AFI are a Rock band that have been around for quite some time. However, before 2006 they were known as a heavy metal band, which they were. The Shouting and heavy guitars are enough to put a lot of people off their music. However, AFI made a big decision to change what type of music they were doing. Instead of Heavy Metal, they took too rock. The difference is this; Rock music does have guitars but doesn't consist of shouting all throuought the song. Instead there is actually singing. Rock music is far better for the band, and I as a big fan of rock music can say that AFI definatly made the right choice and they seem somewhat better at playing rock music that playing heavy metal.
However, some of their fans feel different. Obviously, before AFI changed to rock music, they had fans tht supported them doing Heavy Metal. AFI had a lot of hate mail when their new album, decemberunderground, came out because it was softer and wasn't what they expected.
But was it the right choice? I know i have said that i thought it was. However, there are many upset fans that are annoyed that AFI have switched to rock. The reason why they switched could have been anything, but it is probable that they switched because the general public didn't want to hear heavy metal any more, they wanted to hear rock.
AFI has become a bit more like Greenday, Funeral For a Friend and other bands in that area. I find that their rock is a little harder than Greenday and Funeral For a Friend, but that is probably because they came from Heavy Metal.
My Friend, a big fan of Heavy Metal and AFI before they became more Rocky told me this, "Bands can't just change what music they are doing. it's not right. AFI had loads of fans and now they have dissapointed them all. They didn't even make it clear that they were doing a different type of music. They could have at least said something at a gig."
Is this true? Should AFI have told their fans about their decisiom? Or maybe AFI didn't actually know that they were going to change their music type until they started recording their new album? Whatever AFI did it was their choice, and even though they have lost a lot of fans, they have also gained a large amount due to the big increase in people liking rock music.
