On Tuesday, November 26, the metal world reached a milestone with Knocked Loose, featuring Poppy, performing “Suffocate” live on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Jimmy Kimmel Live! once again proved to be a valuable supporter of music from all genres and styles. When Knocked Loose and Poppy performed “Suffocate” from their third album You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To live, it was a big win for the metal world to receive recognition like that on mainstream television. The Kentuky-based metalcore band brought us a one-of-a-kind performance with everything from pyrotechnics to a moshpit. The crowd was ecstatic and the atmosphere couldn’t have been more epic, with the performance taking place in the pouring rain.
Watch Knocked Loose and Poppy perform “Suffocate” on Jimmy Kimmel Live! below
About “Suffocate” and the collaboration with Poppy, guitarist Isaac Hale says,
“It was so fun because it allowed us to expand the palette a little bit and do some weird, off-the-wall things that we maybe wouldn’t do in another song. We felt that because we had Poppy’s voice involved, it allowed us to kind of push the boundaries of what we thought was feasible.”
~ Isaac Hale
While for some viewers, this broadcast might have been their metal awakening,
others were not so happy about Knocked Loose and Poppy’s performance. Some even went as far as to demand a public apology from Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Metal fans took to the forums, sharing their frustration over the backlash, as well as their support for Knocked Loose, Poppy and the show.
It seems as though the overall support for the act and positivity outweigh the backlash, so it seems unlikely that the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show will issue an apology. While the reaction of some viewers being exposed to the metal genre ranged from confusion to outrage on the negative end of the spectrum, the performance was groundbreaking in terms of reach alone. Metal bands reaching new audiences like that is incredibly important for music as a whole, especially with the apparent rise in interest in “aggressive music.”
In response to the backlash, vocalist Bryan Garris said,
“For a long time now our goal has been to see how far we could squeeze this band into places where we don’t fit and I think this may be the biggest one. National television. It feels like the ceiling gets higher for EVERYONE, every single day. We celebrate this together. Thank you so much.
Walking down the hallway as we were escorted to stage Im looking to my left and right and seeing photos of all the celebrities that have been on the show over the years. Presidents, actors, musicians etc. I leaned over to [Isaac Hale, guitarist] and said ‘this started in your garage.’
That’s a moment I’ll never forget.
PS if it scared you, good.”
~ Bryan Garris
Overall, Knocked Loose and Poppy’s performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! pushed the envelope of heavy music and we can only hope for it to gain more reach like this in mainstream media going forward.
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