Angela Gossow of Arch Enemy vs. Revolver

http://www.metalsucks.net/2010/02/23/angela-gossow-slams-revolvers-hottest-chicks-in-metal/#more-30450

Ah Revolver, what hell have you unleashed now?

A little backstory. Revolver has this thing called the Hottest Chicks in Metal issue. It's been going for awhile now and usually features pictures of girls in metal bands in some state of undress or other. Well, a few years back, Angela Gossow of Arch Enemy appeared the issue. Then she decided she did not care for the image that portrayed and refused to be photographed again. She wanted to be judged based on her talent, not her appearance. Well Revolver kept running the same pictures of her in subsequent issues. Gossow called them on it and one of the editors said that if she did not want to be in that issue, then the magazine would stop covering Arch Enemy.

Seriously, what the fuck kind of attitude is that? I don't have a problem with the women who want to show a little skin. Obviously that's their choice to be viewed in that way. I also don't have a problem with the women who decide not to show skin, that's their choice. However, I think we have to respect their choices both ways. For a magazine to flat out tell someone they will not cover their band because they don't want to be objectified is flat out wrong. By trying to force Gossow into this issue and threatening her with no future coverage of the band just for this one stupid issue is beyond pathetic. It's extremely sexist and Gossow has a right to be outraged.

The fact of the matter is that this is a fucking music magazine. There is no Hottest Dudes in Metal issue. Revolved hit upon a way to make some easy money by showing these women in their magazine. But that doesn't mean it should be required of the women in metal to shed their clothes in order to sell Revolver's magazine. After all, the issue has little to nothing to do with the music. They may mention what band each person is from, but they don't discuss the band.

This whole debacle just proves my theory that Revolver is not a magazine for the metal underground. It's essentially pop fluff aimed at people who have no minds of their own. It's for those people who have barely escaped the MTV world of image-conscious pop music and latched onto Hot Topic. I like seeing half-naked women as much as the next red-blooded American male, hell I have posted pictures of metal women on this very blog, but you can't force someone to take it off. That's what Revolver apparently decided to do.