“Hail to the King”

There is such a thing as bad publicity, and I believe that it can become good publicity depending on the result that comes from the scenario. For example, one of my favorite bands, Avenged Sevenfold, has had a few situations of bad publicity that turned out to work in their favor. Their first experience of bad publicity was when many fans criticized them for no longer including screaming within their vocal tracks. Although their fans prior to their album City of Evil, didn’t agree with the approach they had taken, Avenged Sevenfold was completely successful in switching their style. It even led them to be the first metal band in years to be number one on “TRL” at the time. (Moss, 2007) Here is a clip to show how this bad publicity worked out to their favor - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuqek_5gtRY

Two albums after that, their drummer died. Because this was obviously bad publicity due to a death of one of the members, this wasn’t good news for the future of the band. Because they were proactive through finding a suitable replacement being one of their drummer’s heroes, people were anxious to see if and what their next album was going to sound like with someone else, as their past drummer played a very crucial role in the band. Their album was yet again another success as they had quite a bit of airplay for a few of their songs. Even a song entitled “So Far Away” got plenty of time on the radio, which was written about their drummer’s passing. The music video for “So Far Away” received over 44 million views on YouTube.com alone. Here’s a link of the video to exemplify why its possible to turn bad publicity into good publicity - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7ry4cx6HfY

Their latest album released in late 2013, “Hail to the King,” is arguably one of the biggest rip-offs of ‘80’s metal bands, angering a lot of fans of bands like Guns and Roses, AC/DC, Metallica, and Megadeth. Even if this is the case, it is bad publicity like this that makes people want to hear it for themselves. Before I read any of the horribly insulting blogs dedicated to hating Avenged Sevenfold for this, I listened to the album myself, pointed out many songs that sounded similar to ‘80’s metal bands (I even showed my wife the comparisons, and I was responded with “oh yeah” quite a few times), and totally loved the concept. I didn’t see it as stealing anyone’s music; I only saw it as the music that both them and I grew up listening to, and their remaking of it into something of their own that was marketable.

In an article found on loudwire.com, Chris Epting was spot on by saying “A few years ago, it was hard to predict the future of this band. But ‘Hail to the King’ sends a clear message: Avenged Sevenfold is here to stay,” (Epting, 2013) This shows that the band has encountered so much bad publicity that it left loads of curiosity for consumers. In return, Avenged Sevenfold took full advantage of this in a proactive way by responding to the media through continuing to make excellent music with their signature sound. For example, their song “Hail to the King” has only been on Youtube.com for 2 months and they’ve already racked up almost 6,500,000 views. You can view this video by clicking on the following link - http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=hail+to+the+king&oq=hail+to+the+king&gs_l=youtube.3..35i39l2j0l8.35418.39264.0.39359.26.25.0.0.0.5.164.2475.13j10.23.0...0.0...1ac.1.11.youtube.1ANDMydYHZY

References -

Moss, C. (2007) Avenged Sevenfold Appetite for Destruction. MTV Networks,Found on October 16, 2013 from

www.mtv.com/bands/a/avenged_sevenfold/news_feature_060103/

Epting, C. (August 28, 2013). Avenged Sevenfold, “Hail to the King” – Album Review. Loudwire.com,

Found on October 16, 2013 from http://loudwire.com/avenged-sevenfold-hail-to-the-king-album-review/