Let's Talk Heavy Metal!

Discussion in 'Musicians' started by aleigh24024, Aug 25, 2015.

  1. MeAgain

    MeAgain Dazed & Confused Lifetime Supporter Super Moderator

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    Heavy is a word that was used by the Beats and Freaks to mean profound as in "He has a really heavy rap." Meaning the speaker was talking about something that required a lot of thought. You had to slow down and digest what was being conveyed.

    Heavy in relation to music probably started with The Iron Butterfly whose name implies a heavy aspect to their music. Their first album was titled "Heavy". They had a very psychedelic sound that required an attentive audience as opposed to the light popular music of the era.

    Heavy Metal music was a term invented by Steppenwolf in the song "Born to Be Wild."
    Typical early heavy bands were Blue Cheer, with its cover of Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues". It was heavily distorted and really is a great version.

    Cream, Hendrix, and Arthur Brown are all considered to be early heavy metal. I like all of Cream's and Hendrix's work and Brown's one song "Fire". The Beatles "Helter Skelter" is considered to be heavy metal as well as King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man", both of which I like.
    Other early heavy metal bands that I liked were Vanilla Fudge, Iron Butterfly, some Humble Pie, early Zeppelin, early Black Sabbath, some Uriah Heap. Grand Funk Railroad was really good.

    Some of Deep Purple's stuff is heavy metal such as Machine Head. I really prefer early Purple, but Machine Head is good.

    We used to play Bloodrock's "DOA" a lot, but it was pretty morbid.

    Heavy Metal branched with the MC5 which I encountered way back in 1969 while in college. They really sucked but they paved the way for heavy metal that emphasized distortion to the detriment of music. I had a room mate that loved them and he ended up playing in one of the Pittsburgh Symphonies, so there must have been something there, but I still say they suck
    I can't get into any of the newer stuff. By newer I mean BOC, Aerosmith, AC/DC, etc. They all suck.

    I gave up on what the new heavy metal is years ago. Ugly music...but I'm getting old.
     
  2. Asmodean

    Asmodean Slo motion rider

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    Machine Head is definltely my fav Purple album! I love Cream too (Ginger Baker is probably my fav drummer of ALL time), and also think the songs on Arthur Brown's album that leading up to Fire make the song only more great :)
    Btw: new heavy metal is so very diverse. It's not all extreme like death, black or nu metal. I think it is in a way indeed a matter of getting old: e.g. lack of affiliation and interest. I doubt I would get into black metal at age 30 or older. As it seems it is like this with every generation: the newer kinds of music from the younger people always seems to go there where former generation didn't wanna go (for different reasons). Like, grunge would not have worked for anybody if it was invented 2 decades earlier. But when it came around in the 90's people were almost waiting for it :p Now most fans of grunge are stil the peeps who got into it when it was new.
     
  3. Gongshaman

    Gongshaman Modus Lascivious

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    If you pay attention to the context, that particular lyric clearly refers to the sound of motorcycles, not music.
     
  4. Asmodean

    Asmodean Slo motion rider

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    It seems like they coined the term but in a different context. Same with Venom and their album black metal. It's not black metal as in the subgenre of metal that the words later got used for, yet this subgenre might not even be called black metal if it wasn't for that band and album (which is often still seen as some kind of proto black metal or at least an influence to early black metal bands).
     
  5. guerillabedlam

    guerillabedlam _|=|-|=|_

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    Where did grunge go that previous generations didn't 2 decades earlier?

    Like not all the bands sold tremendously well but Neil Young, The Stooges, Velvet Underground, even Black Sabbath seemed to all have aspects of grunge to them imo.
     
  6. Asmodean

    Asmodean Slo motion rider

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    Yeah, almost every aspect of a (sub)genre of music can be found in other kinds of music as well.

    Grunge imo didn't go anywhere in particular, at least not in a way that other kinds of rock didn't at all, but maybe that's just because I'm not a fan. It is just all the typical aspects together that made grunge a particular subgenre of rock in the 90's. Granted, if punk could have emerged in the 70's/80's why not grunge? :p It is the reaction to the other stuff around the exact time that it makes what it is. Same with punk, black metal and probably hard rock in general. Maybe it counts for every (new) kind of music :D
     
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  7. MeAgain

    MeAgain Dazed & Confused Lifetime Supporter Super Moderator

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    True, I should have said, it was the first time it was used in music.
     
  8. guerillabedlam

    guerillabedlam _|=|-|=|_

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    Yah I agree what made grunge seem novel is the reaction to a lot of what had become generic in rock music at the time, such as hair metal and power ballads.

    "Grunge" did kind of emerge in the 80's, perhaps one reason why I see it as one of the more arbitrary genres of music that has been invented, it seemed like it just got slapped the label upon the turn of the decade and the growing popularity of Nirvana. But Soundgarden was already established in the 80's, bands such as Sonic Youth had already laid the "formula" for Nirvana's soft/loud style were prevalent in the 80's and several other bands seemed to be in that realm of style, that had they came around a few years later likely would have been considered grunge.



    Speaking of which, Alice in Chains is also one of my favorite "heavy metal" groups as well, which I see you listed op. I didn't list them because I had them attached to grunge genre. :svengo:
     
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  9. Reverand JC

    Reverand JC Willy Fuckin' Wonka

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    And William S. Burroughs used the term "Metallic cocaine bebop" in Naked Lunch. In the same set of passages that contain the first reference to "Steely Dan".

    C/S,
    Rev J
     
  10. jrocks

    jrocks Members

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    I'm kinda an old school guy when it comes to metal. Big black sabbath fan but I also like bands like anthrax, testament, metalica,slayer, and recently a newer band called kill devil hill. They kinda have that sabbath sound. I also was into bands like UFO, scorpions, rush, and many others that would be considered hard rock or classic rock today. I've been a muaician and playing in what I like to call melodic metal bands for years. I'm a lead guitarist who is more of a riffer than a shredder although I can shred. Lots of guys who shred are just sweep monsters and to me that gets old pretty fast. I like guitarists who can shred but be very melodic in their soloing style. Hence my love for michael schenker, steve vai, sateiani, page, yngvie ( not sure on the spelling there) blackmore, tony iomi, and many more. Not onto thrash or all the screamer bands. Today a lot of Metal is tuned so low that you can hardly tell what key the band is playing in let alone chord changes. Screamers are not singers and to me there is nothing musical about screaming. Best thing about those bamds is you don't have to worry about screaming in key. Makes it easier for doing solos as well cause you could play pretty much anything over the wall of noise. I do like bullet, avenge,killswitch, and yes they do scream some but they also sing and have melodies and good guitar work. But hey everyone likes what they like. To me nobody really sucks, it's I like some bands more than others.
     
  11. Rots in hell

    Rots in hell Senior Member

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    First Heavy metal song
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2GmzyeeXnQ&feature=youtu.be
     
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  12. Irminsul

    Irminsul Valkyrie

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    Seems debatable on the Google. :D
     
  13. Rots in hell

    Rots in hell Senior Member

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    I didnt ask Google Mate ;) It just was Thats all !
     
  14. Irminsul

    Irminsul Valkyrie

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    Born, born to be wild.
     
  15. Vanilla Gorilla

    Vanilla Gorilla Go Ape

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    The Kinks heavy metal now? Seriously???
     
  16. Irminsul

    Irminsul Valkyrie

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    I don't see it either. There was better rock and roll out.
     
  17. unfocusedanakin

    unfocusedanakin The Archaic Revival Lifetime Supporter

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    I was a massive black metal fan for a year or two. My favorite was Cradle of Filth although I realize they are not really true black metal unless you are talking their first few albums. I even got their Dragon symbol tattooed on me by a shady Satanist artist who was willing to do it when I was underage. I'm sorry I did that now but at the time I thought it was cool. I really can't stand that style of lyrics anymore. Out of curiosity I listened to some of their newer stuff and to me it proves you just can't "sing" like that forever. The growls are not good for you especially when you are living the cool metal lifestyle of being drunk and smoking cigarettes. They sound nothing like what they once did.

    I was also really into Mayhem, 1349, Darkthrone pretty much the whole Norwegian style of music that was as much a political movement as entertainment. To be honest I found a lot of Nazi's also liked these bands because of the whole proud to from Northern European thus Aryan message of the music. That and the whole burn churches and destroy Christianity message that some fans followed is why I say it was political.
     
  18. Irminsul

    Irminsul Valkyrie

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    No, cradle is def. black metal in my eyes. I know they're under scrutiny a lot of the time as to which category they fall in, but it's black metal. I won't take any other answer. That's where they fit in and honestly for the most part, I think they claim the throne to the black metal not only on sound, but Dani is an unbelievable writer of lyrics. Probably the best I've heard/read. He's fucking incredible.
     
  19. Asmodean

    Asmodean Slo motion rider

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    I wouldn't call black metal in general a political music genre or scene or a political movement. If it was/is anything it is antichristian which does not have to make it political in any way. There is a subgenre of it (national socialistic black metal) for which this seems more right but it is a tiny subgenre in the black metal scene. Although black metal like Burzum is not part of that tiny subgenre and the guy behind it did have strong political opinions (and took his own ideas and art so seriously he went on to burn churches) I would not call the music itself very political and not even bordering on a political movement.

    My fav thing regarding Darkthrone has always been Storm (sideproject from Fenriz with Satyr from Satyricon). Deliciously raw folk with some black metal influences. When i got into black metal in the 90's I took notice of all these bands like Cradle, Burzum, Darkthrone, which were ok, but I was instantly sold and more drawn to bands like Emperor, early Dimmu Borgir, early Enslaved, Ancient and of course the very agressive but utterly briliant Troll - Drep de kristne. Also quickly became a fan of stuff like Falkenbach.
     
  20. Reverand JC

    Reverand JC Willy Fuckin' Wonka

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    @jrocks Killdevil Hill is Rex Brown from Panteras newest (?) Project.

    @Ankin Look at Phil Anselmo. If you listen to "Cemetery Gates" His voice sounded really great on the original but after years of that scream sound now he sounds like he blew his voice out doing it.

    C/S,
    Rev J
     

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