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Certif1ed · 09-17-2009, 12:55 AM

The plan here is to explore each stage of the development of heavy metal, on a year-by-year basis.

To get things started, we need to identify what it is that makes the Heavy Metal sound/style, and that is different things to different people.

It makes sense to me to have Heavy Metal defined as the music produced by the NWoBHM bands of the late 1970s. Although the acronym stands for "New Wave of British Heavy Metal", there was no clear "Old Wave" - that is, most bands, with very, very few exceptions, that played "metal" before the NWoBHM are also widely described as "Hard Rock", "Heavy Rock" or even "Progressive Rock", and the music is decidedly different.

With that definition, we have some boundaries by which we can identify traits in earlier music as being a precursor to metal, and formulate the history more successfully than the often ludicrous attempts you read elsewhere!

How often have I read that the term "Heavy Metal" is derived from some old book title (as if to try to lend it some sort of literary creedence!) and that it "originated in bands of the 1960s, such as The Kinks", or in the lyrics of some song or other.

Sorry, but this won't do - I mean to explore the 1960s and before in order to find out where the roots are, look at hard rock bands other than the usual suspects (Blue Cheer, Steppenwolf, Iron Butterfly, Vanilla Fudge, Purple, Zep and Sabbath) and really get intimate with the musical development.

In order to keep things as interesting and readable as possible, I'll put this analysis into the next post.

09-17-2009, 12:55 AM	#1 (permalink)
Certif1ed Music Addict Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 194	History of Heavy Metal Thread The plan here is to explore each stage of the development of heavy metal, on a year-by-year basis. To get things started, we need to identify what it is that makes the Heavy Metal sound/style, and that is different things to different people. It makes sense to me to have Heavy Metal defined as the music produced by the NWoBHM bands of the late 1970s. Although the acronym stands for "New Wave of British Heavy Metal", there was no clear "Old Wave" - that is, most bands, with very, very few exceptions, that played "metal" before the NWoBHM are also widely described as "Hard Rock", "Heavy Rock" or even "Progressive Rock", and the music is decidedly different. With that definition, we have some boundaries by which we can identify traits in earlier music as being a precursor to metal, and formulate the history more successfully than the often ludicrous attempts you read elsewhere! How often have I read that the term "Heavy Metal" is derived from some old book title (as if to try to lend it some sort of literary creedence!) and that it "originated in bands of the 1960s, such as The Kinks", or in the lyrics of some song or other. Sorry, but this won't do - I mean to explore the 1960s and before in order to find out where the roots are, look at hard rock bands other than the usual suspects (Blue Cheer, Steppenwolf, Iron Butterfly, Vanilla Fudge, Purple, Zep and Sabbath) and really get intimate with the musical development. In order to keep things as interesting and readable as possible, I'll put this analysis into the next post.