"heavy metal" in Grove's Dictionary of music and Musicians
RMJon23
A term used since the early 1970s to designate a subgenre of hard rock music.
From the nineteenth century it had been used to refer to artillery or poisonous
compounds. During the 1960s, British hard rock bands and the American guitarist
Jimi Hendrix developed a more distorted guitar sound and heavier drums and bass
that led to a separation of heavy metal from other blues-based rock. Albums by
Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple in 1970 codified the new genre,
which was marked by distorted guitar ‘power chords’, heavy riffs, wailing
vocals and virtuosic solos by guitarists and drummers. During the 1970s
performers such as AC/DC, Judas Priest, Kiss and Alice Cooper toured
incessantly with elaborate stage shows, building a fan base for an
internationally-successful style. Popularity waned at the end of the decade,
but the early 1980s brought the ‘new wave’ of British heavy metal to revive
the genre just as Edward Van Halen’s astonishing virtuosity was inspiring a
new generation of guitarists.
The 1980s brought on the one hand a wave of gender-bending, spectacular
‘glam’ metal from bands such as Poison and Mötley Crüe, and, on the other
hand, the widespread adaptation of chord progressions and virtuosic practices
from 18th-century European models, especially Bach and Vivaldi, by influential
guitarists such as Van Halen, Randy Rhoads and Yngwie Malmsteen. Heavy metal
was the most popular genre of rock music worldwide during this decade, even as
harder underground styles developed in opposition to the pop-oriented metal of
groups such as Bon Jovi. Metallica was the most influential band in Thrash
metal. In the 1990s, Metallica, Van Halen, Ozzy Osbourne and other veteran
performers continued their success, but the term heavy metal was less often
used to distinguish them from the rock mainstream. New groups such as
Soundgarden, Korn and Rob Zombie continued the heavy metal tradition in some
ways, but were not particularly concerned with claiming the genre label, which
had lost much of its prestige.
At the height of its popularity in the 1980s, heavy metal often served as a
scapegoat for social problems, through poorly-informed allegations of misogyny,
Satanism, subliminal suggestions and musical impoverishment. Its lyrics
addressed a wide array of issues and its music was diverse and often virtuosic.
Lyrics and images often evoked horror and mysticism – just as many previous
artists have in other styles – as a way of comprehending and criticizing the
world and finding a place in it. Heavy metal fans became known as
‘headbangers’ on account of the vigorous nodding motions that sometimes
mark their appreciation of the music.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
J. Obrecht: Masters of Heavy Metal (New York, 1984)
P. Bashe: Heavy Metal Thunder (Garden City, NY, 1985)
D. Weinstein: Heavy Metal: a Cultural Sociology (New York, 1991)
C. Larkin, ed.: The Guinness Who’s Who of Heavy Metal (Enfield, 1992, 2/1995)
M. Hale: Headbangers: The Worldwide MegaBook of Heavy Metal Bands (Ann Arbor,
1993)
R. Walser: Running with the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal
Music (Hanover, NH, 1993)
ROBERT WALSER
Neil Colepsy
"RMJon23" <rmj...@aol.complainer> wrote in message
news:20030629221200...@mb-m15.aol.com...
> Heavy metal.
> A term used since the early 1970s to designate a subgenre of hard rock
music.
> From the nineteenth century it had been used to refer to artillery or
poisonous
> compounds. During the 1960s, British hard rock bands and the American
guitarist
> Jimi Hendrix developed a more distorted guitar sound and heavier drums and
bass
> that led to a separation of heavy metal from other blues-based rock.
Albums by
> Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple in 1970 codified the new
genre,
> which was marked by distorted guitar 'power chords', heavy riffs, wailing
> vocals and virtuosic solos by guitarists and drummers.
Bullshit. At the height of Zeppelins popularity an article written about
them described their music as heavy metal and they hated the term. Now
somehow during all the bookwritings and magazine articles Sabbath is the one
affiliated with creating 'the sound.' They were treated like shit then and
not much has changed.
ARRMO Poll:
Who's more shot? The Pope or Ozzy at this point. Pope John Pius Marcus
Arelius Maximus III actually loves Ozzy but neither of them really know it.
GChampa354
>them described their music as heavy metal and they hated the term. Now
>somehow during all the bookwritings and magazine articles Sabbath is the one
>affiliated with creating 'the sound.'
I think what the article was saying is that Zeppelin, Sabbath, Purple played a
big part in creating the music that became known as "Heavy Metal" whether or
not the artists liked their music being called that name.
sam booka
news:20030629235541...@mb-m16.aol.com...
I was there, and I thought that the term referred to the "led," as in the
metal lead, in led zep. The zep pretenders from that era, purple and
sabbath, were thusly tarred with the same metaphorical brush. Pretty soon,
any music combining elements of Page Plant Bonham Jones was labelled Heavy
Metal.
--
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I dunno. We don't get cable news. We just "get it" - sambo
