Heavy metal Portal

Heavy metal (often referred to simply as metal) is a genre of rock music^[1] that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s.^[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 and extended guitar solos. Allmusic states that "of all rock & roll's myriad forms, heavy metal is the most extreme in terms of volume, machismo, and theatricality."^[3] Heavy metals, in chemistry, are chemical elements of a particular range of atomic weights. ... Blues Rock or Blues-rock is a fusion genre of music which combines elements of the blues with rock and roll. ... Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that attempts to replicate the mind-altering experiences of hallucinogenic drugs. ... Two different electric guitars. ... A sunburst-colored Fender Precision Bass The electric bass guitar (or electric bass[1][2]; pronounced , as in base) is a bass stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers (either by plucking, slapping, popping, or tapping) or using a pick. ... For other uses, see Drum (disambiguation). ... Harry Belafonte singing, photograph by C. van Vechten Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, which is often contrasted with speech. ... Piano, a well-known instance of keyboard instruments A keyboard instrument is any musical instrument played using a musical keyboard. ... A number of overlapping heavy metal genres have developed since the emergence of heavy metal (often shortened to metal) in the late 1960s. ... Avant-garde metal or experimental metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music characterised by the use of innovative, avant-garde elements. ... This article is about the musical genre. ... This article is about the musical genre. ... Doom metal is a form of extreme metal music that emerged as a recognized sub-genre during the first half of the 1980s. ... Glam metal is a sub-genre of heavy metal music that arose in the late 1970s - early 1980s in the United States. ... Gothic metal is a genre of heavy metal music. ... Groove metal, often associated with neo-thrash/post-thrash and power groove, is a term sometimes used to describe a derivative of thrash metal which took its current form during the early 1990s. ... This article is about the sub-genre of heavy metal music. ... Speed metal is a sub-genre of heavy metal that spawned in the early 1980s and was the direct musical progenitor of thrash metal[1] [2]. When Speed metal first emerged as a genre, it innovatively increased the tempo of the music template set forth by Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin... Stoner rock and stoner metal are interchangeable terms describing sub-genres of rock and metal music. ... Symphonic metal is a term used to describe heavy metal music that has symphonic elements; that is, elements that sound similar to a classical symphony. ... Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music, one of the extreme metal subgenres that is characterised by high speed riffing and aggression. ... Viking metal is a term used in reference to heavy metal music with a dramatic emphasis on Norse mythology, Norse paganism, and the life and times of Northern and Central Europeans prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia. ... Alternative metal is an eclectic form of music that gained popularity in the early 1990s alongside grunge. ... Christian metal is a form of heavy metal music which, as well as its many subgenres, contains Christian lyrics and themes. ... Crusty redirects here. ... Folk metal is a diverse collection of music, encompassing a wide variety of different styles and approaches. ... Funk-rock is a music genre that fuses funk and rock elements. ... Grindcore, often shortened to grind, is an evolution of crust punk, most commonly associated with death metal, a very different though similarly extreme style of music. ... Grunge redirects here. ... Industrial metal is a musical genre that draws elements from industrial music and heavy metal music. ... Metalcore is a fusion of extreme metal and hardcore punk that began in the United States. ... Neo-classical metal is a subgenre of the heavy metal music heavily influenced by classical music in its style of playing and composing[1]. It implies a very technical performance and the use of elements borrowed from classical music and/or by famous classical music composers. ... Nu metal (also called aggro metal, or nü metal using the traditional heavy metal umlaut) is a musical genre that has origins in the mid 1990s. ... Post-metal is a music genre, a mixture between the genres of post-rock and heavy metal, with roots in progressive rock and industrial music. ... Progressive metal is a sub-genre of heavy metal music which blends the powerful, guitar-driven sound of metal with the complex compositional structures, odd time signatures, and intricate instrumental playing of progressive rock. ... Rap rock is a hybrid of rap and rock music. ... Sludge metal is a form of heavy metal music that is generally regarded as a fusion of the doom metal and hardcore punk genres, often displaying southern rock influence. ... Bay Area thrash metal, or Bay Area Thrash, referred to a steady following of heavy metal bands in the 1980s who formed and gained international status in the San Francisco Bay Area, California [1]. Along with Tampa, Florida, the scene was widely attributed as a starting point of American thrash... Melodic death metal, (also referred to as Gothenburg metal, melodeath, and post-death) is a subgenre of death metal. ... Judas Priest, in typical heavy metal attire, performing at the VH1 Rock Honors on May 25, 2006. ... This is a list of bands that pertain to the heavy metal genre of music. ... This page contains special characters. ... Blast beats are the torrents of alternating snare and bass drums which increase the speed, density, and percussiveness of death metal, black metal and grindcore. ... A number of overlapping heavy metal genres have developed since the emergence of heavy metal (often shortened to metal) in the late 1960s. ... Image File history File links Portal. ... This article is about the genre. ... Blues Rock or Blues-rock is a fusion genre of music which combines elements of the blues with rock and roll. ... Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that attempts to replicate the mind-altering experiences of hallucinogenic drugs. ... In the world of guitar music and guitar amplification, distortion is actively sought, evaluated, and appreciatively discussed in its endless flavors. ... The All Music Guide (AMG) is a large, comprehensive and high quality metadata database about music. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ...

Heavy metal has long had a worldwide following of fans known as "metalheads" or "headbangers." Although early heavy metal bands such as Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and Deep Purple attracted large audiences, they were often critically reviled at the time, 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; 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. For the playable character in the video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, see Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. ... Headbangers in action, at DarkLights club Omega in Johannesburg, South Africa Headbanging is a type of dance which involves violently shaking the head in time with music, most commonly heavy metal music. ... For other uses, see Black Sabbath (disambiguation). ... For the bands 1969 eponymous debut album, see Led Zeppelin (album). ... This article is about the rock band. ... For other uses, see Judas priest (curse). ... Blues music redirects here. ... This article is about the band. ... Punk rock is an anti-establishment music movement beginning around 1976 (although precursors can be found several years earlier), exemplified and popularised by The Ramones, the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned. ... The New Wave of British Heavy Metal (frequently abbreviated as NWOBHM or N.W.O.B.H.M.) emerged in the late 1970s and reached mainstream attention in the late 1970s, in the United Kingdom, as a reaction in part to the decline of early heavy metal bands such as... Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band from Leyton in the East End of London. ...

In the mid-1980s, pop-infused glam metal became a major commercial force with groups like Mötley Crüe. Underground scenes produced an array of more extreme, aggressive styles: thrash metal broke into the mainstream with bands such as Metallica, 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 funk and hip hop; and metalcore, which blends extreme metal with hardcore punk, have further expanded the definition of the genre. For other uses, see Pop rock (disambiguation). ... Glam metal is a sub-genre of heavy metal music that arose in the late 1970s - early 1980s in the United States. ... Mötley Crüe (IPA pronunciation: ) is an American Hard Rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1981. ... Underground music is music which has developed a cult following, independent of commercial success. ... Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music, one of the extreme metal subgenres that is characterised by high speed riffing and aggression. ... Metallica is a Grammy Award-winning American heavy metal/thrash metal band formed in 1981[1] and has become one of the most commercially successful musical acts of recent decades. ... This article is about the musical genre. ... This article is about the musical genre. ... In sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a set of people with a set of behaviors and beliefs, culture, which could be distinct or hidden, that differentiate them from the larger culture to which they belong. ... Nu metal (also called aggro metal, or nü metal using the traditional heavy metal umlaut) is a musical genre that has origins in the mid 1990s. ... For other uses, including related musical genres, see Funk (disambiguation). ... Hip hop music is a style of music which came into existence in the United States during the mid-1970s, and became a large part of modern pop culture during the 1980s. ... Metalcore is a fusion of extreme metal and hardcore punk that began in the United States. ... Extreme metal is an umbrella term, somewhat loosely defined, for a number of related heavy metal subgenres that have developed since the 1980s. ... Hardcore Punk is a subgenre of Punk Rock that originated in North America in the late 1970s. ...

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."^[4] 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 often used to enhance the fullness of the sound.^[5] The loud, distorted Hammond organ and occasionally the mellotron were popular with early metal bands; these instruments were displaced in the 1980s by electronic keyboard synthesizers. Today, keyboards are used in styles such as progressive metal, power metal, and symphonic metal. Some nu metal bands incorporate hip hop elements, which may include a DJ scratching and creating various sound effects. The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ... Jon Pareles is an American journalist who is chief music critic at the arts section of the New York Times. ... For the comic book character, see Drummer (comics). ... A sunburst-colored Fender Precision Bass The electric bass guitar (or electric bass[1][2]; pronounced , as in base) is a bass stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers (either by plucking, slapping, popping, or tapping) or using a pick. ... Rhythm guitar is a guitar that is primarily used to provide rhythmic and harmonic accompaniment for a singer or for other instruments in an ensemble. ... Lead guitar refers to a role within a band, that provides melody or melodic material, as opposed to the rhythm of the rhythm guitar, bass, and drums. ... A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument played with a musical keyboard. ... The Hammond organ is an electric organ which was invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company until the 1970s. ... The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphonic keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. ... An electronic keyboard. ... Progressive metal is a sub-genre of heavy metal music which blends the powerful, guitar-driven sound of metal with the complex compositional structures, odd time signatures, and intricate instrumental playing of progressive rock. ... This article is about the sub-genre of heavy metal music. ... Symphonic metal is a term used to describe heavy metal music that has symphonic elements; that is, elements that sound similar to a classical symphony. ... Nu metal (also called aggro metal, or nü metal using the traditional heavy metal umlaut) is a musical genre that has origins in the mid 1990s. ... Hip hop is a cultural movement that began amongst urban African American youth in New York and has since spread around the world. ... For other meanings of DJ, see DJ (disambiguation). ... Scratching is a DJ or turntablist technique used to produce sounds for some types of music. ...

The electric guitar and the sonic power that it projects through amplification has historically been the key element in heavy metal.^[6] Guitars are often played with distortion pedals through heavily overdriven tube amplifiers to create a thick, powerful, "heavy" sound. In the early 1970s, some popular metal groups began cofeaturing two guitarists. Leading bands such as Judas Priest and Iron Maiden followed this pattern of having two or three guitarists share the roles of both lead and rhythm guitar. A central element of much heavy metal is the guitar solo, a form of cadenza. As the genre developed, more intricate solos and riffs became an integral part of the style. Guitarists use sweep-picking, tapping, and other advanced techniques for rapid playing, and many styles of metal emphasize virtuosic displays. Two different electric guitars. ... The TS9 Tubescreamer from Ibanez, a popular pedal adding vacuum tube-like distortion to the output signal from electric instruments. ... A valve amplifier (UK and Aus. ... In rock, metal, and other related genres, bands often have multiple electric guitar players to perform the different musical parts, such as melody lines, guitar solos, chords, and riffs. ... For other uses, see Judas priest (curse). ... Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band from Leyton in the East End of London. ... Guitar solos are a melodic passage, section, or entire piece of music written for an electric guitar or an acoustic guitar. ... In music, a cadenza (Italian for cadence) is, generically, an improvised or written-out ornamental passage played or sung by a soloist or soloists, usually in a free rhythmic style, and often allowing for virtuosic display. ... Riff is also an alternate spelling of Rif, a region of Morocco. ... What is meant by the term sweep picking is when the guitarist picks the string downwards and then the next string below it downwards its called a Sweep. This also applies for upward strokes. ... This article is about the music technique. ... For other uses, see Virtuoso (disambiguation). ...

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."^[5] 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.^[7] Critic Simon Frith claims that the metal singer's "tone of voice" is more important than the lyrics.^[8] 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 straight-out screaming and growling At the Gates' Tomas Lindberg, to the phlegm-clogged, possessed style of black metal singers such as Mayhem's Dead. Simon Frith is a former rock critic and a sociologist who specializes in popular music culture, and the brother of guitarist Fred Frith and psychologist Chris Frith. ... Robert John Arthur Halford (born August 25, 1951) is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist for the heavy metal band Judas Priest. ... For the record producer in the Saturday Night Live skit, see More Cowbell. ... This article is about the band. ... Lemmy (born Ian Fraser Kilmister on December 24, 1945, also known as Ian Willis, Lemmy Kilmister, and Lemmy von Motörhead), is an English singer and bass guitarist, most famous for being the founding member of the heavy metal band Motörhead. ... Metallica is a Grammy Award-winning American heavy metal/thrash metal band formed in 1981[1] and has become one of the most commercially successful musical acts of recent decades. ... James Alan Hetfield (born 3 August 1963, Downey, California[1]) is the main songwriter (with drummer Lars Ulrich and sometimes guitarist Kirk Hammett), co-founder, vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the American thrash/heavy metal band Metallica. ... At the Gates was a Swedish melodic death metal band. ... Tomas Lindberg (born October 16, 1972), from Gothenburg, Sweden, has been active as a musician and composer since the late 1980s. ... Mayhem (often called The True Mayhem) is an infamous, pioneering black metal band formed in 1984[1] in Oslo, Norway. ... Per Yngve Ohlin (January 16, 1969 – April 12, 1991), better known by his stage name Dead, was a Swedish Black metal vocalist best known for his work with Norwegian black metal group Mayhem. ...

The prominent role of the bass is also key to the metal sound, and the interplay of bass and guitar is a central element.^[9] The bass guitar provides the low-end sound crucial to making the music "heavy."^[10] 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,^[9] an approach popularized by Metallica's Cliff Burton in the early 1980s.^[11] Metal bassists frequently use picks instead of fingerstyle plucking, to get a stronger, clearer articulation. A few use shred guitar–style techniques such as tapping and sweep picking. In some styles, such as thrash and death metal, the bass may be distorted with a bass overdrive pedal for a heavier, thicker sound. Nu metal as well as death metal bassists often use a five- or six-string bass (or a detuned instrument) with an extended lower range. In tonal music, a pedal point (also pedal tone, organ point, or just pedal) is a sustained tone, typically in the bass, during which at least one foreign, i. ... In popular music, a lick is a rock term [meaning]...something like a stock pattern or phrase (Middleton 1990, p. ... Clifford Lee Burton (February 10, 1962 – September 27, 1986) was a bass guitarist best known for his work with the American heavy metal band Metallica from 1982 until 1986. ... Various guitar picks A plectrum is a small flat tool used to pluck or strum a stringed instrument. ... Shred guitar is a style of electric guitar playing in which rapid passages are performed using sweep-picking, hammer-ons, pull-offs, and other techniques. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Bass instrument amplification. ... The Extended-Range Bass, (ERB) as a term, refers to an electric bass guitar with more range (usually meaning more strings, but sometimes additional frets are added for more range) than the standard 4-string bass guitar. ...

The essence of metal drumming is creating a loud, constant beat for the band using the "trifecta of speed, power, and precision."^[12] 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.^[13] 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;^[10] in some cases, a "huge drum kit envelope[s] the whole of the backline" of the stage.^[14] Aside from the standard toms, bass drum, snare, and hi-hat, ride, and crash cymbals used in many rock drumkits, there is often a double bass drum, additional toms, a number of additional cymbals (e.g., splash and extra crash cymbals), and other instruments such as a cowbell. A cymbal choke is a technique used in heavy metal drumming, which consists of striking a cymbal with a drumstick held in one hand and then immediately grabbing the cymbal with another hand, or more rarely, with the same hand. ...

In live performance, loudness—an "onslaught of sound," in Deena Weinstein's description—is considered vital.^[6] In his book Metalheads, 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 puts it, "All we knew was we wanted more power."^[16] Reviewing a Motörhead concert in 1977, Paul Sutcliffe 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."^[6] Heavy metal's fixation on loudness was mocked in the rockumentary spoof This Is Spinal Tap, in which a metal guitarist claims to have modified his amplifiers to "go to eleven." The horizontal axis shows frequency in Hz Loudness is the quality of a sound that is the primary psychological correlate of physical intensity. ... Jimi Hendrix (November 27, 1942 – September 18, 1970) was an American guitar virtuoso, singer and songwriter. ... Cream were a 1960s British rock band comprising guitarist Eric Clapton, bassist Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker. ... The Who are an English rock band that formed in 1964. ... Blue Cheer is a San Francisco-based rock group of the late 1960s and early 1970s, who helped to pioneer heavy metal music. ... Dickie Peterson is the bassist and lead singer for Blue Cheer, he also recorded two solo albums: Child of the Darkness and Tramp. ... Look up melody in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article is about the genre of popular music. ... House music refers to a collection of styles of electronic dance music, the earliest forms beginning in the early- to mid- 1980s. ... The term rockumentary is a neologism denoting a program on television or movie documentary about rock and roll or its musicians. ... This Is Spin̈al Tap (which is officially spelled with a non-functional umlaut symbol over the N) is a 1984 mockumentary directed by Rob Reiner and starring members of the semi-fictional heavy-metal glam rock band Spinal Tap. ... Look up up to eleven in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Musical language

Rhythm and tempo

The beat 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."^[10] 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] Figure 1. ... [[ Figure 1. ... In musical notation, the Italian word staccato (literally detached, plural staccatos or staccati) indicates that notes are sounded in a detached and distinctly separate manner, with silence making up the latter part of the time allocated to each note. ... The palm mute, also known as palm muting, is a playing technique for the guitar. ...

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. Riff is also an alternate spelling of Rif, a region of Morocco. ... A hook is a musical idea, a passage or phrase, that is believed to be appealing and make the song stand out; it is meant to catch the ear of the listener (Covach 2005, p. ... Figure 1. ... -1...

The tempos in early heavy metal music tended to be "slow, even ponderous."^[10] By the late 1970s, however, metal bands were employing a wide variety of tempos. In the 2000s, 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).^[13] Beats per minute (bpm) is a unit typically used as either a measure of tempo in music, or a measure of ones heart rate. ... Blast beats are the torrents of alternating snare and bass drums which increase the speed, density, and percussiveness of death metal, black metal and grindcore. ...

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] Based on a single interval, the power chord makes possible a high level of distortion without unintended inharmonicity. Most power chords are also played with a consistent finger arrangement that can be slid easily up and down the fretboard.^[22] In music, a power chord is a bare fifth usually played on electric guitar. ... In music theory, the term interval describes the difference in pitch between two notes. ... The perfect fifth or diapente is one of three musical intervals that span five diatonic scale degrees; the others being the diminished fifth, which is one semitone smaller, and the augmented fifth, which is one semitone larger. ... For other uses, see Octave (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Root (disambiguation). ... A minor third is the smaller of two commonly occurring musical intervals compounded of two steps of the diatonic scale. ... A major third is the larger of two commonly occuring musical intervals that span three diatonic scale degrees. ... The perfect fourth or diatessaron, abbreviated P4, is one of two musical intervals that span four diatonic scale degrees; the other being the augmented fourth, which is one semitone larger. ... This article is about the musical interval. ... A minor sixth is the smaller of two commonly occuring musical intervals that span six diatonic scale degrees. ... In music, inharmonicity is the degree to which the frequencies of the overtones of a fundamental differ from whole number multiples of the fundamentals frequency. ... For other uses, see Fingerboard (disambiguation). ...

The main riff from Megadeth's "Addicted to Chaos" is an example of a heavy metal riff incorporating several types of power chords

Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1120x147, 38 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Heavy metal music ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1120x147, 38 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Heavy metal music ... Megadeth is an American thrash metal band led by founder, frontman, guitarist, and songwriter Dave Mustaine. ... In music, a power chord is a bare fifth usually played on electric guitar. ...

Typical harmonic relationships

Heavy metal is usually riff-based. Riffs are frequently created with three main harmonic traits: modal scales progressions, tritone and chromatic progressions, and the use of pedal point. Riff is also an alternate spelling of Rif, a region of Morocco. ...

Modal harmony

Example of a typical heavy metal Aeolian harmonic progression in I-VI-VII (Am-F-G): the main riff of Judas Priest's "Breaking the Law"

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). Image File history File links Btl_transcription_and_harmonic_analysis. ... Image File history File links Btl_transcription_and_harmonic_analysis. ... The Aeolian mode comprises a musical mode or diatonic scale. ... For other uses, see Judas priest (curse). ... Breaking the Law is a Judas Priest song featured on their 1980 album British Steel. ... The Aeolian mode comprises a musical mode or diatonic scale. ... Due to historical confusion, Phrygian mode can refer to two very different musical modes or diatonic scales. ...

Aeolian harmony is used in songs such as Judas Priest's "Breaking the Law", Iron Maiden's "Hallowed Be Thy Name", and Accept's "Princess of the Dawn", each employing a I-VI-VII progression as its main riff. Phrygian harmony is used in songs such as Mercyful Fate's "Gypsy" (main riff I-♭II-I-VI-V), Megadeth's "Symphony of Destruction" (main riff built on the ♭II-I relation), and Sodom's "Remember the Fallen" (Introduction + main riff—the riff closing implies a Phrygian cadence: I-♭II-III). Breaking the Law is a Judas Priest song featured on their 1980 album British Steel. ... Hallowed Be Thy Name is a song written by Steve Harris for the 1982 Iron Maiden album The Number of The Beast. ... Accept was a German heavy metal band from the town of Solingen, originally assembled in the early 1970s by Udo Dirkschneider. ... Mercyful Fate is an influential Danish heavy metal group who are often cited among the influences in the black metal, thrash metal, power metal, and progressive metal genres. ... Megadeth is an American thrash metal band led by founder, frontman, guitarist, and songwriter Dave Mustaine. ... Sodom is a German thrash metal band formed in 1982. ... In Western musical theory a cadence (Latin cadentia, a falling) is a particular series of intervals or chords that ends a phrase, section, or piece of music. ...

Tritone and chromatism

Example of a harmonic progression with the tritone G-C#: the main riff of "Black Sabbath"

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." Image File history File linksMetadata Black_sabbath-_transcription_by_Frederick_Duhautpas. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Black_sabbath-_transcription_by_Frederick_Duhautpas. ... Black Sabbath is a song by the heavy metal pioneers of the same name. ... In music, chromatic indicates the inclusion of notes not in the prevailing scale and is also used for those notes themselves (Shir-Cliff et al 1965, p. ... For other uses, see Tritone (disambiguation). ... Black Sabbath is a song by the heavy metal pioneers of the same name. ...

Pedal point
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] Heavy metal riffs are frequently constructed over a persistent repeating note played on the low strings of the bass or rhythmic guitar, most usually on the E, A, and D strings.^[28] In other words, a single bass note—most frequently low E or A—is persistently repeated while some different chords are successively played, including chords that do not normally incorporate that bass note, which creates a sense of tension. An example is the opening riff of Judas Priest's "You've Got Another Thing Comin'." In this case, one guitar plays the pedal point in F#, while the second guitar plays the chords. In tonal music, a pedal point (also pedal tone, organ point, or just pedal) is a sustained tone, typically in the bass, during which at least one foreign, i. ... Youve Got Another Thing Coming was a single released by the Heavy Metal band Judas Priest in August 1982. ...

Classical influence

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."^[29]

The appropriation of "classical" music by heavy metal musicians typically involves musical elements associated with the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic eras of art music. Deep Purple/Rainbow guitarist Ritchie Blackmore and Scorpions guitarist Uli Jon Roth began experimenting with musical figurations borrowed from classical music in the early 1970s. In the 1980s, guitarists Randy Rhoads and Yngwie Malmsteen used eighteenth-century Baroque and later classical compositions as models, inspiring neoclassical metal players including Michael Romeo, Michael Angelo Batio, and Tony MacAlpine. For other uses, see Baroque (disambiguation). ... This article is about Western art music from 1000 AD to the present. ... The expression romantic music and the homophone phrase Romantic music have two essentially different meanings. ... This article is about the rock band. ... Rainbow were a hard rock and heavy metal band formed by former Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore in 1975. ... Richard Hugh Blackmore, (born 14 April 1945) is an English guitarist. ... For other bands named The Scorpions or other meanings of scorpion, see scorpion. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... For the talk radio host, see Randi Rhodes, or for the guitar model, see Jackson Randy Rhoads. ... Yngwie Johann Malmsteen (IPA pronunciation: //) (born Lars Johann Yngve Lannerbäck on June 30, 1963 in Stockholm, Sweden) is a Swedish guitarist, composer and bandleader. ... Michael James Romeo (born March 6, 1968) is an American guitarist and a founding member of the progressive metal group Symphony X. // Michael Romeos introduction to formal music training began with bassoon lessons at a young age. ... Michael Angelo Batio (IPA: ) is an American instrumental rock/heavy metal guitarist and columnist from Chicago, Illinois. ... Tony Jeff MacAlpine (born August 29, 1960 in Springfield, Massachusetts) is an American guitarist and keyboardist with a unique style blending elements of neo-classical and jazz fusion. ...

Although a number of metal musicians cite classical composers as inspiration, heavy metal cannot be regarded as the modern descendant of classical music.^[30] 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] Heavy metal borrows only some aspects of classical music, such as motifs, melodies, and scales, rather than more complex features, such as counterpoint, polyphony, and classical structural forms. Heavy metal bands, including progressive and neoclassical metal bands, generally do not seek to observe the compositional and aesthetical exigencies of classical music. This article is about the broad genre of classical music in the Western musical tradition. ... For the music genre, see Pop music. ... In music, a motif is a perceivable or salient reoccurring fragment or succession of notes that may used to construct the entirety or parts of complete melodies, themes. ... For other uses, see Counterpoint (disambiguation). ... Polyphony is a musical texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice (monophony) or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords (homophony). ... For other uses, see Structure (disambiguation). ... Progressive metal is a sub-genre of heavy metal music which blends the powerful, guitar-driven sound of metal with the complex compositional structures, odd time signatures, and intricate instrumental playing of progressive rock. ... Neoclassical metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music that mixes the melodies and instrumentation of classical music with the speed and intensity of metal. ...

Lyrical themes

Common themes in heavy metal lyrics are sex, violence, and the occult. The sexual nature of many heavy metal songs, ranging from Led Zeppelin's suggestive lyrics to the more explicit references of latter-day nu metal bands, derives from the genre's roots in blues music and its frequently sexual content.^[32] Since the 1980s, with the rise of thrash metal, a substantial number of metal songs have included sociopolitical commentary. Romantic tragedy is a standard theme of gothic and doom metal, as well as of nu metal, where teenage angst is another central topic. Genres such as melodic death metal, progressive metal, and black metal often explore philosophical themes, while more extreme forms of death metal and grindcore have purely aggressive, gory, and often unintelligible content.

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 "Rime of the Ancient Mariner," based on the Samuel Taylor Coleridge poem. Other examples include Black Sabbath's "The Wizard," Megadeth's "The Conjuring" and "Five Magics," and Judas Priest's "Dreamer Deceiver." Other artists base their lyrics on war, nuclear annihilation, environmental issues, and politics or religion. Examples include Black Sabbath's "War Pigs," Ozzy Osbourne's "Killer of Giants," Metallica's ...And Justice for All, Iron Maiden's "2 Minutes to Midnight," Accept's "Balls to the Wall," and Megadeth's "Peace Sells." Death is a predominant theme in heavy metal, routinely featuring in the lyrics of such different bands as Black Sabbath, Slayer, and W.A.S.P. Rime of the ancient mariner is a song by Iron Maiden off their 1984 album Powerslave. ... Samuel Taylor Coleridge (October 21, 1772 – July 25, 1834) (pronounced ) was an English poet, critic, and philosopher who was, along with his friend William Wordsworth, one of the founders of the Romantic Movement in England and one of the Lake Poets. ... Illustration by Gustav Dore. ... Megadeth is an American thrash metal band led by founder, frontman, guitarist, and songwriter Dave Mustaine. ... War Pigs is an anti-war song by British heavy metal band Black Sabbath from their 1970 album, Paranoid. ... Ozzy redirects here. ... ...And Justice for All is the second track on Metallicas 1988 album . ... 2 Minutes to Midnight is the eleventh single released by Iron Maiden and the first from their Powerslave album. ... Balls to the Wall is the fifth album by the German metal band Accept, which was released in 1983. ... Peace Sells ( ) is the name of a song by Megadeth from the album Peace Sells. ... For other uses, see Slayer (disambiguation). ... W.A.S.P. is an American heavy metal band formed in 1982. ...

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."^[4] 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 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. The case, which attracted a great deal of media attention, was ultimately dismissed.^[33] In Eva Prima Pandora, by Jean Cousin (Louvre Museum), Eve, the equivalent of Pandora embodies Original Sin Misogyny (pronounced ) is hatred or strong prejudice against women; an antonym of philogyny. ... Tipper Gore, founder of the Parents Music Resource Center The Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) was an American committee formed in 1985 by four women: Tipper Gore, wife of Senator and later Vice President Al Gore; Susan Baker, wife of Treasury Secretary James Baker; Pam Howar, wife of Washington realtor...

Visual elements

As with much popular music, 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, stage sets, the clothes of the band, band logos, and music videos.^[34] Some early heavy metal acts, such as Alice Cooper and Kiss and some newer bands such as Slipknot and Marilyn Manson, have become known as much for their outrageous performance personas and stage shows as for their music.^[35] A music video is a short film or video that accompanies a complete piece of music, most commonly a song. ... Alice Cooper (born Vincent Furnier February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans five decades. ... Kiss is an American rock band formed in New York City in January 1973. ... Look up Slipknot in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Marilyn Manson is an American metal band based in Los Angeles, California. ...

Down-the-back long hair, according to Weinstein, "is the most crucial distinguishing feature of metal fashion."^[36] 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."^[37]

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."^[38] In the mid-1970s, Judas Priest and Mötorhead helped establish elements of biker culture and leather fashion in the heavy metal scene.^[39][40] 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.^[41] 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.^[42] 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.^[43] It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Outlaw motorcycle club. ... Leather jackets A leather jacket is a type of clothing, a jacket made of leather. ... Look up Gothic in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... X Japan, or X which was their initial name, was a Japanese Visual kei band, the brainchild of Yoshiki (Yoshiki Hayashi). ... Malice Mizer, an example of visual kei during the 1990s. ...

Physical gestures

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] Gene Simmons of Kiss claims to have been the first to make the gesture in concert.^[44] Headbangers in action, at DarkLights club Omega in Johannesburg, South Africa Headbanging is a type of dance which involves violently shaking the head in time with music, most commonly heavy metal music. ... The Corna The corna (Italian for horns, also mano cornuta, horned hand fare le corna, to make the horns, or simply the devil horns) is a hand gesture with a vulgar meaning in Mediterranean countries and a variety of meanings and uses in other cultures. ... Ronnie James Dio (born Ronald James Padavona on July 10, 1942 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, USA), is an American heavy metal vocalist who has performed with Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, and his own band Dio. ... For other uses, see Dio (disambiguation). ... Chaim Witz (חיים וויץ), (born August 25, 1949 in Haifa, Israel), better known by his stage name Gene Simmons, is an Israeli-American hard rock bass guitarist and vocalist. ... Kiss is an American rock band formed in New York City in January 1973. ...

Attendees of metal concerts do not dance in the usual sense; Deena Weinstein has argued that this is due to the music's largely masculine 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.^[45] The performance of air guitar is popular among metal fans both at concerts and listening to records at home.^[46] Other concert audience activities include stage diving, crowd surfing, pushing and shoving in a chaotic mélée called moshing, and displaying the corna hand symbol. It is believed that air guitar possibly originated from early Iron Maiden fans in the late 1970s. ... Stage diving is the act of leaping from a concert stage into the crowd below. ... A vocalist crowdsurfing at the Alimas Carnival, Maldives. ... Audience members at a Dillinger Escape Plan concert moshing in front of the stage. ...

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. 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."^[47] Counterculture (also counter-culture) is a sociological word used to describe the values and norms of behavior of a cultural group, or subculture, that run counter to those of the social mainstream of the day,[1] the cultural equivalent of political opposition. ... Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: William S. Burroughs William Seward Burroughs II (February 5, 1914) — August 2, 1997; pronounced ), more commonly known as William S. Burroughs, was an American novelist, essayist, social critic, painter and spoken word performer. ... For the rock band named after this book, see Soft Machine The Soft Machine is the title of a novel by William S. Burroughs, first published in 1961 and was Burroughs first novel after the groundbreaking publication of Naked Lunch. ... Nova Express is a 1964 novel by William Burroughs, whose plot cannot easily be described. ...

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.^[48] 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. 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:^[49] "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. Ian Christe (born 1970 in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland) is a writer. ... For other uses, see Beatnik (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Slang (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Iron Butterfly (disambiguation). ... Heavy was Iron Butterflys debut album, released in early 1968. ... Steppenwolf is a rock band that helped establish heavy metal music in the late 1960s along with bands like Blue Cheer and Iron Butterfly. ... Born to Be Wild is a rock song written by Mars Bonfire. ... Bryan James Chas Chandler (born 18 December 1938, died 17 July 1996) was an English musician, record producer and manager of several successful music acts. ... Jimi Hendrix James Marshall Jimi Hendrix (November 27, 1942 - September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer who is widely considered to be the most important electric guitarist in the history of popular music. ... Not to be confused with Public Broadcasting Services in Malta. ... Jimi Hendrix (November 27, 1942 – September 18, 1970) was an American guitar virtuoso, singer and songwriter. ...

The first documented uses of the phrase to describe a type of rock music 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."^[50] 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."^[51] Creem critic Lester Bangs is credited with popularizing the term via his early 1970s essays on bands such as Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath.^[52] 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,"^[53] and, in a different article, as "a crude exaggeration of rock basics that appeals to white teenagers."^[54] Mike Saunders, better known as Metal Mike, is a rock critic and the singer of the Californian punk band, the Angry Samoans. ... is the 316th day of the year (317th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link shows full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the magazine. ... For the hard rock band of the same name, see Humble Pie (band). ... As Safe As Yesterday Is was the Humble Pie debut album in August 1969. ... Humble Pie was rock group Humble Pies third studio album and their first with A&M Records. ... Sir Lord Baltimore was a short lived 1970s American heavy metal band, from Brooklyn, NY. They released two albums on Mercury Records at the start of the seventies. ... Kingdom Come is the first studio album by American heavy metal band Sir Lord Baltimore, released on Mercury Records in 1970. ... 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1971 calendar). ... CREEM, Americas Only Rock n Roll Magazine, was a monthly rock n roll publication started in 1969 by Barry Kramer and founding editor Tony Reay. ... Lester Bangs during an interview Leslie Conway Bangs (December 14, 1948 – April 30, 1982) was an American music journalist, author and musician. ... John Rockwell (born 1940 in Washington D.C.) is an important music critic, editor, and dance critic. ...

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.^[55] 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."^[56] Few would now characterize Aerosmith's classic sound, with its clear links to traditional rock and roll, as "heavy metal." Even some acts closely identified with the emergence of the genre, such as Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple, are not considered heavy metal bands by some uninformed metalheads in the present-day metal community. This article is about the band Aerosmith. ... Rock and roll (also spelled Rock n Roll, especially in its first decade), also called rock, is a form of popular music, usually featuring vocals (often with vocal harmony), electric guitars and a strong back beat; other instruments, such as the saxophone, are common in some styles. ...

History

Antecedents: mid-1960s

American blues music was a major influence on the early British rockers. 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: At the core was a loud, distorted guitar style, built around power chords.