Heavy metal is a form of rock music characterized by aggressive, driving rhythms, highly amplified guitars, and often dark thematic elements.
This article is an overview |
Heavy metal |
Thrash metal |
Black metal |
Power metal |
Nu metal |
Doom metal |
Christian metal |
Progressive metal |
NWOBHM |
Alternative metal |
Death metal |
Hair metal |
Stoner metal |
American blues music was highly popular and influential among the early British rockers; bands such as the Rolling Stones and The Yardbirds had recorded covers of many classic blues songs, sometimes speeding up the tempo and using electric guitar where the original was acoustic.
Such powered-up blues music received a push from a wave of intellectual and artistic curiosity that arose when musicians started to exploit the opportunities of the electrically amplified guitar to produce a louder, more discordant sound. Where blues-rock drumming styles had been largely simple shuffle beats on small drum kits, drummers began using a more muscular, complex, and amplified approach to match and be heard with the increasingly loud guitar sounds; similarly vocalists modified their technique and increased their reliance on amplification, often becoming more stylized and dramatic in the process. Simultaneous advances in amplification and recording technology made it possible to successfully capture the power of this heavier approach on record.
The earliest music commonly identified as heavy metal came out of Great Britain in the late 1960s as bands such as Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath applied an overtly non-traditional approach to blues standards and new music often based around blues scales and arrangements. These bands were highly influenced by American psychedelic rock musicians including Jimi Hendrix, who had pioneered amplified and processed blues-rock guitar, and Vanilla Fudge, who had slowed down and psychedelicized pop tunes, as well as earlier British hard rockers such as The Who and The Kinks who had paved the way for heavy metal styles by introducing power chords and more aggressive percussion styles to the rock genre. Another key influence was Cream, who exemplified the power trio format which would become a staple of heavy metal.
Some people say The Beatles were a key influence; they had increasingly used distortion and heavier arrangements as early as 1967's Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and citing in particular the song "Helter Skelter" from The White Album (1968). This opinion, however, is open for debate. The earliest song that is clearly identifiable as prototype heavy metal appears to be "You Really Got Me" by The Kinks (1965).
In addition, the influence of Hendrix should not be discounted: acting both as a bridge between black American music and white European rockers, and as an innovator in the technical capabilities of the electric guitar.Early Examples and Influences
Regardless of its origin, heavy metal may have been used as a jibe initially but was quickly adopted by its adherents. Other, already-established bands, such as Deep Purple, who had origins in pop or progressive rock, immediately took on the heavy metal mantle, adding distortion and additional amplification in a more aggressive approach.
The 1970s history of heavy metal music is highly debated among music historians. Some would call the period an era of "selling-out", in which bands like Blue Öyster Cult achieved moderate mainstream success and the Los Angeles hair metal scene began finding pop audiences,esp in the 1980s. Other historians ignore or downplay the importance of these bands, instead focusing on the arrival of classical influences, which can be heard in the work of Eddie Van Halen and Randy Rhoads, among others. Heavy metal further influenced the development of hardcore punk and alternative rock, among other genres.
History
This explosion would cool down in the music of Ronnie James Dio (who himself had a tenure at lead vocals with the legendary Black Sabbath) and continue to settle towards Iron Maiden, who may be the final and complete consummation of "pure" heavy metal in the lineage of the "grandfathers" - Hendrix, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple. After Maiden, metal would push the limits of aggressive loudness in thrash metal, speed metal, black metal and death metal, and return full circle through the pop vanity of the L.A. hair metal lead by Motley Crue to the poppish Bon Jovi. Grunge evolved out of Seattle in the work of Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden. During the 1980s, hair metal dominated the music charts in much of the world, and superstars like Def Leppard and Guns n' Roses helped lead the way. While their music has endured as representative of a particular view, time and place, hair metal is not typically considered a particularly pure or well-executed form of metal. Grunge music appeared as a popularized endpoint of the punk rock-influenced alternative rock music of the 1990's which fought any mainstream influence (seen as "selling out")articularly reacted against overly-aggressive and increasingly formulaic hair metal bands from Ratt to Extreme.
Cover versions of classic rock songs would become a standard part of many metal bands' repertoire. Notable is Mötley Crüe's version of "Helter Skelter" which very strongly brings to the fore the heavy metal undertones that the Beatles original song implied but failed to explore in their time.
The most commonly used lineup for metal is: a drummer, sometimes using a double bass-drum, a bass guitar, a rhythm guitar, a lead guitar (in early metal bands a single guitarist often sufficed -- see power trio), and a singer (who is sometimes also one of the instrumentalists); sometimes a keyboard player can also be found. Guitar playing is very important in heavy metal. Amplification of guitars, as well as innovative effects and electronic processing is used to
thicken the sound. The result was a simple yet powerful impact (although some of the original heavy metal-ers joked that their simplified sound was more the result of limited ability than of innovation.).
There is a great variety of ways that heavy metal singers sing, from clean vocals to a high-pitched wail to a deep growl. The black and death metal scene tend to use distorted and guttural voices (for example try to listen to some songs of the Florida band Deicide). Generally it's hard to understand what the singer is "singing". Often, the text is considered to be too crude to be spoken out clearly (such as in Cannibal Corpse), but there are some bands that will have very good lyrics obscured by the style of the singing.
Intricate solos and riffs are a big part of heavy metal music. Guitarists use sweep-picking, tapping and similar techniques to obtain amazing fast playing. Heavy metal is not limited, however, to the standard outfit of guitars and drums. The Finnish cello quartet, Apocalyptica, has created their own version of heavy metal, difficult to categorize but leaning towards the darker side of metal. They apply various familiar effects to their sounds such as the all-familiar distortion, chorusing, flanging, etc. to create their style, which has fallen under a mixed assortment of applause and criticism due to their deviance.Instrumentation
Heavy metal themes are more grave than fluffy pop from the 1950s, 60s and 70s, focusing on war, nuclear annihilation, environmental issues, political and religious propaganda. Black Sabbath's "War Pigs", Ozzy Osbourne's "Killer of Giants" are examples serious contributions to the discussion of the state of affairs. The commentary on reality sometimes tends to become over-simplified because the fantastic poetic vocabulary of heavy metal deals primarily with very clear dichotomies of light and dark, hope and despair, good and evil, which don't make much room for complex shades of gray.
The appropriation of classical music is consistently specific, including influences of Bach and Paganini rather than Mozart or Franz Liszt, though Metallica have stated that Cliff Burton's love of Mozart influenced their music. A classical influence became more pronounced in the 1980s, when Yngwie Malmsteen, among others, started playing "Neo Classical" music.
Classical Influence
For many, heavy metal crystallizes in the British bands (i.e. Black Sabbath
and Led Zeppelin considered the two most important progenitors of the genre) in the 1970s. However, the history of heavy metal, from its precursors to the most highly evolved and complex thrash, speed and death bands of the late 1980s, is pushed forward by three main British waves: The Beatles and The Rolling Stones in the 60s; Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple in the 70s; and Iron Maiden and Judas Priest in the 80s (from which sprouted thrash and its mutations (Metallica, Slayer) and Def Leppard). While these bands pushed forward the stylistic expectations of the genre, hair metal bands from innovators like Van Halen to later exponents like Ratt and Guns N' Roses brought a pop-friendly form to mainstream audiences to a mix of critical acclaim and purist disavowal. Key Artists
Heavy metal's bombastic excesses, exemplified by hair metal, have been parodied numerous times, most famously in the movie This Is Spinal Tap. However, see also the phenomenon of the heavy metal umlaut.
Douglas Adams neatly satirised this propensity for excessive volume in The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy with the fictional rock band Disaster Area - creators of the loudest sound in the known universe. It should be noted however, that Adams was satirising Pink Floyd stage shows specifically - rather than metal in general.
Heavy metal is the progenitor of the "metal-family" of genres including black metal, death metal, thrash metal and others. Most metal derives directly from blues and rock, while some sub-genres include an evident influence of Western classical music. Thus, even if classical heavy metal and avant-garde black metal belong to the same family, there are important difference between them. Pure heavy metal is mainly blues-based, with pentatonic scales and a blues-like song structure; black metal (and other, more highly-evolved genres) is based on classical music, even if at a first glance it seems to be only distorted guitars playing a very fast repeating melody.
Cultural Impact
Sub-Genres and Related Styles
Punk rock is a related form which arose from some of the pioneers, including The Stooges, Blue Cheer, Velvet Underground, The New York Dolls and The Sex Pistols exploring the politically-charged reality of darkness. Though punk rock and heavy metal began as linked genres of disaffected youth, punk quickly diverged as a reaction against the perceived bombastic arena rock of 1970s heavy metal bands. Heavy metal also had an important influence on grunge which, like punk, was partly a reaction to the slickness and corporate nature of much rock music.
In the early 80s the New Wave of British Heavy Metal made metal music very popular (especially in Europe) with bands like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Motörhead. This period is often considered the pinnacle of the heavy metal form with earlier metal symbolizing the upward slope, and subsequent derivative sub-genres dissolving into distant relatives of the original form. Sub-genres of heavy metal are numerous, though crossovers from other heavy metal and non-metal genres are frequent. See List of heavy metal genres for a list of subgenres.
Heavy Metal Dance Styles
Nicknames for Heavy Metal Fans
See also: