Heavy metal or metal is a music movement that originated in the early seventies of the 20th century and arose from hard rock music. The popularity of heavy metal at the end of the seventies during the disco years, but in the eighties, the style became more successful than before. [1] It is characterized by aggressive rhythms, heavily amplified electric guitars and dark tones. Black Sabbath is often the first heavy metal band designated, other known heavy metal bands are Manowar, Iron Maiden, Saxon, Accept, Motörhead and Judas Priest. Heavy metal eventually resulted in other subgenres, such as thrash metal, death metal, power metal, gothic metal, doom metal, sludge metal, black metal and many others. A fan of the metal genre is called a metalhead, sometimes also a headbanger or metalmaniac.
In metal is sometimes sung about own or social problems, sometimes about religion, and sometimes about fictional or macabre subjects.
Origin
Het begin van heavy metal als een genre verschillend van rockmuziek is moeilijk te preciseren. Er was een geleidelijke overgang, van rock in het midden jaren 1960 tot zogenaamde “acid rock” in de late jaren 1960, naar het begin van heavy metal in de late jaren 1960 en begin 1970. Acid rock, gespeeld door artiesten als Jimi Hendrix, werd zo genoemd omdat het werd beschouwd als een muzikale weergave van de ervaring van een lsd-trip. Acid rocksongs bevatten de gebruikelijke rockcomponenten – de elektrische gitaar, de basgitaar, drums en zang -, maar op een hardere, donkerder manier. Heavy metal voerde toen deze muzikale elementen een stap verder, zonder de associatie met lsd-ervaringen. De meeste waarnemers zijn het erover eens dat het is ontstaan rond 1969-1972, met groepen als Led Zeppelin en Black Sabbath.
Etymology
The term heavy metal has been used for centuries in the English steel industry, but in a musical context it only appears in 1968, in the text of “Born to be Wild” by Steppenwolf. It describes a motorcycle with “Heavy Metal Thunder”. Ronnie James Dio, who started singing and playing harder music early, refers to the song [2]. Dio was also the second singer of Black Sabbath, originally from Birmingham, which had a large number of factories where heavy metals were processed and where the heavy metal band Judas Priest came from. To get out of the hard work, various bands emerged, mainly playing hard music and hoped to achieve success (which some also succeeded) so that they did not have to do this heavy work anymore. These bands played ‘heavy metal’.
A popular (but questionable) explanation is that the term was first used to characterize the music of Jimi Hendrix: it would have been described as heavy metal falling from the sky (heavy metal falling from the sky). The anthropologist Sam Dunn, who has been a metal music lover since his thirteenth, gives a clear insight into how and where metal arose in his documentary Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey and in his second documentary Global Metal about how metal has become global, especially in poorer and Muslim countries. Asian countries .
The heavymetal style really breaks good for a large audience as Iron Maiden releases her third and most successful album in 1982: The Number of the Beast. Iron Maiden was part of the New Wave of British heavy metal, the breakthrough period for many English heavy metal bands, Iron Maiden of which turns out to be the most successful, where the Venom is also hugely popular and influential in the underground. Later it is the turn of Metallica, which will be one of the most successful heavy metal bands ever. Following Metallica, Megadeth and Manowar grew into the standard bearers of metal in the eighties and nineties. Although heavy metal originated in the United States and especially in Great Britain, the center has largely shifted to northern Europe. Especially countries like Norway, Sweden and Finland, but also Germany and the Netherlands are important.
Characteristics
Heavy metal is characterized by speed, even more than hard rock, which in addition to fast songs also often have slow songs. A big difference between hard rock (like AC / DC) and heavy metal is the harmony. In the hard rock the power chord is often used, but often in a harmonic series. Heavy metal, in addition to the minor scale, makes extensive use of the frygic scale and the chromatic scale, as well as dissonants such as the tritonus. In addition, there are more often tone changes. The intro of “Master of Puppets” by Metallica is a good example of a chromatic heavy metal riff.
With heavy metal, the emphasis is also on powerful and fast rhythms, which are supported by all musical instruments. Especially by using a double bass drum in the drum set, the drummer can achieve a high rhythm in close cooperation with the bass player. It is also common that a group has two sologitarians. By playing fast polyphonic guitar parts they create a sound carpet. In heavy metal, many singers have a kind of opera style, such as Bruce Dickinson, the legendary singer of Iron Maiden. A vocal style that is also very common is grunt, freely translated “growling”, but in that case people often speak of black metal, death metal and metalcore / deathcore instead of heavy metal.
Theme
The theme in heavy metal music often includes dramatic and psychological issues such as horror, mythology, war, religion and nihilism, but often subjects such as personal development and self-improvement. Heavy metal usually opposes the established order, especially religion such as open worship of satan, but most bands do so as “image” and often as self-deprecating of the genre. A lot of heavy metal music has a political message. A good example of such a text is “The Weapon They Fear” by Heaven Shall Burn; this song is a kind of “tribute” to the Chilean singer Víctor Jara, who was executed in 1973. Another good example is “Now You’ve Got Something To Die For” by Lamb of God; that is about the war in Iraq. The number describes both sides, that of the terrorists and that of the Americans. “Clenching the Fists of Dissent” by Machine Head is also a number about oil and the corruption of countries. In addition, the song “For the Greater Good of God” by Iron Maiden is an example of the widely used thesis that religion incites people to violence, through an opportunistic interpretation of, for example, “sacred” texts. Also the song In the Name of God by Dream Theater uses the thesis that belief incites war and violence. There are also heavy metal bands that preach the gospel. This is called white metal, sometimes called ‘christian metal’ in the 21st century.
In the metal scene it does not matter how you are dressed. In the early eighties, they often wore tight jeans, sports shoes and band shirts. Nowadays this is still worn, but also leather, and just casual. Black belt shirts with the logo of the favorite bands are common, as are leather jackets, (sleeveless) denim jackets with patches and buttons, spikes or studs worn around the arms, legs or neck. Wearing army crates is also common. Metalheads usually have long, loose hair, although this image is no longer a statement. Nowadays there are more and more people and even artists who choose a short haircut (Bruce Dickinson, James Hetfield, Corey Taylor). The baldness also contributes to this. In different genres we work with a frightening make-up, especially in black metal. Also shock rockers Alice Cooper, Lizzy Borden and Marilyn Manson use make-up, as do many glammetals, such as Poison, Motley Crue, KISS, Twisted Sister and L.A. Guns. To this day, many outsiders often confuse the clothing style with those of Punk of Gothic. Frequently ‘looking over the wall’ has not made it easier to consistently keep the subcultures apart. Within the Gothic scene one sometimes speaks sarcastically about ‘metalized metalheads’, when fans of doom metal or gothic metal pop up at parties where in the first place New Wave, Gothrock and / or cybergothic is played.
Trivia
Since April 2010, hard rock, heavy metal and punk has been used by American elite troops in Afghanistan as a psychological weapon against the Taliban. The music of, among others, Metallica, Deicide and The Offspring could be heard in the wide area to irritate and cheer the Taliban. The residents in the area of Marjah, in the province of Helmand, complained about the loud music. The Americans hoped that the people of Marjah would turn against the Taliban. [4] [5] Music by Metallica was previously used to torture prisoners in Iraq.
And also some subgenres of metal:
Also see