he was a road crew for the beatles in the 60's, most of his life is about music, he lived in squats and talked with Sid Vicious, he's like an encyclopedia that can talk about music, blues, rock for hours, he has a collection of rare vynils and CD, most of his friends are related to music, he started in a "indy experimental" group, was fired and started Motorhead, for which he plays a quite unique bass style, he's the main compositor for songs, and have some stubborn ideas about what he want to sounds like. He was never been really successful but still he plays the music he seems to like for 30 years.

Can you tell this is exactly the same thing than a producer that puts together 3 hot chicks that want to be stars, that makes they sing one song that some other guy produced, in a style chosen based on market analysis, and that uses a lot of money to get on the TV ? Would the producer get a result as good as Motorhead if they happened to play the same genre ? Can you say you can't feel the difference just by listening to it ? Can you say you don't feel when a group is playing outside the genre they like to get more money ? So you can say that's elitism, especially if someone is loud and stubborn about it, but I think saying "authentic" is not absurd, it something you can feel, it's something for which you can set a  personal minimum standard.

I know that nowadays a lot of people think any idea of hierarchy, authenticity, objectivity, quality is elitism, and that elitism is bad. I know by experience you can't argue with someone that feels that way. But for me it's like saying that the worst and cheapest vinegar is exactly the same thing as an expensive wine made by experts from the finest grape : everything is a product, and that's question of taste, nothing is better. I'm fine if someone prefer the vinegar I would only use to clean my toilets, like what you like. But let's be clear, I believe the expensive wine is better.

I love disturbed, I think they got better and better with each album

A7X suffered a little when M Shadows had to have surgery which prevented him from doing pretty much any aggressive vocals, and im just not that big a fan of pure clean vocals so i did stop liking their newer stuff, but not due to popularity.