A Heavy Metal History Part 2: The Great Divide

Ahh, the 80’s, mainly renowned for the mullet and the synthesiser, two things which can be found in the incredible divergence of heavy metal in the 1980’s. Many people look down on the 80’s, ignoring it musically to avoid seeming kitsch. Whats the matter with kitsch, everything to do with metal is kitsch and that’s why the 80’s loved it sooooo much. During the early 80’s heavy metal divided itself into several sub genres which I wish to explore in my next few posts. These subgenres still exist today and are the basis of most of today’s heavy metal sounds. Im going to begin the rest of my heavy metal anthology with the 2 most popular forms of metal established In the 80’s: Pop metal and NWOBHM.

Forms Of Metal Divergence 1: New Wave Of British Heavy Metal (aka NWOBHM)

After punk rock decimated the plans of many 70’s heavy metal bands, some true hard nuts of the 70’s scene emerged on the other side of the decade and were out for blood. This New wave of heavy metal was a reaction against the punk rock aesthetic though ironically it derived many elements from the punk movements. These bands were interested in amplification and musicianship, but borrowed some of punk’s directness and speed. What emerged was power chords, fast guitar solos and melodic, soaring vocals, with lyrical themes often drawing inspiration from mythology, fantasy fiction, and the occult. In other words all the things that makes metal AWESOME. Although ignored by critics, it dominated the hard rock scene in the early to mid 80’s.

Many important bands emerged from this scene, it was an amazing melting pot for many bands to draw upon in the coming decades. Releases like Motorhead’s the Ace Of Spades in 1980 had an incredibly dramatic influence on the later thrash metal sound of bands like Metallica and Megadeth. Venom actually became the building block for the important black metal scene later on in the decade and Def Leppard would go on to sell more records than all of these bands put together when they would later drive the glam metal scene of the mid 80’s. The bands of heavy metal stalwarts Ronnie James Dio and Ozzy Osbourne would go on to have success in this field as well, creating Dio’s Holy Diver and Osbourne’s Blizzard Of Ozz, two albums that would influence a generation of metal heads.

Iron Maiden also emerged from this fertile musical soil to become one of the greatest and most recognised British metal bands of all time. It all began with their early records featuring Paul Di'Anno’s punk infused vocals, an epically mythic aesthetic and the melodic dual guitars of Dave Murray and Adrian Smith. However, due to Di’Anno’s slight (massive) cocaine problem the band sacked him for their most popular vocalist, the man, Bruce Dickinson. Dickinson’s style of singing would go on to be the most duplicated style in all of heavy metal.

In modern times, the NWOBHM style is still embraced around the world, especially in Europe. These days however, it is known widely as power metal. Power metal is a combination of what they call traditional metal (NWOBHM) with speed and thrash metal, often coupled with daunting technical skills. The extreme sense of this is found in bands like Sonata Arctica, Blind Guardian and the English insanity of DragonForce, the self confessed fastest band in the world.

Metal MP3 Awesomeness:
Motorhead - Ace Of Spades
Def Leppard - Photograph
Iron Maiden - The Trooper
Dio - Holy Diver
Ozzy Osbourne - Crazy Train
Dragon force - Through the Fire And Flames

Forms Of Metal Divergence 2: Pop Metal/Glam Metal/Hair Metal ect.

Awesome. Anyone who doesn’t like Pop metal is a pansy, not the other way around. Sure the hair is questionable, and these bands invented the power ballad but without it what would you sing when your drunk? Are you going to go with some Joy Division or Bon Jovi’s Livin On a Prayer. I think I know the answer to that question. You see, although it may not be the most progressive or original form of music it did tap into something universal. Sex. Glam metal is probably the most porno form of music besides anything by Curtis Mayfield. These guys all had a lot of sex, and then they wrote about it, and girls bought it and screwed them some more. It’s a vicious cycle.

When did it begin I hear you say. Well as is obvious Glam metal is an even mixture of the metal of the 70’s like Alice Cooper, KISS and Queen with the glam rock of the 70’s like David Bowie and T.Rex. These two components came together, mixing the make up and garishness of glam rock with the harder edge and epic sound of heavy metal. What resulted was a band called Hanoi Rocks from Finland a band known for their flair and over the top gaudiness. However, the band commonly known as the true beginning of the genre is Motley Crue. In 1981 they released their first album Too Fast For Love and along with their subsequent release Shout At The Devil, these two albums cemented a sound which would be exploited all the way throughout the 80’s.

Through 1983 and 1984 many extremely influential album were released by the true staples of the glam rock genre. Def Leppard’s Pyromania spawned their first smash hit single Photograph which helped them along to be the best selling glam metal band of the 80’s with sales past 70 million. Motley Crue kept on gaining more recognition in the US with their fellow glam metallers Twisted Sister and Ratt. However towards the end of the decade their was a definite formula being exploited called the power ballad. Bands would release an album of hard hitting rock and then sugar it up with a power ballad. Power ballads are the worst form of songs ever and are a blight on every single great pop metal release of the 80’s. For Bon Jovi it was Always, Winger had heading for a heartbreak, Scorpions had the horrific Winds Of Change and Poison last but most least had the worst song ever written, Every Rose Has Its Thorn, a number 1 hit somehow.

Then comes the fall, Grunge has often been blamed for the demise of pop metal, the public apparently rejected the excess of the mainstream for the dark themes and suicidal charisma of Kurt Cobain. But ultimately, Pop metal dug its own grave with floored generic song writing and overconfident sense of invulnerability. After Guns and Roses released Use Your Illusion 1 there was no doubt this genre was dead in the water, but we salute you Pop metal of the 80’s for you rocked hard and had lots of sex, and isn’t that what rock music is about.

Metal MP3 Awesomeness:
Bon Jovi - Blaze Of Glory
Motley Crue - Too Fast For Love
Twisted Sister - I Wanna Rock
Winger - Seventeen
Whitesnake - Here I Go Again
Guns n Roses - Welome To The Jungle

A Heavy Metal History, The Tale Of The Metal Gods

And then there was metal. A musical force to be reckoned with. Probably the most maligned and underrated form of music excluding country. The kind of music that your parents hate, and the kind can make you neighbours ears bleed. Both majestically beautiful and brutally cathartic, metal expresses what no other form of music can. It’s can be both the devils music or gods musical present to the world. It’s the music worlds big conundrum. Art Or Trash? Music or Noise? I think you can guess how I feel about heavy metal, but how much do you really know about metal? Do you judge from afar, not truly knowing how it began and how influential it has become? If so come with me on a journey as I charter the ages of metal in awesome, time consuming and ultimately rewarding mega-posts about my favourite kind of music.

The Origins Of The Metal (1968 – 1980)

Part 1: Proto-metal Or Hard Rock (<1970)

Where did metal begin I hear you ask? Good question, and a much debated topic among those of us who truly know our metal. Probably the easiest answer is to go with the obvious, the origin of the word heavy metal.

The words “heavy metal thunder” can be heard in Steppenwolf’s quintessential song Born To Be Wild, released on their self-titled album in 1968. This is believed to be the genesis of the phrase heavy metal, despite the fact that Steppenwolf’s music was not exactly representative of the Heavy Metal sound. It is also known that the phrase “metal music” was used by William Burroughs in his novel “Nova Express” published in 1962. However, the first official use of the term heavy metal in relation to a particular style of music was not in common usage until such true progenitors of Heavy Metal such as Black Sabbath and Judas Priest came in to existence during the 70’s. All music that represents Heavy Metal’s roots prior to this ‘official’ beginning is termed to be Proto-Metal or Hard Rock, and is not considered heavy metal per se, despite its obvious influence.

If we go back far enough we can see Heavy Metal beginning with music’s transition into electronic instruments, electric guitars and amplifiers in particular. Right through the 60’s we can see an increasing number of bands including The Rolling Stones And the Yardbirds taking old blues classics and “electrifying” them, rerecording those songs with often distorted and dissonant guitar sounds. This trend reached a knew level when this blues influence met with the psychedelic rock of the 1960’s. The supergroup Cream were particularly influential in the generation of a more original more recognisable heavy metal sound. Throughout their albums you can hear Eric Clapton’s screaming guitar solos and Ginger Baker’s signature double bass drumming forming the basis for the Heavy Metal bands to come. One listen to their classic “White Room” and its really quite obvious.

The next step in the genre’s birth was an original thematic aesthetic, an aesthetic delivered by none other than American rock troubadours Led Zeppelin. Jimmy Page’s highly distorted guitar solos and Robert Plant’s lyrical dramatics and wailing tone are now standout features of heavy metal throughout the ages (listen to “Immigrant Song” for the best example of this). And then something magical happened.

Classic Metal MP3’s (<1970)

Led Zeppelin – Immigrant Song
Cream – White Room
The Yardbirds – I Wish You Would

Part II: Heavy Metal Pioneers (1970 – 1975)

Heavy Metal was born in the hearts and minds of two incredibly important bands, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. Black Sabbath’s heavy metal sound was born out of necessity. Their lead guitarist and cofounder Tommy Iommi had his hand mangled in a machinery accident at the age of fifteen, forcing him to relearn to play guitar. This involved him detuning his guitar in order to take advantage of the simpler chord structures. This deeper distorted sound was important in defining the heavy metal sound, which was perfected on their second album Paranoid, an international smash featuring their hits Paranoid, War Pigs and Iron Man.

Deep Purple on the other hand needed a few albums before they truly defined their heavy metal sound. In 1970, Deep Purple released their fourth album “Deep Purple In Rock”, a total revamp of their poppier earlier style. They also reached a mainstream audience, scoring a place for Black Night at number 2 on the UK charts. Part of this heavy metal mainstream success were other influential heavy metal bands including Uriah Heep, Kiss And Rainbow. These bands would go on to have a great deal of success within the heavy metal genre. Bands like Kiss were famous for their on stage theatrics and aesthetic focus, something that while being popular, made metal appear hokey and gimmicky to musical critics, resulting in poor critical support. Only today with the benefit of hindsight can we see the true importance of these heavy metal pioneers.

Classic Metal MP3’s (1970 - 1975)

Deep Purple – Smoke On The Water
Black Sabbath – Iron Man
Kiss – Strutter

Part III: Mainstream Dominance, The Metal Strikes Back

As I was saying in part II metal was generally regarded by the populace as an amusing but ultimately shallow form of rock music and metal sales fell sharply towards the end of the decade. Punk music had taken the world by storm, dominating the mainstream consciousness with a message that said “fuck you” to rock music’s pomposity and decadence. This was however an important stage in the development of the true metal sound we love today. As the metal bands went underground, its aesthetic spread into the mainstream music of the late 70’s. Metal’s stage antics were alive and well in Alice Cooper, its showy vocals prevalent in Queen, its duelling guitar onslaught in Thin Lizzy, its grand themes in the thundering compositions of Rainbow and all of these aspects were featured in the music of Judas Priest. These more mainstream rock bands helped to solidify the archetype of what was to become the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. The sound was cleaner, faster, less blues based and very epic. The bands of today look back on this type of metal being the most influential on the current scene, the genesis of metal in the truest sense. Metal was to take the next decade by the horns and make the 80’s its bitch.

Classic Metal MP3’s (1975 - 1980)

Thin Lizzy - The Boys Are Back In Town
Queen – Killer Queen
Judas Priest - Breaking The Law
Alice Cooper - Schools Out

Thus concludes the first instalment of the heavy metal history. Stay tuned in coming weeks for a deeper exploration of heavy metal in the 80's and beyond.