{"id":23,"date":"2010-07-29T11:24:10","date_gmt":"2010-07-29T11:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/popcultureroadtrip\/2010\/07\/in-defense-of-avenged-sevenfold-fans.html"},"modified":"2010-07-29T11:24:10","modified_gmt":"2010-07-29T11:24:10","slug":"in-defense-of-avenged-sevenfold-fans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/2010\/07\/in-defense-of-avenged-sevenfold-fans.html","title":{"rendered":"In Defense of Avenged Sevenfold Fans"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Briefly &#8211; I wrote several weeks ago about the many heartfelt notes and letters I&#8217;ve received this year in regards to some articles I wrote about Jimmy Sullivan, the drummer from the band Avenged Sevenfold. They&#8217;re based here in Huntington Beach where I live, and the Sullivan family are friends of ours.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>There was some controversy this week after a Los Angeles Times review of the band&#8217;s new album, &#8220;Nightmare,&#8221; closed with this thought: &#8220;&#8221;With imagery haunted by death and lyrical allusions to alienation and<br \/>\nangst, Avenged Sevenfold&#8217;s fifth full-length is almost impossible to<br \/>\nappreciate unless you fit the prime demographic: tormented teenage<br \/>\nboys.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Understandably, many fans of the band took issue with this gross generalization. The points I want to make are, after coming in contact with hundreds of fans this year, that:<\/div>\n<div>1. about 70% of the communiques I received were from females &#8211; and not just teenagers<\/div>\n<div>2. I would not describe any of them as &#8220;tormented&#8221; &#8211; Upset? Sure. Devastated? Absolutely. Passionate about a band they revere? Yes.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>In my opinion, that line in the Times piece is the sort of crass, off-the-cuff crack that serves nobody except the writer &#8211; it &#8216;s a cheap shot &#8211; nothing more, nothing less, at the expense of &nbsp;a fan base that endured an epic loss this year but pulled together in support of the music (and the band) that they love.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Photo &#8211; the new CD &#8211; right where it belongs &#8211; connected to one of its creators<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><span class=\"mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"rev.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/110\/import\/rev.jpg\" width=\"614\" height=\"461\" class=\"mt-image-none\" \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Briefly &#8211; I wrote several weeks ago about the many heartfelt notes and letters I&#8217;ve received this year in regards to some articles I wrote about Jimmy Sullivan, the drummer from the band Avenged Sevenfold. They&#8217;re based here in Huntington Beach where I live, and the Sullivan family are friends of ours. There was some&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":228,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>In Defense of Avenged Sevenfold Fans - The Pop Culture Road Trip<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/2010\/07\/in-defense-of-avenged-sevenfold-fans.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In Defense of Avenged Sevenfold Fans - The Pop Culture Road Trip\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Briefly &#8211; I wrote several weeks ago about the many heartfelt notes and letters I&#8217;ve received this year in regards to some articles I wrote about Jimmy Sullivan, the drummer from the band Avenged Sevenfold. They&#8217;re based here in Huntington Beach where I live, and the Sullivan family are friends of ours. There was some&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/2010\/07\/in-defense-of-avenged-sevenfold-fans.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Pop Culture Road Trip\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-07-29T11:24:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/popcultureroadtrip\/files\/import\/rev.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chris Epting\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"In Defense of Avenged Sevenfold Fans - The Pop Culture Road Trip","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/2010\/07\/in-defense-of-avenged-sevenfold-fans.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"In Defense of Avenged Sevenfold Fans - The Pop Culture Road Trip","og_description":"Briefly &#8211; I wrote several weeks ago about the many heartfelt notes and letters I&#8217;ve received this year in regards to some articles I wrote about Jimmy Sullivan, the drummer from the band Avenged Sevenfold. They&#8217;re based here in Huntington Beach where I live, and the Sullivan family are friends of ours. There was some&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/2010\/07\/in-defense-of-avenged-sevenfold-fans.html","og_site_name":"The Pop Culture Road Trip","article_published_time":"2010-07-29T11:24:10+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/popcultureroadtrip\/files\/import\/rev.jpg"}],"author":"Chris Epting","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/2010\/07\/in-defense-of-avenged-sevenfold-fans.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/2010\/07\/in-defense-of-avenged-sevenfold-fans.html","name":"In Defense of Avenged Sevenfold Fans - The Pop Culture Road Trip","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/2010\/07\/in-defense-of-avenged-sevenfold-fans.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/2010\/07\/in-defense-of-avenged-sevenfold-fans.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/popcultureroadtrip\/files\/import\/rev.jpg","datePublished":"2010-07-29T11:24:10+00:00","dateModified":"2010-07-29T11:24:10+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/#\/schema\/person\/90e02a67ea704d6f277e5c57264de6c7"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/2010\/07\/in-defense-of-avenged-sevenfold-fans.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/2010\/07\/in-defense-of-avenged-sevenfold-fans.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/2010\/07\/in-defense-of-avenged-sevenfold-fans.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/popcultureroadtrip\/files\/import\/rev.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/popcultureroadtrip\/files\/import\/rev.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/2010\/07\/in-defense-of-avenged-sevenfold-fans.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"In Defense of Avenged Sevenfold Fans"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/","name":"The Pop Culture Road Trip","description":"Chris Epting&#039;s uplifting and nostalgic stories from America&#039;s entertainment landscape","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/#\/schema\/person\/90e02a67ea704d6f277e5c57264de6c7","name":"Chris Epting","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/ecf\/ecfc2e5ddaa5892930733367b5ce59bbx96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/ecf\/ecfc2e5ddaa5892930733367b5ce59bbx96.jpg","caption":"Chris Epting"},"description":"A pop culture history aficionado, Chris has a lifelong penchant for documenting the exact sites where things both great and small occurred. As an author, Epting has found that unearthing and chronicling \"\"hidden\"\" locations offers him a challenge. What began as an inquisitive hobby soon developed into the writing and photographing of 18 books based on his discoveries, including \"\"James Dean Died Here\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6The Locations of America's Pop Culture Landmarks,\"\" \"\"Elvis Presley Passed Here, Even More Locations of America's Pop Culture Landmarks,\"\" \"\"Roadside Baseball,\"\" and \"\"The Ruby Slippers, Madonna's Bra, and Einstein's Brain: The Locations of America's Pop Culture.\"\" As an extension of his efforts to chronicle the unique, Epting joined Hampton Hotels for a sixth exciting year as national spokesperson and consultant for the Hidden Landmarks program in support of the brand's national \"\"Explore the Highway with Hampton Save-A-Landmark\u00c3\u201d\"\" campaign (the program recently won the President's award). Chris is a frequent featured guest on numerous radio and television programs such as National Public Radio's \"\"All Things Considered,\"\" \"\"The Savvy Traveler,\"\" \"\"Access Hollywood\"\" and FOX TV's the \"\"Best Damn Sports Show Period,\"\" plus radio and TV programs around the world. He has contributed articles for such publications as the \"\"Los Angeles Times,\"\" \"\"Westways,\"\" \"\"Travel + Leisure\"\" and \"\"Preservation\"\" magazine, and hosts the weekly syndicated radio show, \"\"The Pop Culture Road Trip.\"\" Chris's latest book, \"\"Hello It's Me\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6Dispatches from a Pop Culture Junkie\"\" will be released in July, 2010. Chris lives in Huntington Beach, CA with his wife and their two children.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/author\/cepting"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/228"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}