Walk around the MTV News office on any given day, and you're bound to hear music, because, while we may be journalists, we're all music lovers first and foremost. It's what drew us all to the job, and it's just what we do. Often, I'll stroll past hip-hop editor Shaheem Reid's office, and he'll be cranking the latest mixtapes. Right next door, in rock writer James "Hollywood" Montgomery's office, he's almost always blasting Radiohead or the Hold Steady or whatever indie band everyone's talking about this week.
Me? I'm the metal writer, so I'm almost always listening to something loud, offensive and objectionable. Of course, those are adjectives other people use to describe the music I love. To my ears, it's smart, technically demanding music that takes an immense amount of talent to create. But that's just my opinion. Unfortunately, no one else — save my boss — appreciates heavy metal and hardcore, which makes working in the newsroom all the more ... well, I guess the word would be annoying.