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.

Heavy Metal

The Bands

   It wasn't a case of starting a musical form and everyone being so overwhelmed by it that they spontaneously jumped aboard. Heavy Metal grew slowly and picked bands up along the way as record companies realized there was a market for it. Couple this with how things evolve, where many similar ideas emerge independent of one another by people from all over.

    HM is plain old rock 'n roll with an emphasis on the power chords, the guitar sound that has that metallic twang. On the rock spectrum, metal occupies the end opposite soft rock, a few standard deviations from the center. That's what makes it so hard to define precisely- it's still all rock music. Lots of blurred edges. Where does this or that band fit in? 

   Since rock bands prefer to let the writers worry about labels, they don't feel constrained by how they're categorized. Sabbath didn't make every song as heavy as possible. AC/DC has a signature sound, but still had room for Slow Ride. I sure as hell don't know every band, but we'll see what we can come up with all the same.

Inspiration

   There were many offshoots from rock 'n roll when the 70s hit. Folk, Surf, Acid, Blues rock, Country rock (which seems like a redundancy), etc. A lot of styles came and went, but there has always been a trend toward a heavier sound. Even within careers, bands found their way to a harder sound. Check out early Deep Purple and contrast with the later stuff. Even the Beatles toyed around with some heavy stuff. This brings us to:

Deep Purple: I consider them one of the acts that informed heavy metal rather than belonged to the genre itself. It seems to be a matter of timing. 60s bands that kept it rolling into the 70s tended to end up on the harder edge of rock. DP had some classics that weren't HM in and of themselves, but inspired later bands that took the next step. 

Led Zeppelin: They exist in a bit of a gray area. Growing up, LZ was one of the first bands that people, who didn't like metal, spoke of when HM was mentioned. Fast Times at Ridgemont High has a line like that. LZ to me was a rock band that did play some heavy stuff, but was more noteworthy for the immense influence on subsequent bands. there aren't many late-70s and 80s HM bands that fail to pay respect to this giant of the era.

Cream, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Yardbirds, The Who,  The Faces: These were what the early metal bands (and later for that matter) listened to that made them want to be musicians. 

T. Rex: Odd band that was hugely successful for a time and melded fantasy with rock and had a couple of seriously heavy songs. Listen to the crunch of 20th Century Toy.

The Kinks: Pretty heavy band that walked the fine line of HM and rock. Their attitude was more in line with rock ' roll though.

Slade, Queen: Both bands created some great HM, but each marched to its own beat. Great rock bands that spawned imitators to our benefit.

Several others had influence, like Pink Floyd, Yes, etc. For every genre of rock, there's an accompanying metal category. Now, I'm told there's something called Classic Metal, akin to Classic Rock. What will they think of next?

Early Heavy Metal Bands

Black Sabbath: They got their (eventual) name from a Mario Bava film. The single biggest band in HM history. They were the definitive act in the art form. Elements of the occult, drug use, and horror imagery abound. As much as any one band, BS was responsible for the cries of Satanism that railed against HM. The thing is that snap judgements only make people look silly. If critics looked into BS (and metal in general) more closely, they'd realize it's as much showmanship as anything. 'Sabbath didn't think of things like that seriously- it was simply part of the show. Beyond that, song titles are often misleading. I suppose it's easier to shoot at large targets and not worry about particulars.

Uriah Heep: From the Dickens character. Fantasy was UH's mainstay, and atypical metal elements like keyboards were used extensively. Ken Hensley, a "renaissance man" among musicians, provided most of the writing and also the Hammond Organ, some guitar work, some vocals, and probably worked as the roadie for all I know. Lesser known today, they were as heavy as anything. check 'em out.

Alice Cooper: 'She asked me why the singer's name is Alice. I said listen, baby, you really wouldn't understand'. They were fooling around with one of those ouija boards and the name popped out. Alice was the band's name, then eventually the singer's name as he progressed through a solo career with many iterations. His music traversed the map, but got darker and heavier until his emergence from a semi-retirement in the 80s with a consistent metal sound. For my money, the first speed metal song was their Long Way to Go (1971). Alice has used humor throughout his career, sometimes merging with his favorite theme- horror. Listen to Vincent Price's speech in the intro to The Black Widow for an example of that. During his show-stopper, Alice executes himself in various ways during his shows. He's someone who brought theatrics to HM concerts, and the list of those in his wake is endless.

UFO: Although known mainly for the amazing Doctor Doctor, UFO was  one of those steady acts that soldiered on through the years and has left a decent legacy. Noteworthy is the international flavor that would become common in later years in rock and roll with Michael Schenker's addition to UFO in 1973. 

Scorpions: Germany's early big-name entrant into HM, the scorps have a tremendous list of great songs. Best of the Rockers 'n Ballads is required listening.

April Wine: Canadian foray into HM, even if they're not very well-known outside of Canada and the northern states. Oowatanite, Comin' Right Down on Top of Me, and Roller are good starter songs. Harder, Faster is one of the better albums out there.

AC/DC: The Thunder from Down Under is legend. Perhaps the most universally popular HM band ever. Pretty much any album is solid start to finish. Rhino Bucket from the early 90s and Airbourne more recently are excellent progeny from the Aussie greats.

KISS: Immensely successful band that was the Motley Crue of its day. Costumes, makeup, dark imagery- they're all here in this band. While fans may be split on it, for my money it was the guitar sound of Ace Frehley that carried them. Destroyer shows the band at its heaviest and sappiest all in one LP.

Judas Priest: Mid-70s standard-bearer for HM, 'Priest is one of the big names and will be until they carry the band members off the stage. Rob Halford helped bring extreme range to HM vocals- always in the list of best vocalists ever. Screaming for Vengeance is a good way to get acquainted with them.

Also worthy of mention:

Rush, Sweet, Nazareth, Montrose (early Sammy Hagar), Blue Oyster Cult, Thin Lizzy, Motorhead,  Rainbow, Riot, And Styx.

Did I leave some off? Sure. There will always be arguments as well as to who to include. Who's metal and who's not, etc. Rush was for about the first album, and a great one it is. Styx was until about Cornerstone in '79. It's not designed to be all-inclusive, just a good way to start a conversation.

Heavy Metal: Origins

    The conversation about Heavy Metal begins with Black Sabbath. While there were tentative starts to the form, with heavy songs and bands with the requisite attitude before Sabbath, with them everything crystallized into a cohesive whole. The look, the sound, the subject matter covered, and just the presence of Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler, Tony, Iommi, and Bill Ward set them apart and created something- something great.

   

     
   Black Sabbath didn't spring into being overnight. The sixties were a decade of many musical flavors. Folk music went electric. Pop rock, classic rock, psychedelic rock, acid rock, etc. etc. defined this decade. I think a lot of music arises as a response to the sound of the day; other stuff as an extension of what exists, to see how far the sound can be logically taken. Take, as an example of the former, the popularity of disco in the mid-to-late seventies. The pendulum quickly swung back to punk and metal and other elements even further removed. In the latter case, look at the evolution of HM to death and black metal and speed metal. 

   Where were we. Oh yeah, the sixties as a time for shaping HM's roots. Plug the words first HM song into a search engine and get any number of answers. Eddie Cochran's Summertime Blues was covered by both Blue Cheer (named for a type of LSD) and The Who to great effect. Around the same time, Steppenwolf (named after a novel) released Born to Be Wild, which incidentally first featured the term heavy metal, albeit in reference to the sound of a motorcycle. Go back  more years and have a listen to The Kinks, circa 1964. the song was called You Really Got Me (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk3Ei_yoI4c), and is my selection as the earliest popular HM song. I hesitate to say first of all because I'm sure some obscure single exists by a band that never made it to radio which would make me a liar. You know how these things go. Heck, my selection is arguable enough, but isn't that the point?

   So here we are, with some songs that offer a certain sound. What about the look? Well, long hair was already there. Rock 'n Roll had gone that direction for some time. Still, something was lacking. Ahh yeah, the black leather jackets and chains. Well, that was perhaps still a little off. Sabbath, after all, was first called Polka Tulk and then Earth before settling on the name of an artistic horror flick showing at the time. The Polka Tulk Blues band doesn't engender dark imagery, but once you're called Black Sabbath, then there are certain expectations. At any rate, it was probably Judas Priest who became the archetype for the metal look.

   Musically, the topics addressed weren't what we might guess. Sabbath was ultimately had an occult identification, but also spoke heavily on war, especially genocidal nuclear conflict, drug use, and some fantasy and science fiction thrown in for good measure. Image trumps content quite often. Mention Hand of Doom by Black Sabbath and see what comes to mind for the listener.

   So, here we are with dark music, dark songs and a heavy, heavy sound (guitarist Iommi had an industrial accident, necessitating detuning his guitar to make it easier on his fingers). Black Sabbath sold well, and they were then helped by the music critics, who usually panned them. Nothing sells better than a bad review from some critic. None of this took place in a vacuum. Other acts were arriving at a similar place. This is a frequently seen phenomenon in all endeavors- there's a chord running through the species that recognizes a need and strives to fill it. The music public was ready for heavy metal. 

   I like to break it down into three main paths. Black Sabbath, taking the occult route, Uriah Heep, leading the fantasy charge, and Alice Cooper (at the time, a band name as well as the name of the singer), bringing HM to the USA and representing the horror element. There were many bands that deserve mention here, and I will in recognize them in the future, but when I introduce younger generations to HM, I start with these three. They all still exist, and are seminally important to the genre as we know it today.

                                                   Alice Cooper and a friend