As long as music has existed, it is likely that there have been "marmite" bands, i.e. bands that you either love or hate, and I think it is safe to say that Babymetal fall under this category. However it is unlikely that before Babymetal, and of the bands that fell under the "marmite" category were "kawaii-metal" (a sub-genre given to Babymetal by Babymetal). Therefore when something new and refreshing is released into the metal world, it is highly likely that some will welcome it with open arms, while others will say it is ruining metal.



The criticism that was most common on Babymetal's videos on Youtube, was that they were "ruining metal" and general comments about how metal was going to end up being commercialised to the point where every band sounds like Babymetal. However I believe that this is a ridiculous assumption since it is highly unlikely that Behemoth, Cannibal Corpse and Dying Fetus are going to see the success of Babymetal and decide to release kawaii-metal albums anytime soon. So that is the first criticism out of the way.



Another criticism is that they are fake, since they were assembled by a label, having never heard metal before. While they may have never heard metal before, nobody is born having heard Metallica's entire discography from the womb, there has to be some point where a person listens to metal for the first time, and a record label happened to be the people to do that. If Babymetal did not actually like metal, it is likely the Babymetal project would have been discontinued and the members would have returned to being in regular J-pop groups, yet this is not the case. Additionally, when I saw them at the Forum on July the 7th, the members certainly seemed to be enjoying themselves, and if they really hated metal they would not have been able to fake the joy they showed. While I agree that metal bands being created by labels rather than forming organically is a problem, I believe that Babymetal may be a gateway to metal music for those who discovered Babymetal outside the pages of Kerrang! and Rocksound, and these people may go on to form metal bands themselves, so the "fake" formation of Babymetal may lead to organically formed bands.



Therefore I believe that overall Babymetal are having a positive impact on the metal scene, and that the two main reasons people hate them should not exist, since they are essentially not true.