Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a form of music characterised by aggressive, driving rhythms and highly amplified distorted guitars, generally with grandiose lyrics and virtuosic instrumentation.

Subgenres and related styles

Main article: List of heavy metal genres

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Heavy Metal has proven somewhat difficult to categorise. Some fans and musicians have a firm concept of genre and subgenre, but others reject such categorisation as limiting or useless.

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Heavy metal is the progenitor of the "metal-family" of genres including black metal, death metal, thrash metal, hair 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 differences between them. Pure heavy metal is mainly blues-based, with pentatonic scales and a blues-like song structure; black metal and related forms often draw on classical music, even if at a first glance it seems to be only distorted guitars playing a very fast repeating melody.

Related Topics:
Black metal - Death metal - Thrash metal - Hair metal - Blues - Rock - Classical music - Pentatonic scales

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Glam rock, a short-lived era in the mid-1970s, is the extreme exploration of the fantasy-side of the reality-fantasy parents of heavy metal. T. Rex, David Bowie and Alice Cooper are among the more popular standard examples of this sub-genre.

Related Topics:
Glam rock - T. Rex - David Bowie - Alice Cooper

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Hard rock, mentioned earlier, is also closely related to heavy metal, but does not consistently match the description of what purists consider the definition heavy metal. While still guitar-driven in nature and sometimes deriving off of riffs, its themes and execution differ from that of the major heavy metal bands listed earlier in the article. This is perhaps best examplified by The Who in the late-1960s and early-1970s, as well as other 1970s and 1980s bands like KISS, Queen, Aerosmith, Thin Lizzy, AC/DC and Scorpions.

Related Topics:
Hard rock - The Who - KISS - Queen - Aerosmith - Thin Lizzy - AC/DC - Scorpions

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In the early 1980s the New Wave of British Heavy Metal made metal music very popular (especially in Europe) with bands like Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, and Saxon.

Related Topics:
New Wave of British Heavy Metal - Iron Maiden - Def Leppard - Saxon

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However, the purest form of Heavy Metal was evident in the early 1980s, in the form of Classic metal, which included of such true metal artistes as Judas Priest, Dio, Dokken, Iron Maiden, W.A.S.P., Scorpions and Motörhead (although Motorhead often straddled the hard rock category due to having more of a blues influence than the other bands cited here). These bands played traditional metal, but there was a youthful vibe and an air punching dynamo confluenced intricately with melody. This genre was characterised by thumping fast basslines, extended lead guitar solos, high pitched vocals and pounding drums. Classic metal should not be confused with the Traditional metal or the Roots Of Metal genre which was evident in the 1970s with pioneering artistes like Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and Alice Cooper.

Related Topics:
Heavy Metal - Classic metal - Judas Priest - Dio - Dokken - Iron Maiden - W.A.S.P. - Scorpions - Motörhead - Traditional metal or the Roots Of Metal - Black Sabbath - Deep Purple - Alice Cooper

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A good deal of cross-influence has occurred between punk rock and heavy metal. Motörhead, for example, was an influence on many punk bands. Some hardcore punk bands such as DRI and Suicidal Tendencies began playing more metal-like music as they progressed. Punk has also had a large influence on metal, particularly with relation to grindcore. Thrashcore, crust punk and grindcore all have notable influence from both punk and metal. Also, Grunge is frequently described as Heavy Metal fused with punk's DIY ethic.

Related Topics:
Punk rock - Motörhead - Hardcore punk - DRI - Suicidal Tendencies - Grindcore - Thrashcore - Crust punk - Grunge - DIY ethic

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As for metal's relationship with art rock, heavy metal and progressive rock developed in and around the same scenes, particularly in Great Britain, and as a result many metal bands worked progressive elements into their sound throughout the genre. After the punk boom of the late 1970s, heavy metal and art rock again intersected, as a few post-punk bands, most notably Bauhaus and Joy Division incorporated metal's (more specifically Black Sabbath's) minor key melodies, emphasis on low end tones, and darker lyrical content into their arty approach to punk rock. Some survivors of the post-punk movement, most notably The Cult, and Killing Joke, have evolved to the point of being classified (albeit arguably) as "metal", in a similar manner to some of the aforementioned hardcore punk acts.

Related Topics:
Art rock - Progressive rock - Great Britain - Post-punk - Bauhaus - Joy Division - Black Sabbath - The Cult - Killing Joke - Hardcore punk

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Heavy metal (along with progressive rock) has also been cited as (ironically) an influence on the "easy-listening" Adult Oriented Rock genre of the 1980s. Toto guitarist Steve Lukather has cited early hard rock and heavy metal music as a profound influence on his playing, and is notably evident on the track "Hold The Line" which shares some common traits with traditional metal. Other AOR bands such as Journey and supergroup Asia often incorporated power chord riffs into their music, although this is perhaps best epitomized by Survivor's "Eye Of The Tiger". Ironically, some metal bands such as Def Leppard, Scorpions, Europe and Van Halen started moving into a "softer" and more commercial musical direction in the late 1980s, which resulted in the term "Soft Metal" being used during that period.

Related Topics:
Progressive rock - Adult Oriented Rock - 1980s - Toto - Steve Lukather - Journey - Supergroup - Asia - Power chord - Survivor - Eye Of The Tiger - Def Leppard - Scorpions - Europe - Van Halen - Soft Metal

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Metal's profound influence on contemporary popular music is again seen in its effect on several bands in the garage rock revival set of the early 21st century. The White Stripes, one of the most popular of these bands, often draw on the nascent metal of Cream, Led Zeppelin, and Black Sabbath.

Related Topics:
Garage rock revival - The White Stripes - Cream - Led Zeppelin - Black Sabbath

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