This letter is in response to the letter written by Tony Lombardo and Travis White entitled “Pitiful Music Devotion” which appears in the Dec. 8 edition of the Daily.

I’m not going to sit here and call both of them names and put down whatever music they listen to. This is about the same as the grade school argument “my dad can beat up your dad.” And I, for one, don’t feel the need to waste my time with it.

However, I can’t sit idly by and let them trash on the music that has been a major part of my life, either. Yes, I listen to heavy metal, and no, I don’t fit the “stereotypes” Ben Jones mentioned. Of all my friends who listen to metal music, not one fits that stereotype.

What I would really like to know is why these two gentlemen felt the need to lash out at the coverage of metal music by the Daily. This is my third semester at Iowa State, and this is the first time I’ve seen an article dedicated to metal period.

There have been full-page spreads about Reba McEntire, Garth Brooks, Alternica (let’s face it, Metallica died somewhere between “And Justice For All” and the “Black” album) and many other “radio-friendly” acts.

Along with all these are the countless Vanilla Ice-themed columns by Corey Moss. Yet I’ve never written in to the Daily and complained about this coverage. It’s a student newspaper, and obviously there were students on campus who wanted to read about these bands. I simply chose not to read the articles about bands I didn’t listen to.

Perhaps Mr. Lombardo and Mr. White should have done this same thing. If you don’t like metal, that’s fine.

I respect everyone’s taste in music, as long as they don’t try to force it onto me. I won’t tear down other people’s music because music is something that is very important to each person, something that means something very dear to them.

Perhaps Mr. Lombardo and Mr. White need to realize this.

Michael Stroeh

Sophomore

Psychology