Post by CAPT Issac R. Madden on Jul 26, 2012 21:50:55 GMT 1
Since Cali did his Punk Rock education thread, I've been meaning to sit down and write one up for heavy metal.
One of the most well known genres of rock and roll, heavy metal was developed in the late 60s and early 70s in the Midlands of the UK and the US. Musically speaking, metal originally drew heavily on blues rock and psychadelic rock where high volume, thick sound, heavy disortion, and overall loudness and aggressiveness were the names of the game. Among the earliest metal bands were Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, and Blue Cheer. Of note is that during this timeframe, "hard rock" and "heavy metal" were essentially interchangable terms. For example, Aerosmith was considered to be one of the top American metal bands of the 70s by critics at the time. Later, as metal grew, it fragmented along creative lines and sub genres evolved as bands experimented with new sounds and inspirations.
"Traditional" or "Classic" metal, is what many consider to be the "original" version of metal that was developed in the 60s as an evolution of the hippy counterculture of the time. As the movement wound down, many members found themselves disillusioned from the original "peace and love" mindset, their sound became darker and more aggressive. Examples of early traditional metal include Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" album, the Beatles' "White Album", Led Zeppelin's self-titled debut album, and early shows by Grand Funk Railroad. Other performers from that time frame that helped shape the foundations of metal include AC/DC, Alice Cooper, Scorpions, and KISS.
Out of classic metal came what is known as the "New Wave of British Heavy Metal" in the mid-70's to early-80's, led by bands like Judas Priest, Motorhead, and Iron Maiden who sought to combine elements of previous bands (such as Black Sabbath's grungy, agressive tone with Alice Cooper's stagecraft and Led Zeppelin's wailing lyrics) into one package. During this timeframe, metal started evolving past its original blues-rock base as bands looked to other genres, most notably hardcore punk and classical music, for inspriation while developing their own unique sound. It was also in this frame that first generation metal bands started falling by the wayside: Deep Purple broke up in 1975 with the departure of guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, Zeppelin disbanded with the death of Jon Bohnam in 1980, and Black Sabbath was continually upstaged by a rather young Los Angeles band called Van Halen. Other major developments of this generation include the emergance of guitarists Randy Rhoads and Yngwie Malmsteen (the progenetors of neo-classical metal) and glam metal bands like Twisted Sister, Motley Crue, and Quiet Riot
Thrash metal came out in the 80s as a result of cross-pollination between the New Wave of British Heavy Metal and Hardcore Punk. Developed and popularized by the "Big Four" (Metallica, Metadeth, Anthrax and Slayer), typical elements of thrash metal include fast-paced, agressive, and technical guitar work, gruff vocals, and lyrical themes that dealt heavily in nihlism and social issues, causing some critics to dub metal the "pale-faced cousin" of rap. Eventually, thrash metal grew and split off into varying factions such as death metal, black metal and power metal.
I'd continue with discussing the music, but that would take the better part of several months, so I'll touch upon the culture of metal.
As a subculture, metalheads are a "culture of alienation" with our own standards for achieving authenticity. Examples of this include growing out our hair, an intense dislike of the mainstream, and a lack of intrest in commercial success (part of the reason why Metallica pissed a lot of us off after the Black Album). Much like the punk community, one of the things that'll set us off is some random poser showing up. Outside of that, though, we're a lot more tolerant than most people believe (despite some extreme exceptions like the assholes who deliberately targeted Christians in the 90s): as long as you fit the metalhead mentality, we don't give a shit what you look like. Long hair, leather jackets, tats, and so on are helpful, but not required as long as you have the right mindset.
Well I don't have much of a good way to end this, but I'll just add in my take on metal (and if it sounds familiar, I occasionally use Ian in Halo of Flies as a proxy to express some of my opinions). For me, metal is nothing more than raw, undiluted emotion in a musical format. It doesn't beat around the bush, and is what I consider to be the most truthful of metal genres. Yes, life can be good, but for the most part life is dark, harsh, and cruel; instead of pretending that everything's all sunshine and daisies, it points out and confronts the harsh reality of life head-on.
Now to wait for the inevitable "TL/DR" posts...
One of the most well known genres of rock and roll, heavy metal was developed in the late 60s and early 70s in the Midlands of the UK and the US. Musically speaking, metal originally drew heavily on blues rock and psychadelic rock where high volume, thick sound, heavy disortion, and overall loudness and aggressiveness were the names of the game. Among the earliest metal bands were Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, and Blue Cheer. Of note is that during this timeframe, "hard rock" and "heavy metal" were essentially interchangable terms. For example, Aerosmith was considered to be one of the top American metal bands of the 70s by critics at the time. Later, as metal grew, it fragmented along creative lines and sub genres evolved as bands experimented with new sounds and inspirations.
"Traditional" or "Classic" metal, is what many consider to be the "original" version of metal that was developed in the 60s as an evolution of the hippy counterculture of the time. As the movement wound down, many members found themselves disillusioned from the original "peace and love" mindset, their sound became darker and more aggressive. Examples of early traditional metal include Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" album, the Beatles' "White Album", Led Zeppelin's self-titled debut album, and early shows by Grand Funk Railroad. Other performers from that time frame that helped shape the foundations of metal include AC/DC, Alice Cooper, Scorpions, and KISS.
Out of classic metal came what is known as the "New Wave of British Heavy Metal" in the mid-70's to early-80's, led by bands like Judas Priest, Motorhead, and Iron Maiden who sought to combine elements of previous bands (such as Black Sabbath's grungy, agressive tone with Alice Cooper's stagecraft and Led Zeppelin's wailing lyrics) into one package. During this timeframe, metal started evolving past its original blues-rock base as bands looked to other genres, most notably hardcore punk and classical music, for inspriation while developing their own unique sound. It was also in this frame that first generation metal bands started falling by the wayside: Deep Purple broke up in 1975 with the departure of guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, Zeppelin disbanded with the death of Jon Bohnam in 1980, and Black Sabbath was continually upstaged by a rather young Los Angeles band called Van Halen. Other major developments of this generation include the emergance of guitarists Randy Rhoads and Yngwie Malmsteen (the progenetors of neo-classical metal) and glam metal bands like Twisted Sister, Motley Crue, and Quiet Riot
Thrash metal came out in the 80s as a result of cross-pollination between the New Wave of British Heavy Metal and Hardcore Punk. Developed and popularized by the "Big Four" (Metallica, Metadeth, Anthrax and Slayer), typical elements of thrash metal include fast-paced, agressive, and technical guitar work, gruff vocals, and lyrical themes that dealt heavily in nihlism and social issues, causing some critics to dub metal the "pale-faced cousin" of rap. Eventually, thrash metal grew and split off into varying factions such as death metal, black metal and power metal.
I'd continue with discussing the music, but that would take the better part of several months, so I'll touch upon the culture of metal.
As a subculture, metalheads are a "culture of alienation" with our own standards for achieving authenticity. Examples of this include growing out our hair, an intense dislike of the mainstream, and a lack of intrest in commercial success (part of the reason why Metallica pissed a lot of us off after the Black Album). Much like the punk community, one of the things that'll set us off is some random poser showing up. Outside of that, though, we're a lot more tolerant than most people believe (despite some extreme exceptions like the assholes who deliberately targeted Christians in the 90s): as long as you fit the metalhead mentality, we don't give a shit what you look like. Long hair, leather jackets, tats, and so on are helpful, but not required as long as you have the right mindset.
Well I don't have much of a good way to end this, but I'll just add in my take on metal (and if it sounds familiar, I occasionally use Ian in Halo of Flies as a proxy to express some of my opinions). For me, metal is nothing more than raw, undiluted emotion in a musical format. It doesn't beat around the bush, and is what I consider to be the most truthful of metal genres. Yes, life can be good, but for the most part life is dark, harsh, and cruel; instead of pretending that everything's all sunshine and daisies, it points out and confronts the harsh reality of life head-on.
Now to wait for the inevitable "TL/DR" posts...