Metal!

Heavy metal is one of the most misunderstood genres of music in our day. Rather unfortunately, this is often a result of brazen ignorance about the subject, brought about by certain sectors of the media, society, and listeners themselves. Instead of blindly back lashing against those responsible for the defamation of heavy metal, I decided to write a history of the aforementioned music, in hopes of providing yet another source of information for those who wish to learn about its development.

Throughout history people have put off and raged at the new age music known as Heavy Metal. The true purpose of metal is to put kids in a place were they feel they belong. A place were there are no rules, no drama. Just hardcore instrumentals and hateful lyrics combined to make the perfect getaway when it comes to dramatic shit like teens and school and all that other crap. Metal has been around for years and, especially in the eighties, it was loved by most, hated by the rest. Heavy metal had a new twist when they were claimed "Satanists." The Satanic imagery came courtesy of two English bands: Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. Led Zeppelin's guitarist Jimmy Page (formerly of The Yardbirds, a band that was critical in influencing heavy metal with its psychedelic distortion and in spawning legendary guitar players Page, Clapton, and Jeff Beck) had a strong personal fascination with the occult, while many of Sabbath's lyrics within their ample range of themes dealt with it as well. Black Sabbath, however, did not claim to be Satanic, unlike many future metal bands; in fact, Ozzy Osbourne, vocalist of the band during those times, claims to have been scared off by fans wearing black robes and carrying candles with themselves.

The satanic idea came to life with KISS. A band that brought metal to life. There lead singer, the acclaimed "devil himself," Gene Simmons. The stage was lit with flames, insane guitar riffs, and of course, fake blood pouring from the mouth of Gene. Prancing on stage in costumes and make-up, these boys appeared satanic. Starchild, Catman, The Demon, and Spaceman, all four names seemed quiet odd to me when I first heard them; back in the 80's it was probably worse.

Swinging back in time real quick, we'll take a venture back to the 1950's, where rock itself began. And of course, without rock, there would be no metal. A young man, Elvis Aaron Presley, walked into the Sun Recording Studio in the summer of 1954 and sat down, ready to show them what he had. It was a rough day, during the main audition, Elvis was quite nervous. His playing seemed to be faulty and he feared that he would not be signed. During a break he began to mess around with some of the other band mates, improvising a song that became his first single, "That's All Right". Alongside Elvis were multiple other great rock musicians such as Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Eddie Cochran, and Ray Charles. Now these days some of these musicians may not be considered rock, but back in the fifties it was some of the heaviest music around. Rock was born.

Only a decade later Elvis and the rest of the aforementioned musicians were still going strong, making such a big name for themselves that they actually began to inspire others to partake in this amazing genre. Spawned from the new sound of Rock and Roll, bands began to form all over the world. A young man, also a huge fan of Elvis, decided to start his own band so he met up with A few friends, these friends known as The Beatles would rule the rock kingdom in England and then America for years to come. Consisting of John Lennon, Richard Starkly, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison, The Beatles rose to the top fast, followed of course by other great bands like the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, The Beach Boys, and The Who. The music began to get heavier and the lyrics became more meaningful. The look of the Metalhead began to form.

Rocking straight through the sixties and into the seventies, we begin to see the progression of metal. Now entering the psychedelic years where drugs were huge and metal began to get heavy. A new wave of technology makes for bigger amps. Bigger amps mean bigger sound. All around the world metal bands begin to up the sound and really slam into the music. Making it to the top in this decade where bands like The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Aerosmith, and Queen. These bands, not the only of the time period, were some of the best musicians out there at the time. Nothing could top it. That is, until the eighties…

The eighties were a ferocious time period where pretty much, all hell broke loose. Much of the metal of the seventies where still big, but the look changed, triumphantly. Bands began to dress like women: Tight spandex, make-up, the whole nine yards. This was known as Hair/Glam Metal. All the guys grew long hair, better for head banging I guess, and began to sing in higher voices. A type of scream began to form. Popular bands of this time included Poison, Def Leppard, Quiet Riot, Guns n Roses, The Scorpions, and many, many more. Metal was truly changing.

Still in the eighties, but not so glam metal, other bands began, heavier, more powerful bands. Groups like Metallica, Pantera, Slayer, and Cannibal Corpse, began to bring a whole new sound to the style. Faster, harder playing as well as rougher singing, and screaming. Thrash Metal and Death Metal were born. The new, harder metal became well known as Underground. Underground is simply defined as music for the fans. Mainstream is another word to define music, it's meaning is just as simple: They want the money. All mainstream bands are more for money than fans. Music was really and truly changing. Popular Death Metal bands include Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, Kataklysm, Skinless, and Kittie.

The eighties now past, we enter into the nineties. The nineties were a very experimental time period for music. Very little Metal and rap began to get big. But the select few bands that did try to keep metal alive deserve their props. Pantera of the eighties was still large and touring, and new bands began to form. Nirvana, Alice and Chains, Tool, Slipknot, Disturbed and so many more. Nirvana's front man Kurt Cobain referred to his style of playing as Grunge. Guitars were tuned down and amps were turned up. Lyrics began to get more personal and the music was sill alive. Slipknot and Disturbed, along with other bands like Mudvayne, and Mushroomhead began to increase the hardcore style even more.

Entering into the two thousands, not much has changed. A multitude of sub-genres were created off of metal, some to include: Black Metal, Classic Metal, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Folk Metal, Gothic Metal, Groove Metal, Progressive Metal, Thrash Metal, Nu Metal, Speed Metal, Power Metal, and Symphonic Power Metal. This is a shortened version of the actual, full list of Metal sub-genres.

Symphonic Power Metal, a fairly new sub-genre of the sub-genre Power Metal, is a fuse of Orchestral Symphony as well as the traditional instruments used in Metal. Now, branching off of Symphonic Power Metal, come even more sub-genres, I guess now it would be sub-sub-genres, such as Opera Metal, Pirate Metal, Battles Metal and even more. Bands in these specific categories would be, for Opera Metal, Nightwish, Leaves' Eyes, Epica, Sinergy, Within Temptation, and Memoria. Pirate Metal, although large, I am much less familiar with so I can only present to you one band, Alestorm. Battle Metal include multiple bands, Turisas, Ensiferum, Lost Horizon, Dark Moor, and more.

Metal has always been a male dominant genre. That is, until the nineties. Females, who are capable of screaming just as well as the guys, began to get into the metal world. All genres of metal at that. Bands like Arch Enemy, Otep, and Kittie, proved the Death Metal side of females. Where Flyleaf, Paramore, and Evanescence showed the softer, hard rock side of females. In Opera Metal, a female dominance is present. Not many, if any males are in Opera Metal Bands. Nightwish's front women Tarja Tarunen takes hold of the classic opera vocals whilst the rest of the band continues to play hard, heavy riffs. When she got fired from the band, Anette Olzon entered, infusing the opera vocals with the hard rock vocals to boost the sound.

Foreign Metal is fairly popular in the U.S.A. Mainly in harder genres like Thrash Metal and Speed Metal. German Thrash Metal bands like Kreator and Warbringer show how hardcore the metal world can be in other parts of the world. The U.S. itself has our very own thrash bands like Municipal Waste and Gamma Bomb. These bands have even faster instrumentals as well as vocals. It makes their music very hard to understand, but it also get people moving, and all metalheads know that a moshpit is like a second home in the Metal Kingdom.

Metal will probably never be as popular as the rap and hip hop and other torturous music out there but there will always be that select few of us that still care. We are a breed of the few, A breed of the proud, the metalhead will never die!