Metal Wiki

Heavy Metal

Redirected from Heavy metal

3,244pages on
this wiki
Stylistic origins Rock, blues, blues rock, electric blues, hard rock, surf, psychedelic
Cultural origins 1960s, United States and United Kingdom
Typical instruments Electric guitar, bass guitar, drums, vocals
Extreme metal (black metalTemplate:• death metalTemplate:• doom metalTemplate:• thrash metal)Template:• glam metalTemplate:• gothic metalTemplate:• groove metalTemplate:• power metalTemplate:• progressive metalTemplate:• speed metalTemplate:• traditional heavy metal
Fusion genres
Alternative metalTemplate:• avant-garde metalTemplate:• Christian metalTemplate:• crust punkTemplate:• drone metal Template:•folk metalTemplate:• funk metalTemplate:• grindcoreTemplate:• industrial metalTemplate:• metalcoreTemplate:• neo-classical metalTemplate:• nu metalTemplate:• post-metalTemplate:• rap metalTemplate:• sludge metal Template:• stoner rockTemplate:• symphonic metalTemplate:• Viking metal
Regional scenes
AustraliaTemplate:• Bay AreaTemplate:• BrazilTemplate:• BritainTemplate:• FinlandTemplate:• GermanyTemplate:• NorwayTemplate:• SwedenTemplate:• United States

Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a genre of rock music[1] that developed during the 1960s to early 1970s, largely in the United States and the United Kingdom.[2] With roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock,[3] and electric blues,[4] the bands that created heavy metal developed a thick, massive sound, characterized by highly amplified distortion, extended guitar solos, emphatic beats, and overall loudness. Heavy metal lyrics and performance styles are often associated with masculinity, aggression, and machismo.[3]

Heavy metal has long had a worldwide following of fans known as "metalheads" or "headbangers". Although early heavy metal bands such as Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple attracted large audiences, they were often critically reviled at the time, a status common throughout the history of the genre. In the mid-1970s, Judas Priest helped spur the genre's evolution by discarding much of its blues influence. Bands in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal such as Iron Maiden, Saxon, Diamond Head and Motörhead followed in a similar vein, introducing a punk rock sensibility and an increasing emphasis on speed.


Characteristics Edit

Heav metal is traditionally characterized by loud distorted guitars, emphatic rhythms, dense bass-and-drum sound, and vigorous vocals. Metal subgenres variously emphasize, alter, or omit one or more of these attributes. New York Times critic Jon Pareles writes, "In the taxonomy of popular music, heavy metal is a major subspecies of hard-rock—the breed with less syncopation, less blues, more showmanship and more brute force."[5] The typical band lineup includes a drummer, a bassist, a rhythm guitarist, a lead guitarist, and a singer, who may or may not be an instrumentalist. Keyboard instruments are often used to enhance the fullness of the sound.[6] The loud, distorted Hammond organ and occasionally the mellotron were popular with early metal bands; these instruments were displaced in the 1980s by electronic keyboard synthesizers. Today, keyboards are used in styles such as progressive metal, power metal, and symphonic metal. Some nu metal bands incorporate hip hop elements, which may include a DJ scratching and creating various sound effects.

The electric guitar and the sonic power that it projects through amplification has historically been the key element in heavy metal.[7] Guitars are often played with distortion pedals through heavily overdriven tube amplifiers to create a thick, powerful, "heavy" sound. In the early 1970s, some popular metal groups began cofeaturing two guitarists. Leading bands such as Judas Priest and Iron Maiden followed this pattern of having two or three guitarists share the roles of both lead and rhythm guitar. A central element of much heavy metal is the guitar solo, a form of cadenza. As the genre developed, more intricate solos and riffs became an integral part of the style. Guitarists use sweep picking, tapping, and other advanced techniques for rapid playing, and many styles of metal emphasize virtuosic displays.

The lead role of the guitar in heavy metal often collides with the traditional "frontman" or bandleader role of the vocalist, creating a musical tension as the two "contend for dominance" in a spirit of "affectionate rivalry."[6] Heavy metal "demands the subordination of the voice" to the overall sound of the band. Reflecting metal's roots in the 1960s counterculture, an "explicit display of emotion" is required from the vocals as a sign of authenticity.[8] Critic Simon Frith claims that the metal singer's "tone of voice" is more important than the lyrics.[9] Metal vocals vary widely in style, from the multioctave, theatrical approach of Judas Priest's Rob Halford and Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson, to the gruff style of Motörhead's Lemmy and Metallica's James Hetfield, to the straight-out screaming and growling At the Gates' Tomas Lindberg, to the phlegm-clogged, possessed style of black metal singers such as Mayhem's Dead.

The prominent role of the bass is also key to the metal sound, and the interplay of bass and guitar is a central element.[10] The bass guitar provides the low-end sound crucial to making the music "heavy."[11] Metal basslines vary widely in complexity, from holding down a low pedal point as a foundation to doubling complex riffs and licks along with the lead and/or rhythm guitars. Some bands feature the bass as a lead instrument,[10] an approach popularized by Metallica's Cliff Burton in the early 1980s.[12] Metal bassists frequently use picks instead of fingerstyle plucking, to get a stronger, clearer articulation. A few use shred guitar–style techniques such as tapping and sweep picking. In some styles, such as thrash and death metal, the bass may be distorted with a bass overdrive pedal for a heavier, thicker sound. Nu metal as well as death metal bassists often use a five- or six-string bass (or a detuned instrument) with an extended lower range.

The essence of metal drumming is creating a loud, constant beat for the band using the "trifecta of speed, power, and precision."[13] Metal drumming "requires an exceptional amount of endurance", and drummers have to develop "considerable speed, coordination, and play the intricate patterns" used in metal.[14] A characteristic metal drumming technique is the cymbal choke, which consists of striking a cymbal and then immediately silencing it by grabbing it with the other hand (or, in some cases, the same striking hand), producing a burst of sound. The metal drum setup is generally much larger than those employed in other forms of rock music;[11] in some cases, a "huge drum kit envelope[s] the whole of the backline" of the stage.[15] Aside from the standard toms, bass drum, snare, and hi-hat, ride, and crash cymbals used in many rock drumkits, there is often a double bass drum, additional toms, a number of additional cymbals (e.g., splash and extra crash cymbals), and other instruments such as a cowbell.

In live performance, loudness—an "onslaught of sound," in Deena Weinstein's description—is considered vital.[7] In his book Metalheads, Jeffrey Arnett refers to heavy metal concerts as "the sensory equivalent of war."[16] Following the lead set by Jimi Hendrix and The Who, early heavy metal acts such as Blue Cheer set new benchmarks for volume. As Blue Cheer's Dick Peterson puts it, "All we knew was we wanted more power."[17] Reviewing a Motörhead concert in 1977, Paul Sutcliffe noted how "excessive volume in particular figured into the band’s impact."[18] Weinstein makes the case that in the same way that melody is the main element of pop and rhythm is the main focus of house music, powerful sound, timbre, and volume are the key elements of metal. She argues that the loudness is designed to "sweep the listener into the sound" and to provide a "shot of youthful vitality."[7] Heavy metal's fixation on loudness was mocked in the rockumentary spoof This Is Spinal Tap, in which a metal guitarist claims to have modified his amplifiers to "go to eleven."

Musical language Edit

Rhythm and tempoEdit




Harmony Edit

One of the signatures of the genre is the guitar power chord.[20] In technical terms, the power chord is relatively simple: it involves just one main interval, generally the perfect fifth, though an octave may be added as a doubling of the root. Although the perfect fifth interval is the most common basis for the power chord,[21] power chords are also based on different intervals such as the minor third, major third, perfect fourth, diminished fifth, or minor sixth.[22] Based on a single interval, the power chord makes possible a high level of distortion without unintended inharmonicity. Most power chords are also played with a consistent finger arrangement that can be slid easily up and down the fretboard.[23]

Addicted to chaos transcirption and analysis

The main riff from Megadeth's "Addicted to Chaos" is an example of a heavy metal riff incorporating several types of power chords

Typical harmonic relationshipsEdit

Heavy metal is usually riff-based. Riffs are frequently created with three main harmonic traits: modal scales progressions, tritone and chromatic progressions, and the use of pedal point.

Modal harmony

Btl transcription and harmonic analysis.nwc

Example of a typical heavy metal aeolian harmonic progression in I-VI-VII (Am-F-G): the main riff of Judas Priest's "Breaking the Law"

Traditional heavy metal tends to employ modal scales, in particular the Aeolian and Phrygian modes.[24] Harmonically speaking, this means the genre typically incorporates modal chord progressions such as aeolian progression like I-VI-VII, I-VII-(VI) or I-VI-IV-VII and phrygian progressions implying the relation between I and ♭II (I-♭II-I, I-♭II-III or I-♭II-VII for example).

Aeolian harmony is used in songs such as Judas Priest's "Breaking the Law", Iron Maiden's "Hallowed Be Thy Name", and Accept's "Princess of the Dawn", each employing a I-VI-VII progression as its main riff. Phrygian harmony is used in songs such as Mercyful Fate's "Gypsy" (main riff I-♭II-I-VI-V), Megadeth's "Symphony of Destruction" (main riff built on the ♭II-I relation), and Sodom's "Remember the Fallen" (Introduction + main riff—the riff closing implies a phrygian cadence: I-♭II-III).

Tritone and chromatism

Black sabbath- transcription by Frederick Duhautpas

Example of a harmonic progression with the tritone G-C#: the main riff of "Black Sabbath"

Tense-sounding chromatic or tritone relationships are used in a number of metal chord progressions.[25][26] The tritone, an interval spanning three whole tones—such as C and F#—was a forbidden dissonance in medieval ecclesiastical singing, which led monks to call it diabolus in musica—"the devil in music."[27] Because of that original symbolic association, it came to be heard in Western cultural convention as “evil.” Heavy metal has made extensive use of the tritone in guitar solos and riffs, such as in the beginning of "Black Sabbath."

Pedal point
Heavy metal songs often make extensive use of pedal point as a harmonic basis. A pedal point is a sustained tone, typically in the bass range, during which at least one foreign (i.e., dissonant) harmony is sounded in the other parts.[28] Heavy metal riffs are frequently constructed over a persistent repeating note played on the low strings of the bass or rhythmic guitar, most usually on the E, A, and D strings.[29] In other words, a single bass note—most frequently low E or A—is persistently repeated while some different chords are successively played, including chords that do not normally incorporate that bass note, which creates a sense of tension. An example is the opening riff of Judas Priest's "You've Got Another Thing Comin'." In this case, one guitar plays the pedal point in F#, while the second guitar plays the chords.

Classical influence Edit


The appropriation of "classical" music by heavy metal musicians typically involves musical elements associated with the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic eras of art music. Deep Purple/Rainbow guitarist Ritchie Blackmore and Scorpions guitarist Uli Jon Roth began experimenting with musical figurations borrowed from classical music in the early 1970s. In the 1980s, guitarists Randy Rhoads and Yngwie Malmsteen used eighteenth-century Baroque and later classical compositions as models, inspiring neoclassical metal players including Michael Romeo, Michael Angelo Batio, and Tony MacAlpine.

Although a number of metal musicians cite classical composers as inspiration, heavy metal cannot be regarded as the modern descendant of classical music.[31] Classical and metal are rooted in different cultural traditions and practices—classical in the art music tradition, metal in the popular music tradition. As musicologists Nicolas Cook and Nicola Dibben note, "Analyses of popular music also sometimes reveal the influence of 'art traditions.' An example is Walser’s linkage of heavy metal music with the ideologies and even some of the performance practices of nineteenth-century Romanticism. However, it would be clearly wrong to claim that traditions such as blues, rock, heavy metal, rap or dance music derive primarily from 'art music.'"[32] Heavy metal borrows only some aspects of classical music, such as motifs, melodies, and scales, rather than more complex features, such as counterpoint, polyphony, and classical structural forms. Heavy metal bands, including progressive and neoclassical metal bands, generally do not seek to observe the compositional and aesthetical exigencies of classical music.

Lyrical themesEdit

Common themes in heavy metal lyrics are darkness, violence, and the occult. The sexual nature of many heavy metal songs, ranging from Led Zeppelin's suggestive lyrics to the more explicit references of latter-day nu metal bands, derives from the genre's roots in blues music and its frequently sexual content.[33] Since the 1980s, with the rise of thrash metal, a substantial number of metal songs have included sociopolitical commentary. Romantic tragedy is a standard theme of gothic and doom metal, as well as of nu metal, where teenage angst is another central topic. Genres such as melodic death metal, progressive metal, and black metal often explore philosophical themes, while more extreme forms of death metal and grindcore have purely aggressive, gory, and often unintelligible content.

Heavy metal songs often feature outlandish, fantasy-inspired lyrics, lending them an escapist quality. Iron Maiden's songs, for instance, were frequently inspired by mythology, fiction, and poetry, such as "Rime of the Ancient Mariner," based on the Samuel Taylor Coleridge poem. Other examples include Black Sabbath's "The Wizard," Megadeth's "The Conjuring" and "Five Magics," and Judas Priest's "Dreamer Deceiver." Other artists base their lyrics on war, nuclear annihilation, environmental issues, and politics or religion. Examples include Black Sabbath's "War Pigs," Ozzy Osbourne's "Killer of Giants," Metallica's ...And Justice for All, Iron Maiden's "2 Minutes to Midnight," Accept's "Balls to the Wall," and Megadeth's "Peace Sells." Death is a predominant theme in heavy metal, routinely featuring in the lyrics of such different bands as Black Sabbath, Slayer, and W.A.S.P..

The thematic content of heavy metal has long been a target of criticism. According to Jon Pareles, "Heavy metal's main subject matter is simple and virtually universal. With grunts, moans and subliterary lyrics, it celebrates...a party without limits.... [T]he bulk of the music is stylized and formulaic."[5] Music critics have often deemed metal lyrics juvenile and banal, and others have objected to what they see as advocacy of misogyny and the occult. During the 1980s, the Parents Music Resource Center petitioned the U.S. Congress to regulate the popular music industry due to what the group asserted were objectionable lyrics, particularly those in heavy metal songs. In 1990, Judas Priest was sued by the parents of two young men who had shot themselves five years earlier, allegedly after hearing the subliminal statement "do it" in a Priest song. The case, which attracted a great deal of media attention, was ultimately dismissed.[34]

Visual elementsEdit

As with much popular music, visual imagery plays a large role in heavy metal. In addition to its sound and lyrics, a heavy metal band's "image" is expressed in album sleeve art, stage sets, the clothes of the band, band logos, and music videos.[35] Some early heavy metal acts, such as Alice Cooper and Kiss and some newer bands like GWAR, Mushroomhead, and Marilyn Manson, have become known as much for their outrageous performance personas and stage shows as for their music.[36]


The classic uniform of heavy metal fans consists of "blue jeans, black T-shirts, boots and black leather or jeans jackets.... T-shirts are generally emblazoned with the logos or other visual representations of favorite metal bands."[39] In the mid-1970s, Judas Priest and Mötorhead helped establish elements of biker culture and leather fashion in the heavy metal scene.[40][41] Metal fans also "appropriated elements from the S&M community (chains, metal studs, skulls, leather and crosses)." In the 1980s, a range of sources, from punk and goth music to horror films, influenced metal fashion.[42] Appearance and personal style was especially important for glam metal bands of the era. Performers typically wore long, dyed, hairspray-teased hair (hence the nickname, "hair metal"); makeup such as lipstick and eyeliner; gaudy clothing, including leopard-skin-printed shirts or vests and tight denim, leather, or spandex pants; and accessories such as headbands and jewelry.[43]

Physical gesturesEdit

Many metal musicians when performing live engage in headbanging, which involves rhythmically beating time with the head, often emphasized by long hair. The corna, or devil horns, hand gesture, also widespread, was popularized by vocalist Ronnie James Dio while with Black Sabbath and Dio.[26] Gene Simmons of Kiss claims to have been the first to make the gesture in concert.[44]

Attendees of metal concerts do not dance in the usual sense; Deena Weinstein has argued that this is due to the music's largely masculine audience and "extreme heterosexualist ideology." She identifies two primary body movements that substitute for dancing: headbanging and an arm thrust that is both a sign of appreciation and a rhythmic gesture.[45] The performance of air guitar is popular among metal fans both at concerts and listening to records at home.[46] Other concert audience activities include stage diving, crowd surfing, pushing and shoving in a chaotic mélée called moshing, and displaying the corna hand symbol.




The first documented uses of the phrase to describe a type of rock music are from reviews by critic Mike Saunders. In the November 12, 1970, issue of Rolling Stone, he commented on an album put out the previous year by the British band Humble Pie: "Safe As Yesterday Is, their first American release, proved that Humble Pie could be boring in lots of different ways. Here they were a noisy, unmelodic, heavy metal-leaden shit-rock band with the loud and noisy parts beyond doubt. There were a couple of nice songs...and one monumental pile of refuse." He described the band's latest, self-titled release as "more of the same 27th-rate heavy metal crap."[50] In a review of Sir Lord Baltimore's Kingdom Come in the May 1971 Creem, Saunders wrote, "Sir Lord Baltimore seems to have down pat most all the best heavy metal tricks in the book."[51] Creem critic Lester Bangs is credited with popularizing the term via his early 1970s essays on bands such as Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath.[52] Through the decade, heavy metal was used by certain critics as a virtually automatic putdown. In 1979, lead New York Times popular music critic John Rockwell described what he called "heavy-metal rock" as "brutally aggressive music played mostly for minds clouded by drugs,"[53] and, in a different article, as "a crude exaggeration of rock basics that appeals to white teenagers."[54]

The terms "heavy metal" and "hard rock" have often been used interchangeably, particularly in discussing bands of the 1970s, a period when the terms were largely synonymous.[55] For example, the 1983 Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll includes this passage: "known for its aggressive blues-based hard-rock style, Aerosmith was the top American heavy-metal band of the mid-Seventies."[56] Few would now characterize Aerosmith's classic sound, with its clear links to traditional rock and roll, as "heavy metal." Even some acts closely identified with the emergence of the genre, such as Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple, are not considered heavy metal bands by some in the present-day metal community.

History Edit

Roots: 1950s to mid-1960sEdit

Heavy metal has roots in blues music, particularly electric blues.[4] Some of heavy metal's characteristics can be traced back to 1950s electric blues, including its rough declamatory vocal style, heavy guitar riffs, string-bending blues-scale guitar solos, strong beat, thick riff-laden texture, and posturing performances.[57] Heavy metal's quintessential guitar style, built around distortion-heavy riffs and power chords, traces its roots to early 1950s Memphis blues guitarists such as Joe Hill Louis, Willie Johnson, and particularly Pat Hare,[58][59] who captured a "grittier, nastier, more ferocious electric guitar sound" on records such as James Cotton's "Cotton Crop Blues" (1954).[59] Chicago blues musician Elmore James also laid the foundations for heavy metal, using guitar techniques such as distortion, power chords and slides in the 1950s to create an "explosive sound" that was "screaming with sustained tones" and was distorted and densely textured.[60] The "thunderous blast" of his guitar sound was one of the base roots of heavy metal.[61] Another antecedent of heavy metal's quintessential guitar style is Dick Dale's early 1960s surf rock instrumentals such as "Let's Go Trippin'" (1961) and "Misirlou" (1962), which played an important role in advancing amplification technology.[62]

American blues music was a major influence on the early British rockers. Bands like The Rolling Stones and The Yardbirds recorded covers of many classic blues songs, using electric guitar where many of the originals had used acoustic and sometimes speeding up the tempo. As they experimented with the music, the UK blues-based bands—and the U.S. acts they influenced in turn—developed what would become the hallmarks of heavy metal: At the core was a loud, distorted guitar style, built around power chords.[63] The Kinks played a major role in popularizing this sound with their 1964 hit "You Really Got Me."[64] A significant contributor to the emerging guitar sound was the feedback facilitated by the new generation of amplifiers. In addition to The Kinks' Dave Davies, other guitarists such as The Who's Pete Townshend and the Tridents' Jeff Beck were experimenting with feedback.[65] Where the blues-rock drumming style started out largely as simple shuffle beats on small kits, drummers began using a more muscular, complex, and amplified approach to match and be heard against the increasingly loud guitar.[66] Vocalists similarly modified their technique and increased their reliance on amplification, often becoming more stylized and dramatic. In terms of sheer volume, especially in live performance, The Who's "bigger-louder-wall-of-Marshalls" approach was seminal.[67] Simultaneous advances in amplification and recording technology made it possible to successfully capture the power of this heavier approach on record.

The combination of blues-rock with psychedelic rock formed much of the original basis for heavy metal.[68] One of the most influential bands in forging the merger of genres was the power trio Cream, who derived a massive, heavy sound from unison riffing between guitarist Eric Clapton and bassist Jack Bruce, as well as Ginger Baker's double bass drumming.[69] Their first two LPs, Fresh Cream (1966) and Disraeli Gears (1967) are regarded as essential prototypes for the future style. The Jimi Hendrix Experience's debut album, Are You Experienced (1967), was also highly influential. Hendrix's virtuosic technique would be emulated by many metal guitarists and the album's most successful single, "Purple Haze," is often identified as the first heavy metal hit.[70]

Development: late 1960s and early 1970sEdit


Led Zeppelin performing in June 1969 for the French TV show Tous en scène.

In 1968, the sound that would become known as heavy metal coalesced. That January, the San Francisco band Blue Cheer released a cover of Eddie Cochran's classic "Summertime Blues," from their debut album Vincebus Eruptum, that many consider the first true heavy metal recording.[71] The same month, Steppenwolf released its self-titled debut album, including "Born to Be Wild," with its "heavy metal" lyric. In July, another two epochal records came out: The Yardbirds' "Think About It"—B-side of the band's last single—with a performance by guitarist Jimmy Page anticipating the metal sound he would soon make famous; and Iron Butterfly's In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, with its 17-minute-long title track, a prime candidate for first-ever heavy metal album. In August, The Beatles' single version of "Revolution," with its redlined guitar and drum sound, set new standards for distortion in a top-selling context. The Jeff Beck Group, whose leader had preceded Page as The Yardbirds' guitarist, released its debut record that same month: Truth featured some of the "most molten, barbed, downright funny noises of all time," breaking ground for generations of metal ax-slingers.[72] In October, Page's new band, Led Zeppelin, made its live debut. In November, Love Sculpture, with guitarist Dave Edmunds, put out Blues Helping, featuring a pounding, aggressive version of Khachaturian's "Sabre Dance." The Beatles' so-called White Album, which also came out that month, included "Helter Skelter," then one of the heaviest-sounding songs ever released by a major band.[73]

In January 1969, Led Zeppelin's self-titled debut album was released and reached number 10 on the Billboard album chart. In July, Zeppelin and a power trio with a Cream-inspired, but cruder sound, Grand Funk Railroad, played the Atlanta Pop Festival. That same month, another Cream-rooted trio led by Leslie West released Mountain, an album filled with heavy blues-rock guitar and roaring vocals. In August, the group—now itself dubbed Mountain—played an hour-long set at the Woodstock Festival.[74] Grand Funk's debut album, On Time, also came out that month. In the fall, Led Zeppelin II went to number 1 and the album's single "Whole Lotta Love" hit number 4 on the Billboard pop chart. The metal revolution was under way. Template:Sound sample box align right

Sample of "Whole Lotta Love" by Led Zeppelin, from Led Zeppelin II (1969). The heavy riff-based song, using lyrics culled from blues songwriter Willie Dixon, reached number four on the Billboard charts.[75]

Problems playing this file? See media help.
Template:Sample box end

Led Zeppelin defined central aspects of the emerging genre, with Page's highly distorted guitar style and singer Robert Plant's dramatic, wailing vocals.[76] Other bands, with a more consistently heavy, "purely" metal sound, would prove equally important in codifying the genre. The 1970 releases by Black Sabbath (Black Sabbath and Paranoid) and Deep Purple (Deep Purple in Rock) were crucial in this regard.[77] Black Sabbath had developed a particularly heavy sound in part due to an industrial accident guitarist Tony Iommi suffered before cofounding the band. Unable to play normally, Iommi had to tune his guitar down for easier fretting and rely on power chords with their relatively simple fingering.[78] Deep Purple had fluctuated between styles in its early years, but by 1969 vocalist Ian Gillan and guitarist Ritchie Blackmore had led the band toward the developing heavy metal style.[79] In 1970, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple scored major UK chart hits with "Paranoid" and "Black Night," respectively. That same year, three other British bands released debut albums in a heavy metal mode: Uriah Heep with Very 'eavy... Very 'umble, UFO with UFO 1, and Black Widow with Sacrifice. Wishbone Ash, though not commonly identified as metal, introduced a dual-lead/rhythm-guitar style that many metal bands of the following generation would adopt. The occult lyrics and imagery employed by Black Sabbath, Uriah Heep, and Black Widow would prove particularly influential; Led Zeppelin also began foregrounding such elements with its fourth album, released in 1971.


Tony Iommi and Ozzy Osbourne of Black Sabbath onstage on January 29, 1973.

On the other side of the Atlantic, the trend-setting group was Grand Funk Railroad, "the most commercially successful American heavy-metal band from 1970 until they disbanded in 1976, [they] established the Seventies success formula: continuous touring."[80] Other bands identified with metal emerged in the U.S., such as Dust (first LP in 1971), Blue Öyster Cult (1972), and Kiss (1974). In Germany, the Scorpions debuted with Lonesome Crow in 1972. Blackmore, who had emerged as a virtuoso soloist with Deep Purple's Machine Head (1972), quit the group in 1975 to form Rainbow. These bands also built audiences via constant touring and increasingly elaborate stage shows.[81] As described above, there are arguments about whether these and other early bands truly qualify as "heavy metal" or simply as "hard rock." Those closer to the music's blues roots , placing greater emphasis on melody, playing acoustic or soft material or experimenting with other genres are now commonly ascribed the latter label. AC/DC, which debuted with High Voltage in 1975, is a prime example. The 1983 Rolling Stone encyclopedia entry begins, "Australian heavy-metal band AC/DC..."[82] Rock historian Clinton Walker writes, "Calling AC/DC a heavy metal band in the seventies was as inaccurate as it is today.... [They] were a rock'n'roll band that just happened to be heavy enough for metal."[83] The issue is not only one of shifting definitions, but also a persistent distinction between musical style and audience identification: Ian Christe describes how the band "became the stepping-stone that led huge numbers of hard rock fans into heavy metal perdition."[84]


Though Judas Priest did not have a top 40 album in the U.S. until 1980, for many it was the definitive post-Sabbath heavy metal band; its twin-guitar attack, featuring rapid tempos and a nonbluesy, more cleanly metallic sound, was a major influence on later acts.[86] While heavy metal was growing in popularity, most critics were not enamored of the music. Objections were raised to metal's adoption of visual spectacle and other trappings of commercial artifice,[87] but the main offense was its perceived musical and lyrical vacuity: reviewing a Black Sabbath album in the early 1970s, leading critic Robert Christgau described it as "dull and decadent...dim-witted, amoral exploitation."[88]

Mainstream: late 1970s and 1980sEdit

Iron Maiden - bass and guitars 30nov2006


Punk rock emerged in the mid-1970s as a reaction against contemporary social conditions as well as what was perceived as the overindulgent, overproduced rock music of the time, including heavy metal. Sales of heavy metal records declined sharply in the late 1970s in the face of punk, disco, and more mainstream rock.[89] With the major labels fixated on punk, many newer British heavy metal bands were inspired by the movement's aggressive, high-energy sound and "lo-fi", do it yourself ethos. Underground metal bands began putting out cheaply recorded releases independently to small, devoted audiences.[90] British music papers such as the NME and Sounds began to take notice, with Sounds writer Geoff Barton christening the movement the "New Wave of British Heavy Metal."[91] NWOBHM bands including Iron Maiden, Motörhead, Saxon, Diamond Head, and Def Leppard reenergized the heavy metal genre. Following Judas Priest's lead, they toughened up the sound, reduced its blues elements, and emphasized increasingly fast tempos.[92] In 1980, NWOBHM broke into the mainstream, as albums by Iron Maiden, Motörhead, and Saxon reached the British top 10. The next year, Motörhead became the first band in the movement to top the UK charts with No Sleep 'til Hammersmith. Other NWOBHM bands, such as Diamond Head and Venom, though less successful would also have a significant influence on metal's development.[93]

The first generation of metal bands was ceding the limelight. Deep Purple had broken up soon after Blackmore's departure in 1975, and Led Zeppelin folded in 1980. Black Sabbath was routinely upstaged in concert by its opening act, the Los Angeles band Van Halen.[94] Eddie Van Halen established himself as one of the leading metal guitar virtuosos of the era—his solo on "Eruption," from the band's self-titled 1978 album, is considered a milestone.[95] Randy Rhoads and Yngwie J. Malmsteen also became famed virtuosos, associated with what would be known as the neoclassical metal style. The adoption of classical elements had been spearheaded by Blackmore and the Scorpions' Uli Jon Roth; this next generation progressed to occasionally using classical nylon-stringed guitars, as Rhoads does on "Dee" from former Sabbath lead singer Ozzy Osbourne's first solo album, Blizzard of Ozz (1980). Template:Sound sample box align right


Problems playing this file? See media help.

Problems playing this file? See media help.
Template:Sample box end

Inspired by Van Halen's success, a metal scene began to develop in Southern California, particularly Los Angeles, during the late 1970s. Based around the clubs of L.A.'s Sunset Strip, bands such as Quiet Riot, Ratt, Mötley Crüe, and W.A.S.P. were influenced by traditional heavy metal of the earlier 1970s[96] and incorporated the theatrics (and sometimes makeup) of glam rock acts such as Alice Cooper and Kiss.[97] The lyrics of these glam metal bands characteristically emphasized hedonism and wild behavior. Musically, the style was distinguished by rapid-fire shred guitar solos, anthemic choruses, and a relatively pop-oriented melodic approach. The glam metal movement—along with similarly styled acts such as New York's Twisted Sister—became a major force in metal and the wider spectrum of rock music.




Underground metal: 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s Edit

Many subgenres of heavy metal developed outside of the commercial mainstream during the 1980s.[105] Several attempts have been made to map the complex world of underground metal, most notably by the editors of the All Music Guide, as well as critic Garry Sharpe-Young. Sharpe-Young's multivolume metal encyclopedia separates the underground into five major categories: thrash metal, death metal, black metal, power metal, and the related subgenres of doom and gothic metal.

Thrash metal Edit
For more details on this topic, see Thrash metal
Reign in blood

Slayer's Reign in Blood (1986) was a landmark thrash metal album.

Thrash metal emerged in the early 1980s under the influence of hardcore punk and the New Wave of British Heavy Metal,[106] particularly songs in the revved-up style known as speed metal. The movement began in the United States, with the leading scene in the San Francisco Bay Area. The sound developed by thrash groups was faster and more aggressive than that of the original metal bands and their glam metal successors.[106] Low-register guitar riffs are typically overlaid with shredding leads. Lyrics often express nihilistic views or deal with social issues using visceral, gory language. Thrash has been described as a form of "urban blight music" and "a palefaced cousin of rap."[107]

Template:Sound sample box align right

Slayer's "Angel of Death," from Reign in Blood (1986), which features the fast, technically complex musicianship typical of thrash metal

Problems playing this file? See media help.
Template:Sample box end

The subgenre was popularized by the "Big Four of Thrash": Anthrax, Megadeth, Metallica, and Slayer.[108] Three German bands, Kreator, Sodom, and Destruction, played a central role in bringing the style to Europe. Others, including San Francisco's Testament and Exodus, New Jersey's Overkill, and Brazil's Sepultura, also had a significant impact. While thrash began as an underground scene, and remained largely that for almost a decade, the leading bands in the movement began to reach a wider audience. Metallica brought the sound into the top 40 of the Billboard album chart in 1986 with Master of Puppets; two years later, the band's ...And Justice for All hit number 6, while Megadeth and Anthrax had top 40 records.[109]

Though less commercially successful than the rest of the Big Four, Slayer released one of the genre's definitive records: Reign in Blood (1986) was described by Kerrang! as the "heaviest album of all time."[110] Two decades later, Metal Hammer named it the best album of the preceding twenty years.[111] Slayer attracted a following among far-right skinheads, and accusations of promoting violence and Nazi themes have dogged the band.[112] In the early 1990s, thrash achieved breakout success, challenging and redefining the metal mainstream.[113] Metallica's self-titled 1991 album topped the Billboard chart, Megadeth's Countdown to Extinction (1992) hit number 2, Anthrax and Slayer cracked the top 10, and albums by regional bands such as Testament and Sepultura entered the top 100.

Death metal Edit
For more details on this topic, see Death metal
Chuck Schuldiner

Death's Chuck Schuldiner, "widely recognized as the father of death metal"[114]

Thrash soon began to evolve and split into more extreme metal genres. "Slayer's music was directly responsible for the rise of death metal," according to MTV News.[115] The NWOBHM band Venom was also an important progenitor. The death metal movement in both North America and Europe adopted and emphasized the elements of blasphemy and diabolism employed by such acts. Florida's Death and the Bay Area's Possessed are recognized as seminal bands in the style. Both groups have been credited with inspiring the subgenre's name, the latter via its 1984 demo Death Metal and the song "Death Metal," from its 1985 debut album Seven Churches (1985).

Death metal utilizes the speed and aggression of both thrash and hardcore, fused with lyrics preoccupied with Z-grade slasher movie violence and Satanism.[116] Death metal vocals are typically bleak, involving guttural "death growls," high-pitched screaming, the "death rasp,"[117] and other uncommon techniques.[118] Complementing the deep, aggressive vocal style are downtuned, highly distorted guitars[116][117] and extremely fast percussion, often with rapid double bass drumming and "wall of sound"–style blast beats. Frequent tempo and time signature changes and syncopation are also typical.

Template:Sound sample box align right


Problems playing this file? See media help.
Template:Sample box end

Death metal, like thrash metal, generally rejects the theatrics of earlier metal styles, opting instead for an everyday look of ripped jeans and plain leather jackets.[119] One major exception to this rule was Deicide's Glen Benton, who branded an inverted cross on his forehead and wore armor on stage. Morbid Angel adopted neo-fascist imagery.[119] These two bands, along with Death and Obituary, were leaders of the major death metal scene that emerged in Florida in the mid-1980s. In the UK, the related style of grindcore, led by bands such as Napalm Death and Extreme Noise Terror, emerged out of the anarcho-punk movement.[120] A large Scandinavian death metal scene, with bands such as Sweden's Entombed and Dismember, began to develop as well. Out of this evolved a melodic death metal sound, typified by Swedish bands such as In Flames and Dark Tranquillity and Finland's Children of Bodom and Kalmah. By the 1990s, American technical death metal bands such as Atheist and Cynic were showcasing astonishing levels of guitar speed and technicality.

Black metal Edit
For more details on this topic, see Black metal
Burzum aske

Photo of the burned ruins of Fantoft stave church depicted on Burzum's 1992 EP Aske.

The first wave of black metal emerged in Europe in the early and mid-1980s, led by Britain's Venom, Denmark's Mercyful Fate, Switzerland's Hellhammer and Celtic Frost, and Sweden's Bathory. By the late 1980s, Norwegian bands such as Mayhem, Burzum, and Emperor were heading a second wave.[121] Black metal varies considerably in style and production quality, although most bands emphasize shrieked and growled vocals, highly distorted guitars frequently played with rapid tremolo picking, a "dark" atmosphere[118] and intentionally lo-fi production, with ambient noise and background hiss.[122] Satanic themes are common in black metal, though many bands take inspiration from ancient paganism, promoting a return to pre-Christian values.[123] Numerous black metal bands also "experiment with sounds from all possible forms of metal, folk, classical music, electronica and avant-garde."[117] Darkthrone drummer Fenriz explains, "It had something to do with production, lyrics, the way they dressed and a commitment to making ugly, raw, grim stuff. There wasn't a generic sound."[124]

By 1990, Mayhem was regularly wearing corpsepaint; many other black metal acts also adopted the look. Bathory inspired the Viking metal and folk metal movements and Immortal brought blast beats to the fore. Some bands in the Scandinavian black metal scene became associated with considerable violence in the early 1990s,[125] with Mayhem and Burzum linked to church burnings. Growing commercial hype around death metal generated a backlash; beginning in Norway, much of the Scandanavian metal underground shifted to support a black metal scene that resisted co-option.[126] According to Gorgoroth vocalist Gaahl, "Black Metal was never meant to reach an audience.... [We] had a common enemy which was, of course, Christianity, socialism and everything that democracy stands for."[124] Template:Sound sample box align right

Problems playing this file? See media help.
Template:Sample box end

By 1992, black metal scenes had begun to emerge in areas outside Scandinavia, including Germany, France, and Poland.[127] The 1993 murder of Mayhem's Euronymous by Burzum's Varg Vikernes provoked intensive media coverage.[124] Around 1996, when many in the scene felt the genre was stagnating,[128] several key bands, including Burzum and Finland's Beherit, moved toward an ambient style, while symphonic black metal was explored by Sweden's Tiamat and Switzerland's Samael.[129] In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Norway's Dimmu Borgir brought black metal closer to the mainstream,[130] as did Cradle of Filth, which Metal Hammer calls England's most successful metal band since Iron Maiden.[131] Critically lauded contemporary acts include Sweden's traditionalist Watain,[132] France's more experimental Deathspell Omega,[133] and America's one-man Xasthur.[134]

Power metal Edit
For more details on this topic, see Power metal
Hammerfall group

HammerFall, live in Milano, Italy, 2005.

During the early 1990s, the power metal scene came together largely in reaction to the harshness of death and black metal.[135] Though a relatively underground style in North America, it enjoys wide popularity in Europe. Power metal focuses on upbeat, epic melodies and themes that "appeal to the listener's sense of valor and loveliness."[136] The prototype for the sound was established in the mid- to late 1980s by Germany's Helloween, which combined the power riffs, melodic approach, and high-pitched, "clean" singing style of bands like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden with thrash's speed and energy, "crystalliz[ing] the sonic ingredients of what is now known as power metal."[137] New York's Manowar and Virgin Steele were pioneering American bands. Yngwie J. Malmsteen's Rising Force (1984) was crucial in popularizing the ultrafast electric guitar style known as "shredding" as well as the merger of metal with classical music elements, developments that have strongly influenced power metal.

Template:Sound sample box align right

Manowar's "Dark Avenger," from Battle Hymns (1982)

Problems playing this file? See media help.
Template:Sample box end

Traditional power metal bands like Sweden's HammerFall and England's DragonForce have a sound clearly indebted to the classic NWOBHM style.[138] Many power metal bands such as Florida's Kamelot, Italy's Rhapsody of Fire, and Russia's Catharsis feature a keyboard-based "symphonic" sound, sometimes employing orchestras and opera singers. Power metal has built a strong fanbase in Japan and South America, where bands like Brazil's Angra and Argentina's Rata Blanca are popular.


Doom and gothic metalEdit
For more details on this topic, see Doom metal and Gothic metal

ØØ Void (2000), drone doom band Sunn O)))'s debut.

Emerging in the mid-1980s with such bands as California's Saint Vitus, Maryland's The Obsessed, Chicago's Trouble, and Sweden's Candlemass, the doom metal movement rejected other metal styles' emphasis on speed, slowing its music to a crawl. Doom metal traces its roots to the lyrical themes and musical approach of early Black Sabbath[140] and Sabbath contemporaries such as Blue Cheer, Pentagram, and Black Widow.[141] The Melvins have also been a significant influence on doom metal and a number of its subgenres.[142] Doom emphasizes melody, melancholy tempos, and a sepulchral mood relative to many other varieties of metal.[143]

Template:Sound sample box align right


Problems playing this file? See media help.
Template:Sample box end

The 1991 release of Forest of Equilibrium, the debut album by UK band Cathedral, helped spark a new wave of doom metal. During the same period, the doom-death fusion style of British bands Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, and Anathema gave rise to European gothic metal,[144] with its signature dual-vocalist arrangements, exemplified by Norway's Theatre of Tragedy and Tristania. New York's Type O Negative introduced an American take on the style.[145] Led by the Swedish band Therion's incorporation of classical elements, gothic metal in turn spawned a symphonic metal movement including Australia's Virgin Black, Finland's Nightwish, and the Netherlands' Within Temptation and After Forever.

In the United States, sludge metal, mixing doom and hardcore, emerged in the late 1980s—Eyehategod and Crowbar were leaders a major Louisiana sludge scene. Early in the next decade, California's Kyuss and Sleep, inspired by the earlier doom metal bands, spearheaded the rise of stoner metal,[146] while Seattle's Earth helped develop the drone metal subgenre.[147] The late 1990s saw new bands form such as the Los Angeles–based Goatsnake, with a classic stoner/doom sound, and Sunn O))), which crosses lines between doom, drone, and dark ambient metal—the New York Times has compared their sound to an "Indian raga in the middle of an earthquake".[143] In 2006, Atlanta's Mastodon, whose equally hard-to-define style mixes progressive and sludge, broke into the Billboard top 40 with Blood Mountain.

New fusions: 1990s and early 2000sEdit

For more details on this topic, see Alternative metal and Nu metal

Template:Sound sample box align right


Problems playing this file? See media help.
Template:Sample box end

The era of metal's mainstream dominance in North America came to an end in the early 1990s with the emergence of Nirvana and other grunge bands, signaling the popular breakthrough of alternative rock.[148] Grunge acts were influenced by the heavy metal sound, but rejected the excesses of the more popular metal bands, such as their "flashy and virtuosic solos" and "appearance-driven" MTV orientation.[40]

Glam metal fell out of favor due not only to the success of grunge,[149] but also because of the growing popularity of the more aggressive sound typified by Metallica and the post-thrash groove metal of Pantera and White Zombie.[150] A few new, unambiguously metal bands had commercial success during the first half of the decade—Pantera's Far Beyond Driven topped the Billboard chart in 1994—but, "In the dull eyes of the mainstream, metal was dead."[151] Some bands tried to adapt to the new musical landscape. Metallica revamped its image: the band members cut their hair and, in 1996, headlined the alternative musical festival Lollapalooza founded by Jane's Addiction singer Perry Farrell. While this prompted a backlash among some long-time fans,[152] Metallica remained one of the most successful bands in the world into the new century.[153]



Like Jane's Addiction, many of the most popular early 1990s groups with roots in heavy metal fall under the umbrella term "alternative metal."[154] The label was applied to a wide spectrum of acts that fused metal with different styles, not all associated with alternative rock. Acts labeled alternative metal included the Seattle grunge scene's Alice in Chains and groups drawing on multiple styles: Faith No More combined their alternative rock sound with punk, funk, metal, and hip hop; Primus joined elements of funk, punk, thrash metal, and experimental music. Tool mixed metal and progressive rock; Ministry began incorporating metal into its industrial sound; and Marilyn Manson went down a similar route, while also employing shock effects of the sort popularized by Alice Cooper. Alternative metal artists, though they did not represent a cohesive scene, were united by their willingness to experiment with the metal genre and their rejection of glam metal aesthetics (with the stagecraft of Marilyn Manson and White Zombie—also identified with alt-metal—significant, if partial, exceptions).[154] Alternative metal's mix of styles and sounds represented "the colorful results of metal opening up to face the outside world."[155]

In the mid- and late 1990s came a new wave of U.S. metal groups inspired by the alternative metal bands and their mix of genres.[156] Dubbed "nu metal," bands such as P.O.D., Korn, Papa Roach, Limp Bizkit, Slipknot, and Linkin Park incorporated elements ranging from death metal to hip hop, often including DJs and rap-style vocals. The mix demonstrated that "pancultural metal could pay off."[157] Nu metal gained mainstream success through heavy MTV rotation and Ozzy Osbourne's 1996 introduction of Ozzfest, which led the media to talk of a resurgence of heavy metal.[158] That year, Korn released Life Is Peachy, the first nu metal album to reach the top 10; two years later, the band's Follow the Leader hit number 1. In 1999, Billboard noted that there were more than 500 specialty metal radio shows in the U.S., nearly three times as many as ten years before.[159] While nu metal was widely popular early in the 2000s, traditional metal fans did not fully embrace the style.[160] By early 2003, the movement had clearly passed its peak, though several nu metal acts, as well as bands with related styles, such as System of a Down, retained substantial followings.[161]

Recent trends: mid-2000sEdit

Template:Sound sample box align right

"Pull Harder on the Strings of Your Martyr" from Ascendancy (2005) by metalcore band Trivium

Problems playing this file? See media help.
Template:Sample box end

Metalcore, an originally American hybrid of thrash metal, melodic death metal, and hardcore punk, emerged as a commercial force in 2002–3. It is rooted in the crossover thrash style developed by bands such as Suicidal Tendencies, Dirty Rotten Imbeciles, and Stormtroopers of Death in the mid-1980s.[162] Through the 1990s, metalcore was mostly an underground phenomenon, but by 2004 it had become popular enough that Killswitch Engage's The End of Heartache and Shadows Fall's The War Within debuted at numbers 21 and 20, respectively, on the Billboard album chart.[163] Bullet for My Valentine, from Wales, reached similar heights on the British album chart with The Poison (2005). In recent years, metalcore bands have received prominent slots at Ozzfest and Download Festival. Lamb of God, with a related blend of metal styles, broke into the Billboard top 10 in 2006 with Sacrament.

In Europe, especially Germany and Scandinavia, metal continues to be broadly popular. Acts such as the thrash shredding group The Haunted, melodic death metal bands In Flames, Kalmah and Children of Bodom, symphonic extreme metal acts Dimmu Borgir and Cradle of Filth, and power metal group HammerFall have been very successful in recent years. In English-speaking countries, the term "retro-metal" has been applied to such bands as England's The Darkness[164] and Australia's Wolfmother.[165] The Darkness's Permission to Land (2003), described as an "eerily realistic simulation of '80s metal and '70s glam,"[164] topped the UK charts, going quintuple platinum. Wolfmother's self-titled 2005 debut album had "Deep Purple-ish organs," "Jimmy Page-worthy chordal riffing," and lead singer Andrew Stockdale howling "notes that Robert Plant can't reach anymore."[165] "Woman," a track from the album, won for Best Hard Rock Performance at the 2007 Grammy Awards, while Slayer's "Eyes of the Insane" won for Best Metal Performance. In 2008, Slayer won the Best Metal Performance award again, for "Final Six".

See alsoEdit



  2. Weinstein (2000), pp. 14, 118.
  4. 4.0 4.1 Michael Campbell & James Brody (2007), Rock and Roll: An Introduction, page 212
  5. 5.0 5.1 Pareles, Jon. "Heavy Metal, Weighty Words" New York Times, July 10, 1988. Retrieved on November 14, 2007.
  6. 6.0 6.1 Weinstein (2000), p. 25
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 Weinstein (2000), p. 23
  8. Weinstein (2000), p. 26
  9. Cited in Weinstein (2000), p. 26
  10. 10.0 10.1 uao. "Sunday Morning Playlist: Heavy Metal". Blogcritics Magazine, February 19, 2006. Retrieved on November 16, 2007.
  11. 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 Weinstein (2000), p. 24
  14. 14.0 14.1 Berry and Gianni (2003), p. 85
  15. Burgess, Mick. "Dream Theater (Live)" Metal Express Radio, June 9, 2007. Retrieved on November 13, 2007.
  16. Arnett (1996), p. 14
  17. Walser (1993), p. 9
  18. Quoted in Waksman, Steve. "Metal, Punk, and Motörhead: Generic Crossover in the Heart of the Punk Explosion" Echo: A Music-Centered Journal 6.2 (fall 2004). Retrieved on November 15, 2007
  20. Walser (1993), p. 2
  21. See, e.g., Glossary of Guitar Terms Mel Bay Publications. Retrieved on November 15, 2007
  23. Schonbrun (2006), p. 22
  24. Walser (1993), p. 46
  26. 26.0 26.1 Dunn, Sam (2005). "Metal: A Headbanger's Journey". Warner Home Video (2006). Retrieved on March 19, 2007
  28. Kennedy (1985), "Pedal Point," p. 540
  29. In black metal, however, pedal point is seldom a component of the guitar riff itself, but is rather played in the background by the bass.
  30. Walser (1993), p. 58
  31. Historical classical music's true descendant is contemporary classical music.
  32. See Cook and Dibben (2001), p. 56
  33. Weinstein (1991), p. 36
  34. See, e.g., Ewing and McCann (2006), pp. 104–113
  35. Weinstein (2000), p. 27
  36. Van Zoonen (2005), p. 40.
  37. Weinstein (2000), p. 129
  39. Weinstein (2000), p. 127
  41. "Hell Bent for Leather/Killing Machine Info Page" (Script error), <> 
  43. Thompson (2007), p. 135; Blush, Steven. "American Hair Metal—Excerpts: Selected Images and Quotes". Retrieved on November 25, 2007.
  45. Weinstein, p. 130
  46. Weinstein, p. 95
  48. Christe (2003), p. 10
  49. Walser (1993), p. 8
  50. Saunders, Mike (1970-11-12). Humble Pie: "Town and Country" (review). Rolling Stone. Retrieved on 2007-12-17.
  51. Saunders, Mike (May 1971). Sir Lord Baltimore's "Kingdom Come" (review). Creem. Retrieved on 2007-03-17.
  52. Weinstein (1991), p. 19
  53. Rockwell, John. New York Times, February 4, 1979, p. D22
  54. Rockwell, John. New York Times, August 13, 1979, p. C16
  55. Du Noyer (2003), pp. 96, 78
  56. Pareles and Romanowski (1983), p. 4
  57. Michael Campbell & James Brody (2007), Rock and Roll: An Introduction, page 201
  58. Miller, Jim (1980). The Rolling Stone illustrated history of rock & roll. ISBN 0-394-51322-3. Retrieved on 5 July 2012. “Black country bluesmen made raw, heavily amplified boogie records of their own, especially in Memphis, where guitarists like Joe Hill Louis, Willie Johnson (with the early Howlin' Wolf band) and Pat Hare (with Little Junior Parker) played driving rhythms and scorching, distorted solos that might be counted the distant ancestors of heavy metal.” 
  60. John Morthland (2013), How Elmore James Invented Metal, Wondering Sound, eMusic
  61. Dicaire, David (1999). Blues Singers: Elmore James entry. McFarland. Retrieved on 2013-06-02. 
  62. Huey, Steve. Dick Dale. AllMusic. Retrieved on 25 July 2012.
  63. Walser (1993), p. 9
  64. Weinstein (1991), p. 18; Walser (1993), p. 9
  65. Wilkerson (2006), p. 19.
  66. Walser (1993), p. 10
  67. McMichael (2004), p. 112
  68. Weinstein (1991), p. 16
  69. Charlton (2003), pp. 232–33
  70. Walser (1993), p. 9
  71. McCleary (2004), pp. 240, 506.
  72. Gene Santoro, quoted in Carson (2001), p. 86.
  73. Blake (1997), p. 143
  74. Though often identified now as "hard rock," the band's official debut album, Mountain Climbing (1970), placed 85th on the list of "Top 100 Metal Albums" compiled by Hit Parader in 1989. Grand Funk Railroad's Survival (1971) placed 72nd (Walser [1993], p. 174).
  75. Whole Lotta Love. (2003). Retrieved on 2007-04-03.
  76. Charlton (2003), p. 239
  77. Walser (1993), p. 10
  79. Charlton (2003), p. 241
  80. Pareles and Romanowski (1983), p. 225
  81. Walser (1993), p. 10
  82. Pareles and Romanowski (1983), p. 1
  83. Walker (2001), p. 297
  84. Christe (2003), p. 54
  85. Christe (2003), pp. 19–20
  86. Walser (1993), p. 6
  87. Walser (1993), p. 11
  88. Christgau (1981), p. 49
  89. Walser (1993), p. 11
  90. Christe (2003), pp. 30, 33
  91. Christe (2003), p. 33
  92. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas, and Greg Prato. "Judas Priest". All Music Guide. Retrieved on 2007-04-30. "Genre—New Wave of British Heavy Metal. All Music Guide. Retrieved on 2007-03-17.
  93. Weinstein (1991), p. 44
  94. Christe (2003), p. 25
  95. Christe (2003), p. 51
  96. Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Quiet Riot". All Music Guide. Retrieved on March 25, 2007; Neely, Kim "Ratt". Rolling Stone. Retrieved on April 3, 2007; Barry Weber & Greg Prato. "Mötley Crüe". All Music Guide. Retrieved on April 3, 2007; Dolas, Yiannis. "Blackie Lawless Interview" Rockpages. Retrieved on April 3, 2007
  97. Christe (2003), pp. 55–57
  98. Christe (2003), p. 79
  99. Weinstein (1991), p. 45
  100. Walser (1993), p. 12
  101. Walser (1993), pp. 12–13, 182 n. 35
  102. Walser (1993), p. 14; Christe (2003), p. 170
  103. Christe (2003), p. 165
  104. Steve Pond (1988-10-20). Jane's Addiction: Nothing's Shocking. Rolling Stone. Retrieved on 2007-05-01.
  105. Weinstein (1991), p. 21
  106. 106.0 106.1 "Genre—Thrash Metal". All Music Guide. Retrieved on March 3, 2007.
  107. Moynihan, Søderlind (1998), p. 26
  108. Walser (1993), p.14
  110. Lostprophets scoop rock honours. BBC News (2006-08-25). Retrieved on 2007-01-10.
  111. Golden Gods Awards Winners. Metal Hammer (2006-06-13). Retrieved on 2007-01-10.
  112. Moynihan, Søderlind (1998), p. 30; O'Neil (2001), p. 164
  113. Walser (1993), p. 15
  114. Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Death—Biography". All Music Guide. Retrieved on November 23, 2007.
  115. The Greatest Metal Bands of All Time—Slayer. Retrieved on February 27, 2008.
  116. 116.0 116.1 Moynihan, Søderlind (1998), p. 27
  117. 117.0 117.1 117.2 Van Schaik, Mark. "Extreme Metal Drumming" Slagwerkkrant, March/April 2000. Retrieved on November 15, 2007.
  118. 118.0 118.1 "Genre—Death Metal/Black Metal". All Music Guide. Retrieved on February 27, 2007.
  119. 119.0 119.1 Moynihan, Søderlind (1998), p. 28
  120. Moynihan, Søderlind (1998), p. 27
  121. Christe (2003), p. 270
  122. Jurek, Thom. "Striborg: Nefaria". All Music Guide. Retrieved on November 15, 2007
  123. Moynihan, Søderlind (1998), p. 212
  124. 124.0 124.1 124.2 Campion, Chris. "In the Face of Death". The Observer (UK), February 20, 2005. Retrieved on April 4, 2007.
  125. Christe (2003), p. 276
  126. Moynihan, Søderlind (1998), pp. 31–32
  127. Moynihan, Søderlind (1998), pp. 271, 321, 326
  128. Vikernes, Varg. "A Burzum Story: Part VI—The Music"., July 2005; "Is Black Metal Dead?". Dark Legions Archive. Both retrieved on April 4, 2007.
  129. Genre—Symphonic Black Metal. All Music Guide. Retrieved on April 9, 2007.
  130. Tepedelen, Adam. "Dimmu Borgir's 'Death Cult'". Rolling Stone, November 7, 2003. Retrieved on September 10, 2007.
  132. Begrand, Adrien. "Watain: Sworn to the Dark". PopMatters, June 19, 2007; Harris, Chris, and Jon Wiederhorn. "Metal File: Watain, Shadows Fall, Furze & More News That Rules"., January 26, 2007. Both retrieved on September 10, 2007.
  133. Freeman, Phil. "Deathspell Omega's Fas—Ite, Maledicti, In Ignem Aeternum". Village Voice, September 4, 2007; Jurek, Thom. "Deathspell Omega: Fas—Ite, Maledicti, In Ignem Aeternum". All Music Guide. Both retrieved on September 10, 2007
  134. Stosuy, Brandon. "Xasthur: Subliminal Genocide". Pitchfork, October 10, 2006; Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Xasthur: Subliminal Genocide". All Music Guide. Both retrieved on September 10, 2007
  135. "Genre - Power Metal". All Music Guide. Retrieved on March 20, 2007.
  136. Christe (2003), p. 372
  137. "Helloween - Biography". All Music Guide. Retrieved on April 8, 2007.
  138. See, e.g., Reesman, Bryan. "HammerFall: Glory to the Brave". All Music Guide; Henderson, Alex. "DragonForce: Sonic Firestorm". All Music Guide. Both retrieved on November 11, 2007
  139. "Genre - Progressive Metal". All Music Guide. Retrieved on March 20, 2007.
  140. Christe (2003), p. 345
  141. "The History of Doom metal". Retrieved on March 21, 2007.
  143. 143.0 143.1 Wray, John. "Heady Metal". New York Times, May 28, 2006. Retrieved on March 21, 2007.
  145. Sharpe-Young (2007), p. 275
  146. Christe (2003), p. 347
  148. Christe (2003), pp. 304–6; Weinstein (1991), p. 278
  149. Christe (2003), p. 231
  150. Birchmeier, Jason. "Pantera". Retrieved on March 19, 2007.
  151. Christe (2003), p. 305
  152. Christe (2003), p. 312
  153. Christe (2003), p. 322
  154. 154.0 154.1 Genre—Alternative Metal. All Music Guide. Retrieved on 2007-03-26.
  155. Christe (2003), p. 224
  156. Christe (2003), pp. 324–25
  157. Christe (2003), p. 329
  158. Christe (2003), p. 324
  159. Christe (2003), p. 344
  160. Christe (2003), p. 328
  161. D'angelo, Joe (2003-01-24). Nu Metal Meltdown. Retrieved on 2007-03-28.
  162. Christe (2003), p. 184
  163. Killswitch Engage. Roadrunner Records. Retrieved on March 17, 2007. Shadows Fall. Atlantic Records. Retrieved on March 17, 2007.
  164. 164.0 164.1 The Darkness. All Music Guide. Retrieved on June 11, 2007.
  165. 165.0 165.1 Wolfmother. Rolling Stone, April 18, 2006. Retrieved on March 31, 2007.

External linksEdit


Heavy Metal


Around Wikia's network

Random Wiki