Well, they did a number of “accoustic sounding” songs. How many were done with a “true” accoustic guitar and how many were done with Tony’s regular ole Gibson electric guitar with the distortion and stuff turned all the way down, I don’t know. However, as mentioned above, Sabbath did some pretty mellow stuff as well, although they were primarily hard and heavy.
Most of Sabbath’s acoustic songs were either instrumentals (“St. Vitus Dance”, “Fluff”) or introductions to their typical heavy fare (“Spiral Architect”, “Sign of the Southern Cross”). They did have quite a few songs that could be construed as softer and outside their typical metal style, such as “Planet Caravan” or “Solitude”, but they have never abandoned a heavy undertone which permeates through all of their work.
They did a song called “Changes” that was just piano and some really sappy string arrangement and Ozzy’s vocals. I used to hear it a lot on the radio in the mid 70’s.
Whoa… so there was unplugged Sabbath, how about that.
Now the unplugged Motorhead? (how do you do the umlaut?)
Some good points about the evolution of heavy metal people. It’s easier to point at individual songs and say that is metal than define a band as HM. Good grief, even Pink Floyd played loud sometimes (heard The Nile Song?*) but no-one would call PF metal.
**Mephisto ** FWIW I don’t think Tony Iommi’s SG shaped guitar was a Gibson, maybe I remember wrongly - I was never a Sabbath fan.
*actually the Nile Song might be quite lame, but I remember thinking it was pretty robust for PF.
Speaking of Pink Floyd… if you wanted to measure their contribution to metal, look no further than their first LP (with original guitarist/singer/songwriter Syd Barrett). The monster power-chord riff that makes up Interstellar Overdrive can deffenetely be seen as an influence.
Seconded. (I would have posted this way earlier, but the board has been flaky for me lately.)
The best introductory album to check out would be Space Ritual, which is a good live album (Hawkwind is better live than in the studio). You should also look into the Nik Turner CDs Space Ritual 2001 and Past or Future?. On the SR2001 show, the artists included the boys from Pressurehed (the best spacerock group in America, now sadly defunct); Helios Creed (of Chrome fame); Genesis P-Orridge; Michael Moorcock (yes, the science fiction writer); and Jello Biafra.
Gotta disagree with you. I’ve always thought a heavy metal band was essentially a really loud blues band, unless it was Black Sabbath, which was a really loud jazz band. Even if you listen to a lot of speed and thrash metal bands, the riffs are basically blues riffs, they just don’t lean on them in the right way to sound bluesy.
I would consider Whitesnake to be a heavy metal band, and if you strip off a few layers of varnish, they’re bluesy as all get-out.
Yes, but it must be a Hammond B2 organ. No synthesizers need apply
Actually, I don’t think that you could pin one band down at the “original” or “prototypical” heavy metal band. I also think it’s useless to distinguish between acid rock and heavy metal. I think that Jimi Hendrix, Cream, the Who, the Kinks and Steppenwolf all put out a lot of music that I would put into the category of “heavy metal”. There is also a lot of music that gets lumped into the category that is essentially “power pop”- Bon Jovi, Poison, and Night Ranger, for example.
I think it would be more useful to list songs that would be considered prototypical heavy metal. That give us “Born to be Wild”, “You Really Got Me”, “Purple Haze”, “Sunshine of Your Love”, “My Generation”(which may very well have been the first heavy metal song), “White Rabbit”, “Somebody to Love”, “Satisfaction” and “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” “Inna Gadda da Vida”, basically the hard rock/acid rock of the mid to late '60’s would be what I think of as prototypical heavy metal, even though the artists would not be thought of heavy metal artists. Bands that based their overall sounds in this vein would have been the earliest true heavy metal bands. Which brings us to Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, yes I would consider Led Zeppelin to be an early heavy metal band, although their later work took a different direction, Uriah Heep, Jethro Tull (and I can’t believe nobody’s mentioned them yet).
As for Jethro Tull, I think it’s the flute that threw people off. While it can be a damn heavy flute, it’s still a flute. Uriah Heep for sure. How 'bout Slade? or Atomic Rooster…
I’m not gonna convince anyone here of other things, but to take Sabbath, which were a mediocre band at its best and put them ahead of LZ, is close to blasphemy. Those saying that LZ was too bluesy just don’t get it. Heavy Metal has its roots in blues, more so than mainstream r’n’r’. I think too many posters have only heard LZ IV and need to check out the first three albums, where it’s obvious that the blues is morphing into HM. While these guys were doing this, Purple was playing with the Royal Philharmonics at Albert Hall, and Ossy et al were trying out new wardrobes, trying to find something that’d make them look dangerous. Poseurs.
And going back to '64, we’ll find the nucleus in the Kinks with ‘You really got me’. One might argue that the distorted guitarr was born there.
“My Generation” is waaaaay too fast to be heavy metal.
Ok, yeah… Sabbath.
Led Zeppelin wasn’t heavy metal but they sure could rock! Is it me or do the English just crank out good bands in general?
Black Sabbath, hands down. “Just like witches at black masses…Sorcerors of Death’s construction…” Were ever more metal lyrics written? I mean, “War Pigs” is the template of the genre. Sure, Tommy Ioni had the ur-metal licks, but Ozzy’s demonic voice, and his macbre lyrics are truly the very stuff of metal. I suppose Alice Cooper deserves a mention, but I’m not sure where Alice fits in exactly. He’s almost like the Father of Goth, if you ask me, and I think Goth and Metal are kinda different.
I think of Judas Priest next, hot on Sabbath’s heels. I can see bands like Zep or Blue Oyster Cult, Deep Purple, Slade and the like being “metallic”, but not really quintessential Metal.
Then you can follow up with Iron Maiden, Motorhead, solo Ozzy (is Randy Rhoads not the greatest Metal guitarist ever?) before Metal begins to slide sickeningly to its nadir with the incipient Hair Metal revolution, to finally die be reborn as Speed, Death, Grunge and their ilk.
The first three albums of Zeppellin morphed into heavy metal? Gotta disagree there. Yes, the first two albums were the heaviest around for their time. The third album, with the exception of Immigrant Song, is filled with folk, eastern, country and more textured blues. Zeppelin IV combines all those elements and further pushes the band into heavy rock territory. But you can’t stop there. As heavy as Zeppelin was, the rest of their catalog simply expanded those previous influences and added others. Houses of the Holy and Physical Graffiti embraced a ton of different styles. Presence was another embracement of hard blues (the band was going through some tragic losses at the times, which is why the album is so dry), with perhaps the exception of the pre-Maiden romp of Achilles Last Stand, and their final full studio album was lighter blues, more eastern stuff, jazz, Rolling Stones style romp, and Disco.
My point of this is that Zeppelin may have been a great ground for metal to plunder, but styllistically they were all over the map. They didn’t play heavy just for heaviness sake. And this is the main reason that the most devoted metal fans, who typically love Zeppelin, don’t include them in the same category. Zeppelin isn’t being dissed by anyone. Most people are saying that if you have to narrow metal down, then Zeppelin belongs on the peripheral and Sabbath is probably the more choice based on the focus of just one musical genre.
And poseurs or no, Sabbath had talent. If Sabbath didn’t exist, then no one then or now would come up with something so compelling as “War Pigs”, and unlike any band that I know of, when the original four broke up, each member had critical success afterwards. Tony kept the revolving door open, allowing for some great moments with Ronnie James Dio and Ian Gillan. Geezer did some fantastic work with the singer from Fear Factory, and even Bill Ward cut some albums that were enjoyed by more than the most die hard fans. Ozzy’s musical success just goes without saying.
So, metal. As I said earlier, I’m going to post what I consider a reasonable breakdown of heavy metal, its roots & influences, and some of its derivatives.
I’m not going to claim to be entirely right. A lot of what follows is just my opinion, and there’s certainly room for people to disagree with it. I’m no historian, either, although I’d bet some money that there are no major historical errors here.
I’m also not trying to write a band-sorter. There are distinctions that I’m not going to mention. Those who are interested probably already know that stuff, but if you don’t, you’re welcome to find it out yourself.
As I see it, there are six major styles of modern heavy metal. There are also three more up-and-coming styles that all originated in the last 15 or so years. Add to that a couple of smaller but noteworthy styles, the acid rock and classic heavy metal of the 60’s and 70’s, and the pop metal of the 80’s, 90’s, and this decade, and you’ve got 15 or so major styles.
Others have covered the proto-metal of the 60’s better than I can, so I’m not going to go into great detail. Steppenwolf, Iron Butterfly, Jimi Hendrix, and the MC5 are probably the biggest names here, but it’s kinda hard to write a definitive list—virtually every important band in the 60’s had some influence.
In the 70’s, Black Sabbath came on the scene, and they are generally regarded as the first true metal band. There isn’t really a clear dividing line between the early metal bands and 70’s hard rock, so that’s why you have debates over the status of Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple, to name a couple. Later in the 70’s, you started to get more bands that almost everyone would agree are metal, like Motorhead, Judas Priest, and Iron Maiden.
That brings us to the birth of modern metal. Thrash was the first style to take form, and it provides a gold standard against which everything else can be compared. The other major styles of modern metal are death, black, doom, power, and prog (short for “progressive”).
Up until now, metal was almost entirely a British phenomenon. While Britain has continued to play a strong role in the metal world, America and Scandinavia have risen to prominence as well. There are metal bands from almost any country, but not enough to justify a fourth major location—yet.
Thrash metal was invented in America in the early 80’s. It could be named after the style of guitar playing, as it sounds like somebody thrashing the instrument. There’s a lot of emphasis on speed and solos as well as plain old heaviness. Speed metal is a very closely related style, and it can be a little bit difficult to distinguish between the two. The big names of thrash are Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, Slayer, Exodus, and Pantera.
Death metal, another American style, started as an offshoot of thrash in the mid 80’s. It features faster guitars, faster drums, and distorted vocals. The famous “cookie monster” vocals are the most famous, but you’ll also find raspy vocals as well. The lyrics tended to deal with violence and gore, although that’s certainly not a requirement. The biggest names are Deicide, Morbid Angel, and Death.
Thrash and death have remained almost exclusively American styles, although European death metal will rate a mention later on.
Black metal got its start in the very early 80’s as an offshoot of mainstream heavy metal. At first, the only difference was the lyrical content, which was normally described as Satanic. But from there, black metal has gone on to become extremely intense, bleak, and really damn fast. The vocals tend to be raspy, and poor production was the norm for a large part of the early 90’s. While the early black metal bands were all British, Scandinavia has since become the capital of black metal. The biggest names here are Venom, Bathory, Emperor, and Mayhem.
Black and death metal are often collectively referred to as extreme metal.
Doom metal, a product of the mid 80’s, is pretty much the direct descendant of Black Sabbath. While the last three genres are fast and heavy, doom is slow and heavy. The lyrics are usually gloomy and depressing. The big names here are Candlemass, Saint Vitus, Trouble, Paradise Lost, and My Dying Bride.
Doom metal is unusual in that American, British, and Scandinavian bands have all made important contributions along the way. Must be because everyone was listening to Black Sabbath. Speaking of Sabbath, there’s room for debate over whether they really are a doom metal band. If they aren’t, they’re damn close, so let’s just go ahead and say they are.
Power metal got started in the 80’s but really didn’t take off until the 90’s. In part, it was a reaction to the extremes of the aforementioned styles. Generally, it’s less harsh and more melodic than thrash metal, and often tends to be a little higher-pitched. You could even describe some of it as uplifting. Power metal got its start in Britain, but has become the most widespread style of metal. Some of the big names are Iron Maiden, Helloween, Stratovarius, Blind Guardian, and Iced Earth.
Prog metal is the heavier side of prog rock. There’s no clear line between the two styles, so it’s a little tough to say exactly when it started, or exactly which style a given band plays. Queensryche is generally regarded as the first prog metal band, but Dream Theater really defined the sound. It’s a little tough to point to other big names, as most prog metal bands either sound a lot like Dream Theater, or are lumped in a different category. Symphony X and Spiral Architect are worth mentioning because they sound different and are pretty clearly prog metal. Prog metal started in America and has spread to Britain and Scandinavia.
That’s it for the major styles with a lot of history behind them. There are three newer styles that will probably go on to become very big, but they aren’t quite at the same level as what we’ve discussed previously.
The first is industrial metal, which is very strongly influenced by industrial music as well as thrash metal. It’s probably the closest major style to modern thrash, although it may feature more special effects and samples. Nine Inch Nails and KMFDM are the big names on the industrial side. On the metal side, you’d have to acknowledge White Zombie, Rammstein, Static-X, Marilyn Manson, and Fear Factory. This style was a product of the early 90’s and is split between America and Europe.
The second is stoner metal, which also got its start in the early 90’s. It sounds a lot like doom metal—in fact, it’s often considered a subgenre of doom—but it’s just different enough to be a separate category. There’s a psychedelic flavor to it, and it tends to be a little less gloomy than traditional doom metal. Kyuss invented the style, and Queens of the Stone Age carried it on (probably cause all of their members used to be in Kyuss). Monster Magnet is another noteworthy for this style. Stoner metal is an exclusively American phenomenon.
And lastly we have the Gothenburg sound, a product of the mid 90’s, which is generally known as melodic death metal, as some of the early bands definitely qualify as death metal. I think it’s worth being considered as a separate genre because it has become stylistically fairly different from traditional death metal. It does have some prog influences as well as the death metal, and it tends to be a lot more accessible. Some of the more prominent bands are At The Gates, Opeth, In Flames, Dark Tranquility, and Soilwork. The Gothenburg sound originated in Gothenburg, Sweden, so it’s best described as a Scandinavian product.
There are a few other, smaller genres worth mentioning here. Grindcore sounds like a more extreme version of death metal, but that’s not a really good description, because grindcore got started first. The genre is worth mentioning because of Napalm Death, one of the most influential bands ever. Pretty much all computerized music—industrial, techno, and anything else—owes something to them. Grindcore is more or less a European phenomenon.
Goth metal is often considered a subgenre of doom, but it’s just a little different from the other subgenres. It tends to feature more synths and other electronic sounds, and the lyrics tend to deal with religion and horror. It also may feature beautiful female vocals. Christian Death, Type O Negative, and Theatre of Tragedy are some of the more well-known names here. Goth metal is found in all parts of the metal world.
And because I know somebody’s going to ask, I would describe Tool as psychedelic metal, which is different from stoner metal, inasmuch as psychedelic metal doesn’t sound like doom metal. There aren’t many bands playing this style; in fact, Alchemist (an Australian band) is the only other band I can think of that belongs here.
With that, I’ve covered the major genres of metal. But as you may have noticed, most of the bands I’ve mentioned aren’t exactly popular. In general, metal has never been accessible to the mainstream, although there has always been one popular style of heavy music in America.
From the end of the heyday of classic heavy metal (in the mid 80’s) to the early 90’s, hair metal ruled the USA. It was largely a reaction to the glam rock of the late 70’s, but while it shared some of the visuals, it was in the complete opposite style: loud and macho. A lot of 80’s hard rock bands were also lumped in here, but the big metal names here are Def Leppard, Motley Crue, AC/DC and Guns n’ Roses.
Then in the early 90’s, grunge took off, and hair metal died. While it’s not really metal, grunge was the public face of heavy music for most of the 90’s, and it did have a strong metal influence, so it’s worth mentioning. We all know the big names here: Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, and the like.
After grunge, nu-metal came into vogue. It features strong influences from funk, rap, and hardcore punk, and tends to downplay the lead guitars (in particular, there are very few guitar solos). The big names here are Korn, Helmet, Faith No More, and Rage Against the Machine.
Excellent work ultrafilter
Some point to add -
The difference between Thrash and Speed Metal - Thrash was the more agressive of the two, generally with raspy vocals rather than the low growl of Death Metal. One of the problems for telling the two apart is that a lot of bands started off as one, then progressed to the other, ex Anthrax started as Thrash (Hell they’re the first to use the term in a song.) but then changed vocalists and became more melodic, less agressive. It should be not that there were some excellent European Thrash acts around the late eighties - early nineties, Kreator, Sodom, Helloween (Again before the vocalist change) and Sabbat.
The term “Black Metal” was coined by Venom, as a way of showing that they were darker and more satanic than their fellow NWOBHM bands.
In addition to Queensryche, Fate’s Warning had a big part to play in the Prog Metal sound (BUt they all owe something to Floyd and Rush)
I just wanna point out that Motorhead has at times approached punk. Even their very first album has a couple of numbers that are pure 70’s Brit punk, “Motorhead” and “Vibrator.” Especially the latter; it sounds like the Buzzcocks five or six years before they came along. “Love Me Like a Reptile” and “Ace of Spades” are perilously close to punk, too.
I think one definition of heavy metal that seems to have been left out of the discussion is: shredding guitar. To be truly metal, there must be some guitar pyrotechnics going on. And that’s why, although I wouldn’t argue that Motorhead is a metal band, they veer very close to punk on a lot of their songs.
I loves me some Motorhead. Them and Maiden is my faves.
Here’s a good question: who is the archetypal heavy metal SINGER? Ozzy of course gets the nod for being one of the first, but he can’t wail operatically, which was a requirement for classic metal. My vote is Ronnie James Dio, by a long shot. The one that the Halfords and Dickinsons copied.
Ima vote for him for Prez too.
There’s never been a really strong line between metal and punk. As you pointed out, Motorhead had a punk sound, and that’s why there are so many punk covers of “Ace of Spades”. In the 80’s, there was the punk-metal of Suicidal Tendencies and other lesser-known artists. And then there was grunge in the 90’s.
I’m just going to say… Carcass (Heartwork + Swansong).
(because any metal thread that doesn’t mention them somewhere is kinda sad. And even though they’re not proto or archetype, they’ve got everything the OP discussed. The perfect child, maybe?)
Priest will always be the archtype of Metal for me.
But I think the Scorpions should be mentioned.
Um, gotta go with Ozzy as the archtypal metal singer.
Mr. Padovana’s voice is just too damn pretty.
I still think Ronnie James Dio was at his best when he was with Rainbow (although Elf certainly didn’t suck). The work he did with Black Sabbath was weak- probably one of the worst band/vocalist mismatches in the history of heavy rock. After Rainbow, it took until The Last in Line for him to hit his stride again, then he did that awful Sacred Heart album, which is probably the worst album by a good artist ever made. I haven’t heard anything he’s done after Strange Highways.
There is no question that Ronnie James Dio has the finest voice in all of rock, but the archtypal metal singer? No.
Oh, and after Ozzy left, it seems to me that Black Sabbath functioned for many years as sort of a purgatory for vocalists who had run afoul of Ritchie Blackmore…