(From Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia)
Heavy metal (often
referred to simply as metal) is a genre of rock music[1]
that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and in the
United States.[2]
With roots in blues rock and psychedelic
rock, 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
generally associated with masculinity and machismo.[3]
The first heavy
metal bands such as Led Zeppelin, Black
Sabbath and Deep Purple eventually attracted large audiences,
though many were critically reviled (with the notable exception of Led
Zeppelin), 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;[4][5]
Motörhead
introduced a punk
rock sensibility and an increasing emphasis on speed. Bands in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal
such as Iron
Maiden followed in a similar vein. Before the end of the decade, heavy
metal fans became known as "metalheads" or "headbangers".
In the 1980s, glam metal
became a major commercial force with groups like Mötley
Crüe and Poison. Underground
scenes produced an array of more extreme, aggressive styles: thrash
metal broke into the mainstream with bands such as Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax,
while other styles like death metal and black metal
remain subcultural
phenomena. Since the mid-1990s, popular styles such as nu metal,
which often incorporates elements of grunge and hip hop;
and metalcore,
which blends extreme metal with hardcore
punk, have further expanded the definition of the genre.
Characteristics
Heavy 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."[6]
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 sometimes used to
enhance the fullness of the sound.[7]
Judas
Priest, performing in 2005
The electric
guitar and the sonic power that it projects through amplification has
historically been the key element in heavy metal.[8]
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".[7]
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.[9]
Critic Simon
Frith claims that the metal singer's "tone of voice" is more
important than the lyrics.[10]
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 growling of many death metal
performers, and to the harsh screams of black metal.
The prominent
role of the bass is also key to the metal sound, and the interplay of bass and
guitar is a central element. 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, an approach popularized by Metallica's Cliff
Burton in the early 1980s.[12]
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 dexterity...to
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 live
performance, loudness—an
"onslaught of sound," in sociologist Deena Weinstein's description—is
considered vital.[8]
In his book Metalheads, psychologist Jeffrey Arnett refers to heavy
metal concerts as "the sensory equivalent of war."[15]
Following the lead set by Jimi Hendrix, Cream
and The Who,
early heavy metal acts such as Blue Cheer set new benchmarks for volume. As Blue
Cheer's Dick Peterson put it, "All we knew was we
wanted more power."[16]
A 1977 review of a Motörhead concert noted how "excessive volume in
particular figured into the band’s impact."[17]
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."[8]
Musical language
Rhythm and tempo
The rhythm in
metal songs is emphatic, with deliberate stresses. Weinstein observes that the
wide array of sonic effects available to metal drummers enables the
"rhythmic pattern to take on a complexity within its elemental drive and
insistency."[11]
In many heavy metal songs, the main groove is characterized by short, two-note
or three-note rhythmic figures—generally made up of 8th or 16th
notes. These rhythmic figures are usually performed with a staccato attack
created by using a palm-muted technique on the rhythm guitar.[18]
An example of a
rhythmic pattern used in heavy metal
Brief, abrupt,
and detached rhythmic cells are joined into rhythmic phrases with
a distinctive, often jerky texture. These phrases are used to create rhythmic
accompaniment and melodic figures called riffs, which help to
establish thematic hooks. Heavy metal songs also use longer rhythmic
figures such as whole note- or dotted quarter note-length chords in
slow-tempo power ballads. The tempos in early heavy metal music
tended to be "slow, even ponderous."[11]
By the late 1970s, however, metal bands were employing a wide variety of
tempos. In the 2000s decade, metal tempos range from slow ballad tempos
(quarter note = 60 beats per minute) to extremely fast blast beat
tempos (quarter note = 350 beats per minute).[14]
Harmony
One of the
signatures of the genre is the guitar power chord.[19]
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,[20]
power chords are also based on different intervals such as the minor third,
major
third, perfect fourth, diminished
fifth, or minor sixth.[21]
Most power chords are also played with a consistent finger arrangement that can
be slid easily up and down the fretboard.[22]
Typical harmonic structures
Heavy metal is
usually based on riffs
created with three main harmonic traits: modal scale progressions, tritone and
chromatic progressions, and the use of pedal
points. Traditional heavy metal tends to employ modal scales, in particular
the Aeolian
and Phrygian
modes.[23]
Harmonically speaking, this means the genre typically incorporates modal chord
progressions such as the Aeolian progressions 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). Tense-sounding chromatic or tritone
relationships are used in a number of metal chord progressions.[24][25]
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."[26]
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".
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.[27]
Relationship with classical music
Robert Walser argues that, alongside
blues and R&B, the "assemblage of disparate musical styles known...as
'classical music'" has been a major influence on heavy metal since the genre's
earliest days. He claims that metal's "most influential musicians have
been guitar players who have also studied classical music. Their appropriation
and adaptation of classical models sparked the development of a new kind of
guitar virtuosity [and] changes in the harmonic and melodic language of heavy
metal."[28]
In an article written for Grove Music Online, Walser states that the
"1980s brought on ...the widespread adaptation of chord progressions and
virtuosic practices from 18th-century European models, especially Bach, Wilhelm Richard Wagner and Vivaldi, by
influential guitarists such as Eddie
Van Halen, Randy Rhoads and Yngwie
Malmsteen".[29]
Kurt Bachmann of Believer has stated that "If done correctly,
metal and classical fit quite well together. Classical and metal are probably
the two genres that have the most in common when it comes to feel, texture,
creativity."[30]
Although a
number of metal musicians cite classical composers as inspiration, 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.'"[31]
Lyrical themes
Black Sabbath
and the many metal bands they inspired have concentrated lyrically "on
dark and depressing subject matter to an extent hitherto unprecedented in any
form of pop music," according to scholars David Hatch and Stephen
Millward. They take as an example Sabbath's second album Paranoid (1970), which "included songs
dealing with personal trauma—'Paranoid'
and 'Fairies Wear Boots' (which described the
unsavoury side effects of drug-taking) —as well as those confronting wider
issues, such as the self-explanatory 'War Pigs' and
'Hand of Doom'."[32]
Nuclear annihilation was addressed in later metal songs such as Black
Sabbath's "Electric Funeral", Iron Maiden's "2 Minutes to Midnight", Ozzy
Osbourne's "Killer of Giants", Megadeth's "Rust In Peace...
Polaris", and Metallica's "Fight Fire With Fire". Death is a
predominant theme in heavy metal, routinely featuring in the lyrics of bands as
otherwise widely different as Slayer and W.A.S.P.
The more extreme forms of death metal and grindcore tend to have aggressive and
gory lyrics.
Deriving from
the genre's roots in blues music, sex is another important topic—a thread
running from Led Zeppelin's suggestive lyrics to the more explicit references
of glam and nu metal bands.[33]
Romantic tragedy is a standard theme of gothic and doom metal, as well as of nu
metal, where teenage angst is another central topic. 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 Iron Maiden's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner",
based on the Samuel Taylor Coleridge poem. Led Zeppelin lyrics often
reference Lord of the Rings as well as other mythology and
folklore, such as in the songs "The Battle of Evermore", "Immigrant
Song", "Ramble On", "No Quarter", and "Achilles Last Stand". Other examples
include Black Sabbath's "The Wizard", Megadeth's
"The Conjuring" and "Five Magics", and Judas Priest's
"Dreamer Deceiver". Since the 1980s, with the rise of thrash metal
and songs such as Metallica's "...And Justice for All" and
Megadeth's "Peace Sells", more metal lyrics have included
sociopolitical commentary. Genres such as melodic death metal, progressive
metal, and black metal often explore philosophical themes.
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."[6]
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 in American court 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. While the case
attracted a great deal of media attention, it was ultimately dismissed.[34]
In some predominantly Muslim countries, heavy metal has been officially
denounced as a threat to traditional values. In countries such as Morocco,
Egypt, Lebanon, and Malaysia, there have been incidents of heavy metal
musicians and fans being arrested and incarcerated.[35]
Image and fashion
Main article: Heavy metal fashion
Kiss
performing in 2004, wearing makeup
For certain
artists and bands, 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, logos, stage sets, clothing, and music
videos.[36]
Some heavy metal acts such as Alice
Cooper, Kiss, Lordi, Slipknot,
and Gwar have
outrageous performance personas and stage shows.
Down-the-back
long hair, according to Weinstein, is the "most crucial distinguishing
feature of metal fashion."[37]
Originally adopted from the hippie subculture, by the 1980s and 1990s heavy
metal hair "symbolised the hate, angst and disenchantment of a generation
that seemingly never felt at home," according to journalist Nader Rahman.
Long hair gave members of the metal community "the power they needed to
rebel against nothing in general."[38]
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]
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.[40]
Many metal performers of the 1970s and 1980s used radically shaped and brightly
colored instruments to enhance their stage appearance. Fashion 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.[41]
Pioneered by the heavy metal act X Japan in the late 1980s, bands in the Japanese movement
known as visual
kei—which includes many nonmetal groups—emphasize elaborate costumes, hair,
and makeup.[42]
Physical gestures
Fans raise
their fists and make the "devil horns" gesture at a concert by
Estonian heavy metal group Metsatöll in 2006
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.[25]
Although Gene Simmons of Kiss
claims to have been the first to make the gesture on the 1977 Love Gun
album cover, there is speculation as to who started the phenomenon.[43]
Attendees of
metal concerts do not dance in the usual sense; Deena Weinstein has argued that
this is due to the music's largely male 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.[44]
The performance of air guitar is popular among metal fans both at concerts
and listening to records at home.[45]
Other concert audience activities include stage
diving, crowd surfing, pushing and shoving in a chaotic mêlée
called moshing,
and displaying the corna hand symbol.
Fan subculture
Main article: Heavy metal subculture
Deena Weinstein
argues that heavy metal has outlasted many other rock genres largely due to the
emergence of an intense, exclusionary, strongly masculine subculture.[46]
While the metal fanbase is largely young, white, male, and blue-collar, the
group is "tolerant of those outside its core demographic base who follow
its codes of dress, appearance, and behavior."[47]
Identification with the subculture is strengthened not only by the shared
experience of concert-going and shared elements of fashion, but also by
contributing to metal magazines and, more recently, websites.[48]
The metal scene
has been characterized as a "subculture of alienation", with its own
code of authenticity.[49]
This code puts several demands on performers: they must appear both completely
devoted to their music and loyal to the subculture that supports it; they must
appear uninterested in mainstream appeal and radio hits; and they must never
"sell
out".[50]
For the fans themselves, the code promotes "opposition to established
authority, and separateness from the rest of society."[51]
Musician and filmmaker Rob Zombie observes, "Most of the kids who come to
my shows seem like really imaginative kids with a lot of creative energy they
don't know what to do with" and that metal is "outsider music for
outsiders. Nobody wants to be the weird kid; you just somehow end up being the
weird kid. It's kind of like that, but with metal you have all the weird kids
in one place."[52]
Scholars of metal have noted the tendency of fans to classify and reject some
performers (and some other fans) as "posers"
"who pretended to be part of the subculture, but who were deemed to lack
authenticity and sincerity."[49][53]
Etymology
The origin of
the term "heavy metal" in a musical context is uncertain. The phrase
has been used for centuries in chemistry and metallurgy, where the periodic
table organizes elements of both light
and heavy metals (e.g. uranium). An early use
of the term in modern popular culture was by countercultural
writer William S. Burroughs. His 1962 novel The
Soft Machine includes a character known as "Uranian Willy, the
Heavy Metal Kid." Burroughs's next novel, Nova
Express (1964), develops the theme, using heavy metal as a
metaphor for addictive drugs: "With their diseases and orgasm drugs and
their sexless parasite life forms—Heavy Metal People of Uranus wrapped in cool
blue mist of vaporized bank notes—And The Insect People of Minraud with metal
music."[54]
Metal historian
Ian
Christe describes what the components of the term mean in "hippiespeak":
"heavy" is roughly synonymous with "potent" or
"profound," and "metal" designates a certain type of mood,
grinding and weighted as with metal.[55]
The word "heavy" in this sense was a basic element of beatnik and later
countercultural slang,
and references to "heavy music"—typically slower, more amplified
variations of standard pop fare—were already common by the mid-1960s. British
psychedelic art experimenters Hapshash and the Coloured Coat
released a record in 1967 titled Featuring the Human Host and the Heavy
Metal Kids. Iron Butterfly's debut album, released in early
1968, was titled Heavy. The first recorded use of
"heavy metal" is a reference to a motorcycle in the Steppenwolf song "Born
to Be Wild", also released that year:[56]
"I like smoke and lightning/Heavy metal thunder/Racin' with the wind/And
the feelin' that I'm under." A late, and disputed, claim about the source
of the term was made by "Chas" Chandler, former manager of the Jimi Hendrix Experience. In a 1995
interview on the PBS program Rock and Roll, he
asserted that heavy metal "was a term originated in a New York Times
article reviewing a Jimi Hendrix performance," in which the author
likened the event to "listening to heavy metal falling from the sky."
A source for Chandler's claim has never been found.
The first
documented use of the phrase to describe a type of rock music identified to
date appears in a review by Barry Gifford. In the May 11, 1968, issue of Rolling
Stone, he wrote about the album A Long Time Comin' by U.S. band Electric
Flag: "Nobody who's been listening to Mike
Bloomfield—either talking or playing—in the last few years could have
expected this. This is the new soul music, the synthesis of white blues and
heavy metal rock."[57]
In January 1970 Lucian K. Truscott IV reviewing Led
Zeppelin II for the Village Voice described the sound as
"heavy" and made comparisons with Blue Cheer
and Vanilla
Fudge.[58]
Other early documented uses of the phrase 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."[59]
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."[60]
Creem critic Lester Bangs is credited with popularizing the term
via his early 1970s essays on bands such as Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath.[61]
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,"[62]
and, in a different article, as "a crude exaggeration of rock basics that
appeals to white teenagers."[63]
Coined by Black
Sabbath drummer, Bill Ward, "downer rock" was one of
the earliest terms used to describe this style of music and was applied to acts
such as Sabbath and Bloodrock. Classic Rock magazine described the downer
rock culture revolving around the use of Quaaludes and
the drinking of wine.[64]
Later the term would be replaced by "heavy metal."[65]
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.[66]
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."[67]
History
Antecedents: mid-1960s
Arthur Brown performing alongside his group
The Crazy World of Arthur Brown;
wearing a burning metal helmet.
While heavy
metal's quintessential guitar style, built around distortion-heavy riffs and
power chords, traces its roots to the late 1950s instrumentals of American Link Wray,[68]
and the Kingsmen's
version of "Louie, Louie" (1963), which made it a garage rock
standard,[69]
the genre's direct lineage begins in the mid-1960s. American blues music was a
major influence on the early British rockers of the era. Bands like The Rolling Stones and The
Yardbirds developed blues rock by recording covers of many classic blues
songs, often speeding up the tempos. 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, in particular, the loud, distorted guitar sound.[16]
The Kinks
played a major role in popularizing this sound with their 1964 hit "You
Really Got Me".[70]
In addition to
The Kinks' Dave Davies, other guitarists such as The Who's Pete
Townshend and The Yardbirds' Jeff Beck
were experimenting with feedback.[71][72]
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.[73]
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.[74]
The combination
of blues rock with psychedelic rock formed much of the original basis
for heavy metal.[75]
One of the most influential bands in forging the merger of genres was the
British 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.[76]
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 identified by some as the first heavy metal hit.[16]
During the late sixties, many psychedelic singers such as Arthur Brown, began to create outlandish,
theatrical and often macabre performances; which in itself became incredibly
influential to many metal acts.[77][78][79]
Vanilla
Fudge, whose first album also came out in 1967, have been
called "one of the few American links between psychedelia and what soon
became heavy metal."[80]
Origins: late 1960s and early 1970s
See also: Traditional heavy metal
In 1968, the
sound that would become known as heavy metal began to coalesce. 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.[81]
The same month, Steppenwolf released its self-titled debut album, including
"Born to Be Wild", which refers to "heavy
metal thunder" in describing a motorcycle. 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;
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.
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.[82]
In October, Page's new band, Led Zeppelin, made its live debut. The Beatles'
so-called White Album, which also came out that
month, included "Birthday" and "Helter Skelter", then one of the heaviest-sounding
songs ever released by a major band.[83]
The Pretty Things' rock opera
S.F.
Sorrow, released in December, featured "proto heavy metal"
songs such as "Old Man Going" and "I See You".[84][85]
In this period MC5,
who began as part of the Detroit garage rock scene, developed a raw distorted
style that has been seen as a major influence on the future sound of both heavy
metal and later punk music.[86][87]
The
Stooges also began to establish and influence a heavy metal and later punk
sound, with songs such as "I Wanna Be Your Dog", featuring pounding
and distorted heavy guitar power chord riffs.[88]
Pink Floyd
released two of their heaviest and loudest songs to date; "Ibiza Bar"
and "The Nile Song", which was regarded as "one
of the heaviest songs the band recorded".[89][90]
Led
Zeppelin performing in Montreux in March 1970
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.[91]
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.
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.[92]
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Led Zeppelin
defined central aspects of the emerging genre, with Page's highly distorted
guitar style and singer Robert Plant's dramatic, wailing vocals.[93]
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
(In Rock) were crucial in this
regard.[73]
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.[94]
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.[95]
In 1970, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple scored major UK chart hits with "Paranoid"
and "Black
Night", respectively.[96][97]
That same year, two other British bands released debut albums in a heavy metal
mode: Uriah Heep with Very 'Eavy... Very 'Umble and UFO
with UFO 1. Bloodrock
released their self-titled debut album, containing a collection
of heavy guitar riffs, gruff style vocals and sadistic and macabre lyrics.[98]
Budgie
brought the new metal sound into a power trio context.[99]
The occult lyrics and imagery employed by Black Sabbath and Uriah Heep would
prove particularly influential; Led Zeppelin also began foregrounding such
elements with its fourth album, released in 1971.[100]
Tony Iommi
and Ozzy
Osbourne of Black Sabbath onstage in January 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."[101]
Other bands identified with metal emerged in the U.S., such as Blue Öyster Cult (1972), Aerosmith (1973) and Kiss
(1974). In Germany, 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.[73]
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 or placing greater emphasis
on melody 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..."[102]
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."[103]
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."[104]
In certain
cases, there is little debate. After Black Sabbath, the next major example is
Britain's Judas Priest, which debuted with Rocka Rolla
in 1974. In Christe's description,
"Black
Sabbath's audience was...left to scavenge for sounds with similar impact. By
the mid-1970s, heavy metal aesthetic could be spotted, like a mythical beast,
in the moody bass and complex dual guitars of Thin Lizzy,
in the stagecraft of Alice Cooper, in the sizzling guitar and showy vocals
of Queen,
and in the thundering medieval questions of Rainbow.... Judas Priest arrived to
unify and amplify these diverse highlights from hard rock's sonic palette. For
the first time, heavy metal became a true genre unto itself."[105]
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.[4]
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,[106]
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."[107]
Mainstream: late 1970s and 1980s
Iron Maiden,
one of the central bands in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal
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.[106]
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.[108]
Motörhead,
founded in 1975, was the first important band to straddle the punk/metal
divide. With the explosion of punk in 1977, others followed. British music
papers such as the NME
and Sounds took notice, with Sounds writer
Geoff Barton christening the movement the "New Wave of British Heavy Metal".[109]
NWOBHM bands including Iron Maiden, Saxon,
and Def
Leppard reenergized the heavy metal genre. Following the lead set by Judas
Priest and Motörhead, they toughened up the sound, reduced its blues elements,
and emphasized increasingly fast tempos.[110]
In 1980, the NWOBHM broke into the mainstream, as albums by Iron Maiden and
Saxon, as well as Motörhead, reached the British top 10. Though less
commercially successful, other NWOBHM bands such as Venom
and Diamond Head would have a significant influence
on metal's development.[111]
In 1981, Motörhead became the first of this new breed of metal bands to top the
UK charts with No Sleep 'til Hammersmith.
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 broke up following
drummer John
Bonham's death in 1980. Black Sabbath was routinely upstaged in concert by
its opening act, the Los Angeles band Van Halen.[112]
Eddie
Van Halen established himself as one of the leading metal guitarists of the
era—his solo on "Eruption", from the band's self-titled 1978 album, is considered a
milestone.[113]
Randy
Rhoads's and Yngwie Malmsteen's virtuosity became associated
with what would be known as the neo-classical 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).
Inspired by Van
Halen's success, a metal scene began to develop in Southern California during
the late 1970s. Based on 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[114]
and incorporated the theatrics (and sometimes makeup) of glam rock
acts such as Alice Cooper and Kiss.[115]
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.
Sample of "Purgatory" by
Iron
Maiden, from the album Killers (1981). The early Iron
Maiden sound was a mix of punk rock speed and heavy metal guitar work typical
of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal.
Sample of "Hot
for Teacher" by Van Halen, from the album 1984 (1984). This sample demonstrates
their sound's similarity to the glam metal style.
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In the wake of
the New Wave of British Heavy Metal and Judas Priest's breakthrough British Steel (1980), heavy metal became
increasingly popular in the early 1980s. Many metal artists benefited from the
exposure they received on MTV,
which began airing in 1981—sales often soared if a band's videos screened on
the channel.[116]
Def Leppard's videos for Pyromania (1983) made them superstars in
America and Quiet Riot became the first domestic heavy metal band to top the Billboard
chart with Metal Health (1983). One of the seminal events in
metal's growing popularity was the 1983 US Festival
in California, where the "heavy metal day" featuring Ozzy Osbourne,
Van Halen, Scorpions, Mötley Crüe, Judas Priest, and others drew the largest
audiences of the three-day event.[117]
Between 1983 and 1984, heavy metal went from an 8 percent to a 20 percent share
of all recordings sold in the U.S.[118]
Several major professional magazines devoted to the genre were launched,
including Kerrang!
(in 1981) and Metal Hammer (in 1984), as well as a host of fan
journals. In 1985, Billboard declared, "Metal has broadened its
audience base. Metal music is no longer the exclusive domain of male teenagers.
The metal audience has become older (college-aged), younger (pre-teen), and
more female."[119]
By the
mid-1980s, glam metal was a dominant presence on the U.S. charts, music
television, and the arena concert circuit. New bands such as L.A.'s Warrant and acts from the East Coast like Poison
and Cinderella became major draws, while Mötley Crüe
and Ratt remained very popular. Bridging the stylistic gap between hard rock
and glam metal, New Jersey's Bon Jovi
became enormously successful with its third album, Slippery
When Wet (1986). The similarly styled Swedish band Europe
became international stars with The Final Countdown (1986). Its title track hit number 1 in 25
countries.[120]
In 1987, MTV launched a show, Headbanger's Ball, devoted exclusively to
heavy metal videos. However, the metal audience had begun to factionalize, with
those in many underground metal scenes favoring more extreme sounds and
disparaging the popular style as "light metal" or "hair
metal."[121]
One band that
reached diverse audiences was Guns
N' Roses. In contrast to their glam metal contemporaries in L.A., they were
seen as much more raw and dangerous. With the release of their chart-topping Appetite for Destruction (1987), they
"recharged and almost single-handedly sustained the Sunset Strip sleaze
system for several years."[122]
The following year, Jane's Addiction emerged from the same L.A.
hard-rock club scene with its major label debut, Nothing's Shocking. Reviewing the album, Rolling
Stone declared, "as much as any band in existence, Jane's Addiction is
the true heir to Led Zeppelin."[123]
The group was one of the first to be identified with the "alternative
metal" trend that would come to the fore in the next decade.
Meanwhile, new bands such as New York's Winger
and New Jersey's Skid Row sustained the popularity of the
glam metal style.[124]
[edit]
Other metal genres: 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s
Many subgenres of heavy metal developed
outside of the commercial mainstream during the 1980s.[125]
Several attempts have been made to map the complex world of underground metal,
most notably by the editors of Allmusic, 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
For more
details on this topic, see thrash metal.
Thrash metal
band Slayer
performing in 2007
Thrash metal
emerged in the early 1980s under the influence of hardcore
punk and the New Wave of British Heavy Metal,[126]
particularly songs in the revved-up style known as speed metal.
The movement began in the United States, with Bay Area thrash metal being the leading
scene. The sound developed by thrash groups was faster and more aggressive than
that of the original metal bands and their glam metal successors.[126]
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."[127]
Slayer's "Angel of Death", from Reign
in Blood (1986), which features the fast, technically complex
musicianship typical of thrash metal
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The subgenre
was popularized by the "Big Four of Thrash": Metallica, Anthrax,
Megadeth,
and Slayer.[128]
Three German bands, Kreator, Sodom,
and Destruction, played a central role in bringing
the style to Europe. Others, including San Francisco Bay Area'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.[129]
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."[130]
Two decades later, Metal Hammer named it the best album of the
preceding twenty years.[131]
Slayer attracted a following among far-right skinheads, and accusations of
promoting violence and Nazi themes have dogged the band.[132]
In the early 1990s, thrash achieved breakout success, challenging and
redefining the metal mainstream.[133]
Metallica's self-titled 1991 album topped the Billboard
chart,[134]
Megadeth's Countdown to Extinction (1992) hit
number 2,[135]
Anthrax and Slayer cracked the top 10,[136]
and albums by regional bands such as Testament and Sepultura entered the top
100.[137]
Death metal
For more
details on this topic, see death metal.
Death's Chuck
Schuldiner, "widely recognized as the father of death metal"[138]
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.[139]
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.[140]
Death metal vocals are typically bleak, involving guttural "death
growls," high-pitched screaming, the "death rasp,"[141]
and other uncommon techniques.[142]
Complementing the deep, aggressive vocal style are downtuned, highly distorted guitars[140][141]
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.
"Suffocation" by Obituary from the album Slowly
We Rot (1989)
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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.[143]
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.[143]
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.[140]
Black metal
For more
details on this topic, see black metal.
Photo of the
burned ruins of Fantoft stave church as 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
and Burzum were
heading a second wave.[144]
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[142]
and intentionally lo-fi
production, with ambient noise and background hiss.[145]
Satanic themes are common in black metal, though many bands take inspiration
from ancient paganism,
promoting a return to pre-Christian values.[146]
Numerous black metal bands also "experiment with sounds from all possible
forms of metal, folk, classical music, electronica and avant-garde."[141]
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."[147]
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,[148]
with Mayhem and Burzum linked to church burnings. Growing commercial hype
around death metal generated a backlash; beginning in Norway, much of the
Scandinavian metal underground shifted to support a black metal scene that
resisted being co-opted by the commercial metal industry.[149]
According to former 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."[147]
The title track of Mayhem's
De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas (1994)
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By 1992, black
metal scenes had begun to emerge in areas outside Scandinavia, including
Germany, France, and Poland.[150]
The 1993 murder of Mayhem's Euronymous by Burzum's Varg
Vikernes provoked intensive media coverage.[147]
Around 1996, when many in the scene felt the genre was stagnating,[151]
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.[152]
In the late 1990s and early 2000s decade, Norway's Dimmu
Borgir brought black metal closer to the mainstream,[153]
as did Cradle of Filth, which Metal
Hammer calls England's most successful metal band since Iron Maiden.[154]
Power metal
For more
details on this topic, see power metal.
Swedish power
metal band HammerFall
after a concert in Milan,
Italy, in 2005
During the late
1980s, the power metal scene came together largely in reaction to the harshness
of death and black metal.[155]
Though a relatively underground style in North America, it enjoys wide
popularity in Europe, Japan, and South America. Power metal focuses on upbeat,
epic melodies and themes that "appeal to the listener's sense of valor and
loveliness."[156]
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."[157]
Traditional
power metal bands like Sweden's HammerFall,
England's DragonForce,
and Florida's Iced Earth have a sound clearly indebted to the classic
NWOBHM style.[158]
Many power metal bands such as Florida's Kamelot,
Finland's Nightwish,
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.
Closely related
to power metal is progressive metal, which adopts the complex
compositional approach of bands like Rush
and King
Crimson. This style emerged in the United States in the early and
mid-1980s, with innovators such as Queensrÿche,
Fates
Warning, and Dream Theater. The mix of the progressive and power
metal sounds is typified by New Jersey's Symphony X,
whose guitarist Michael Romeo is among the most recognized of
latter-day shredders.[159]
Doom and gothic metal
For more
details on this topic, see doom metal and gothic
metal.
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.[160]
The Melvins
have also been a significant influence on doom metal and a number of its
subgenres.[161]
Doom emphasizes melody, melancholy tempos, and a sepulchral mood relative to
many other varieties of metal.[162]
"Country Doctor" from Crippled
Lucifer (1998) by doom metal band Burning
Witch
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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,[163]
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.[164]
In the United
States, sludge
metal, mixing doom and hardcore, emerged in the late 1980s—Eyehategod
and Crowbar were leaders in 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,[165]
while Seattle's Earth helped develop the drone metal
subgenre.[166]
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".[162]
New fusions: 1990s and early 2000s
For more
details on this topic, see alternative
metal and nu
metal and grunge.
"Walk" from Pantera's Vulgar Display of Power (1992),
exemplifying the groove metal style
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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.[167]
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.[124]
Glam metal fell
out of favor due not only to the success of grunge,[168]
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.[169]
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."[170]
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,[171]
Metallica remained one of the most successful bands in the world into the new
century.[172]
Layne
Staley of Alice in Chains, one of the most popular acts
identified with alternative metal, performing in 1992
Like Jane's
Addiction, many of the most popular early 1990s groups with roots in heavy
metal fall under the umbrella term "alternative metal."[173]
Bands in Seattle's grunge scene such as Soundgarden,
credited as making a "place for heavy metal in alternative rock",[174]
and Alice in Chains were at the center of the
alternative metal movement. The label was applied to a wide spectrum of other
acts that fused metal with different 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; bands such as Fear
Factory and Ministry and Nine
Inch Nails began incorporating metal into their industrial
sound, and vice versa, respectively; 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).[173]
Alternative metal's mix of styles and sounds represented "the colorful
results of metal opening up to face the outside world."[175]
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.[176]
Dubbed "nu metal", bands such as Slipknot,
Linkin
Park, Limp
Bizkit, Papa
Roach, P.O.D.,
Korn and Disturbed 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."[177]
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.[178]
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.[179]
While nu metal was widely popular, traditional metal fans did not fully embrace
the style.[180]
By early 2003, the movement's popularity was on the wane, though several nu
metal acts such as System of a Down retained substantial followings.[181]
Recent trends: mid–late 2000s
Children
of Bodom, performing at the 2007 Masters of Rock festival
Metal remained
popular in the 2000s, particularly in continental Europe. By the new millennium
Scandinavia had emerged as one of the areas producing innovative and successful
bands, while Belgium, The Netherlands and especially Germany were the most
significant markets.[182]
Established continental metal bands that placed multiple albums in the top 20
of the German charts between 2003 and 2008, including Finnish band Children
of Bodom,[183]
Norwegian act Dimmu Borgir,[184]
Germany's Blind Guardian[185]
and Sweden's HammerFall.[186]
Metalcore, a
hybrid of extreme metal and hardcore punk,[187]
emerged as a commercial force in the mid-2000s decade. It is rooted in the crossover
thrash style developed two decades earlier by bands such as Suicidal Tendencies, Dirty Rotten Imbeciles, and Stormtroopers of Death.[188]
Through the 1990s, metalcore was mostly an underground phenomenon;[189]
early bands include Earth Crisis,[190][191][192]
Converge,[191]
Hatebreed[192][193]
and Shai
Hulud.[194][195]
By 2004, melodic metalcore—influenced as well by melodic death metal—was 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.[196]
Bullet for My Valentine are one of the
leading bands in the metalcore genre.
Welsh band Bullet for My Valentine's third studio
album Fever debuted at position
number 3 on The Billboard 200 and number 1 on Billboard's Rock and Alternative
charts, making it the band's most successful record to date.[197]
In recent years, metalcore bands have received prominent slots at Ozzfest and
the Download Festival. Lamb of God, a groove metal band, hit the Billboard
top 10 in 2006 with Sacrament. The success of these bands and
others such as Trivium, which has released both metalcore and
straight-ahead thrash albums, and Mastodon,
which plays in a progressive/sludge style, has inspired claims of a metal
revival in the United States, dubbed by some critics the "New Wave of American Heavy Metal".[198]
The term
"retro-metal" has been applied to such bands as Texas-based The Sword,
California's High on Fire, Sweden's Witchcraft[199]
and Australia's Wolfmother.[199][200]
The Sword's Age of Winters (2006) drew heavily on the work
of Black Sabbath and Pentagram;[201]
Witchcraft added elements of folk rock and psychedelic rock;[202]
and 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."[200]
"Woman", a track from the album, won
for Best Hard Rock Performance
at the 2007 Grammy Awards. Slayer's
"Eyes of the Insane" won for Best Metal Performance in
2007; their "Final Six" won the same award in 2008. Metallica took
the honor in 2009 for "My Apocalypse". Other recent developments in the
world of metal have been the resurgence of the thrash metal scene, and the
recent emergence of the 'djent' scene.[203]
See also
- Heavy metal subgenres
- List of heavy metal bands
- List of heavy metal festivals
- Timeline of heavy metal music
Notes
5.
^ "As much
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