While metal is not the #1 musical genre of American youth culture, it is on the rise (as well as indie and punk) as trends for big rockstars with even bigger hair move into the forefront. As reported in “Coachella Music + Arts Festival Delivers on Top Selection within Today’s Influential Music Scene” about the relatively new band, Wolfmother out of Australia and their a cross between Ozzy Osbourne and Chris Cornel with it’s ‘70s Sabbath feel, the Ozzfest delivers the real thing, as in Ozzy Osbourne, the Prince of Darkness, himself. But this tour also showcases revolutionaries in the contemporary version of metal with bands like System of a Down, Disturbed, the much-hyped Avenged Sevenfold, Atreyu, Black Label Society, Norma Jean, and Bleeding Through, to call-out a few other leaders in this genre.

For System of a Down fans however, this tour marks the end as the band has called for a hiatus after the tour, which really gives this year’s Ozzfest more tragedy and emotional punch. Which for sponsors can mean a good thing if more people are exposed to the tour itself, including Monster Energy Drink, Playstation, F.Y.E., Jagermusic, Imbanez, and Tama.

Kicking-off June 29 in Seattle and ending August 13 in West Palm Beach, Florida, Ozzfest covers the American landscape bringing metal to the masses—and continuing the tradition of revealing new music to new people and stoking the hardcore image of what this music is all about. You can bet that by mid-August, the revival of metal will again drive a spike in the airwaves of top radio, but perhaps even more interesting will be what it does to new media results as home-brewed metal fans start YouTube-ing their personal concert experiences.