Heavy Metal

What's in a name and other ramblings

Checking that paragon of integrity, Wikipedia, a number of different claims are made as to the name, Heavy Metal. Several critics are quoted using the term in reference to various bands of the seventies. The obvious answer has to do with the actual sound. The metallic sound of the guitar distortion points to an easy designation for the music. It was probably used as a dismissal of the music and its fans by those who fully expected it to come and go like other fads, surf sound e.g. The funny thing is that this sort of arrogance is what the fanbase has always railed against, leading to generations of metalheads who've embraced the term and wear it proudly.

Hard Rock, Heavy Rock, Acid Rock, "Downer" Rock, et. al. Everything has to have a label, or genre if you will. From thence come subgenres and crossover genres. Bands make music. They don't particularly care if it all fits within a neat package. Even a band like AC/DC, known for unrelenting albums unencumbered by slow ballads, offers no apology for a great song like Ride On. 'Sabbath did Changes and we can hear that on the radio today. The rules are that there are no rules. Instead of worrying about genres, think of rock 'n roll as a continuum. Light rock blends into rock which fades into heavy rock/HM. The distinction can be hazy. Which of the bands are full-on HM but play other stuff, too, and which are rock but make some metal songs? Here comes one of my car analogies.

The muscle car is the automotive equivalent of HM. The consensus is that the '64 GTO was the first of the breed. There were faster cars at the time, and earlier claimants can be found, but the GTO exemplified the combination of high performance and sharp, tough looks in a mid-sized sedan. In a similar fashion to HM music, this car was soon a dinosaur, with a race to the top of the horsepower heap among the manufacturers that led to government regulations which throttled back performance for years. Likewise, HM got harder and faster from that day to this and some of the 70s stuff can sound pretty mild compared to "extreme metal" like death metal which surged in the 2000s. 

Metal in the early days featured different artists who each had their own sound, but they kind of kept it all in the family, so to speak. Really, it wasn't until the 80s dawned that the different genres sprang up. many of these had to do with fusions with other styles like Punk Rock. The Ramones had immense crossover appeal, and many of their songs fit easily within both descriptions. I'm told it has to do with the chord structures, beats-per-minute, etc. who goes where, but to the naked ear, a lot of metal and punk has a similar sound. When I think of the punk look and sound, I picture the Sex Pistols, Television, the Germs, the NY Dolls. Acts like these had a look and sound that expressed a unique identity. I think of death metal as having more to do with punk than HM, with less concern for vocals and an emphasis on feeling. 

The 80s were the great separator. Heavy bands found the saturation of the market caused a fallout that affected sustainability. Many of them went the more lucrative route of a "commercial" sound like Styx, Journey, Rush, Cheap Trick, and Van Halen. Some stuck to their guns and flourished. Bands like Judas Priest and AC/DC kept the flame alive- thank God for 'em. Drugs and alcohol or plain old burnout forced a last few to take a break. Aerosmith and Alice Cooper got some R-n-R and came back with the return of HM in the late-80s. Cooper, especially, oriented himself more clearly with a traditional HM sound after an extremely diverse career.

One final note, concerning musical genres. Hard rock can best be thought of as a term that some record exec came up with to downplay the negative connotation that went with Heavy Metal. "no no no it's not heavy metal....it's hard rock. There's a difference, see?" That said while the band would have the same sound that fans loved. So, call it whatever you like, hard rock, heavy metal, metal- it's all the same music. Leave the genres to the suits.