heavy metal

[zimaane]

What is the origin of the term “heavy metal” for the genre of music? I thought of the lyric in “Born to be wild” by Steppenwolf: “Heavy metal thunder” but I don’t know if that is the first appearance of the term. What is the straight dope?

[Gary_T]

That phrase from the song, along with some groups’ names that referred to heavy metals/equipment, inspired the term. Apparently this is the fellow who coined it: http://phrases.shu.ac.uk/bulletin_board/23/messages/492.html

[vasyachkin]

i think the term heavy metal is now rather archaic.

“metal” is still the official way to call it, but “heavy” part is dead imho.

black metal
death metal
doom
thrash
alternative
punk

but no “heavy metal”

[vasyachkin]

i mean metal is heavy by definition, why be redundant and say heavy metal.

there is no such thing as light metal.

[ultrafilter]

Heavy metal is still used to refer to metal that was written between about 1970 and 1982, and may be used to refer to later music written in that style. It’s not too common these days, but it is out there.

There’s some doubt as to when exactly the phrase was coined. I could’ve sworn that Cecil did an article on the topic, but it doesn’t show up in search.

Wikipedia has a good article on heavy metal. Here’s what they have to say on the origins of the term:

The origin of the term heavy metal is uncertain. According to one version, it was coined by a critic for Rolling Stone Magazine, who in 1967 said that the music of Jimi Hendrix was “like heavy metal falling from the sky”. Others references have been the words “heavy metal thunder” in the 1968 Steppenwolf song “Born to be Wild”, or the William S. Burroughs story “The Heavy Metal Kid”. The word “heavy” (meaning serious or profound) had entered beatnik/counterculture slang some time earlier, and references to “heavy music” – typically slower, more amplified variations of standard pop fare – were already common; indeed, Iron Butterfly’s 1968 debut album was entitled Heavy. The fact that Led Zeppelin (whose moniker came partly in reference to Keith Moon’s jest that they would “go over like a lead balloon”) incorporated a heavy metal into its name may have sealed the usage of the term.

[nitroglycerine]

@vasyachkin

there is no such thing as light metal.

Post-Dio Rainbow
Post-Ian Gillian Black Sabbath
Later day Rush
Scorpions after Animal Magnetisn

just to name four

[vl_mungo]

Legendary rock critic Lester Bangs is another who often gets credit for coining the term.
More here.

[mancunian]

This is always what I heard:

The origin of the term heavy metal is uncertain. According to one version, it was coined by a critic for Rolling Stone Magazine, who in 1967 said that the music of Jimi Hendrix was “like heavy metal falling from the sky”

[mancunian]

@Zukhoi

This is always what I heard:

The origin of the term heavy metal is uncertain. According to one version, it was coined by a critic for Rolling Stone Magazine, who in 1967 said that the music of Jimi Hendrix was “like heavy metal falling from the sky”

Sorry, I can’t believe I missed ultrafilter say this halfway up the page. Sorry.

[Fuji_Kitakyusho]

Don’t forget the sub-genres. Personally, I am a fan of melodic technical death metal.

[bughunter]

@vasyachkin

there is no such thing as light metal.

Aluminum. Magnesium. Titanium. Beryllium. All considered “light” metals.

Lithium is an “alkalai metal” and it floats on water.

Want even lighter? How about foamed aluminum?

[vasyachkin]

@nitroglycerine

Post-Dio Rainbow
Post-Ian Gillian Black Sabbath
Later day Rush
Scorpions after Animal Magnetisn

just to name four

you may have a case with black sabbath. but scorpions is just pop.

[ultrafilter]

@vasyachkin

you may have a case with black sabbath. but scorpions is just pop.

Nah, the Scorpions are definitely a hair metal band, and on the heavy side of hair metal at that.

I suppose you can come back and say that hair metal isn’t “really” metal, but I and pretty much everyone who studies this sort of thing will disagree with you.

[samclem]

Walloon posted in an earlier thread about this–http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=155717&highlight=creem+metal .

The answer is Mike Saunders writing in 1971 in Creem magazine. The others are pretenders.

[vasyachkin]

@ultrafilter

Nah, the Scorpions are definitely a hair metal band, and on the heavy side of hair metal at that.

I suppose you can come back and say that hair metal isn’t “really” metal, but I and pretty much everyone who studies this sort of thing will disagree with you.

ok, i may be out of touch. not too big on hair metal, glam rock and the like.

[ultrafilter]

@vasyachkin

ok, i may be out of touch. not too big on hair metal, glam rock and the like.

Hey, I never I said I liked it.

[nitroglycerine]

@ultrafilter

Nah, the Scorpions are definitely a hair metal band, and on the heavy side of hair metal at that.

I suppose you can come back and say that hair metal isn’t “really” metal, but I and pretty much everyone who studies this sort of thing will disagree with you.

THe Scorpions didn’t start out as a hair metal band. They were pretty cutting edge and experimental (as far as metal bands go) in the 70s when they were on RCA and Uli Roth was on guitar. It wasn’t until Lovedrive in '79 that they started off on the pop metal direction but they didn’t become a total cliche until '82s Blackout. The had some great songs with Uli Roth…“Sails Of Charon”, “Steamrock Fever” “He’s A Woman She’s A Man”…Damn…I think I’m gonna dig out my old Scorps records tonight!