Heavy Metal

Heavy metal (often referred to simply as metal) is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s. more...

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With roots in blues-rock and psychedelic rock, the bands that created heavy metal developed a thick, heavy, guitar-and-drums-centered sound, characterized by highly amplified distortion and fast guitar solos. The All Music Guide states that \"of all rock & roll's myriad forms, heavy metal is the most extreme in terms of volume, machismo, and theatricality.\"

Heavy metal has long had a worldwide following of fans known as \"metalheads\" or \"headbangers\". Although early heavy metal bands such as Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Deep Purple attracted large audiences, they were often critically reviled at the time, a status common throughout the history of the genre. In the mid-1970s, Judas Priest helped spur the genre's evolution by discarding much of its blues influence. The New Wave of British Heavy Metal followed in a similar vein, introducing a punk rock sensibility and an increasing emphasis on speed.

In the mid-1980s, pop-infused glam metal became a major commercial force. Underground scenes produced an array of more extreme, aggressive styles such as thrash metal, which broke into the mainstream, and death metal. Since the mid-1990s, styles such as nu metal, which often incorporates elements of funk and hip hop; and metalcore, which blends extreme metal with hardcore punk, have further expanded the definition of the genre.

Characteristics

Heavy metal is traditionally characterized by loud distorted guitars, emphatic rhythms, dense bass-and-drum sound, and vigorous vocals. Metal subgenres variously emphasize, alter, or omit one or more of these attributes. New York Times critic Jon Pareles writes, \"In the taxonomy of popular music, heavy metal is a major subspecies of hard-rock—the breed with less syncopation, less blues, more showmanship and more brute force.\" The typical band lineup includes a drummer, a bassist, a rhythm guitarist, a lead guitarist, and a singer, who may or may not be an instrumentalist. Keyboard instruments are often used to enhance the fullness of the sound. The loud, distorted Hammond organ and occasionally the mellotron were popular with early metal bands; these instruments were displaced in the 1980s by electronic keyboard synthesizers. Today, keyboards are used in a range of styles, including progressive metal, power metal, and symphonic metal. Some nu metal bands incorporate hip hop elements, which may include a DJ scratching and creating various sound effects.

Read more at Wikipedia.org