I'm sure every point I can possibly think of has been beaten like a dead horse, but since I don't feel like reading through 49 pages, I'll just say this:
-Metal does not just equal hair metal or mainstream metal
-With that said, the only metal that 'died' was hair metal
-Grunge didn't kill hair metal, hair metal killed itself with its insincerity and oversaturation
-Just because hair metal bands generally had talented musicians doesn't make them better than the grunge bands (I'd rather take an emotionally engaging and intense 'grunge' song than a cheesy cock-rock song with an indulgent, reverb-soaked solo)
-Generally speaking, metal is far from dead nowadays. In fact, despite not being popular in the media, metal is doing better now than it ever has, both old bands and new bands are flourishing