Paul Chokota

Dr. Rohler

4/7/03

Heavy Metal

When you think of Heavy Metal music, what comes to mind first? Is it Satan worshiping music, is it great hairstyles and crazy costumes, or is it a lifestyle of rebellion. In actuality, it is a little of all of these, minus all the Satan music stereotypes it receives. There is so much more to heavy metal music than these stereotypes, there is over 30 years of history and evolution of the rock culture. Heavy Metal was in the beginning blues inspired, and evolved into a culture of glamour, style, and pure rock.

One of the Founders of Heavy Metal was Ozzy Osborne in a band named Black Sabbath. This band is what Heavy Metal has evolved from, although it is now considered classic rock. Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple were similar bands to Black Sabbath, and also contributed to the birth of Heavy Metal.

In the U.S. Heavy Metal began to develop in the early 70’s, but it was slightly different than the British version. It was a little more theatrical, involving makeup, and face paint and hard music causing crowds to go crazy. Examples of these bands are Alice Cooper and Kiss.

In the 70’s bands began to have a certain design to them, or began to have a certain style. One of the bands that pioneered the trend of “Glam Rock” was Kiss. They dressed in makeup and exotic costumes, and played Heavy Metal. In the late 70’s, a band discovered by Gene Simmons, the lead singer of Kiss, named Van Halen came out with a song titled “Running with the devil” which kicked off the rock scene out in California.

While all of the rock was developing in Europe and the U.S., a little band in Australia named AC/DC began to get a name for themselves. They joined in 1973 but did not become famous until their song “Highway to Hell” debuted in 1980. They sold over 15 million copies of that album. This is an example of how the metal culture began to spread all across the world. The British Heavy Metal scene was definitely a step ahead of the U.S.’s. Some of the British’s bands like Iron Maiden and Priest brought a faster tempo to metal. Metallica and Pantera are a couple examples of the U.S. bands that had the similar upbeat metal that Iron Maiden had.

Bands such as Motley Crue, Quiet Riot and Great White were all based in LA and began to become popular in the early 80’s. Quiet Riot was the first metal band to be number one on the top 40 charts. Metal bands began to get publicity all over MTV, and received a lot of radio play as well. Motley Crue raised the bar on Heavy Metal, and glam rock from 1983 to 1990. They were all over MTV, and their concerts were almost a fashion show because of what they were wearing, all their makeup and the huge perms. These concerts attracted mostly a female audience, guys enjoyed the music as well, but the girls were obsessed with the band members. So as Heavy Metal began to hit the popular scene in the late 80’s, a few new bands debuted, Guns “n” Roses and Poison. They invented the Heavy Metal that can be as heavy as Pantera to as light as Bon Jovi. These two bands rocked the metal culture for about five years until the metal scene was taken over.

Unfortunately, as things evolve, they often hurt the great things that are already here. In 1992, the glam of Heavy Metal was taken over by the grunge of Nirvana. Other grunge bands were Stone Temple Pilots and Pearl Jam.

Currently many of the bands that were the best bands of the Heavy Metal era, still tour, like Metallica and Bon Jovi. However, they have evolved into a new wave of metal music. Def Leopard and Poison still tour as well, but they play most of their greatest hits, with a little amount of new songs. Heavy Metal is not on the commercial and popular level that it was in the 80’s and early 90’s, but it is on a creative rise. Rock bands are combining styles with rap music and becoming really successful that way. An example is Limp Biskit. There are still bands that are Heavy Metal, like Godsmack and Rob Zombie, but they are not what Metal used to be.

Source:

http://metalroots.orcon.net.nz/main.htm