Forgive me, Frost, but I'm only going to pick at a few parts in your post because they address things I feel I need to clarify (I'm not cherry picking just to "argue").
If you're producing raw black metal such as Dead era Mayhem you're not making something that is accessible to most people, even with musical education.
You're correct, but the appeal to the sound doesn't really lie in any understanding of difficulty. You don't have to know what the term 'blast beat' is to develop a taste for it. What I was talking about was when you find people praising this or that by explaining how intricate and complex it is, as though that justified the sound it produces.
I dislike wankery of ALL kinds, if the techniques and methods are not in the pursuit of a given SOUND then it's no good. Now I *do* love some weedly-weedly tech death (Brain Drill), but that IS because I love the "wall of sound" concept and the chaos that comes with it. If you dislike it, I'm not going to say "but he's doing sweep arpeggios!!" or something.
Just because people with education understand why something sounds good while something else sounds bad doesn't mean they should be penalized for it. Just because something is theoretically interesting also doesn't mean that only people that study music will like it.
But DO they "understand" why something sounds good, or does their "understanding" force them to CLAIM it sounds good?
There's a guitarist out there by the name of Rusty Cooley. In terms of pure speed and technicality he's hard to beat. The guy is blisteringly fast and constructs ridiculously complex solos that dive around ten different keys and scales in a matter of seconds. However, they don't really sound like anything. You can sit and dissect the songs, explaining each piece of the solo and how it's so musically precise, but in the end it doesn't sound any good.
There is no music that only people who are musically educated will like it comes down to taste. Personally I enjoy listening to Max Roach, not Slipknot, and there are plenty of others who would agree. It's rather subjective, people have different tastes. What you find fun to listen to isn't what I find fun to listen to. So if we can't judge based on that, what do we judge on? Theory.
I agree with ALL of this. 100%. Where I have problems is when someone attempts to say that something MUST be good, since after all it uses all of these difficult and advanced musical techniques. Complexity does NOT guarantee quality. Our goals should ALWAYS be toward a sound, not showing off for its own sake.
There's a video out there of a guy doing five-way independence. He's doing different time signatures on both hands, both feet, and a whistle in his mouth. Retardedly difficult and advanced. A song? Nope. That's what I mean.
It's why I rarely like drum solos in general. To me, drums are the perfect "enhancing" instrument. They feel the pulse of the song and accentuate it. One guy tippity tapping on the lugs of his drums while hitting quarter notes on a hat? That's nothing to me. I'll listen to a full jazz band any day of the week and ADORE it. Jazz drum solos? no thanks.