well...... in my country (Italy) metal has never been alive or a mainstream phenomenon...... I mean, there is a huge army of metalheads here in Italy, but it's really difficult to see a metal band on TV or in the list of the best selling albums...... I don't know if it's a good or a bad thing if it remains underground or not...... metal (like punk or other "extreme" forms of musical expression) as one of its prime features has to be a form of rebellion and breaking of the rules and the order (do you remember "breaking the law"? ) and so...... I'm surely happy when I see a metal t-shirt or a metal band on some prime time TV show, and is funny to see (for example) some DISNEY CHANNEL band play with some Angus Young guitar or something like KISS make up, or to see some popular old-fashioned singer that makes horns-up \m/ during a show...... it's funny but strange at the same time...... in a some ideological way, I think that it's good if POISON, MOTLEY CRUE, BON JOVI, METALLICA or AEROSMITH are part of the mainstrem, because they were born with "the right metal spirit"...... and, for the same reason, I think that METAL loses some of its spirit if I see some bands or some singer to act in a "metal way of life" only to appear aggressive and nasty (like Lady GaGa or when Britney has made the cover of "I love rock and roll"), when they've never had nothing to do with metal before!! I think that it's something about to be honest and coherent with their musical roots...... I mean...... it would be absurd to see, for example, Frank Sinatra (R.I.P.) to wear dresses and make-up like King Diamond and to sing like Glenn Benton! everyone is free to do whatever he likes, ok, but it would be strange both for a METAL fan and for a Sinatra fan!!

Anyway...... on the other side, I think that the only thing that matters is the music...... good or bad...... "I like it" or "I don't like it"...... underground or mainstream, in the end, it's no so important