Internet Backdraft/Music


 * Generally speaking, don't talk about music in polite company, with the possible exception of when you're at a concert. Everyone hates what you listen to, this goes double if you're a big fan of a Dead Horse Music Genre.
 * If someone asks to peek at your iPod to see what you listen to DO NOT LET THEM. There's a 75% that they will either love a band you don't listen to much or they will love a band that you think is rubbish.
 * Having an iPod in the first place is enough to trigger a backdraft.
 * So you're saying no one is allowed to have iPods?
 * Go on to any music video of a song that Glee covered and say they sang it better. Then run and don't look back.
 * Or better yet, go on to the Glee cover video and say either it sucked or the original version was better. Then sit back and watch the flames erupt.
 * James Blake: Is he really dubstep? In general it seems that if someone is a big fan, then yes, how could he not? If not, then how is that even close?
 * What is dubstep for that matter? The dark, atmospheric early works of artists like Skream? Or is it the more wobbly bass-centric tracks of Skrillex and his ilk? Seemingly any dubstep video or discussion has already devolved, or is mere hours away from devolving, into a perpetual flame war between the two camps.
 * Electronic music vs. music performed live. Enjoy your planet-melting heat.
 * Vocaloid seems to have combined the two. I think.
 * Go on to any Rammstein music video and call them Nazis. Then run for your life.
 * Same goes for KMFDM. Best put on your running shoes beforehand.
 * Nine Inch Nails vs. every other industrial band, or better yet, whether NIN is actually Industrial.
 * Whether anything is "real industrial". Expect it to boil down to Throbbing Gristle fans against everyone else.
 * Auto-Tune is a big source of contention amongst groups that pride musical talent or groups who like individuality or groups who like individuality with auto tune/vocoder, or groups who like no-limitation in musical growth, groups who HATE musical growth, or perfection, or just the plain useage of the term Auto-Tune over Vocoder winds people up.
 * Vocoder is when it sounds like a robot, Auto Tune is simple tune checking and MOST artists use it.
 * Loads of endless heated debates are within fans of the same band or solo artist regarding their 'best' and 'worst' material. Usually it comes in the following types: old material vs new material, hits vs no-hits, electric vs acoustic, analogue vs digital, this composer vs that composer, before or after 'x' member entered or left, etc.
 * More often than not, asking what your favourite song is by said band or artist can be a dangerous topic. Some will insist that there is only one correct answer to that question (the fan favourite, Signature Song or not), while others will insist that choosing the signature song (fan favourite or not) is a sign of being a Noob. Others still will say that you're not a true fan if you can easily choose a single favourite.
 * Pick a video of "Istanbul Not Constantinople" by They Might Be Giants on YouTube. Any one. Guaranteed there'll be a huge Greece vs. Turkey flame war in the comments section.
 * Similar video example: videos for Iron Maiden's "Alexander the Great" attract flames between Greeks, Macedons and people from Balkanic nations.
 * Similar video example: Find a video of a piece or opera fragment by Richard Wagner. Chances are there will be an ongoing argument concerning his antisemitism, the fact that Hitler was a big fan, and whether these two points are related, relevant to the music, or covered by statute of limitations.
 * In general, a song which has been covered/parodied by somebody else will have flames on both pages over which is better. Johnny Cash's cover of "Hurt" being an exception.
 * The Eurovision Song Contest. Oh boy, the Eurovision contest. Every year brings a renewed lot of "Losing Country vs. Winning Country" debates, some countries even have "Last year's commentators vs. This year's" internal flamewars. Of course, those are nothing compared to the politically loaded debates, such as 2008's "Did eastern european countries vote for Russia because they're afraid of Vladimir Putin?"
 * Wouldn't anyone be afraid of Vladimir Putin? He was a KGB agent and has a black belt in Judo. That's pretty scary.
 * And let's not forget "Armenia/Azerbaijan/Turkey/Israel isn't European!"
 * Claiming that/asking if the band DragonForce speeds up or otherwise modifies their songs.
 * Let the newbie wandering into any forum discussions of Nightwish, or any discussion on Nightwish, be forewarned now, Tarja vs. Annete, bad idea. One singular mentioning could result in the equivalent of a 50 megaton nuke going off.
 * Easy, go to YouTube and search for any song of Nightwish. ANY. Look at the comments and if there is no flame war going about the front singer, you sir are inmensely lucky.
 * As of this writing, it's been six years since Tarja was fired for the band. The flame is as hot as always.
 * There is a similar reaction in regards to discussion on any of Sirenia's three female singers.
 * "Metallica v. Megadeth" threads turn into legendary flame wars.
 * Same goes for "Old" Metallica versus "New Metallica," for that matter.
 * 2Pac vs. Biggie.
 * The Who vs. Led Zeppelin
 * The Cure vs. The Smiths
 * Jay-Z vs. Biggie
 * Nas vs. Jay-Z
 * Faith No More vs. Red Hot Chili Peppers
 * New Edition vs. New Kids on the Block when you bring it up in the right circles
 * Pick a Velvet Revolver video on YouTube. The comments page will, without exception, degenerate into a "'Old' Guns N' Roses vs. Stone Temple Pilots" or "Axl Rose vs. Scott Weiland" flame war.
 * And if it doesn't become Axl vs. Scott, it will become Velvet Revolver vs. "New" Guns n Roses (or some other Slash vs. Axl war)
 * Ask for an opinion on any Post-Grunge band. Watch sparks fly.
 * Or ask a group of grunge fans whether Stone Temple Pilots are grunge or post-grunge. It will get ugly
 * Hip-Hop get this A LOT, just ask is hip-hop better now or much better back in the day, and watch the net get set a blaze. Mostly pre-2000's rap fans vs post-90's rap fans. Of course both of these groups are diverse as far as age and gender goes. But it doesn't stop people from calling the other group of fans ?old fogies with a Nostalgia Filter,? or ?little suburban girls who don't know anything about hip-hop."
 * Claim that Lil Wayne is the Greatest Rapper Alive. Watch all the Eminem/Jay-Z/Nas/2pac/Biggie/hell every non-Lil' Wayne fans jump you at once.
 * Worse yet if you claim Soulja Boy is talented. Given the new song of his about anime makes it clear that he doesn't actually watch anime, but that's besides the point.
 * Internet forums get especially hot over any "Rock versus Rap" discussion brought forward. These discussions tend to skew predominantly one way or another (depending on the forum), but the flame still kicks up pretty high. You can find those in the "Rock Covers of 'Lollipop' and 'Crank Dat'" aisle.
 * Whether in real life or on the internet, bring up what band is and isn't goth amongst a group of goths and you're bound to see some angry debates. Mentioning Marilyn Manson is probably the quickest way to stir anger, but battles over Joy Division (whether they were just influential to the genre or actually part of it), Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Cure, Depeche Mode, Ministry, and numerous others are all fairly common.
 * Also entire flamewars over modern "Cybergoth" music like VNV Nation, Blutengel, and so on.
 * On the subject of goth music (or not, Your Mileage May Vary), which lead singer of Christian Death was better -- Rozz or Valor?
 * Johnny's vs SM Entertainment. Or just Kpop vs Jpop boybands in general.
 * Though the flames have died down in the last two or three years, a heated internet debate of the past surrounded j-rockers Malice Mizer: Who was the best lead singer, Testu, Gackt, or Klaha?
 * X Japan. Here's only a few of the ways to start a fight to rival any fight the band was ever involved in:
 * Discussing anything related to sexuality and/or gender of the band members. Mentioning Everyone Is Bi on a forum composed mostly of straight fans can light off a flamewar, as can insisting that any given member is 100 percent totally straight dammit!!! in other venues.
 * Who's the better guitarist, hide or Pata or some of those old guys from 1985? Who's the better bassist, Taiji or Heath? Pages of flames later, you'll be regretting you ever got into it.
 * Discussing anything related to Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll. Even if you DID see Taiji with cocaine smeared all over his shirt at a live. Even if that pic of Yoshiki passed out has rounded the Internet and come back again. This is just Not To Be Discussed.
 * How did hide die? Was it an accident, suicide, or murder? Forget detectives, this debate needs firefighters.
 * Yoshiki in general. Fans vs. Fan Hater is the usual.
 * Yoshiki/hide or Yoshiki/Toshi? How about "run for your life"?
 * Find ANY Sabaton clip on youtube. Watch several countries rage across the comments, more often then not atleast one not even mentioned in the song. For example, how did we get from a music video about WWI to a Hitler vs Mao flamewar?
 * Chalga. Essentially, influential folk genres (like traditional Roma and Turkish music) infused with dance pop and the bitches-bling-beefs attitude. Depending on your point of view it's either a recipe for a fun night at the clubs or THE END OF BULGARIAN CULTURE AS WE KNOW IT. Even if the music's not good, it's pretty depressing seeing the classist and racist arguments against it.
 * It's more of a generalized Balkan thing - Romanians have manele (whose Hatedom is larger and more vocal and it's a country where anti-Roma prejudice is still pretty widespread, so expect more Unfortunate Implications given that the genre arguably got codified in the poorer, Roma-majority neighbourhoods of Bucharest), Serbians have turbo-folk (less Unfortunate Implications arguments because Serbia doesn't have as large a Roma minority, and if anything the way turbo-folk flourished and was promoted heavily during the wars in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo in the 1990s can be interesting from a socio-political perspective) and Greece arguably has laiko and skyladiko.
 * Michael Jackson, after his death in 2009, has become something of a hot-button topic... specially Mistaken for Pedophile jokes.
 * If you go to any fan-made Morning Musume forum and say something positive about Koharu Kusumi, there's a small chance you'll make it out alive.
 * Go on youtube to any white guy covering a blues song. It has already erupted into people arguing whether the old version is better than the new one and whether the new one's artists are racist.
 * Make a joke about John Lennon's death. Then run. Quickly.
 * Try to find a YouTube video of Yusuf Islam (the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens) that hasn't devolved into a massive wank over religion.
 * And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda tends to end up with people getting into arguments about Winston Churchill's involvement in that particular battle the song's about
 * 40:1 commentary ends up pretty much flame wars over Poland's politics in WWII
 * Rock vs. Pop is another Genre fight, especially Post-1995 Pop
 * On related news, Rolling Stone's declaring Britney Spears a 'Queen of Rock' really struck a nerve amongst Rock Fans.
 * While on subject, Internet backlash is an understatement for what Britney fans are acting like right now. ONE Thing goes wrong and all this tension and faithlessness explodes all over our computer screens.
 * Anything involving the Jonas Brothers and/or Hannah Montana / Miley Cyrus, anything at all, will summon tween fangirls who think they are the best thing since sliced bread, and fans of other kinds of music who think thes "musicians" who owe all of their success to Disney. This isn't a flame war so much as a massive explosion.
 * This isn't even safe among the tween fangirls. Just try to say you like Miley on a forum for Selena Gomez/Demi Lovato fans.
 * To a lesser extent, Miley hate appears on Taylor Swift forums.
 * Because of an incident on Twitter when Demi Lovato criticized a Shake It Up joke for mocking anorexia, then observed in her tweets how skinnier and skinnier Disney Channel actresses have gotten (a comment which unintentionally drew ire from Zendaya Coleman's dad, who claimed that Zendaya took the comments personally), and SIU actor Davis Cleveland making comments defending his show and his co-stars while criticizing Demi), there is a Fandom Rivalry between Demi's fans and Davis'/Shake It Up's). It can get...nasty. (Demi has since apologized, but that has not seemed to stop the Fandom Rivalry.)
 * Find any Tool video on Youtube. The argument will always go something along the lines of "Tool sucks", "Maynard is a God", "I don't understand the song", "Only REAL fans understand the song", "Anyone claiming to understand the song is a wanker", "NIN is better".
 * Talk about major record labels. Especially the one whose acronym is identical to a large section of the TV Tropes page.
 * "Hi! My favorite band is (insert band name here). Let's talk about them!"
 * If you're ever unwise enough to go on a jazz or saxophone forum and mention Kenny G, make sure you take good cover afterwards. There will be fatalities.
 * It's hard to be a Kanye West fan nowadays. Ever since he changed his style from rap to auto tune singing, compared himself to Jesus, claimed that George Bush doesn't care about black people, and just recently, interrupt Taylor Swift during her 2009 VMA Award speech, you can't safely admit liking him without somebody bringing these things up.
 * It doesn't help that he is known as "Jackass" or "Gay Fish" either.
 * Like the above hip-hop example contemporary R&B/Soul genre get this as well regarding who can and can't sing, and what measures a soul singer. And what time period was the best. If you ever dare say Rihanna, Ciara, Nicole Scherzinger, Kerri Hillson, Beyonce etc are great singers prepare to get hit with a megaton nuke. And watch people say they can't sing and only made it because of their looks. Male stars get this as well
 * They're also accused of being popcorn garbage with blackface.
 * A large number of R&B fans think Music Is Politics is in play every time a But Not Too Black Stripperific female singer whose talent lies more in dancing and looking good than actually singing becomes popular. Unfairly or not, these people like to point at Rihanna, Cassie, Ashanti, Beyonce, Kristina Debarge (though this has more to do with whether or not she's screwing up the debarge name), Keri Hilson, Nicole Scherzinger, Ciara, Christina Millian, Mya, and even Aaliyah (until she died) as examples of "industry whores". Of course these artists still have fans and they will come out in droves to defend them. Detractors of the aforementioned singers will accuse them and the industry of impeding the success of more "pure", and "mature" R&B/Soul singers like Conya Doss, Amel Lareaux, Heather Headly, India.Arie, Angie Stone, Corin Bailey Rae, Vivian Green, Jill Scott, and so on.
 * Go to any video featuring a drum solo by any popular drummer, especially Buddy Rich. Cue arguments over who is best, usually mentioning Travis Barker of Blink182 (either he's the best or just overrated) specifically.
 * When discussing Nirvana, do not mention Kurt Cobain's death. If it's too late for that, avoid mentioning Courtney Love or anything related to her at all costs. If you aren't careful, you will end up with a "Was it suicide or did she bump him off?" flame war on your hands, complete with dodgy old rumours being dragged up and gratuitous Courtney Love bashing, going on and on and on whilst the original discussion about Nirvana's music lies forgotten. For examples of this, read the discussions under any, meaning ANY, Youtube video related to Nirvana or Hole.
 * Likewise, never never NEVER mention Weird Al's parody "Smells Like Nirvana" around fans of..well...Nirvana. Ironic, considering that Kurt Cobain himself actually liked the parody song.
 * Ditto with Tori Amos' cover of "Smells Like Teen Spirit", which Kurt also enjoyed.
 * Not actually all that surprising, really, considering that Cobain really didn't LIKE 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' and often lamented that it was his best-known song.
 * Mention liking any version of "Don't Rain on My Parade" not done by Barbra Streisand. Then run away. Quickly.
 * The exception to this seems to be Rachel Berry's Crowning Moment of Awesome during the season finale of Glee.
 * And Japan's cover.
 * Compare Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood or Kellie Pickler to each other in a thread related to any of the three. Fans of any individual artist will viciously state that "their" artist is superior to the other two.
 * A newbie to Vocaloid watches a Miku video. Suddenly, he comments, "What anime is this?" That poor guy.
 * Let's not get into the flame wars over new voices, or shipping.
 * The never-ending argument on whether Rin and Len are twins, mirror images, or even related at all?
 * People who aren't fans that see a video of a live concert always remark in a way that will cause an eruption of hate.
 * Kids react to Hatsune Miku. Both the video and discussions about it...
 * Heck, even mentioning Hatsune Miku's short hair version is better than her original one...
 * Or maybe just mentioning that Hatsune Miku is better than (insert other Vocaloid here)... You're letting the Miku fags take over already.
 * Believe it or not, the fans of pop/opera singer Josh Groban have a massive tendency to explode into Holy Wars. Want to start a Flame War that'll last for a good month? Waltz onto those forums and announce that you think he's cute when he's tipsy, or that you liked that Blender quote where he admitted to making booty calls. Saying that he's anything less than 100% angelic all the time WILL cause a mass of crazies to bring out the torches and pitchforks, no matter how much the poor guy protests that he's normal. And God help you if you even hint at a certain picture of him taken in New Orleans.
 * Or compare him unfavorably to Clay Aiken. Sit back and enjoy your popcorn.
 * Metal fans are known for this. If it's not intense Fandom Rivalry between fans of different subgenres, it's arguing over what's "true" metal and what's not.
 * Woe be to the person who brings up any Nu-metal or Metalcore band on a metal forum. Perhaps the one thing that all metalheads agree on is that neither of those two genres are real metal.
 * Also counts for 80's Hard Rock a.k.a. "Glam Metal". Or Grunge.
 * However, you might be able to get away with calling Soundgarden or Alice in Chains metal, as the experts at Metal-Archives have decreed that both bands are indeed metal.
 * Kesha vs. Uffie can be pretty intense, especially on Youtube comments on their videos, particularily the latter. Uffie is often claimed to have done it first and be of higher quality musically, whilst Ke$ha is often claimed to be more popular.
 * As a result of this trope, King Crimson discussion list Elephant Talk had an internet fire door operated by the moderator. Interdicted subjects included just about any position on the relative merits of band members past and present, comparisons with any other prog rock group, bad encounters with Robert Fripp, essays into music theory, the Crimso tune Larks Tongues in Aspic being used as background music in Emanuelle, and just about anything that strays off topic.
 * Mention the name Johan Liiva in a Gossow-era Arch Enemy video (or vice versa). Sparks will fly.
 * Not only is Johan's voice polarizing to the fanbase, but his departure (let's not even get into whether he quit or was fired) and the band's hiring of Angela Gossow as his replacement marked a drastic change in direction for the band (more emphasis on the "melodic" part of Melodic Death Metal, far less on the "death" part). Many old fans of the band go as far as to blame Angela for the change in direction (never mid the fact that Michael Amott has always done pretty much all of the songwriting anyway).
 * Even in the most civil of discussions on the Liiva vs. Gossow subject, tread waters carefully. Without exception, someone will always play the gender card, and things will get ugly fast.
 * Mention Lady Gaga on any internet forum. Cue arguments consisting of "She's awesome/is trolling the music industry/is creative" vs. "She's a fake, prepackaged annoyance/is unoriginal/is pretentious/her fans are elitist." Nine times out of ten, she will be compared to David Bowie. Cue arguing over which of the two is better.
 * Don't you DARE Say Lady Gaga, Christina Aguilera or Britney Spears sucks on ONTD if you're in the mood for a stan war....
 * It's not just her. Pretty much every new group since the Spice Girls has sparked this. And possibly every group before that. Most likely, it's the ol' Nostalgia Filter at work.
 * And really don't mention Lady Gaga around fans of electroclash, particularly Robots In Disguise or you'll hear about how she did nothing but steal their genre, make it suck musically, and make it mainstream. It doesn't help that music critic Simon Reynolds came up with the idea, giving it some degree of "legitimacy"
 * When the tragic backstory of Evelyn Evelyn was first posted online by Amanda Palmer and Jason Webley, backdraft happened on several levels. Some people didn't understand the twins weren't real. Some people didn't like the fact that disabled characters were portrayed as being socially awkward. And some people didn't like the fact that Amanda and Jason played victims of sexual abuse, even though Amanda herself is a rape survivor.
 * People understood that the twins weren't real. They didn't like that Palmer and Webley did things like, oh, dressing up like disabled people for fun. This explains why the project was offensive.
 * In fact, just mention Amanda Palmer at all if you want to start a flamewar. She has a Hatedom that rivals her fandom in dedication.
 * On any emo forum, bring up what music is emo. The site will then divide itself into four camps, the young under 18 kids who like Good Charlotte, Panic! at the Disco and other stereotypical bands, the people declaring screamo to be the only legitimate form of emo, the people who listen to a blend of both aforementioned groups music, and the older forum members declaring all new emo sucks and recommending virtually nothing released past 2002. All four groups will gladly rip each other apart without ever arriving at an answer.
 * Heck, call any rock band that that tackles negative romantic themes and stuff that isn't sunshine and rainbows emo and see the sparks fly.
 * Music in other languages is not free of this. Go to YouTube, search for any Silvio Rodriguez or Pablo Milanes video, and bask in the neverending heat coming from all the wank between people who think Silvio and Pablo are mere puppets of the Cuban government and others who believe that Emilio and Gloria Estefan are sell-outs who want to kill Cuban music.
 * Mention Mark Russell in the presence of any Tom Lehrer fan--or, even worse, confuse the two--and you'd better set your affairs in order and make peace with your deity.
 * Did Tori Amos copy Kate Bush, and worse, who is better?
 * Did [insert eccentric female singer-songwriter] copy Kate Bush?
 * Anything related to religious music, especially Christian Rock.
 * If you say you like the Scissor Sisters' version of 'Comfortably Numb' you will be repeatedly told that you are stupid.
 * There are still some heated discussions over whether Genesis was any good after Peter Gabriel left. Or after Steve Hackett left. Or after Phil Collins "left" - i.e., was "Calling All Stations" redeemable, and if not, was it Ray Wilson's fault or not?
 * Make a thread about Varg Vikernes on any metal forum. Given how belligerent black metal fans tend to be, things will get ugly. Varg is either an immensely talented musical genius, or a vile racist whose music is overshadowed by his persona.
 * Doesn't help that his most vocal fans tend to be either teenagers who like him due to the church burnings and Euronymous's murder, or Neo-Nazis
 * Mentioning any of the following in a progressive rock forum: Neo-Prog, Prog Metal (especially Dream Theater), whether any given band is prog or not, any 70s prog rock band's 80s or later material, Prog vs. Punk, whether any particular widely liked/hated album is overrated/underrated.
 * Synthesizers and whether they're "real instruments" or not.
 * Whether a band counts as indie rock or not and what exactly the definition of indie rock is.
 * Similarly, Punk Rock. There is a fair amount of intersect between the two backdrafts.
 * Try admitting that you like My Chemical Romance online. This Troper is currently suffering 3rd degree internet burns for this "offense", and has now been labeled as the emo 5th column on the Real Industrial Radio forums.
 * Another point of contention within the Hip Hop community is whether or not the state of current Hip-Hop is natural progression or is it astro turfed thanks to Executive Meddling and due to the fact that Music Is Politics?
 * Just don't mention Justin Bieber at all: other people already have, and either they compared him and his fans to something negative, or fangirls did and everyone else started a flame war.
 * The Internet Backdraft on him is so extreme that he is mentioned on every single music video on Youtube. Every. Single. One. Usually in a "[number of dislike votes] are Justin Bieber fans", occasionally something like "I don't want the Bieber fans ever discovering this music, they aren't worthy to listen to it". He gets even more hate than Vevo ads.
 * Go practically anywhere and announce that The Beatles were terrible. And prepare to be torn limb from limb. If you amend this to 'overrated', you just might survive. Might. Hell, even just stating that the band's music is simply not your personal preference (but you still respect their role in rock music) is quite risky.
 * To a lesser extent, any discussion about whether The Beatles, The Rolling Stones or The Who were the better 1960s British Invasion band will get very interesting, very quickly.
 * The age-old debate over what is more important in music: the lyrics or the melody?
 * Go on and ask whether or not "Virtual Bands" (IE: The Gorillaz, Alvin and The Chipmunks, etc.) count as legitimate musicians or if their technical non-existence is taking away attention from "Real Musicians".
 * Mention anywhere on the internet that you enjoy Creed or Nickelback.
 * Callas or Tebaldi? The war among opera fans is still going strong even though both ladies are dead. Also Ye Golden Age of Opera (Callas, Tebaldi, Gobbi, ect.) vs. Young Opera Singers (Netrebko, Georghiu, Alagna...). I firmly believe that somewhere there are opera fans sadly shaking their heads at how the standards have fallen since the days of the great Francesco Tamagno (1850 - 1905)
 * Don't mention that you prefer Green Day's work after 2000 to their work before that--the sides will continue to be divided long after you've disappeared. Expect terms like "emo" and "real music" to be used. Also, don't mention Pinhead Gunpowder or Foxboro Hot Tubs. Just don't.
 * Pretty much any star singer/rapper who used to perform "underground" that shoots up to popularity suddenly will have a Broken Base of people who think they are fake (often these are the most vocal) to the new fans who think they are better now and everyone else has a Nostalgia Filter.
 * It doesn't really have to be underground artists. It could also be mainstream artists that suddenly crosses over to "pure" mainstream. The reality of the situation is that artists rarely crosses over with their style and identity remaining intact. Things tend to get lost with the cross over that's just the nature of the beast. That's why core fans are hostile of cross over success, cause they fear that it means the artists has to give up what the fans liked about them. It's also more complicated then just simple "Nostalgia", If anything it's more so Pop Culture Isolation. Especially with genres like Hip Hop, Heavy Metal, and Country Music. Pop doesn't have to worry about this because well... it's pop music. The aforementioned genres have a harder time being accepted by the mainstream. So when they cross over they bring in new groups of fans, usually different from the core. These groups rarely gel well, and it's like mixing two volatile chemicals together.
 * Whether or not Eminem's success is mostly due to talent, or because he's a white rapper?. Although to be fair most of his detractors still acknowledge his talents though.
 * Another example of "vocalist wars" is Escape the Fate. Their Youtube videos can very quickly devolve into a massive flame war between the "Team Ronnie Radke" and "Team Craig Mabbitt" factions. Even though both parties have clearly moved on, Radke with his own band, and Escape the Fate with Mabbitt.
 * Don't mention the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Rush fans in particular will take it real bad.
 * Blink 182. You have the people who don't like Enema of the State and anything put out after, the people who don't like the direction of the self-titled album and Neighborhoods, AVA and +44 flame wars, the people who really really really hate Tom, his sideprojects and his beanie hat, the people who really really really hate Mark and HIS sideprojects, the people who complain about the lack of crude humor on recent albums despite it still the fuel on which their live on-stage banter runs on, the people who think that they're only in it for the money, the people who are still sour over the breakup despite them being back together and on friendly terms...the list goes on. The only band member to remain relatively unscathed in terms of reputation is Travis, but even then that's RELATIVE. Not that the band themselves cares what the Broken Base thinks, however.
 * Dare mention you think Rebecca Black's music is good, especially Friday.
 * Rhapsody of Fire v. Dragonforce. Better pray you live through it.
 * Never mention U2, especially not their work after 1997. Or else be prepared to find loads of hate comments attacking Bono accusing him on being a tax-evading, attention-hungry narcissist (most of which are utter BS) or people moaning about The Edge effects-driven guitar work. It's simply cool and easy to hate them, sadly.
 * Mentioning that you like Insane Clown Posse or any other Psychopathic Records artists anywhere on the internet will result in you being verbally crucified. Admitting to being a hardcore Juggalo and showing anything less than genius-level intellect to subvert the expectations of detractors will net you ten times worse.
 * Of course, Juggalos aren't above this either. Go onto an ICP video and make even the slightest mention of not really liking the song and expect several hundred badly-spelled replies threatening to cut your head off and burn your house down. On one hand, Juggalos have to deal with a lot of hate coming from all directions, so defensiveness and being a bit quick to retaliate is expected, but wow!
 * Say, you posted up a song parody you got off a filesharing site? Cool. Better double check if it's really by "Weird Al" Yankovic, though, lest you be crucified by vitriolic comments all saying that it's not really Al. The "Not Al Page" is your friend.
 * Finally, the real question. Which music format is better: Vinyl, CD, MP 3, Spotify, etc.?
 * Any time there's a top 10/20/50/100 greatest singer/band/group/song/rapper/album/musician or whatever list, expect nuclear fall out over who made the list, or didn't make the list, and the order of the list. Especially if the top 10 of the list contain a lot of crossover pop artists.
 * Do you want an easy way to ensure that you will get tarred, feathered and thrown out of town? Admit to liking Nickelback on any music - nay - any internet forum. We dare you.
 * We also dare you to go to as much Nickelback videos as you can and post you hate their guts. On every one. Prepared to be told to not comment on a video you hate.
 * Which Asian music genre is better: J-Pop or K-Pop? Don't answer unless you want to be torn to shreds.
 * Heck, just mention you like either (or both) on any forum. Be prepared to be burned by flames stating "Stop being a Weeaboo and listen to real music!".
 * Saying Radiohead's OK Computer is overrated will make dozens of members on sites call you an idiot. Saying it is worse than The Bends will make a large site argument. Comparing OK Computer to Kid A is more acceptable. Now say you don't like OK Computer, and duck your head.
 * A good way sit back and troll used to be to post something postive on Rebecca Black's Friday video (used to because they've since turned off comments).
 * Fleetwood Mac: Peter Green v Buckingham/Nicks.
 * With the latest wave of boybands, there has been multiple fandom wars, mainly One Direction vs whichever other boyband, special mention to the Big Time Rush fandom. Say you like 1D to BTR fans, be prepared to run fast and run far. Say you like BTR to 1D fans however, you won't even be in tact by the end of the sentence.