Hi y’all mellifluous musical maties. Here we are at the end of August 2024 and rapidly heading once again toward the wintry Christmas season. Yikes! The end of the month means that it is time for another arguably articulate article from your modest meanderingly‑minded author (soz – I got my alliteration addiction in early this month!) We all need a bit of energetic positivity in our lives to counteract the collective downsides of our dysfunctional existence.
You may recall that, since my ‘comeback’ to writing after a near 3‑year hiatus in August 2023, I have so far indulged in a look at three genre‑related topics. These were Dub Reggae (August 2023), Ambient Electronica (September 2023) and Heavy Metal (June 2024). These have been punctuated by other subject matters to mix things up a bit. If you feel so inclined you can access those articles here (each opens in a new tab):
So, for this and next month’s articles, I’m returning to another musical genre that fascinates me. The title above kinda gives the game away. Yep, folks, it’s back to another bit of genre unravelling with a difference – we are taking an in‑depth look at the evolution, current state and possible future of dance music. During writing, I realised that it was going to be WAY too long for an ordinary mortal to absorb in one sitting, so I’ve had to split it into two parts. Part I takes us from pre‑history to the mid‑1950s while Part II next month will bring us up‑to‑date and take a look into a speculative future.
“The dance is the mother of the arts. Music and poetry exist in time; painting and architecture in space. But the dance lives at once in time and space” – Curt Sachs (Musicologist, 1881‑1959)
Get Up And Dance To The Music (courtesy Pexels)
Scope
If you are in any way familiar with CRAVE Guitars’ musings, my main interest in music history dates roughly from the birth of Rock & Roll through the current moment in time and with tentative hints at possible futures. Recognising that dance and dance music didn’t appear fully formed in the mid‑1950s, one also has to look further back into pre‑history, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, classical times and the rise of contemporary dance after the end of World War I (WWI), all of which provide the soundtrack to the activity known as dance music. While this earlier history isn’t the real focus of the article, it does provide a useful context.
In modern times, following on from explosion of Rock & Roll in the 1950s and the expansion of popularity of Soul and R&B in the early 1960s, something phenomenal happened. It could be argued that two related but quite discrete genres made today’s dance… well… so toe‑tappingly danceable. We are talking ‘bout Funk and Disco. These innovations in irresistibly groovy music is where this article really kicks into gear in Part II. The gamut of dance and dance music is so massive that even two articles seem insufficient to do it fair justice.
“Every music – except dance music, which is for dancing, I suppose – is for the spirit of the human being, and not for the body” – Klaus Schulze (1947‑2022)
It wasn’t only the hippie peace & love counterculture that came to the fore in San Francisco around 1967. It was back in 1967 that Californian Sly & the Family Stone recorded their second studio album called, ‘Dance to the Music’, including the hit single of the same name, both released in April 1968. Sly Stone used the album to promote his beliefs about peace, brotherly love, and anti‑racism, while appealing to a broader pop audience, Sly’s Psychedelic Soul album and single laid the foundation of what would soon become Funk. A milestone was thus laid and it seemed an apt title to semi‑appropriate for this month’s genre article headline.
Sly & The Family Stone weren’t alone, there were other influential Psychedelic Soul artists like The Temptations and The Four Tops around the same time. Following Funk’s awkward birth in the late 1960s, it would soon be reinforced by artists like the Jackson Five and James Brown. All these artists integrated choreographed dance moves into their live and recorded musical performances. Dance music would soon become unstoppable.
The main focus of this article will be delving into the sweaty world of dance music that followed. From the 1960s and 1970s Funk and Disco developed through a broad range of dance (and danceable) music, culminating in what has become generally regarded as EDM (Electric Dance Music) and its more cerebral (?!) counterpart IDM (Intelligent Dance Music) in the 21st Century. While dance music is now widely regarded as belonging to the umbrella Electronica genre, it wasn’t always thus. Far from it, in fact.
“Love is a lot like dancing; you just surrender to the music” – Pierce Brosnan (Actor, 1953‑)
One of the distinctions about modern dance music is that some tracks draw significant acclaim while the rest of an artist’s catalogue may be completely ignored. Such is the DJ’s power to commit (or permit) ‘death on the dancefloor’. The proportion of ‘one hit wonders’ in dance music is quite high, as is the attrition rate for tracks not on trend and therefore not getting exposure they otherwise might have deserved. Similarly, there is a proliferation of various artist dance music compilations that tend to exaggerate this particular characteristic. Focus on the few familiar and relegate the rest.
As with the author’s previous genre articles, there is a heck of a lot of subjectivity about genres and artists within a fundamentally flawed model of arbitrary categorisation. Omissions and inclusions are inevitable. I am certain that both the methodology and outcome will be criticised and challenged. Fair enough. I am, however, unapologetic for putting my approach out there for scrutiny.
Also, as with all my other articles, this is not an academic thesis; the intention is to entertain, rather than educate, although I hope there is something new, thought‑provoking and of interest herein.
As with other genre articles, genres and sub‑genres have been capitalised for clarity and convenience, rather than being typographically and grammatically correct. A great deal of research went into this article – all hard work – no AI shortcuts here.
Right. Time to get into the groove. Let’s hot step onto the virtual dancefloor.
“Do it big; do it right; and do it with style” – Fred Astaire (1899‑1987)
What is ‘Dance’?
Dance, usually accompanied by some form of rhythmic backing, originated in early pre‑historic human communities (and therefore undocumented). We can suppose that dance was used to communicate with spirits, intimidate competitors, celebrate victories, mourn losses and to bind tribal/social relationships. Dance has changed beyond all imagination and adapted to societal change over the millennia, through many different ‘phases’ or ‘eras’. Dance and dance music endures in a diverse range of forms to the current day. Each new genre innovation complements, rather than replaces, what went before, thereby growing appreciation over time.
While it may be obvious, it is worth a quick definition (or two) of ‘dance’ for clarity:
As a verb, to dance means ‘to move rhythmically to music, typically following a set sequence of steps’.
As a noun, dance is ‘a series of steps and movements that match the speed and rhythm of a piece of music’.
There you go. Now we have a general vague idea of what dance is, how does it manifest? Whether it’s an elegant slow waltz, joyous foxtrot, graceful ballet, catchy country line dance, raving at a festival, headbanging in a heavy metal mosh pit, embracing passionately in a ballroom, writhing sensuously in a dark nightclub, jigging at a Celtic céilídh, boogying to funk, voguing at the disco, following cultural tropes in a tradtional folk dance, swinging to jazz, jiving to Rock ‘N’ Roll, moonstomping to Jamaican Ska or dad dancing at a wedding, it really doesn’t matter a jot. Dancing is an integral part of our diverse and colourful human condition. What you dance and how you dance doesn’t matter; the act of dancing seems to be a fundamental part of what it means to be a human bean.
“Dancing is like dreaming with your feet!” – Constanze Mozart (1762‑1842)
Why Dance?
Dance music is unusual in that it serves an actual purpose other than the music in and of itself. Dance is prevalent in every country and predates human history, so there must be a common bond that unites humans in this unnatural form of movement and outward expression. Dancing is predominantly a social activity; other than practising to perfect a skill, it is rarely, if ever, done in isolation.
People have probably been dancing as long as humans have existed as a sentient, cognitive species. Dance has been, and is, inherent in every human civilisation. Dance does, however, vary depending on time and place. Such pervasive prevalence does beg the question of why humans have felt the imperative need to dance over many millennia in every part of the world.
“And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music” – Friedrich Nietzsche (1844‑1900)
Dance music has one and only one primary function, which is to get humans to move physically in time to the music being played. Beyond movement, we also listen to dance music because the rhythms engage some primordial need to match the beat, as well as to communicate and express emotions but that’s not really the point.
So, why do we dance? Dancing is a physical activity that triggers the brain’s reward and pleasure centres, and bestows a feeling of elation and euphoria. Dancing enhances our emotional, mental, spiritual and physical well‑being.
Dancing is a heuristic skill, learned through doing. Some are good at it, others less so but most of us do it to one degree or another, even if it just matching patterns of movement to music by tapping a foot or drumming fingers to the rhythm.
“Nobody cares if you can’t dance well. Just get up and dance. Great dancers are great because of their passion” – Martha Graham (choreographer, 1894‑1991)
As we grow and learn, dance helps us sense our surroundings, respond appropriately to external stimuli in a safe way and to build physical and psychological experience. Neuroscientists are taking an increasing interest in dancing and its potential health and well‑being benefits.
Some dances are used to tell stories or to confer allegorical meaning. Like many other forms of artistic endeavour, dance music can be used to provoke a physical and emotional response from a willing participant.
“We dance for laughter, we dance for tears, we dance for madness, we dance for fears, we dance for hopes, we dance for screams, we are the dancers, we create the dreams” – Albert Einstein (1879‑1955)
Music – the Basics
We really don’t need to go into the fundamentals of music here. The topic has been pretty well covered in previous CRAVE Guitars articles. In January 2017, we looked at ‘Why music affects us in the way it does’. We also took a 14‑part look at ‘The Story of Modern Music in 1,500+ Facts’ from March 2019 to May 2020. In those 15 articles, one should be able to establish a solid foundation on the musical context side of things. These articles are all available via the CRAVE Guitars website for those that might like to explore the topic further.
In very broadest terms, and apologies for a sweeping generalisation to make a rather vague point, music can exist in the absence of dance, while dance is normally dependent on music. In contemporary times, a great proportion of dance music tends to rely on rhythm and beat, rather than melody or harmony. The definitions of dance above both count on ‘rhythm’ and therefore dance music relies on instruments that emphasise rhythm. Early dance rhythm and beat were provided by percussive instruments, rather than devices that produced musical notes, which probably developed much later. Chanting and/or singing would often accompany persistent drumming.
“No matter what culture you’re from, everyone loves music” – Billy Joel (1949‑)
For clarity, another couple of helpful musical definitions:
Rhythm is defined as, ‘a strong, regular repeated pattern of movement or sound’.
The beat is defined as, ‘the basic unit of time and the rhythmic pulse that gives a piece of music its tempo and flow’.
Like dance, music is a way of establishing social cohesion, a form of ‘tribal’ social structure that, through innumerable generations of tradition, has persisted over the generations up to today. Dance music is a genre of music that exists primarily for dancing and secondarily for listening. As the author gets older (sadly, I don’t care for this ageing lark one iota), the balance between dancing and listening has moved irrevocably along a continuum from the former to the latter. Having said that, I still enjoy listening to dance music and I dance in my mind, if not with my body.
That’s enough generality and presumption for now. Time to delve a little bit deeper, as long as you have the stamina. Next up, it is time to link dance and music together.
“Music and rhythm find their way into the secret places of the soul” – Plato (c.427‑348BCE)
Music and Dance
Dance music is either live or recorded music that has been composed specifically to enable or accompany the art of dance. Dance doesn’t stand still (sic!), it is a progressive form of expression that continues to evolve across its manifold forms.
Dance music, like other forms of music, has the ability to affect the soul and evoke profound emotional responses. Dancing can therefore be considered an inward and outward expression of the human spirit. Dancing is generally a joyous activity that is not normally engaged in when one is feeling depressed, angry, ill or anxious.
Possibly, the most important element of dance is music, and it is rare, at least in modern times, for dance of any kind – social, theatrical, performance or religious – to develop without some form of musical or percussive accompaniment.
“I’m dancing to the music of the madness inside me” – George C. Wolfe (Playwright, 1954‑)
The Science of Music and Dance
There are anthropological, sociological psychological, physiological and medical science behind the act of dancing.
Neuroscience explains that dancing changes the physiological structure of the brain in unique ways. It has long been understood that music has a positive effect on mental health. Likewise, dancing also engages overlapping brain networks, including common regions involved in perception, action, movement, and emotion. Dance connects the brain’s cognitive processes to motor functions of the body.
An additional benefit is that the physical activity improves co‑ordination, stamina, balance, fitness, muscle tone and weight control. Both music and dance stimulate the release of serotonin and endorphin hormones, which act on the pleasure and reward centres of the brain. Both hormones act as natural remedies, which are known to reduce anxiety and to work as a natural anti‑depressant.
Psychologists suggest that there are additional health and wellbeing benefits to dance and music. Dancing enhances motivation, mental acuity, improved behaviour, mood and social bonding. Dancing positively affects cerebellar functioning and cognitive processes. Dancing enables people to congregate socially, to belong to a like‑minded community and to share a common purpose, thereby helping to overcome feelings of exclusion, isolation, introversion, shyness and loneliness. Psychologists even extrapolate their findings so far as to suggest that dance is essential to human survival as a species. Maybe that sounds a bit far‑fetched but, who knows, they may be right.
Dance is sometimes used today as a form of therapy. Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) and Dance Movement Psychotherapy (DMP) involve the psychotherapeutic use of music, movement and dance to support intellectual, emotional, and motor functions of the body by examining the correlation between movement and emotion.
Neuroscience suggests that music stimulates a wide range of regions across the brain simultaneously, including faculties such as memory, emotion, movement and reward. Through repetitive overexposure, the brain uses deep encoding to store into, and recall from, memory things like lyrics, melody and movement. Deep encoding in the brain results in what we commonly call ‘familiarity’ and helps us to repeat actions in order to experience previously experienced rewards. The brain tends to remember emotional events more effectively than non‑emotional events. Deeper emotional processing of a stimulus facilitates deeper encoding in the mind leading to stronger, more evocative memories. This effect tends to be strongest between the ages of about 10‑30, resulting in what we call long‑term nostalgia and reminiscence during later stages of life.
Muscle memory, or motor learning, is the ability of our bodies to remember and repeat specific dance movements without conscious thought. Repetition creates a fixed design of the dance steps being learned. The pattern of movement is then stored in the brain so that the dancer doesn’t consciously need to process each move.
It is not just the brain’s auditory cortex processing sound when listening to music, people remember better because emotion‑related areas in the brain are also being activated. Emotions are evoked when listening to music because it stimulates more than one part of the brain. The brain’s motor regions are also stimulated, meaning that people remember movement associated with music and recall wanting to dance along to it.
In addition, the physical exertion of dancing reduces the health risks of a sedentary and indolent lifestyle. Anthropologists and sociologists refer to the process of social synchronisation as ‘collective effervescence’. All good then.
“Dance music is like a virus: it has affected so many different genres” – Avicii (1989‑2018)
The Science of Music, Dance and Sex
Dance also has a strong sexual element. Dance BPMs (Beats Per Minute) of around 120‑130 tend to correspond to the rhythm of human sexual motions. History suggests that the connection has always been present. Before the 1920s, traditional dance sexuality was present but largely implied and unspoken. The ‘flappers’ during the post‑WWI 1920s brought sex and dance out into the open.
Since Rock & Roll erupted in the post‑WWII boom of the mid‑1950s, puritans and moral conservatives have denounced modern popular dance music as ‘the devil’s music’, heralding depravity and debauchery resulting in the breakdown of established austere social structures. For them, the end definitely seemed nigh.
Once the contraceptive pill acted as the catalyst for the sexual revolution and the women’s liberation movement during the 1960s, the links between music, dance and sex became inseparable. The cannabis, speed and acid‑fuelled peace and love hippie counterculture of the late 1960s took promiscuity to its most liberal, orgiastically permissive level. Since the 1970s, sexual dance seems to have become accepted as a way of life and no longer a noteworthy (or newsworthy) issue.
There is a wealth of research to support the argument that music, dance and sex are closely related. Neuroscience suggests that there is an evolutionary link between music and sex. In the same way that Charles Darwin suggested that bird song is a function to attract mates, he also posited that music has evolved with corresponding changes in human sexual courtship and display behaviours. Darwin called the effect of music on sexual behaviour and social bonding as, ‘sexual selection’.
Experimental psychobiology asserts the notion that music serves a reproductive function. Chemicals used in neurotransmission associated with the human brain’s ability to process music are also present in the brain’s instinctive process of sexual attraction and sexual performance. Neurobiology is developing a greater understanding that music and sex may have common effects on the brain including hormonal stimulation such as pleasure and reward systems.
Research has indicated that music and dance has the potential to:
Diminish or relax sexual inhibitions
Enhance sexual arousal by elevating the mood
Indirectly enhance sexual arousal and pleasure by reducing stress
Reduce concerns about body image or performance
Enhance confidence
Enhance the focus on the sexual act
Heighten the sense of partner bonding and intimacy
Create a synchronicity between the musical and the movement rhythms that aids sexual performance and satisfaction
There you have it, music and dance can act as a powerful aphrodisiac and there is a logical rationale behind what we intuitively know be the case. Time to get it on!
“When the music and dance create with accord…their magic captivates both the heart and the mind” – Jean‑Georges Noverre (Ballet dancer, 1727‑1810)
The Economy of Dance Music
Dance music is important to the global economy. MIDiA Research suggests that the global valuation of the dance music industry rose to $11.3 billion, a 16% net increase over its pre‑COVID pandemic levels.
The IMS Business Report claims that the dance music industry grew 34% in 2022 based on dance music data from the previous year. Live music performance is the industry’s biggest driver, showing that revenues increased 65% over the previous year to $4.1 billion. When looking at events, EDM genre’s share of festival circuit bookings rose 6% year‑on‑year to 39% of total festival bookings. Impressive.
In addition the supply chain up and down stream is also crucially important, the contributory value of which is much harder to determine. Everything from music teaching, musical instrument and gear manufacturing, studio recording and production, logistics and distribution, merchandise, second hand market, etc. etc. It is safe to assume that there is an overall economic multiplier effect.
A recent study by the Journal of International Marketing hypothesised that recreational dance influences productivity and performance in the workplace due to employees’ higher intrinsic motivation and subjective wellbeing, as well as lower absenteeism.
“I play a lot of hard, uncompromising dance music; it can be anything from dance to rock to reggae” – Peter Hook (1956‑)
The History of Dance and Dance Music Eras
There have been a number of dance ‘eras’ over the millennia. So, let’s start with a broad description of dance music over human history and then we’ll dig a bit deeper to see what is really going on today. The history of dance and dance music is massive and highly complex, reflecting and influencing the cultural and social evolution of human civilisation. As with a similar approach taken to the Heavy Metal genre, the 6‑era model used here is the author’s arbitrary construction.
Part I of this article covers the first four eras covered below. Part II, next month, will cover the last two eras.
Era #1 – Ancient Times
Prehistory: Dance and music have been intertwined for as long as Homo Sapiens have been around (approximately 300,000 years), although there is little or no documented evidence to support the assumption. Dance has been an integral part of human development, indicated by cave paintings such as the Bhimbetka rock shelters in India, dating back around 10,000 years.
Ancient Civilizations (3100BCE‑395CE): In antiquity, Egyptian dance was integral to religious rituals, spiritual worship and social celebrations. Ancient Greek societies used dance in theatrical performances and social gatherings, evidenced by images on Greek vases depicting dancers and musicians. In Ancient Rome, dance was used in religious ceremonies, political events and social gatherings.
Era #2 – Middle Ages to the Renaissance
Medieval Period (500‑1500CE): Dance in medieval Europe was often associated with religious and folk traditions. The earliest Western dance music that we know can be reproduced faithfully includes medieval dances like carols and estampie.
Renaissance (15th‑16th Century): The Renaissance period saw the rise of formal European court dances, such as the 16th Century slow processional dance, the pavane and the physical galliard, which were performed widely in England, Portugal, France, Spain, Germany and Italy.
Era #3 – 17th to 19th Centuries
Baroque Period (1590‑1750): Dance became more formalised with the prominent development of Ballet in the French noble courts. The classical music minuet was used for a popular social dance of the same name.
Classical Era (1750‑1829): The ballroom waltz emerged in Austria and Germany, alongside other nationalistic dances like the mazurka and polonaise from Poland.
Romantic Era (1800‑1850): Ballet continued to evolve, with famous works like ‘Giselle’ and ‘Swan Lake’ emerging during this period.
Era #4 – 20th Century (First Half)
1900s and 1910s: The early part of the Century saw the rise of modern dance, with pioneers like Isadora Duncan and Martha Graham breaking away from classical ballet to explore new forms of artistic expression through dance. Ballroom dancing gained popularity, and dance music became a significant part of social life.
1920-1940s: Dance music saw a major post‑WWI boom with the rise of Jazz, Swing, Tap and contemporary dance. Big band music became popular in the period before WWII broke out.
Era #5 – 20th Century (Second Half)
1950s: Following WWII, the cultural explosion that accompanied the Rock & Roll phenomenon became the dominant dance music from the mid‑1950s.
1960s: The late 1960s saw the emergence of, R&B, Soul and Funk. The use of electronic alongside traditional instruments began to influence music creation and production. Artists began experimenting with analogue synthesizers and complex studio recording techniques.
1970s: The mid‑late 1970s Disco movement reinforced dance as an integral part of mainstream popular culture. Artists pioneered electronic dance music, influencing a diverse range of genres like Hip‑Hop, Techno and House.
1980s: With the wide availability of synthesizers, sequencers and rhythm machines EDM sub‑genres such as Synth Pop and Europop began to develop, resulting in diversification and experimentation with dance styles. In discotheques and nightclubs, genres like House, Techno, Trance and Garage began to dominate dance floors.
1990s: The appeal of Rap and Hip Hop in the 1990s saw the growth of urban street dance, such as breakdancing. EDM coalesced and evolved with groove‑centric genres such as House and Techno becoming a staple in nightclubs and (both legal and illegal) raves.
Era #6 – 21st Century
2000‑today: EDM rose to become a global phenomenon and dominant force, with numerous subgenres and a significant presence in mainstream music. Dance music continues to evolve reflecting changes in technology, culture, and social trends. The rise of social media and digital streaming has also played a significant part in popularising dance trends.
Dance and dance music remain a powerful form of expression and a vital part of civilisation’s cultural heritage worldwide. The model above isn’t the only way of looking at things. As we will see shortly, some forms of dance and dance music transcend time periods, geographical boundaries and genre categorisation.
“There may be trouble ahead – But while there’s moonlight, and music, and love, and romance – Let’s face the music and dance” – Irving Berlin (1888‑1989)
Dance and Dance Music – Digging Deeper
Now we’ve defined five broad dance music eras, let’s take a look at some of the alternative perspectives. First, we’ll take a quick look at long‑standing dances that have endured anywhere from ancient times right through to today.
“Work like you don’t need the money. Love like you’ve never been hurt. Dance like nobody’s watching” – Leroy Robert ‘Satchel’ Paige (Professional baseball pitcher, 1906‑1982)
Traditional and Folk Dance (pre‑history to today)
There are innumerable cultural dances from every corner of every country of every continent in the world, many dating back to time immemorial. These dances tend to fall into two broad groups, informal folk dances and formal classical dance. The former tends to be more social and the latter comprise symbolic artistic performance dance.
“Dance first. Think later. It’s the natural order” – Samuel Beckett (1906‑1989)
Here are just a few (40!) of the more notable regional dances to demonstrate the diversity that has survived to the current day (presented in alphabetical order).
Aboriginal dance (Australia) – The ceremonial dance has held a very important place in the culture of the indigenous peoples of Australia for thousands of years
Apsara (Cambodia) – Aspara is one of the formal traditional dances of the Royal Ballet of Cambodia with ornately designed costumes and dancers depicting celestial spirits
Ballet (Italy) – Classical ballet is a performance dance that has its origins in the Italian Renaissance Courts of the 15th Century, being refined in France, England, and Russia
Belly Dance (Egypt) – A Middle Eastern dance, originally called ‘danse du ventre’ (‘dance of the stomach’) originated some 6,000 years ago to celebrate pagan female fertility
Bharatanatyam (India) – Indian classical religious dance originating from the Hindu temples of Tamil Nadu
Bolero (Spain) – A Spanish theatrical dance popular in the 18th and 19th Centuries, originating from the Castile region around 1750 to 1772
Cajun Jig/Jitterbug (USA) – The Cajun one‑step jig was popular in Louisiana in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The two‑step Jitterbug is considered a cowboy‑style swing dance
The Can‑Can (France) – Originating in Paris during the 1830s and 1840s as a salacious risqué dance in Parisian dancehalls such as the (in)famous Moulin Rouge. The Can‑Can became a symbol of the French cultural Belle Époque (‘beautiful era’) as well as of women’s liberty and emancipation
Capoeira (Brazil) – A dance based on martial arts begun by African slaves arriving in South America in the 16th Century
Cossack (Russia) – A.k.a. Hopak, originated in Southern Russia and Ukraine in the 17th Century by East Slavic Orthodox Christian warriors. Their dance is characterised by its high jumps, squatting, and intricate footwork
Court Dance (Korea) – A formal court dance in a tradition that dates back centuries for the entertainment of the royal family, court officials and foreign envoys
Dragon Dance (China) – Dancing with symbolic dragons dates to the Han Dynasty of 180‑230CE. The dance is supposed to banish evil spirits and expel bad luck. It is particularly important during Chinese New Year celebrations
Ewegh (North Africa) – Traditional dance of nomadic Tuareg culture deriving from North Africa. Men stand in a line, making facial expressions while wailing
Flamenco (Spain) – Flamenco dance and music originated in Andalusia with influences including Arabic, Roma, Christian and Jewish elements
Haka (New Zealand) – A traditional Maori war dance intended to intimidate opponents. It has become a symbol of the Kiwi All Black rugby team
Hula (Hawaii) – A Hawaiian dance accompanied by chanting or singing. It evolved in the Hawaiian Islands around 400CE by Native Hawaiian settlers. Through tourism, film and theatre, the Hula changed significantly in the 20th Century with its familiar grass skirts
Indlamu (Southern Africa) – A tribal dance most often associated with Zulu culture of southern Africa and the war dances of its fearsome warriors
Innuit Drum Dance (Greenland) – Drum dancing and singing are forms of traditional indigenous Inuit artistic expression and music from Greenland
Irish Step (Ireland) – A step folk dance with intricate footwork rooted in ancient Celtic tradition which remains popular in Irish communities today
Jarabe Tapatio (Mexico) – A traditional Mexican dance with women dressed in china poblana dresses and men wearing charro suits
Kabuki (Japan) – The classical stylised Japanese dance‑theatre dates back over 400 years. Kabuki blends music, dance, and mime, as well as making use of elaborate costume and makeup
Kathak (India) – An ancient classical dance originating in northern India traditionally associated with the tales of roaming bards known as Kathakers (storytellers)
Line Dancing (USA) – A modern American dance popular in the 1990s in which a group of people dance to a repeating sequence of steps while arranged in one or more lines or rows. It is a social dance in country & western dance bars, social clubs, dance clubs and ballrooms
Maasai Dance (Kenya) – The traditional Maasai ‘jumping dance’ involves male villagers leaping into the air as a show of strength and stamina
Maypole (Sweden) – Originating in Germanic pagan fertility rituals, maypole dancing dates back many centuries to celebrate the arrival of summer in England, Germany and Sweden.
Morris Dance (England) – The skipping, stick wielding, handkerchief waving ‘Moryssh daunsers’ began in the cobblestoned streets of London during the mid‑15th Century, eventually migrating to rural communities
Native American Indian dance (USA) – A diverse range of tribal ceremonial dances dating back centuries before North American colonisation. Dances include the deer dance, pipe dance, rain dance, dog dance and scalp dance
Polka (Bohemia, now Czech Republic) – Polka is a popular dance in 2/4 time, particularly common throughout Europe and the Americas
Salsa (Cuba) – Cuba’s distinctive casino dance blends African drums with Spanish guitar, brass and percussion. It was exported from Cuba in the early 20th Century and became popular in New York City in the 1940s and 1950s, growing into a global phenomenon
Samba (Brazil) – Samba originated in the Afro/Brazilian communities of Baha and Rio de Janeiro in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. It plays an important part of Rio’s annual Carnaval
Stick Dance (Portugal) – The ‘dança dos paulitos’ is an age‑old dance where dancers brandish sticks to emphasise the rhythm. It is performed by pauliteiros that takes place in Miranda do Douro, in Portugal’s north east Trás‑os‑Montes region
Schuhplattler (Germany) – A Bavarian courtship dance dating back to the mid‑19th Century and is popular at Munich’s annual Oktoberfest, typified by the wearing of iconic lederhosen
Square Dance (USA) – A broad group of dances for couples, arranged in a square, with a couple on each side facing the middle. The form includes, barn dances, English folk dances and Irish ceilidh dances
Tango (Argentina) – A highly complex and passionate dance, originated in the 18th Century barrios of Buenos Aires in Argentina
Tanoura (Egypt) – On the surface, the spinning tanoura has some similarities to Turkey’s Whirling Dervish. Egypt’s tanoura dancers, though, wear multi‑coloured skirts
Tinikling (Philippines) – The ‘Bamboo Dance’ emulates the movements of a bird as it walks through grass stems or over broken tree branches
Waist Drum Dance (China) – An ancient ritual originating from North West China over 1,000 years ago with performers beating waist drums as they run and leap in formation
Waltz (Austria) – From the 17th Century, the polite society waltz was popular in the Habsburg Court and now the annual Vienna Opera Ball
Whirling Dervish (Turkey) – The spinning move by male dancers wearing voluminous skirts dates back over seven centuries to the Sufism and the Mevlevi Orders
Yaake (Niger) – Traditional African dance by young Wodaabe males during the Gerewol festival emphasising flamboyant dance moves to attract available females
Ballet (courtesy Pixabay)
“Never give a sword to a man who can’t dance” – Confucius (c.551‑479BCE)
These really are just the tiny tip of a very, very large iceberg. There are thousands of national, regional and local dances and this is just a taster, hopefully to inspire further exploration. Apologies to any historic communities who might feel that their traditions are unintentionally under‑represented.
In 2003, UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) included dances (along with music and theatre) as performing arts under the International convention of ‘intangible cultural heritage’. There are many traditional dance forms listed by UNESCO, including ballet, belly dancing, flamenco and rumba.
“Music and dance are all you need” – Moliere (Playwright, 1622‑1673)
Conventional Dance – Roots of contemporary dance in blues, jazz and country music (1910s‑1950s)
In previous music history and genre articles, the author has suggested that the majority of modern, contemporary musical styles from the mid‑1950s onward stem from the three pillars of Blues, Jazz and Country music. For continuity, consistency and simplicity, I’m sticking to that basic structural set of influences here.
“Part of the joy of dancing is conversation. Trouble is, some men can’t talk and dance at the same time” – Ginger Rogers (1911‑1995)
While there are inevitable overlaps and cross‑fertilisation as trends grew and faded, particularly during the inter‑war period, there are a few notable dance genres. Dance styles associated with the development and fusion of Blues, Jazz and Country include:
Ragtime – Syncopated African/American ragtime music played on piano or banjo originated in St. Louis, Missouri and influenced social dances in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, as well as influencing the development of jazz. Dance styles used to ragtime included, the turkey trot, the bunny hug and the shimmy.
Jitterbug – Jitterbug is a generalised umbrella for swing dances, covering a range of styles including the lindy hop, jive, west and east coast swing, collegiate shag and balboa.
Charleston – A social jazz dance of the 1920s, named after the harbour city of Charleston in South Carolina. The Broadway show, ‘Runnin’ Wild’ (1923) used a tune called ‘The Charleston’. It was popularised by young women nicknamed ‘flappers’ and young men of the so‑called post‑WWI ‘Roaring Twenties’.
Tap – Tap dancing is an American performance dance from the 1930s combining African and Irish influences that uses the percussive sounds of tap shoes with metal plates (‘taps’) on the toes and heels striking the floor, often accompanied by popular band music. It started as a street dance and became popular as a performance art form on Broadway and in Hollywood film.
Swing – Swing represents a group of social dances that developed alongside swing Jazz music from Harlem in the 1920s to the 1940s, after which WWII reduced its popularity. Two discrete forms were the west coast swing and east coast swing. After WWII, bebop and jump blues styles became commonplace.
Jive – Jive is a social swing dance style with its roots in African/American communities in the early 1930s. Its name comes from the vernacular slang of the time. Jive included elements from including Salsa and Tango and continued in popularity during the Rock & Roll years.
Lindy Hop – Lindy Hop is an American dance originating from the African/American communities of Harlem, New York City in 1928 and has evolved over time, proving to be popular during the big band swing era of the late 1930s and early 1940s. Lindy Hop was the first partner dance ever to feature acrobatic elements and laid the ground for Rock & Roll dance.
“Since the beginning of time mankind has used music and dance to commune with the Spirit of Nature and the Spirit of the Universe…” – Goa Gil (Musician, 1951‑2023)
Ballroom Dance
A number of dance styles have become semi‑formalised under the banner of ballroom dance by the World Dance Council. Many of the ballroom dances are based on either older traditional (pre‑20th Century) dances or contemporary (20th Century) dances. There is therefore some overlap between formal ballroom styles and the original forms of dance that inspired them. Ballroom dances are generally split into two broad types; Standard/Smooth and Latin/Rhythm, including:
Standard Ballroom
Waltz/Viennese Waltz – The former is known as the English or slow waltz, while the latter is the up tempo European waltz. Recognisable by its ¾ time signature.
Tango – Derived from the Argentinian original (see above) incorporating American and European influences adapted for the ballroom.
Foxtrot – An English ballroom dance with roots in American Jazz and Ragtime band music. Now one of the internationally recognised ballroom dances popular at competitive dance events.
Quickstep – Another international standard ballroom dance that combines up tempo elements of the Foxtrot and the Charleston. Known as the ‘dance of joy’.
Latin Ballroom
Pasodoble – An 18th Century fast‑paced, dramatic and theatrical double‑step in 2/4 time, turned into a Latin ballroom social dance inspired by Spanish bullfights.
Rumba – Rumba is a standard ballroom dance that has its roots in the American east coast during the 1930s, combining American band music with Afro‑Cuban rhythms.
Samba – The ballroom version of the Samba in 2/4 time varies significantly from the original Brazilian regional folk dance (see above).
Cha‑Cha – The Cha‑Cha Latin American ballroom dance of Cuban origins, dating from the 1950s and deriving from the 1940’s Cuban mambo.
Bolero – Bolero is a Spanish/Cuban dance in ¾ time popular in the late 18th and early 19th Centuries (see above), with the ballroom form differing from the original Cuban variety.
East Coast Swing (ECS) – ECS is a social partner dance and has several variations based on fast American swing music, such as big band, Rock & Roll, Rockabilly and Boogie‑Woogie.
Jive – Jive is a ballroom dance style with its roots in the social swing dance of the early 1930s (see above). In competitive dance, Jive is more closely associated with swing, rather than other Latin dances.
Ballroom Dance (courtesy Prime Cinematics)
“The dance is a poem of which each movement is a word” – Mata Hari (Dancer, courtesan and spy, 1876‑1917)
Intermission
Right. That’s the end of the first Part of this 2‑part dance music genre article. The advantage of Part I is that it is relatively short (for me) and, I hope, reasonably digestible.
At this point, from around the mid‑1950s onward, dance styles tended to migrate from identifiable dance styles accompanied by music to identifiable music genres and sub‑genres (with a few notable exceptions) with dances to match.
As mentioned at the start, my original plan was for a single‑part article. On reflection, I took the difficult decision to split it into two for easier reading. This point seems a logical place to stop for now and we will reconvene shortly in Part II.
Next month, we’ll resume with the modern evolution of dance and dance music from the mid‑1950s. As the article was originally written as a single piece of work, there hopefully won’t be a long wait for Part II. There is more to come folks, much more.
“The truest expression of a people is in its dances and its music. Bodies never lie” – Agnes de Mille (Dancer and choreographer, 1938‑1993)
CRAVE Guitars’ ‘Album of the Month’
The honour this month goes to a favourite funk/disco dance music studio album. Why this particular choice? Well, it was released during a particularly emotionally traumatic period of my life and one that I never wish to repeat. I don’t do regrets but if I did, there are some things I’d like to do over again and be a better person second time around. I won’t divulge details other than to mention that, when one is feeling desperately down, there is nothing like a bit of bouncy dance music to boost serotonin levels as an antidote for, and natural relief from, the all‑consuming darkness of depression. Even the album’s title is appropriate.
The Brothers Johnson – Light up the Night (1980). This 9‑track release was the 4th studio album by the American brothers – George and Louis Johnson – produced by the great Quincy Jones, and released in April 1980 by A&M Records. While pretty much a strong dance oriented album throughout, it is the opening track and hit single, ‘Stomp’ that really provides necessary dose of natural anti‑depressant. Particularly impressive is the great bass playing of the late Louis Johnson and his Music Man Stingray Bass. ‘Stomp’ represents 384 seconds of joyous, funky groovy goodness. The album’s release came just at the end of the height of the organically analogue Funk/Disco boom and all the better for it. Evocation can be a powerful thang.
The Brothers Johnson – Light Up The Night (1980)
No other studio album by the brothers quite matched ‘Light up the Night’ in my opinion. Perhaps it was timing and genre that were just what I needed at a vulnerable point in my growing up. However, there was an awful lot of great party music using traditional instruments from the likes of Earth, Wind & Fire, Kool & the Gang, Parliament/Funkadelic, Chic and The Gap Band around the same time, before the whole Synthpop scene took off over the next decade or two. Today, dance music is synonymous with EDM and we seem to have lost some of the organic nature of music from the peak of funk and disco.
“Every day brings a chance for you to draw in a breath, kick off your shoes, and dance” – Oprah Winfrey (1954‑)
Tailpiece
Phew! I’m out of breath, not from all the dancing, just the exertion of completing only half of another lengthy genre article. The trouble I’ve found with research and writing is that it is not only addictive but also essentially a sedentary activity, with not much of in the way of exercise other than to get up and make the occasional cup of tea/coffee.
Still, I hope you found something to revel in and, perhaps, to explore some of the musical delights covered herein. As always, when I do these research projects, I’ve learned something from the task and reignited an interest in all things dance music. Please come back next month and lap up some more dancey stuff in Part II of this terrifically tuneful tome (ending as I started with terrible alliteration). As a bonus, you won’t have to wait a whole 4‑and‑a‑bit weeks, for reasons to become clear in time, I am planning for Part II to be published early in September. Watch this space.
Truth, peace, love, and guitar music be with you always. Until next time…
CRAVE Guitars’ ‘Quote of the Month’: “In the absence of truth, just what are we supposed to believe?”
BIENVENUE, WILLKOMMEN, BIENVENIDO, Velkommen, yokoso, huānyíng, welcome and a warm summer howdy one and all, as long as you come in the spirit of truth, peace, love and music. With escalating military tensions, political turmoil, economic volatility and social unrest rampant pretty much everywhere you look, this is one safe place where you can come as a sanctuary from the world’s ills and an oasis of positive karma.
It’s been a while since CRAVE Guitars has delved deeply into a specific modern musical genre, so I thought I’d have another go at one that interests me. This time, the focus is on Heavy Metal, or just Metal, as it is now known to cover all its various facets. Love or loathe the deep dark dungeons and ominous oubliettes of moody Metal mania, you can’t ignore it or its massive global appeal.
“Still heavy man!” Yup. Who would have thought that a casual throwaway remark from the beatnik and hippie counter‑cultures of the 1950s and 1960s would end up defining something so powerfully aggressive in the 1970s, eh? Although it may not seem like it, Heavy Metal is still a relatively new genre with only 50 or so years of history. Compare that with Classical, Blues, Jazz or Country and Metal really does seem like a new kid on the block.
Metal has generated many convoluted factions and divisions of opinion over time, which leads to some fascinating dynamics in this fledgling genre. Metal has also faced its fair share of controversy, criticism, and censorship over the years and has survived all the turbulence. While most of us thankfully live in the ‘free world’, spare a thought for those less fortunate. Metal music is either illegal or driven underground by state oppression in several countries including Iran, Saudi Arabia, Russia, North Korea and China. Probably not surprisingly, these countries tend to be autocracies that reject any sort of assumed deviant subversion. Metal is seen as sacrilegious blasphemy to conservative religions and as insurrectionary, seditious propaganda to paranoid dictators. No real revelations there. To quote the Rolling Stones, “It’s only rock & roll but I like it” (1974).
Many readers will think that I’ve drawn the boundaries too broad (NB. it is to provide relevant context) while others will think the boundaries are too confining (NB. there is already way, way too much material to fit into a full‑blown encyclopaedia). Writing articles like this just proves you can’t please any of the people any of the time. The scope of the subject matter established c.1970 is extensive, so apologies upfront for another long but ultimately superficial article. Bear with me, though, it’s worth the effort.
“Heavy metal is a universal energy; it’s the sound of a volcano. It’s rock, it’s earth‑shattering. Somewhere in our primal being, we understand” – Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins, 1967‑)
At least Metal in its widest sense is mainly a guitar‑centric genre. CRAVE Guitars’ last two genre articles (Dub Reggae [August 2023] and Ambient Electronica [September 2023]) were less associated with guitar music. Guitars are great. Guitar music is more greaterer.
Although one may not consciously think too much about it, electric guitar (including bass) is really the only contemporary musical instrument that sounds spectacular when heavily distorted. Metal would certainly not be the same without it. Thankfully.
Judging by Kirk Hammett of Metallica’s purchase of Peter Green’s/Gary Moore’s vintage 1959 sunburst Gibson Les Paul Standard, ‘Greeny’ in 2014, Metal also involves some serious vintage guitar tone. Let’s not forget why we’re here, after all.
After the three previous articles exploring Artificial Intelligence, I can state quite categorically that no AI was used in the research and writing of this piece of amateur, entirely biological indulgence. Enjoy.
“I associate heavy metal with fantasy because of the tremendous power that the music delivers” – Christopher Lee (actor, 1922‑2016)
It is Metal time
Yup, it is time to get down and dirty folks. Pile on the distortion and then pile on some more and, just for good measure, a sprinkling of yet more filthy fuzz on top. Actually, good recording engineers will tell guitarists to dial down the dirt and they will assert that it is surprising how little distortion you need to sound heavy. Studio producers stress that too much distortion makes the sound all mushy, loses definition and increases compression, resulting in the guitar’s sound getting lost in the mix. That’s all very well but just look at the sheer number of high gain guitar pickups, effect pedals and muscle amps out there. People love oodles of distorted guitar. Distortion isn’t just amorphous noise. Distortion adds texture, enhances sustain, and provides harmonic overtones that seem to resonate with primal human senses. Guitarists use distortion that cuts through the mix to express their power, passion and raw emotion.
Sadly, long gone are the days of multiple cooking 100W valve amps and stacks of 4×12” cabinets as a stage backline but perhaps that’s just me being old school. It’s now mostly digital processing and direct input (DI) into mixing desks, front‑of‑house PAs and in‑ear monitors. One might wonder what a modern ‘silent stage’ at a metal gig feels like. Mind you, there are many different types of distortion and many different ways to achieve the desired sound, anywhere from mild clean boost, through overdrive, to distortion and, finally, fuzz. I love fuzz! When you start to ‘stack’ (i.e. daisy chain) these demonic devices, things can get very interesting.
As a listener, Metal music really needs to be played LOUD to get the most out of the visceral impact – both aural and physical. Time to turn the volume up to 11. Some people might think all Metal music sounds the same; an auditory onslaught of cacophonous clatter and tumultuous pandemonium. However, Metal subverts expectation and is actually a highly nuanced and multi‑faceted genre, and far from any semblance of sameness.
“It’s a very empowering kind of music, heavy metal is” – Rob Halford (Judas Priest, 1951)
Metal is vast, and I mean VAST. It seems to me that Metal is unique in its proliferation of sub/micro‑genres and artists that makes it both confusing and intriguing. By its nature, Metal is inclusive, however, the complexity of its family tree and the social subculture, may make it seem to neophytes as intimidating and hard to access. So perhaps we need to try and understand what Metal is and where it came from.
“When life gets tough, I just turn up the volume and let the music take me away. I don’t believe in luck, I believe in hard work and determination. If it’s too loud, you’re too old” – Lemmy Kilmister (Motörhead, 1945‑2015)
Some people take Metal far too seriously. There is a lighter side as well. While metalheads are protective, they generally don’t mind mocking their own lifestyle. Apart from the rock mockumentary antics of the film, ‘This Is Spinal Tap’ (1984), there is the phenomenon of Air Guitar. Air guitar is defined as, “a form of dance and movement in which the performer pretends to play an imaginary rock or heavy metal‑style electric guitar, including riffs and solos” (courtesy of Wikipedia). Performing air guitar is a fun diversion for many non‑guitarists, even fostering fiercely contested competition events. The technical pyrotechnics of real Metal music feeds quite well into excessive air guitar parody. Perhaps the less said about that the better.
CRAVE Guitars Vintage Air Guitar
Hee, hee!
Metal roots
First things first. Question. What exactly is Heavy Metal? Well, excluding scientific metallurgy, one definition among many that I came across was, “Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that is intense, virtuosic, and powerful, characterised by the aggressive sounds of the distorted electric guitar”.
Well that is not very helpful is it? Neither are more lengthy descriptions about what Metal is (or isn’t). Perhaps this inability to nail it down concisely is what creates the illusion of Metal mystery. Maybe you have to live Metal in order to understand Metal fully.
“It is just that heavy metal musicians write in minor keys, and when you do that, you frighten people” – Ronnie James Dio (1942‑2010)
There are many theories as to where the title Heavy Metal came from. Chemists have referred to the heavy metal elements of the periodic table for centuries. For information, the heavy metals include chromium, arsenic, cadmium, mercury, lead, titanium, vanadium, manganese, iron, cobalt, nickel and bismuth. American author, William S. Burroughs used the term ‘heavy metal’ in his novels, ‘The Soft Machine’ (1961) and ‘Nova Express’ (1964). A rather obscure album, ‘Featuring the Human Host and the Heavy Metal Kids’ (1968) by an equally obscure British underground band, Hapshash and the Coloured Coat introduced the term to music. ‘Heavy metal’ was also used in the lyrics of Steppenwolf’s hit single, ‘Born To Be Wild’ (1968). Band names also referenced heavy metals including, Iron (Butterfly, Maiden), Le(a)d (Zeppelin), Steel (Panther) and, tangentially, Metallica. Over the years, the term ‘heavy metal’ has become so deeply embedded in the English language that we rarely stop to think about ‘why?’
For many metalheads, Metal is much more than mere music; it represents a prominent counter‑culture movement or at least a subcultural lifestyle choice. Symbols of the Metal subculture include identifiable fashion including jewellery, hairstyles and makeup, tattoos, gestures (the characteristic symbol hand sign of the ‘devil horns’), language, alcohol/drugs, behaviour, fiction, journalism (e.g. Kerrang! and Metal Hammer) and a somewhat high‑handed disregard for other musical genres. Metal wouldn’t be Metal without headbanging (typically, shaking one’s head up and down in rhythm with music – normally around the 145BPM mark. Origin 1969/1970) and mosh pits (areas close to the stage where participants ‘dance’, push or ‘slam’ into each other. Origin: late 1970s). For the uninitiated, both can prove harmful. Take care. You could end up like Beavis and Butt‑Head.
Metal Hand Gesture [courtesy inksyndromeartwork]
Personally, I like metal in many (but not all) of its various incarnations, especially having been a keen music‑mad pre‑teen when the revelatory and awesome ‘Black Sabbath’ by Black Sabbath was released in 1970 to an unprepared public. It may seem tame now but there was simply nothing else like it at the time. I firmly believe that the release of this classic studio album was the moment that the Heavy Metal maelstrom was born in all its gory, gothic splendour. There may be a lot of debate about who was ‘first’, although that really doesn’t actually matter here, as Black Sabbath provided the seminal moment for Metal’s ‘Big Bang’, from which today’s entire Metal landscape has been propagated. A bold but justifiable claim.
Scratching the Metal surface
No angle grinders here folks. The core of Heavy Metal music comprises guitar, bass, drums and vocals, often accompanied with keyboards and even orchestral backing. Guitar has been an essential element, in the front and centre of most Metal for over five decades. So, that makes it worth taking an in‑depth look, at least as far as I’m concerned.
“The same sensations that you get in heavy metal are in horror movies. Heavy metal sounds evil and horror movies are evil, ha ha!” – Kirk Hammett (Metallica, 1962‑)
While many perceive Metal as the music of choice for rebellious, alienated working‑class males, it is actually most popular in the advanced, tolerant, and technologically equipped countries in the world, often endowed with a significant degree of wealth, as well as personal and political freedoms. This suggests a degree of gentrification and intellectualisation of the genre over time. Scandinavian countries, particularly Norway and Sweden, are often cited as the happiest places to live (and also have relatively low suicide rates – Sweden had 14.7 suicides per 100,000 population in 2019). These countries also have the highest proportion of heavy metal bands per capita population. Some analysts have been led to suggest that there is a correlation between a country’s prevalence of Metal music and the happiness of its citizens. The cultural and social implications of Metal have therefore become of interest to sociologists and psychologists worldwide. On a wider scale, there are more metal bands per capita in Europe and North America than in other regions. Nowadays, Metal is a global phenomenon and unequivocally part of the mainstream music industry (even if bands and metalheads reject that suggestion on principle).
“Strange as it may seem, heavy metal springs not from the poisoned slag of alienation and despair but the loamy soil of post‑industrial prosperity” – Florida & Mellander 2014
Some may think that Metal music is violent, aggressive, nihilistic and confrontational. While some is undoubtedly challenging, intentionally so, many metalheads think otherwise (perhaps predictably). Psychologists, however, suggest that people who listen to Heavy Metal are actually pretty well balanced in the mental health stakes. Dr Nicole Andreoli PhD, a New York‑based clinical psychologist and therapist states that, “Heavy metal has been found to lessen negative emotions by reducing cortisol levels, which helps to lessen stress. Research has found that people who listen to heavy metal tend to think more logically and in more complex terms than those who don’t listen to heavy metal. Heavy metal has been found to help the most with focus.” And, “Now, lyrics in heavy metal do tend to focus on rage. But there is no research linking listening to heavy metal with a desensitisation to violence… Listening to heavy metal has been found to be a positive way to process anger safely.” So, there you have it, science says that the music behind head banging and mosh pits may be good for you.
“Why would heavy metal ever go away?” – Scott Ian (Anthrax, 1963‑)
Not only is Metal in its widest sense insanely popular, it is also commercially very successful. Studies have gone so far as to demonstrate that the number of heavy metal bands per capita is also an indicator of a country’s economic success. Metal certainly contributes to the global economy. Music distribution group TuneCore stated that Metal was the fastest growing music genre globally in 2019. According to Pollstar Boxoffice, Thrash Metal pioneers Metallica sold almost 22.1 million concert tickets and grossed around $1.4bn between 1982 and 2019. Not only that, Metallica’s 5th studio album, ‘Metallica’ (a.k.a. ‘The Black Album’, 1991) currently ranks as the highest selling Metal album of all time with over 31 million copies sold (not including streaming). It entered the Billboard 200 at number one, selling 598,000 copies in the first week and was certified platinum in two weeks. Not bad going.
“If heavy metal bands ruled the world, we’d be a lot better off” – Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden, 1958‑)
Digging deeper into Metal
Probably more than any other genre, Metal is an intricately complex web of influences, legacies, interactions, interdependencies, fusions and sub‑genre proliferation. However, in 2024, the multiplicity of Metal styles, sub‑genres and micro‑genres can be massively perplexing. So… I thought… perhaps foolishly, that I would try to make some sense of the Metal scene from its origins to the present day. This ‘rationalisation’ of the genre is intended to be informative, entertaining and accessible, such that newbies are able to learn about the subject while not totally alienating those already deeply inculcated in the genre. As usual, this is not an academic paper, it is intended purely as an enjoyable excursion. Experts on the subject are far more knowledgeable than I can ever be. Trying to achieve a fine balance is probably impossible but I’ve never been one to shy away from such a challenge. After all, impossible is only the possible that hasn’t been done yet. I recognise that by trying to simplify and reveal Metal’s charisma is potentially laying my proverbial sacrificial head on the chopping block (very metal, don’t you think?) and open to ridicule, criticism and rebuttal. So be it. Also, I admit that I did have another agenda in attempting to decipher Metal and that was to learn something more about it myself.
“The guitar influence that affected my songwriting came from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal” – Dave Mustaine (Megadeth, 1961‑)
The first step was to position the various Metal components into hypothetical chronological Metal Eras. These are largely of my own invention and are arbitrary, although fairly logical in my view. The next step was to position the various high‑level Metal genres into each of the Metal Eras under widely accepted genre/sub‑genre (and micro‑genre) titles. Finally, there was the monumental task of allocating artists into each genre/sub‑genre to complete the picture. None of this is easy, accurate or definitive and there are SO many exceptions to the Metal ‘rule book’ that various compromises have had to be made for the sake of ‘clarity’ and ‘simplicity’. At first this seemed undo‑able, like trying to film an un‑filmable novel. Forgive me, for I have sinned (also very metal) in doing so.
“Without metal, I don’t think I would be alive… Metal gave me a reason to live” – Ozzy Osbourne (Black Sabbath, 1948‑)
There are also many credible writings on the subject of Metal already out there that it would be easy simply to piggy back on those and to plagiarise the ‘facts’ with little additional effort. However, hopefully readers will know that I don’t take the easy route and simply copy what others have already done. In doing the research for this article, there seemed to be a huge number of sources but when I realised that many of them were simply clumsy regurgitations of someone else’s work (inexcusable in my view), I decided that I HAD to bring something new to the table, rather than just restate existing information. In doing so, I trust that readers will cut me some slack in attempting to provide a different slant on the subject matter that is both enlightening and engaging as well semi‑original (recognising that nothing in this world is entirely new).
“All that stuff about heavy metal and hard rock, I don’t subscribe to any of that. It’s all just music. I mean, the heavy metal from the Seventies sounds nothing like the stuff from the Eighties, and that sounds nothing like the stuff from the Nineties. Who’s to say what is and isn’t a certain type of music?” – Ozzy Osbourne (Black Sabbath, 1948‑)
Some care has to be taken with genre classification, which can be misleading. There are some inevitable generalisations. For instance, Extreme Metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a cluster of harder, more abrasive, less commercial sub‑genres including Black Metal, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Speed Metal and Thrash Metal, rather than a discrete genre in itself. Therefore, at least for this article, the terms Metal and Extreme Metal are generally descriptive, rather than genres per se.
Another problem with Metal multiplicity is that any analysis can fall into the trap of meaningless long lists in a vain attempt to be comprehensive. Another impossibility therefore presents itself. Ultimately, this means that a great deal has had to be left out of this article. Even so, there is an annoying element of repetitiveness that cannot be avoided (sorry, it annoys me as much as I expect it will annoy you). Apologies to artists and readers for any unintentional but inevitable major omissions. I did my best. Honest.
“Heavy metal is immortal, but we’re not” – Rob Halford (Judas Priest, 1951)
Author’s note: Throughout this article, I have capitalised genres for consistency and to make it clear when I’m referring to a genre, sub‑genre or micro‑genre as opposed to more general musical terms.
Metal Eras
The result of my thought processes is a ‘Metal Framework’ (or Heavy Metal Periodic Table, as I like to think of it), resulting in five broad ‘Metal Eras’ along with the genres/sub‑genres that kinda fit into them as a sort of hierarchy. This, I think, provides a common sense structure for the rest of this article.
Pre History of Metal: 1960‑1969 a. Pre‑Metal Rock b. Psychedelic Rock c. Hard Rock d. Shock Rock
The Golden Era of Metal: 1970‑1979 a. Heavy Metal b. Progressive Rock c. Glam Metal d. Punk Rock e. Hardcore Punk f. Power Metal g. Pop Metal h. Gothic Rock
The Diversification of Metal: 1980‑1989 a. New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) b. Speed Metal c. Neo‑Classical Metal d. Stoner Metal e. Noise Rock f. Progressive Metal g. Alternative Rock h. Alternative Metal i. Thrash Metal j. Black Metal k. Death Metal l. Emo m. Funk Metal n. Grindcore o. Grunge p. Industrial Metal q. Sludge Metal r. Doom Metal
The Nu Nineties: 1990‑1999 a. Metalcore b. Gothic Metal c. Post Grunge d. Rap Metal e. Nu Metal f. Groove Metal g. Dark Ambient h. Folk Metal i. Symphonic Metal
Millennium Metal: 2000‑ a. New Wave of American Heavy Metal (NWOAHM) b. Blackgaze c. Djent
There, that amounts to 42 (NB. ‘The answer to life, the universe and everything’, from the novel, ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ [1979] by author Douglas Adams) ‘top level’ Metal sub‑genres, more than enough to be getting on with. Then there are is the constantly changing elaborate rabbit warren of manifold micro‑genres (hundreds if not thousands of them).
Part of the difficulty with any formal categorised structure is that it is inherently a flawed and imperfect model. Genres don’t just have a clearly defined beginning and end or precise boundaries. One of the problems is genre fluidity. Once a (sub‑)genre has been established, sometimes it will fade away quickly, sometimes it will grow and endure, sometimes it will come and go repeatedly over time, and sometimes it will morph into something else altogether.
Another problem is slotting artists into either a period of time or a particular (sub‑)genre. Many artists are difficult to pin down to a discrete genre, as they may change style, crossover or fuse genres over time such that they may appear in multiple genres dependent on their stage of evolution. Genres are also not all the same; some (sub‑)genres are narrow (e.g. Kawaii Metal, a.k.a. Cute Metal or J‑Pop Metal), while others are very broad, (e.g. Alternative Rock/Alternative Metal); some are clearly delineated while others are more amorphous. I will do my level best to make some sense of it all as we go through it.
Right. Ready to dive in? Let’s rock…
Metal Era #1 – Pre‑History of Metal: 1960‑1970
Pre‑Metal Rock (‑1966)
In CRAVE Guitars’ 14‑part series of articles, ‘The Story of Modern Music in 1,500+ Facts’ (March 2019 to May 2020), I postulated in a very general sense that, after classical music, the vast majority of modern music originated from just the three founding pillars of Blues, Jazz and Country. A blending of these styles over several decades led to the emergence of Rock & Roll in the mid‑1950s and pretty much everything thereafter sprouted from that specific paradigm shift in popular music. From the 1950s onwards, modern popular music evolved and diversified at a tremendous rate. Moving forward a decade or so from rock & roll, the origins of Metal’s direct ancestors rose from vibrant sub‑genres such as Blues Rock, Garage Rock, Surf Rock, Psychedelic Rock, Acid Rock, Jam Band and Pop.
Many commentators point to the Dave Davies’ distorted guitar riff on The Kinks, ‘You Really Got Me’ (1964) as the catalyst for guitar‑driven distorted rock music. Britain’s former colony, the United States of America (sorry dudes) might point to the king of Surf Rock, Dick Dale’s, ‘Misirlou’ (1963) as another fertile seed germinating in the growth of rock. Other notable claims might include Link Wray, ‘Rumble’ (1958), The Animals, ‘The House of the Rising Sun’ (1964), The Troggs, ‘Wild Thing’ (1966) and Steppenwolf, ‘Born to be Wild’ (1969).
Related Genres: Rock & Roll, Blues Rock, Garage Rock, Surf Rock, Psychedelic Rock, Acid Rock, Jam Band, Pop, Pop‑Rock
Examples: Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Link Wray, The Animals, The Troggs, The Beatles, The Kinks, The Who, Cream, Groundhogs, MC5, The Stooges, Man, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Dick Dale, Rolling Stones, and many, many more.
Psychedelic Rock (1966‑1978)
Psychedelic Rock – or just Psych – is a style of Rock music that emerged in the mid‑1960s that often attempts to emulate or enhance the way music sounds to people while under the influence of psychedelic drugs such as LSD (a.k.a. acid) and ‘shrooms’ (a.k.a. psilocybin ‘magic’ mushrooms). Songs typically include heavily distorted, phased and reverb‑drenched electric guitars, extended guitar solos, effected vocals, and drug‑influenced lyrics. Other common characteristics include the use of keyboards and elaborate studio effects like backwards recording, echo, flanging and phasing. It is also not uncommon for Psychedelic Rock groups to incorporate prominent elements of other genres including Folk, Blues, Jazz, and South Asian/Far Eastern music.
The beginning of Psychedelic Rock is generally considered to be c.1966, with the release of The Byrds’ ‘Fifth Dimension’, notably their hit single, ‘Eight Miles High’, and ‘The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators’ (1966) by, erm, 13th Floor Elevators. NB. The 13th Floor Elevators were the first band to use the word, ‘psychedelic’ in relation to music.
Psychedelic Rock emerged alongside Psychedelic Pop and Pop Rock, especially in the UK. Many albums from the mid‑1960s incorporated elements of psychedelia, notably The Beatles’ 7th studio album, ‘Revolver’ (1966).
From 1967, the popularity of Psychedelic Rock expanded significantly and it became clearly differentiated from Psychedelic Pop by moving away from Pop‑oriented song structures. Psychedelic Rock incorporated elements of Garage Rock and Blues Rock, as well as the drug‑infused Acid Rock sub‑genre. The genre hit a peak in 1969 with the Woodstock Festival. However, it experienced a substantial decline in popularity by the start of the 1970s with the demise of the hippie counter‑culture. Psychedelic Rock played a big part in influencing many other genres, including Progressive Rock.
Related Genres: Acid Rock, Psychedelic Pop, Space Rock, Progressive Rock, Hard Rock, Jam Band, Pop, Pop Rock, Krautrock, Garage Rock, Blues, Blues Rock, Jazz, Folk, South Asian Music, Progressive Rock, Fractal Rock
Examples: The Doors, Jefferson Airplane, Captain Beefheart, The Byrds, The 13th Floor Elevators, Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Pink Fairies, Can, Love, Pink Floyd, Hawkwind, Eternal Tapestry, Loop
Hard Rock (1966‑)
Hard Rock is a sub‑genre of Rock music rooted in 1960s Blues Rock, Garage Rock and Psychedelic Rock (especially Acid Rock). Hard Rock features distorted guitars and power chords, and frequently includes Blues Rock‑inspired song structures and chord progressions. Flashy guitar solos were common and vocals are typically sung in a forward, forceful manner.
Hard Rock was pioneered in the late 1960s by British artists, who were connected to the British Blues scene. The fanatical popularity of The Beatles and the so‑called ‘British Invasion’ of the US opened up opportunities for experimentation and cross‑fertilisation. Early Blues‑influenced British Hard Rock bands cranked their amplifiers, using distorted guitar to provide the signature sounds of Hard Rock from the likes of Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Cream. Many might suggest that these bands belong to Heavy Metal, although history will probably (properly) regard them as Hard Rock that influenced the development of Heavy Metal.
Hard Rock saw considerable commercial success during the 1970s, when American artists infused their songs with a more melodic style and radio‑friendly sound. The late 1970s saw the appearance of AOR (Adult‑Oriented Rock), a softer derivative of Hard Rock that proved both popular and commercial. AOR was characterised by slick studio production, prolific use of ballads, and a keen awareness of Pop as a vehicle for success.
Hard Rock focused on familiar Blues Rock composition. While Hard Rock’s original creative peak was in the 1970s, it continued to be popular, experiencing commercial success in the 1980s. Hard Rock has been reinvented and rejuvenated many times over the intervening decades, proving to be enduringly popular with consumers. The early 1990s saw many fans desert traditional Hard Rock music in favour of the edgier sounds of Alternative Rock, Alternative Metal, Grunge and their associated sub‑genres, only for it to experience another Renaissance in the 21st Century. Hard Rock remains in vogue today and doesn’t look like it’s going away anytime soon.
Related Genres: British Blues, Classic Rock, Heavy Rock, AOR, Heavy Metal, Grunge, Alternative Rock, Post‑Grunge, Glam Metal, Southern Metal
Examples: The Who, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Steppenwolf, Pink Fairies, Blue Cheer, Grand Funk Railroad, Budgie, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Cream, UFO, Blue Oyster Cult, Mountain, Iron Butterfly, Free, Bad Company, Wishbone Ash, Thin Lizzy, KISS, AC/DC, Joe Satriani, Van Halen, Ted Nugent, The Darkness, Queens of the Stone Age, Audioslave, Shinedown, Alter Bridge, Aerosmith, Nazareth, Boston, Foreigner, Styx, Airbourne, Black Stone Cherry, Michael Schenker Group, Thunder, Wolfmother, Eagles of Death Metal
Shock Rock (1968‑1983)
Unlike any other genre, Shock Rock is defined by its extravagant visuals, gaudy showmanship and controversial public image, rather than by its musicianship and sound. The key thing is that it was intended to… well… shock and to stimulate a reaction. Shock Rock has its roots firmly in the edgier side of the 1960s expressive freedom, youthful rebellion, sexual liberation and a rejection of the west coast ‘love & peace’ hippie counter‑culture movement. Shock Rock was fuelled by pushing the boundaries of the genre through the use of disturbing, horrifying and sexual themes. Shock Rock was largely rejected by the conservative majority of Americans, which unwittingly fed its popularity, especially with alienated youths who didn’t buy into the previous generation’s conventional societal norms and values. Shock Rock influenced Glam Rock in the 1970s, Black Metal in the 1980s and to Industrial Rock and Industrial Metal in the 1990s. The ability of music to shock has significantly diminished in contemporary times. Desensitisation strikes again.
Shock rock is a combination of Hard Rock and/or Heavy Metal, often featuring highly stylised theatrical live performances emphasising over‑the‑top symbolism for effect. Shock Rock live performances included staged violence and provocative behaviour, the use of attention‑grabbing techniques such as costumes, masks, face paint and live animals, or special effects such as pyrotechnics and fake blood. Shock Rock also included lyrical references to literature, cinematic horror and pornography.
Related Genres: Glam Rock, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Punk Rock, Black Metal, Industrial Rock, Industrial Metal
Examples: Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Arthur Brown, Alice Cooper, New York Dolls, Kiss, Ozzy Osbourne, Venom, W.A.S.P., Gwar
Metal Era #2 – The Golden Era of Metal: 1970‑1980
Heavy Metal (1970‑1979)
Here we are at last. THE milestone moment in Metal. Also now known as ‘Classic’ Heavy Metal or Traditional Heavy Metal, Heavy Metal was a pivotal point in modern music that emerged first in the UK and then America. Today, the term Heavy Metal has become a generic retrospective term referring to a specific musical genre style from a specific time period.
Heavy metal is a direct descendant of Hard Rock, Psychedelic Rock and Acid Rock of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Black Sabbath is widely considered to be the first and foremost band to establish Heavy Metal as a ‘thing’. However, Black Sabbath’s sound didn’t appear fully formed; the band was influenced by British Blues Rock and Garage Rock in its early days. Black Sabbath were responsible for the foundations of what would become an entire music genre. At first, many Heavy Metal bands didn’t identify themselves with the title, preferring to play it safe unless Heavy Metal failed. The prominent use of lead guitar and vocals over a solid bass and drum foundation was used to create an imposing, epic sound. The darker and more sinister aesthetic of Heavy Metal was influenced by Shock Rock artists including the use of satanic and occult imagery.
Heavy Metal is constructed around key components of Hard Rock such as power chords (NB. a dyad comprising the root note and the fifth note of a major or minor scale) and riffs (NB. a repeated chord progression). Heavy Metal tends to be played with greater intensity than Hard Rock and commonly uses heavy distortion (NB. intentional clipping and production of higher order harmonics created by overdriving the valves in an amplifier’s pre and/or power amp stages). Heavy Metal also tends to reject the Blues elements of its predecessors, giving it a distinct harder edged sound. Heavy Metal lyrics are generally darker than those of Hard Rock, featuring themes of war, death, loss, the supernatural, the occult and Gothic fantasy.
Another key feature of Heavy Metal is the widespread use of what is known as the dangerous ‘devil’s interval’, also called a tritone because it is a music interval of three whole tones. The Latin term ‘diabolus in musica’ (literally, the Devil in music) originated in the Middle Ages where the sinister dissonant use of the tritone was considered an offence against God and therefore must have come from hell. Just listen to the eponymous track, ‘Black Sabbath’ (1970) or Metallica’s ‘Enter Sandman’ (1991) amongst many others and you’ll recognise it instantly. Unsettling, dark, powerful and scary? Absolutely.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Heavy Metal would take a back seat to rise of other forms of Metal. However, it remained influential, particularly with its influence on Doom Metal and Melodic Death Metal. Heavy Metal would also see a resurgence in popularity during the mid‑2000s with the New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal (NWOTHM) harking back to its original sound.
Related Genres: Hard Rock, Psychedelic Rock, Blues Rock, Garage Rock, Acid Rock, Heavy Psych, NWOBHM, Doom Metal, Speed Metal, Power Metal, Thrash Metal, Glam Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Alternative Metal, Groove Metal, NWOTHM, Christian Metal, Latin Metal, Southern Metal
Examples: Black Sabbath, Heaven & Hell, Budgie, Coven, Nazareth, Thin Lizzy, early Queen, Judas Priest, AC/DC, Rainbow, Whitesnake, Iron Maiden, Vanilla Fudge, Steppenwolf, Iron Butterfly, Blue Cheer, MC5, The Stooges, Alice Cooper, KISS, ZZ Top, Blue Öyster Cult, Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, Van Halen, Black Label Society, King Diamond, Rob Zombie, Venom, Mercyful Fate
Progressive Rock (1970‑1976)
Traditional Progressive Rock – or simply just ‘Prog’ to its many admirers – is a genre associated with complex harmonies and technical virtuosity inspired by Classical Music and contemporary Jazz. Generally, song structures consist of multiple sections and typically feature shifts in intensity, mood, tempo, key and time signature. Prog also embraced broader instrumentation compared to other Rock genres, including keyboards, wind instruments, percussion and strings. Progressive Rock also tended to lessen the prominence of the guitar as the principal lead instrument. Progressive Rock bands are often known for releasing concept albums (often double albums), relating a story through cohesive connected song themes, and with longer track times than other genres. Songs often reflected subjects like history, science fiction, and fantasy, with lyrics drawing inspiration from poetry, literature, and cinema.
The roots of Progressive Rock date back to the innovations introduced by Psychedelic Rock and Baroque Pop sounds of the mid‑1960s, with groups using new recording techniques, lush orchestral arrangements, integrating broader more esoteric musical influences, and focusing on complex compositions. The earliest Progressive Rock bands emerged in the UK during the late 1960s, seeking to innovate and to push existing musical boundaries. Progressive Rock saw a massive rise in popularity during the early 1970s gaining considerable commercial success and critical acclaim.
Progressive Rock went on to achieve global interest and became particularly influential on other technical music genres. Many modern Metal bands continue to reference original Progressive Rock tropes. Some Jazz‑Rock fusion‑style musical developments such as the so‑called Canterbury Scene in the UK and the Paisley Underground in the US exhibited similarities to Progressive Rock from the 1970s onwards. Even in the late 1990s, Alternative Rock and Post‑Hardcore bands also adopted progressive characteristics, ultimately leading to Progressive Metal.
On reflection, many commentators use pejorative hyperbole like pretentious, pompous, self‑important, haughty, arrogant and conceited to describe the ‘highbrow attitude’ of Progressive Rock artists. Progressive Rock saw a rapid decline in the mid‑late 1970s when Punk Rock revolutionised popular music. Punk, in particular, was the antithesis of Progressive Rock, rejecting the corporate nature of the mainstream and, explicitly, the bloated, grandiose ostentatiousness of Prog.
Related Genres: Classical Music, Jazz, Jazz‑Rock, Hard Rock, Psychedelic Rock, Canterbury Scene, Paisley Underground, Baroque Pop, Progressive Pop, Progressive Metal, Alternative Rock, Post‑Hardcore, Krautrock, Math Rock
Examples: The Nice, Soft Machine, Caravan, Procol Harum, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, The Moody Blues, Frank Zappa, Jethro Tull, King Crimson, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Van Der Graaf Generator, Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd, Uriah Heep, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Journey, Styx, Kansas, Rush, Gong, Goblin, Dream Theater, Porcupine Tree, Opeth, The Mars Volta, The Aristocrats
Glam Metal (1973‑1990)
Glam Metal is a form of Hard Rock that arose in the late 1970s and early 1980s, originating mainly from the fashionable club scene of the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. Glam Metal was characterised by arena anthems and flamboyant stage antics, along with the androgynous aesthetics of 1970s Glam Rock, Glam Pop and Hard Rock bands. The music placed an emphasis on catchy hooks and memorable guitar riffs, sing‑along choruses, and lyrics often glamorising the excesses of the ‘sex, drugs and rock & roll’ lifestyle. Power ballads also became very common to the genre. Glam Metal shares a lot of similarities with its direct predecessor Shock Rock.
Glam Metal hit the mainstream when the studio album, ‘Metal Health’ (1983) by Quiet Riot rose to number one on the Billboard 200 chart. Glam Metal coincided with the massive popularity of MTV (Music TeleVision) and rock radio at the time. The glossy visuals and showmanship of high‑budget music videos gave bands heavy rotation on MTV and the sound gradually became more polished and less Heavy Metal. The genre’s global popularity grew even further with established Rock artists adopting elements of the style. Exploiting the reputation of Shock Rock and Glam Metal, a basic raw, grubby sub‑genre known as Sleaze Rock also developed.
Rightly or wrongly, Glam Metal may well be remembered for artists’ rampant and unapologetic excesses more than the music. Many journalists criticised Glam Metal for reducing Metal to a caricature because of its combination of tired pop cliché, overtly immature misogyny and blatant sexual overtones.
By the early 1990s, the bubble had burst and the popularity of Glam Metal rapidly declined as the more ‘authentic’ genres of Grunge and Alternative Rock came to the fore. ‘Hair metal’ and ‘Cock Rock’ became common, often derogatory, terms to describe 1980s showmanship of Glam Metal bands. Nevertheless these genres have proved hard to kill off and fond reminiscence has led to continued popularity and rejuvenation of the music over time.
Related Genres: Hard Rock, Glam Rock, Shock Rock, Glam Pop, Sleaze Rock, Grunge, Alternative Rock
Punk Rock is a very important, although short‑lived genre originating from America and the UK in the mid‑1970s. Punk was a fierce rejection of progressive, commercial and sentimental mainstream rock music. In addition, the anger of Punk was fuelled by severe economic disadvantage and social change of the time. While Punk had its roots in America during the 1960s with Proto‑Punk and Garage Rock, it didn’t fully take off as Punk Rock until the mid‑1970s. Punk Rock’s initial success attracted a huge global underground and cult following before it erupted on the mainstream.
Punk rock is characterised by fast tempos, loud and distorted power chord guitar riffs, simple focused song structure, angry lyrics, and shouted vocals. Punk Rock is typically very antagonistic and confrontational, often dealing with topics considered forbidden in mainstream music. Anti‑establishment rants, anarchic behaviour and heated political protests feature strongly as an integral part of the Punk Rock scene.
Punk wasn’t just about the music, it generated a subculture that felt alienated, powerless and let down by ‘the system’. Punk attitude was also reflected in distinctive fashion, hairstyle, makeup, journalism, art and controversial attitudes. While Punk Rock didn’t outlive the 1970s and, while isn’t really Metal, it has been massively influential across many musical genres over the years particularly in Hardcore Punk and Post‑Hardcore.
“I always said punk was an attitude. It was never about having a Mohican haircut or wearing a ripped T‑shirt. It was all about destruction, and the creative potential within that” – Malcolm Mclaren (1946‑2010)
Related Genres: Proto‑Punk, Garage Rock, Hardcore Punk, Post‑Hardcore, Pop Punk, Post‑Punk, Anarcho‑Punk, Goth Rock, Goth Metal, New Wave
Examples: Ramones, The Stooges, Patti Smith, Blondie, New York Dolls, MC5, Monks, Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Damned, The Ruts, The Vibrators, UK Subs, Sham 69, The Stranglers, Generation X, Buzzcocks, The Jam, X‑Ray Spex, The Adverts, Television, The Slits, Rancid, T.S.O.L., NOFX
Hardcore Punk (1976‑1979)
Often just called ‘Hardcore’, Hardcore Punk initially borrowed much from Punk Rock’s original approach and has been associated with the releases of independently‑run record labels. As Punk Rock became moderated by the mainstream, Hardcore Punk took on the mantle and heaped on the frenetic energy, made it faster, heavier and more aggressive, while retaining Punk’s anti‑establishment attitude and lifestyle. Other common characteristics include an extensive use of shouted vocals, paired‑down production and the tendency towards short, gutsy, gritty songs. Hardcore Punk eventually dissipated into other sub‑genres and derivative forms in a similar way that Punk Rock fragmented and evolved into Post‑Punk and New Wave. Although not as influential as Punk Rock, Hardcore Punk contributed to the development of many other sub‑genres.
Related Genres: Punk Rock, Garage Rock, Melodic Hardcore, Grunge, Pop Punk, Sludge Metal, Riot Grrrl, Alternative Metal, Thrash Metal, Beatdown Hardcore
Examples: D.O.A., Dead Kennedys, Discharge, Black Flag, Napalm Death, Circle Jerks, The Exploited, Minor Threat, GBH, Misfits, Bad Brains, Cancer Bats, Agnostic Front, Fugazi, early Teddybears, Gallows, Girls In Synthesis
Power Metal (1976‑)
Power Metal is a sub‑genre of Heavy Metal, originated in the early 1980s in both Europe and America, as a response to NWOBHM. Basically, it adds more ‘power’ (duh!) to conventional Heavy Metal, aided by slick studio production. As it evolved, Power Metal combined elements of traditional Heavy Metal with Speed Metal, Glam Metal and Thrash Metal. Power Metal played down its Blues Rock roots and made distorted guitar riffs more aggressive and complex and the vocals were more forceful. Power Metal is distinguished by ‘more’ – more speed, more commercial appeal, more epic, more ‘powerful’ and a more uplifting sound, compared to its slower heavier counterparts. Over time, Power Metal adopted some of the distinctive dissonance of more extreme forms of Metal to give the music an edge, as well as Pop appeal to sell product in greater quantity. US Power Metal (USPM) uses the American prefix to differentiate it from its European Power Metal counterpart.
Related Genres: Heavy Metal, NWOBHM, Speed Metal, Thrash Metal, Blues Rock, US Power Metal (USPM), European Power Metal, Pirate Metal, Kawaii Metal, Pop
Pop Metal is a very close relation to Glam Metal and Power Metal and tends to be used as an umbrella term for the commercial combination of Heavy Metal and Hard Rock that feature prominent Pop music elements such as catchy hooks and arena‑friendly anthemic choruses, which became hugely popular in the 1980s. The genre is also applied to some mainstream bands and artists that have formed since the 1990s that blend the lighter, radio‑friendly aspects of Pop with the grittiness of Heavy Metal into their sound. Some of the Pop Metal artists are regarded by Metal purists and music critics alike as ‘sell outs’, putting fame, fortune and financial reward before Metal musical integrity.
Related Genres: Glam Metal, Heavy Metal, Hard Rock, Power Metal, Pop, Pop Punk
Examples: Quiet Riot, Van Halen, Whitesnake, Def Leppard, Europe, Lita Ford, Guns N’ Roses, The Darkness, Bon Jovi, Architects, Bring Me the Horizon, Poison, Mötley Crüe, Ratt, Halestorm, Ghost, In Flames, In This Moment, Lacuna Coil, Shinedown, The Pretty Reckless, We Are The Fallen, Weezer
Gothic Rock (1979‑1990)
Emerging from the smouldering ashes of Punk Rock, the British Post‑Punk movement took on the role of genre innovation, taking it in many different directions. While Gothic Rock was an offshoot of the broader Post‑Punk scene, it quickly became defined as a separate genre in the early 1980s. Gothic Rock is differentiated from other genres by dark and atmospheric songs, a heavily stylised Goth aesthetic and inspirations from Gothic art, literature and cinema. Gothic‑style lyrics reflected sadness, nihilism, dark romantic idealism, loss, tragedy, melancholy, mortality and the supernatural.
Gothic Rock heavily influenced the distinctive and popular Goth subculture and lifestyle that included Goth clubs, stylised fashion and publications. While it may not be considered as true Metal, it is a key stepping stone along the yew‑lined cemetery path to Gothic Metal.
Metal Trivia: Historically, the Goths were a Germanic tribe of barbarians that led the sack of Rome in 410CE. The roots of the modern Gothic aesthetic go to back to the European Middle Ages of the 12th‑16th Centuries with its distinctive ‘barbaric’ Gothic architecture, which was revived again in the 18th‑20th Centuries. The Medieval architectural style became the backdrop to popular atmospheric Gothic romantic, horror and fantasy literature of the 18th‑19th Centuries. The first Gothic novel was ‘The Castle of Otranto’ (1764) by Horace Walpole (1717‑1797).
Related Genres: Post‑Punk, Gothic Metal, Gothic Pop, Emo, Dark Wave, Ethereal Wave, Death Rock
Examples: Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Cure, Bauhaus, Joy Division, The Damned, The Cult, The Mission, Killing Joke, Sisters Of Mercy, Adam and the Ants, Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance, The Fall, Evanescence, All About Eve, The Twilight Sad, Alien Sex Fiend, Rome Burns, Southern Death Cult, This Mortal Coil, Pixies, Fields of the Nephilim
Metal Era #3 – The Diversification of Metal: 1980‑1989
New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) (1979‑1983)
NWOBHM is a clumsy acronym for ‘New Wave Of British Heavy Metal’. NWOBHM started off as an injection of fresh new ideas to slow and then reverse the decline of early British Traditional Heavy Metal as well as to adapt to the emergence of high‑energy Punk Rock. NWOBHM bands took some of the elements of Punk and merged it with Heavy Metal. Like Punk Rock, many NWOBHM bands funded and released their own records in the early days. While many Metal fans rejected Punk, it continued to influence Metal in a significant underground Metal scene that began to grow and gain momentum. Eventually, the media, record labels and consumers could no longer dismiss NWOBHM as a passing underground fad and it rapidly became a major force in modern Metal music. The primary band associated with the emergence of NWOBHM was Iron Maiden.
NWOBHM is very diverse and it didn’t tend have a signature ‘sound’ of its own. Instead, the genre is more focused on location and period (the UK in the 1980s). At its peak, it didn’t last long but it has had a lasting impact over the decades. By the early‑mid 1980s, NWOBHM came to define the global mainstream success of Heavy Metal. While predominantly British in origin, NWOBHM had a major global influence on later forms of Metal, including the inevitable American version (NWOAHM).
Related Genres: Heavy Metal, Punk Rock, Hardcore Punk, Doom Metal, Thrash Metal, Speed Metal, New Wave Of American Heavy Metal (NWOAHM)
Examples: Motörhead, Def Leppard, Judas Priest, Quartz, Saxon, Iron Maiden, Tygers of Pan Tang, Diamond Head, Angel Witch, Girlschool, Raven, Holocaust, Tank, Elixir, Praying Mantis, Blitzkrieg, Samson, Grim Reaper, Witchfinder General, Dragonslayer
Speed Metal (1981‑1993)
Speed metal is a bit of a minor but important transitional sub‑genre of Metal originating from NWOBHM and influenced by Hard Rock and Heavy Metal bands, as well as influencing early Thrash Metal.
Speed Metal is usually considered less abrasive and more melodic than Hardcore Punk before it or Thrash Metal after it. However, Speed Metal is usually faster (duh!) and more aggressive than traditional Heavy Metal. It also tends to feature incendiary virtuoso guitar solos and short instrumental passages between conventional verse and chorus song writing structure. While sounding relatively straightforward now, the studio album, ‘Welcome to Hell’ (1981) by British band Venom has been suggested as the first Extreme Metal release.
Related Genres: Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, NWOBHM, Hardcore Punk, Doom Metal, Thrash Metal
Examples: Venom, Slayer, Motörhead, Exciter, DragonForce, Annihilator, Anvil, Heathen, Helloween, Piledriver, Racer X, Whiplash, Bewitched, Midnight, Annihilator, Children of Bodom
Neo‑Classical Metal (1983‑)
Neo‑Classical Metal is a niche, largely Instrumental Rock sub‑genre with its roots firmly in Hard Rock, Heavy Metal and Speed Metal, while taking considerable inspiration from traditional acoustic instrumental Classical Music. The main characteristic of Neo‑Classical Metal is its highly technical virtuoso guitar playing and particularly the fast and complex ‘shredding’ techniques that became widely popular during the 1980s. Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore was probably the pioneer of this particular style of guitar playing before that role was passed on to Swedish guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen. The genre took its cues mainly from the Romantic and Baroque periods of 17th and 18th Century Classical Music. In turn, Neo‑Classical Metal influenced many genres including Progressive Metal.
Related Genres: Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Speed Metal, Classical Music, Instrumental Rock, Power Metal, Symphonic Metal, Progressive Metal
Examples: Ritchie Blackmore, Yngwie Malmsteen, Randy Rhoads, Jason Becker, Uli Jon Roth, Marty Friedman, Paul Gilbert
Stoner Metal (1982‑)
Stoner Metal is a sub‑genre of Metal that combines key components of Doom Metal with elements of Psychedelic Rock and Blues Rock to create a melodic yet heavy sound. Like Stoner Metal’s close genre relative Stoner Rock, heavily distorted guitar riffs feature strong grooves and psychedelic effect‑driven atmospheric sounds, while the tempo is generally slower than many other Metal genres. Guitars and basses are frequently down‑tuned with a particular emphasis on a solid, bass‑heavy sound.
Several Stoner Metal bands and fans shared a common use of marijuana, hence the genre name. The focus on weed can be found within the lyrics of many Stoner Metal tracks, combined with the heavy and psychedelic sound of the music. Due to the similarities in styles, some Stoner Metal bands also adopted and incorporated certain aspects of Sludge Metal and Heavy Psych.
Related Genres: Stoner Rock, Sludge Metal, Heavy Psych, Instrumental Rock, Doom Metal
Examples: Sleep, Kyuss, Monster Magnet, Cathedral, Down, Electric Wizard, Black Mountain, Corrosion of Conformity, Clutch, Karma to Burn, Saint Vitus, Orange Goblin, Pulled Apart by Horses, Royal Blood, Om, Madmess, My Sleeping Karma, Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, Melvins, High on Fire, Eternal Tapestry
Noise Rock (1983‑2010)
Noise Rock is a broad genre that arose from Punk Rock and Post‑Punk. Noise Rock artists incorporate a high degree of experimental sound manipulation, heavy distortion, guitar feedback, prominent use of effects, dissonant musical intervals and lo‑fi production. The most commonly used instruments are guitars, bass and drums, as well as extensive use of drum machines, guitar effects, studio electronics, tape‑manipulated soundscapes, and random industrial noises added to supplement the already‑abrasive core sound. Song structures defied convention and often rely on dirge, drone or discordant tonal textures. German Krautrock (a.k.a. Kosmiche Musik or Cosmic Music) also heavily influenced Noise Rock.
The first Noise Rock artists predated the genre, emerging in New York in the 1960s and the first Noise Rock studio album was arguably, ‘White Light/White Heat’ (1968) by The Velvet Underground. The tracks made extensive use of guitar feedback, distortion effects, simple recording, and unstructured Jam Band sessions. Noise Rock reached its peak in the 1990s with bands like Sonic Youth leading the evolution of the genre before they disbanded in 2011. Despite it seeming to be a musical dead end, Noise Rock influenced many future Metal sub‑genres, such as Industrial Metal.
Related Genres: Punk Rock, Post‑Punk, Jam Band, Sludge Rock, Drone Metal, Industrial Rock, Industrial Metal, Krautrock, Experimental Rock
Examples: The Velvet Underground, Lou Reed, The Stooges, Sonic Youth, Big Black, Nirvana, Dinosaur Jr., Membranes, Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo, Black Midi, Deerhoof, Tropical Fuck Storm, Boris, SUNN O))), Melt‑Banana, Merzbow
Progressive Metal (1984‑)
Heavy Metal was influenced by Progressive Rock and, in turn contributed towards Progressive Metal. Today’s Progressive Metal continues to use the layered, textured sounds and intricate arrangements of Prog and combines it with heavier, more distorted sounds of Metal. The 1990s saw a rejuvenation of Progressive Rock and the emergence of Progressive Metal through a new generation of artists using innovative sounds and recording techniques.
Progressive metal is a genre that features Metal’s electric guitar‑driven sound and fuses it with technical proficiency and Progressive Rock‑inspired virtuosity. It uses unorthodox song writing featuring complex harmonies, long track times, multiple passages, shifts in mood, texture, tempo, key changes and uncommon time signatures. Like Progressive Rock, Progressive Metal frequently uses additional instrumentation such as keyboards, percussion, wind instruments and strings. Lyrics are often poetic, elegiac, melancholic, and introspective, and it tackles themes such as philosophy, science fiction, fantasy and politics. Progressive Metal is known for its high‑gain guitars and heavy guitar riffs. It is fair to say that Progressive Metal has heavily influenced many other forms of late 20th Century and early 21st Century Metal.
Related Genres: Progressive Rock, Heavy Metal, US Power Metal, Thrash Metal, Technical Death Metal, Black Metal, Metalcore, Djent, Avant‑Garde Metal, Experimental Metal, Post‑Metal
Examples: Rush, Savatage, Queensrÿche, Fates Warning, Voivod, Dream Theater, Meshuggah, Porcupine Tree, Tool, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Opeth, Gojira, Mastodon, Coheed and Cambria, Steve Vai, King’s X, Devin Townsend, Between the Buried and Me,
Alternative Rock (1985‑2010)
Alternative Rock (a.k.a. Alt‑Rock) is a massively diverse range of styles and has become regarded as a bit of an all‑encompassing umbrella term for a wide range of music that doesn’t easily fit elsewhere, almost to the point of not being a cohesive genre. Alternative Rock developed in the independent record label music scenes of the 1980s, being heavily influenced by Punk Rock, Post‑Punk and Hardcore. Common characteristics typically include a blend of melodic, traditional song writing with more eccentric sounds drawing from Punk, using idiosyncratic lyrics, as well as plentiful amounts of distortion.
In America, Alternative Rock bands combined Punk Rock and Post‑Hardcore with Folk Rock and Power Pop. Later groups took on a more raucous, jarring approach, influenced by Noise Rock and Experimental Rock.
Alternative Rock wasn’t met with a great deal of commercial success compared to some other forms of Metal and Rock because of its diversity. The term ‘College Rock’ was coined to describe many of the early Alternative Rock bands because they were popular on American college radio channels and, perhaps predictably, MTV.
By the start of the 1990s, several previously independent artists signed to major labels and the success of Grunge bands launched Alternative Rock along with Alternative Metal into mainstream popularity. Multiple other commercial offshoots and derivatives of Alternative Rock began to appear as either revivals of past genres or breakthroughs in new areas. A number of artists during this period exploited the creativity and experimentation of Alternative Rock to push the genre’s already nebulous boundaries. While Alternative Rock isn’t very Metal, Alternative Metal would not have evolved in the way it did without its direct forebear.
In the 2010s, Alternative Rock largely faded from the mainstream and returned to the underground. Indie Rock tended to take over from Alternative Rock and continued to enjoy moderate success until Indie also experienced a major decline by the 2020s.
Related Genres: Hard Alternative Rock, Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Garage Rock Punk Rock, Proto‑Punk, Post‑Punk, Pop Punk, Psychedelic Rock, Post‑Rock, Alternative Dance, Neo‑Psychedelia, Shoegaze, Dream Pop, Slacker Rock, Post‑Hardcore, Folk Rock, Power Pop, Experimental Rock, Britpop, Art Rock, Slacker Rock, Emo, Emo Rap, Electronica, Funk Rock, Ska Revival, Hip Hop, Pop Rap
Examples: R.E.M., Dinosaur Jr., My Bloody Valentine, Violent Femmes, Hüsker Dü, The Replacements, Pixies, The Smashing Pumpkins, Faith No More, Jane’s Addiction, Living Colour, Sonic Youth, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Flaming Lips, Pavement, Yo La Tengo, Wooden Shjips, Guided by Voices, Weezer, Nine Inch Nails, Radiohead, TV on the Radio, Car Seat Headrest, Mitski, Courtney Barnett, Kid Cudi, Six By Seven, Stabbing Westward
Alternative Metal (1985‑)
Alternative Metal is another catch‑all sub‑genre of Metal music and a close relative of Alternative Rock that also emerged in the late‑1980s. Alternative Metal pushed the borders of Alt‑Rock, with a medium‑tempo similar to Groove Metal. Unlike other, more traditional Metal genres, Alternative Metal adopted a straight‑forward sound. Vocal styles vary hugely, depending on the band. Alternative Metal lyrics also focus on more prosaic, down‑to‑earth themes than many other Metal genres. Like its Rock counterpart, Alternative Metal is noted for its variety and a willingness to experiment with unconventional musical styles beyond the confines of straightforward Metal music.
Alternative Metal actually increased in popularity when Grunge took alternative music into the mainstream in the first half of the 1990s. The genre took another step forward with the emergence of Rap Metal, Nu Metal and Post‑Grunge in the mid‑1990s.
Alternative Metal’s popularity continued undiminished into the 21st Century and continued to evolve into the New Wave of American Heavy Metal (NWOAMH), which harked back to preceding Metal genres and built on them. The influence of Alternative Metal can clearly be heard in other Metal genres, such as Metalcore.
Related Genres: Heavy Metal, Alternative Rock, Groove Metal, Funk Metal, Grunge, Nu Metal, Post‑Grunge, NWOAMH, Metalcore
Examples: Faith No More, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jane’s Addiction, Prong, Living Colour, The Smashing Pumpkins, Primus, Rage Against the Machine, Disturbed, Avenged Sevenfold, Five Finger Death Punch, Architects, Bring Me the Horizon, Enter Shikari, John 5, Hundred Reasons
Thrash Metal (1983‑1995)
Thrash metal was, arguably, one of the first Extreme Metal genres characterised by fast tempos and an aggressive tonel. A new generation of American Metal bands emerged, headed up by ‘the big four’ Thrash Metal bands, Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer and Megadeth. These four bands combined influences from classic Heavy Metal, NWOBHM and Speed Metal, developing them further to great success. Thrash Metal’s popularity peaked in the early 1990s before beginning to decline.
Thrash Metal frequently features tight rhythms, down‑tuned and palm‑muted heavily distorted guitar riffs. Talented Thrash Metal lead guitarists ably demonstrated highly technical ‘shred’ solos using two‑hand ‘tapping’, sweep picking and fast legato licks, along with unusual scales. Thrash drumming frequently uses rapid double‑bass drum patterns. Vocals range widely from melodic singing to angry shouting. Themes tackled by Thrash Metal include politics, war, socio‑political commentary, Satanism, science fiction, introspection and hedonistic lifestyles.
In America, two main Thrash Metal scenes developed; Bay Area Thrash and East Coast Thrash, eventually evolving into what is known as Crossover Thrash. In Germany, Teutonic Thrash Metal emerged in parallel. Thrash Metal heavily influenced Alternative Metal and Grunge, as well as Groove Metal. In the 2000s and 2010s, Thrash Metal saw a resurgence, with 1980s bands reuniting or returning to their original sound, alongside emerging new bands.
Related Genres: Heavy Metal, Speed Metal, NWOBHM, Bay Area Thrash, East Coast Thrash, Crossover Thrash, Teutonic Thrash Metal, Alternative Metal, Grunge, Groove Metal
Examples: Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, Megadeth, Pantera, Anvil, Exodus, Overkill, Kreator, Destruction, Sodom, Sepultura, Testament, Death Angel, Municipal Waste, Marty Friedman, Legion of the Damned
Black Metal (1984‑)
Black metal is a style of Extreme Metal typified by penetrating, distorted, trebly electric guitar riffs, screamed vocals, and double‑bass drum‑driven rhythms with a distinctively intense style called ‘blast beat’ (NB. a term coined by British Grindcore band, Napalm Death). Tempos can reach a potent 300bpm, roughly double the ‘norm’. Studio production features a raw, lo‑fi approach to mixing. Conventional song structures generally include strong ideological themes such as opposition to organised religion, devil worship, the occult, paganism, Satanism and neo‑Nazism. Lyrics were delivered by gruff, guttural vocals. Black Metal’s origins date back to 1980s Speed Metal with Venom’s 2nd studio album, ‘Black Metal’ (1982), which gave the genre its name. Black Metal aesthetics strongly reflect its overtly ominous lyrics and darkly deviant ideology, lashings of corpse paint included as standard.
Black Metal is widely regarded as comprising two distinct ‘waves’. The first wave established the genre’s prototypical roots, derived from a wide range of early Extreme Metal styles, particularly Thrash Metal and Germany’s Teutonic Thrash Metal scene. Support for the first wave declined by the end of the 1980s due to the rising popularity of other genres such as Death Metal.
The second wave of Black Metal arose during the 1990s, epitomised by Norwegian Black Metal and originating from the major cities of Oslo and Bergen. This wave was characterised by a more progressive, repetitive, riff‑driven style, less structured compositions and powerful instrumental passages. As its popularity increased, Black Metal spread out from Scandinavia and became an international phenomenon. Rather than pushing existing boundaries, Black Metal asserted that there were no boundaries, leading to an ever increasing spiral of destructive, aberrant excess.
By the 1990s, Black Metal had become dangerous and notorious, associated with very real events such as arson attacks on Christian churches, brutality, self‑harm, suicide and murders, rather than the music. Such was the controversy, the Hollywood film, ‘Lords Of Chaos’ was released in 2018. The film was a historical biographical horror/drama portrayal of the Norwegian Black Metal scene of the early 1990s and specifically focussing on the band Mayhem. The film was based on the book, ‘Lords Of Chaos: The Bloody Rise Of The Satanic Metal Underground’ (1998) by Michael J. Moynihan and Didrik Søderlind.
Metal Trivia: The notoriety surrounding the Black Metal band Mayhem was immense. Swedish vocalist ‘Dead’ (Per Ohlin) committed suicide in 1991, aged 22 (his corpse was pictued on an unofficially released Mayhem album cover). Norwegian guitarist ‘Euronymous’ (Øystein Aarseth) was murdered at the age of 25 in 1993 by former bandmate and rival ‘Varg’ (Kristian Vikernes), who was sentenced to 21 years in prison in 1994 for murder and arson (released after 15 years in 2009). Varg continues to make music under the name Burzum.
Metal Trivia: The term Kvlt (an alternative spelling of cult), referring to Nordic or pagan culture, is used by Black Metal fans to prove their knowledge of the obscure and to mock others’ ignorance. Ironically, the term has been turned around by followers of other Metal genres to provoke fans of Black Metal. Now you know.
Related Genres: Satanic Metal, Heavy Metal, Speed Metal, Black Ambient, Norwegian Black Metal, Industrial Black Metal, Black Doom, Post‑Black Metal, Blackgaze, Pagan Metal
Along with Black Metal, Death metal is another style of Extreme Metal whose influences derive from the raw sound and inflammatory style of early 1980’s Speed Metal and Thrash Metal. Death Metal features heavily distorted, commonly down‑tuned guitars playing fast, palm‑muted riffs and double‑bass drum ‘blast beat’ rhythms. Chromatic chord progressions and abrupt changes in volume, tempo and time signature are also common. Vocalists adopt stressed, guttural vocal styles such as growling, squealing and grunting, with lyrics that emphasise aggression, violence, anti‑religion, politics, philosophy, science fiction, environmentalism and (unsurprisingly) mortality and death.
The first Death Metal bands emerged in America during the mid‑1980s, closely followed by the UK. This period is often now referred to as Old School Death Metal (OSDM). The guitarist with the band Death, Chuck Schuldiner, became known as ‘The Godfather of Death Metal’. A specific offshoot of Death Metal based around the Tampa Bay area formed the discrete Florida Death Metal scene.
During the early 1990s, Swedish Death Metal came to the fore, based around the country’s major cities of Gothenburg and Stockholm. The Swedish Death Metal band Entombed released their debut studio album, ‘Left Hand Path’ (1990), which established Death Metal’s signature ‘buzzsaw’ guitar tone by using the BOSS HM‑2 Heavy Metal effect pedal (see CRAVE Guitars’ feature). Rarely has a music genre been defined by a single guitar stomp box. Another offshoot, Melodic Death Metal, employs a highly melodic (duh!) style relying on guitar harmonies and vocals, often overlapping in style with Doom Metal. Another Scandinavian country also jumped on the bandwagon with the Finnish Death Metal sub‑genre, which flourished by using off‑kilter rhythms, guttural vocals and doom‑laden lyrics.
Further offshoot sub‑genres also emerged throughout the 2000s and 2010s, including Technical Death Metal, Brutal Death Metal and Deathcore. By the late 2010s, Death Metal bands went back to their roots and revived elements OSDM, including lo‑fi production, riff‑centric song writing, and resonant vocals.
Related Genres: Speed Metal, Thrash Metal, Old School Death Metal, Swedish Death Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Deathcore, Industrial Death Metal, Finnish Death Metal, Florida Death Metal, Technical Death Metal, Brutal Death Metal, Death ‘n’ Roll, Goregrind, Slam Death Metal, War Metal, Dissonant Death Metal, Death Doom Metal
Examples: Possessed, Tiamat, Death, Autopsy, Morbid Angel, Obituary, Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, Immolation, Vader, Six Feet Under, Kataklysm, Dying Fetus, Nile, Amon Amarth, At the Gates, In Flames, Hypocrisy, Dark Tranquillity, Entombed, Grave, Unleashed, Dismember, Demigod, Amorphis, Arch Enemy, Soilwork, The Haunted, Carcass, Bolt Thrower, Carnifex, All Shall Perish, Necrophagist, Origin, Blood Incantation, Legion of the Damned, Children of Bodom, The Black Dahlia Murder
Emo (1987‑)
On first impression, one might think that Emo is an abbreviation for ‘emotional’. In fact, it stands for ‘Emotive Hardcore’, which originated in Washington, D.C. in the summer of 1985 from the city’s Hardcore Punk scene, incorporating more melodic song writing, acoustic instrumentation, poetic lyrics, and highly expressive, passionate vocals. Since its inception, the genre has evolved substantially with a wide range of styles. The tortured soul of Emo is its heartfelt outpouring of emotion and sentiment. Emo artists attempt to build a strong emotional connection with their followers. Often seen as a subculture as well as a musical genre, Emo’s lifestyle influence extends to fashion, culture, and deeply felt introspective mind‑set. While the uninitiated may perceive Emo and Gothic as interchangeable, they are separate genres and subcultures, each vehemently defending their own territory and identity. Emo did however influence Gothic Rock/Metal and vice versa.
For a while in the early days, Emo was also known as Emocore, as a way of differentiating it from Hardcore Punk. Emo uses slower tempos with melodic lyrics that were more personal, thoughtful, allegorical and elegiac than its counterparts. Over time, the ‘core’ was dropped and there became a distinct split between old school Emo/Screamo and ‘modern’ Emo‑Pop.
Related Genres: Hardcore Punk, Screamo, Emo‑Pop, Emo‑Rap, Gothic Rock, Pop Punk, Alternative Rock
Examples: My Chemical Romance, Good Charlotte, Alkaline Trio, All Time Low, Black Veil Brides, Bring Me the Horizon, Cute Is What we Aim For, Dashboard Confessional, Death Cab for Cutie, Embrace, Fall Out Boy, Funeral for a Friend, From Autumn to Ashes, HelloGoodbye, Jimmy Eat World, Lostprophets, Panic! At the Disco, Paramore, Pierce the Veil, The Promise Ring, Sum 41, Taking Back Sunday, Thursday, The Used
Funk Metal (1987‑2006)
Funk metal is a heavier take on Funk Rock born in the mid‑late‑1980s rising out of the Alternative Rock and Alternative Metal genre. It takes the complex dance rhythms of Funk and fuses it with a Hard Rock/Heavy Metal style. With heavy guitar riffs and strident guitar solos, the genre focuses on prominent funky slap‑style basslines and groovy drum rhythms. While Funk Metal blends Funk and Metal (duh!), it also includes other influences that were very un‑metal, such as Hip Hop, Punk and even Ska Revival. The focus of Funk Metal lyrics is diverse, ranging from decadent hedonistic celebrations to barbed political criticism.
The popularity of Funk Metal grew significantly in popularity by the turn of the 1990s, attracting a great deal of exposure on MTV playlists. A lot of artists from other genres experimented, crossed over or dabbled with Funk Metal, seeing it as the ‘in thing’. However, all good things come to an end and Funk metal saw a decline in popularity as Grunge, Alternative Rock and Pop Rock took firm hold of consumers’ precious lucre. It wasn’t all bad news, Funk Metal would go on to adapt and influence the emergence and development of Nu Metal and Rap Metal.
Related Genres: Funk, Alternative Metal, Rap Metal, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Glam Metal, Thrash Metal, Hip Hop, Punk, Ska Revival, Grunge, Nu Metal, Alternative Metal
Examples: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bad Brains, Living Colour, Jane’s Addiction, Primus, Rage Against the Machine, Faith No More, Incubus, Extreme, Mordred
Grindcore (1987‑)
Grindcore was a sub‑genre of Extreme Metal and Hardcore Punk that emerged in the mid‑1980s. Grindcore features a highly aggressive and chaotic sound, such as intense sixteenth‑note ‘blast beat’ and ‘skank’ drum patterns, down‑tuned guitars alternating between tremolo‑picked power chords and groovier down‑picked techniques. Vocal styles ranged from shouts, barks and growls to grating screams and howled shrieks. Grindcore is known for its brutally short song structures, dubbed ‘microsongs’, where tracks regularly last for less than a minute.
Metal Trivia: English Grindcore band, Napalm Death holds the world record for the shortest song ever recorded with their track ‘You Suffer’ from their debut album, Scum (1987). The song is precisely just 1.316 seconds long.
Grindcore lyrics feature defiant and coarse language delivered with attitude and themes including anti‑establishment, anti‑religion, slasher‑inspired horror films and gratuitous sexual behaviour. While being fairly niche in Metal terms, Grindcore has influenced many related sub‑genres (often incorporating the word ‘grind’).
Related Genres: Hardcore Punk, Coregrind, Noisegrind, Deathgrind, Electrogrind, Goregrind, Pornogrind
Grunge, a.k.a. ‘the Seattle Sound’ arose from Washington State in the American Pacific North West. Grunge emerged primarily in the city of Seattle during the mid‑1980s and was closely associated with Alternative Rock. Grunge is generally characterised by moderate tempos, combining the anarchic energy of Punk Rock with the heavier guitar sounds of Hard Rock, Heavy Metal and Classic Rock. Grunge’s mixture of many different styles and influences makes its status as a discrete genre in its own right subject to some debate. However, a shared dingy, dirty, messy sound and lifestyle aesthetic generally unites bands and fans under the ‘Grunge’ umbrella… at least to begin with. Grunge lyrics are noted for their anxiety‑induced themes, including troubled relationships, mental health struggles, drug addiction and social (in)justice. Lyrics were often delivered with a distinctively brash, angry, ‘raspy’ vocal style.
While Grunge was an underground genre from the outset, with music released on small, independent labels like Sub‑Pop Records, it wouldn’t stay that way for long, as it gradually rose in popularity towards the end of the 1980s. Grunge would burst into the mainstream, with the landmark commercial success of two studio albums, ‘Nevermind’ by Nirvana and ‘Ten’ by Pearl Jam (both 1991). Grunge symbolised a major cultural shift and reflected the melancholic, angst, isolation and alienation felt by many young people at the time. However, pure Grunge didn’t last long and it declined rapidly after the death of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain on 5th April 1994 at the age of 27 – forever immortalised as a member of the infamous ’27 Club’.
“I was looking for something a lot heavier, yet melodic at the same time. Something different from heavy metal, a different attitude” – Kurt Cobain (Nirvana, 1967‑1994)
Related Genres: Alternative Rock, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Classic Rock, Post‑Grunge
Examples: Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Mudhoney, Tad, Screaming Trees, Melvins, Green River, Skin Yard, Alice in Chains, Mother Love Bone, Stone Temple Pilots, Foo Fighters
Industrial Metal (1988‑)
Industrial Metal is a niche genre that fuses Heavy Metal and Noise Rock with elements from Industrial Rock and Post‑Industrial music. In addition to traditional Metal instrumentation, Industrial Metal adds electronic instruments such as synthesizers, samplers and sometimes drum machines. The distorted down‑tuned repetitive guitar riffs and dissonant noises give the genre a highly mechanical sounding quality. Other common characteristics include distorted vocals and a heavier, discordant abrasive sound.
The prominent influence of Industrial Metal generated popular sub‑genres through the 1990s such as Cyber Metal and Neue Deutsche Härte (New German Hardness) which, in turn, influenced many other Extreme Metal artists.
Related Genres: Industrial Rock, Post‑Industrial, Cyber Metal, Neue Deutsche Härte, Teutonic Thrash Metal, Industrial Black Metal, Industrial Death Metal, Electro‑Industrial, Dungeon Synth, Dark Wave
Examples: Ministry, White Zombie, Godflesh, Nine Inch Nails, Fear Factory, Throbbing Gristle, Strapping Young Lad, Orgy, Static‑X, Rammstein, Blut Aus Nord, The Kovenant, Stabbing Westward, ohGr, Skinny Puppy, Mortiis
Sludge Metal (1989‑)
Sludge Metal is a genre of Metal that emerged in the early‑mid 1990s combining the slow, dark instrumentals and atmosphere of Doom Metal with the aggressive, harsh vocals reminiscent of Hardcore Punk. The word ‘sludge’ gives a sense of the sluggish, grubby atmosphere of the genre. Sludge Metal makes extensive use of guitar feedback, slow groovy distorted guitar riffs, and angry pained vocals. It is also common for Sludge Metal tracks to engage in occasional fast passages and technicality normally attributed to Hardcore. Lyrics borrow both from the angry social and political commentary of Punk and from the sad and melancholic themes of Doom Metal. This merging of styles results in frustrated and embittered messages, often directed either at society or, in a quirk of ironic self‑awareness, at itself.
Many Sludge Metal artists have attempted to experiment with a fusion of Doom Metal and Punk Rock. This includes Progressive Metal, Grindcore, and Crust Punk, among many others. A large number of bands combined the severe qualities of Sludge Metal with the psychedelic aspects and repetitive riffs of Stoner Metal and Heavy Psych.
Many artists have also fused elements of Sludge Metal with textures and stylings of other atmospheric genres like Post‑Rock, giving rise to Post‑Metal and Atmospheric Sludge Metal, so there are extensive genre crossovers muddying (sic!) the waters. Sludge Metal is also considered to be a major influence on other modern Extreme Metal genres.
Related Genres: Punk Rock, Hardcore Punk, Stoner Metal, Stoner Sludge, Atmospheric Sludge Metal, Progressive Metal, Grindcore, Crust Punk, Doom Metal, Powerviolence, Heavy Psych, Stoner Metal
Examples: Melvins, Black Flag, Sleep, Flipper, Neurosis, Acid Bath, Grief, early Mastodon, Dystopia, Godflesh, Cult of Luna, Bongzilla, Boris, Crowbar, Eyehategod, ISIS, Amenra, Rosetta
Doom Metal (1989‑)
The roots of Doom Metal are considered to have been planted in the early 1970s Traditional Heavy Metal and particularly early Black Sabbath. During the 1970s and most of the 1980s Doom wasn’t fully developed, although many observers now refer to this transitional period as ‘Traditional Doom Metal’. By the late 1980s, European artists had adopted the ‘Doom’ sound as a discrete genre. Doom Metal remained the standard until the early 1990s, when newcomers began to experiment in combining Doom Metal with several other Metal sub‑genres. Doom Metal has proven to be one of the most enduring and recognisable Metal genres, maintaining a relatively small but devoted fan base in many countries.
Wallowing in tension, despair and dread, Doom Metal emphasises an overbearing atmosphere more than many of Metal’s other primary sub‑genres. Doom Metal uses ponderous tempos, repeated chords, and dense, down‑tuned distorted guitars and basses intended to immerse the listener in a wash of desperate foreboding on tracks that commonly exceed the ten minute mark. Instruments generally retain the standard guitar, bass, and drums format, although it is not unusual to add keyboards to help create an ominous layer of atmosphere. Doom Metal stage decoration is usually dark, making good use of occult and Gothic aesthetics.
Doom Metal vocals can be in any of the predominant Metal styles, but all share a determined attempt to evoke a sense of emotional hopeless desperation, sadness and mental anguish. This is further augmented by lyrical themes of grief, depression, fear, resentment, and suffering that are all hallmarks of the genre.
Related Genres: Heavy Metal, Traditional Doom, Epic Doom Metal, Funeral Doom, Melodic Doom Metal, Death Doom Metal
Examples: Black Sabbath, Pentagram, Saint Vitus, Trouble, Candlemass, Cathedral, Witchfinder General, Solitude Aeturnus, Sleep, Kyuss, My Dying Bride, Electric Wizard, Paradise Lost, Katatonia, Type O Negative, Chelsea Wolfe, Goblin Cock, Esoteric, Shape of Despair, Bell Witch, Ahab, Evoken, Pallbearer
Metal Era #4 – The Nu Nineties: 1990‑1999
Metalcore (1990‑)
Metalcore is a relatively niche sub‑genre that combines elements of Hardcore Punk and Heavy Metal that began to take shape during the early 1990s. It features distorted, down‑tuned guitars, intense drumming using double bass drum techniques and varying tempos. Vocals are often delivered in a harsh screaming and shouting style. Later bands have incorporated clean sonorous vocals to contrast with the heavier elements of the songs. A distinctive feature of Metalcore is the use of breakdown passages, which emphasise a tight, percussive style rather than a focus on harmony and melody. The breakdown sections often feature half‑time tempos, with cymbal patterns and the snare drum on the third beat of the bar (reminiscent of reggae’s ‘one drop’ technique). Guitarists play slow ‘chugs’ in rhythm with the bass drum beats. Metalcore led to offshoot sub‑genres such as Melodic Metalcore.
Related Genres: Heavy Metal, Hardcore Punk, Melodic Metalcore, Electronicore, Nu Metalcore, Progressive Metalcore
Examples: Corrosion of Conformity, Dirty Rotten Imbeciles, Suicidal Tendencies, Stormtroopers of Death, Cro‑Mags, Biohazard, Machine Head, Earth Crisis, Hatebreed, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Atreyu, Eighteen Visions, Converge, Architects, Bring Me The Horizon, Caliban
Gothic Metal (1990‑)
Gothic Metal is a genre derived directly from Gothic Rock in the UK in the early 1990s, retaining much of its predecessor’s Goth aesthetic and lifestyle subculture, and complementing them with heavier, more intense Metal sensibilities. Typical characteristics of the Gothic Metal sound include synthesisers and substantial use of guitar chorus, reverb and echo effects. Gothic Metal steers clear of some of Gothic Rock’s lighter, more commercial elements and tends to be heavier and slower than Goth Rock, featuring sombre, gloomy atmospherics with layered synth soundscapes and drone/dirge sequences. Vocals cover a wide range of styles, often plaintive, melodic or even spoken. Gothic Metal, like Gothic Rock, has remained popular with a dedicated core following.
Related Genres: Gothic Rock, Post‑Punk, Death Rock, Ethereal Wave, Progressive Gothic Metal, Dark Wave
Examples: Type O Negative, My Dying Bride, Fields of the Nephilim, Therion, The Gathering, Anathema, Katatonia, Theatre of Tragedy, Within Temptation, HIM, Lacuna Coil, Leaves’ Eyes, Danzig, Draconian, Paradise Lost, Witchbreed, Tristania, Moonspell
Post‑Grunge (1994‑2009)
Post‑Grunge is a direct derivative of Grunge (duh!) that takes the latter’s distorted guitar and grimy aesthetic fused with a more streamlined, groove‑based approach, often adopting a more refined sound compared to the harsh underground characteristics that shaped early Grunge. Post‑Grunge features a mellower, more melodic sound and more conventional song structures and arrangements when compared with its predecessor, though Grunge’s slow‑medium tempo remained. Both Grunge and Post‑Grunge (and much of Indie Rock) genres are known for the ‘yarling’ vocal style (NB. ‘yarling’ is a melodramatic deep, guttural vocal style with precise pronunciation). The combination of acoustic and electric guitars is particularly common in Post‑Grunge ballads. Post‑Grunge lyrics frequently dealt with mental health issues and included featured themes of fear, anxiety, melancholy and insecurity.
Emerging in conjunction with the decline of Grunge, Post‑Grunge’s early style rapidly became an indispensable feature of American commercial rock radio. Post Grunge attracted the disparaging name, ‘Butt Rock’ (NB. meaning lyrically devoid of artistic merit and reduced melodic complexity). A second wave of Post‑Grunge bands continued the genre’s popularity, though some well‑known bands began to attract a great deal of negative criticism, as bands veered more towards Hard Rock and further away from Metal. Post‑Grunge experienced a steep decline during the 2010s, as Rock generally became less popular and Indie Rock rose to prominence.
Related Genres: Grunge, Pop Rock, Arena Rock, Hard Rock
Examples: Stone Temple Pilots, Candlebox, Bush, Silverchair, Nickelback, Creed, Godsmack, Pearl Jam, Live, Foo Fighters, Staind, Candlebox, Everclear, Puddle of Mudd
Rap Metal (1992‑2006)
Rap metal is a form of Alternative Metal that features rapped Hip Hop‑style vocals. As a heavier and more aggressive offshoot of Rap Rock, Rap Metal tended to feature a greater proportion of aggressive Hip Hop electronic percussive beats incorporating Turntablism and ‘scratching’, and lesser emphasis on the highly technical shred guitar playing of other Metal genres. Lyrics also tended to draw themes from Hip Hop music, focusing on social consciousness, misanthropy, crime, gang culture, hedonism, sedition, anti‑authoritarianism and politics.
Rap Metal’s roots date back to the late 1980s when Hardcore Hip Hop groups ironically sampled Heavy Metal and Hard Rock, and Hip Hop artists collaborated with established Metal bands (e.g. Run‑DMC and Aerosmith). Rap Metal became highly popular with MTV audiences. Rap metal’s success closely paralleled that of Alternative Rock with key bands mixing Metal with Hip Hop rising to significance.
Rap metal experienced its peak in the late 1990s heavily influencing Nu Metal’s use of down‑tuned distorted guitar riffs and percussive syncopation. Along with Alternative Metal and Nu Metal, Rap Metal fell out of popularity by the 2000s, though it continued to inspire future crossovers and cross‑fertilisations between Metal and Hip Hop.
Related Genres: Hip Hop, Hardcore Hip Hop, Rap Rock, Funk Metal, Nu Metal, Turntablism, Trap Metal
Examples: Rage Against the Machine, Skindred, Senser, Biohazard, Die Antwoord, Crazy Town, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Faith No More, Ice‑T, Run‑DMC, Public Enemy
Nu Metal (1994‑2000)
Nu Metal seemed to appear from nowhere in the late 1990s. Many of the elements that made Rap Metal popular where piled on in spades by Nu Metal artists, drawing a degree of satirical criticism in the process. Nu Metal arrangements included keyboards, turntable ‘scratching’ and Hip Hop‑style rapping. Early Nu Metal came from Metal bands collaborating with established Hip Hop artists. Nu Metal also influenced Groove Metal and Hard Rock.
The calamitous Woodstock ‘99 outdoor music festival held at Griffiss Air Force Base in New York State was tainted by difficult conditions, extortionate food prices, insufficient water supply, poor sanitation, substance abuse, sexual harassment, sexual violence, rape, rioting, looting, vandalism, arson and several deaths. This notoriety – far from the 1969 Festival’s air of peace & love 30 years earlier – directly impacted the careers of many of the Thrash Metal, Post‑Grunge, Hip Hop, Rap Metal and Nu Metal artists that appeared on the festival line up. In particular, Nu Metal’s popularity declined significantly overnight.
Related Genres: Thrash Metal, Rap Metal, Hip Hop, Groove Metal, Big Beat, Electropunk
Examples: Korn, Deftones, Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, Papa Roach, System of a Down, Kittie, Disturbed, Biohazard, Slipknot, Godsmack, Public Enemy, Faith No More, Otep
Groove Metal (1992‑)
Groove metal, a.k.a. Post‑Thrash, is a genre heavily influenced by Thrash Metal and Hardcore Punk that dates back to the early 1990s. The style is similar to Thrash Metal, but with distorted down‑tuned guitars and a tendency to focus more on syncopated rhythms and heaviness instead of speed. The focus on creating an infectious ‘groove’ gave the genre its descriptive name. Vocals typically consist of screaming, growling or guttural singing.
Groove Metal emerged in the early 1990s with key albums like Pantera’s 5th and 6th studio albums, ‘Cowboys From Hell’ (1990) and, ‘Vulgar Display of Power’ (1992), both of which helped to raise the band’s profile and cement their Groove Metal status. As a direct result of Pantera’s popularity, many Groove Metal bands quickly appeared on the scene hoping to imitate success. Some Thrash Metal bands also experimented with, and crossed over into, Groove Metal during the 1990s to give them an edge. With the start of the new millennium, a new wave of Groove Metal bands emerged, intending to keep the genre fresh and relevant.
Related Genres: Thrash Metal, Hardcore Punk, Nu Metal
Examples: Pantera, Anthrax, Lamb of God, Machine Head, Sepultura, Fear Factory, Skinlab, Prong, White Zombie, Five Finger Death Punch, Hellyeah, Demolition Hammer, Exodus, Exhorder, DevilDriver
Dark Ambient (1993‑)
Another seemingly unlikely fusing of contrasting genres. Dark ambient springs from an earlier form called Ambient Industrial in the 1980s until it was established as a separate sub‑genre in 1993. Dark Ambient’s evolution paralleled the popularity of Ambient Electronica and Ambient Dub genres. While Metal and Ambient seem to make for unlikely bedfellows, the post‑industrial drone and gloomy soundscapes were shaped by Ambient’s (lack of) structural composition, allied to Metal’s ominous and melodramatic overtones. The resulting slow, dark and menacing ambient soundscapes were intended to alienate and isolate the listener with disturbing dissonant tones and textures. While clearly not mainstream Metal, Dark Ambient has proved influential in some areas of the genre including, particularly, the emergence of Blackgaze.
Related Genres: Ambient, Industrial Metal, Ambient Industrial, Industrial Rock, Post‑Industrial, Noise Rock, Blackgaze
Examples: Deafheaven, Agalloch, Aphex Twin, Daniel Avery, Coil, William Basinski, Blut Aus Nord, Cabaret Voltaire, Ben Chatwin, Deathprod, Esoteric, Robert Fripp, Tim Hecker, David Lynch, Mortiis, Phil Niblock, Nine Inch Nails/Trent Reznor, NON, Burzum
Folk Metal (1994‑)
Folk Metal is a sub‑genre of Metal music that developed primarily in Europe throughout the early‑mid 1990s. As the name suggests, the music itself is a fusion of Traditional Folk Music with Metal, usually with prominent use of acoustic folk instruments such as the flute, acoustic guitar, violin, accordion, and various others. However, while retaining Folk’s musical inclinations, some bands excluded instruments usually associated with folk music, replacing traditional sounds with synthesisers. Lyrics are commonly related to Folk‑related themes such as nature, legends and mythology, paganism, new age philosophy, heroism, quests, community traditions and fantasy.
The first Folk Metal artists began to appear around 1990 and began to gain popularity throughout the decade. Since the genre’s origination, several regional styles of Folk Metal have arisen, including Celtic Metal, Viking Metal and Pirate Metal. In addition to geographical variations, Folk Metal is often integrated with other, more notable Metal genres.
Related Genres: Traditional Folk Music, Folk Rock, Viking Metal, Celtic Metal, Pirate Metal, Black Metal, Symphonic Metal, Power Metal
Examples: Primordial, Moonsorrow, Finntroll, Skyclad, Blackmore’s Night, Nokturnal Mortum, Turisas, Elvenking, Cruachan, Mägo de Oz, In Extremo, Subway to Sally, Agalloch, Korpiklaani, Amon Amarth, Alestorm
Symphonic Metal (1995‑)
Symphonic Metal is a sub‑genre of Metal that features elements of symphonic and classical orchestral music. In a similar vein to more conventional Symphonic Rock bands, Symphonic Metal artists frequently make use of choirs, orchestras, chamber music, strings or synthesisers to reproduce neo‑classical elements within a deliberate Metal setting. Symphonic Metal often employs female operatic‑style singing, as well as male growling vocals.
In the mid‑1990s, Swedish Death Metal band Therion (formerly Blitzkrieg) became one of the first Metal artists to switch to the Symphonic Metal sound by extensively incorporating orchestral and classical compositional techniques. European Symphonic Metal artists soon attained relative commercial success. A Black Metal version of the genre, known as Symphonic Black Metal, also developed simultaneously in the mid‑1990s.
Related Genres: Symphonic Black Metal, Symphonic Rock, Symphonic Death Metal, Gothic Metal, Neo‑Classical Metal, Power Metal
Examples: Celtic Frost, Therion, Nightwish, Epica, Dark Sarah, Within Temptation, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Avantasia, Rhapsody of Fire, Septicflesh, Apocalyptica
Metal Era #5 – Millennium Metal: 2000‑
New Wave of American Heavy Metal (NWOAHM) (2000‑)
The New Wave of American Heavy Metal also known as New Wave of American Metal, is a Heavy Metal genre that originated in the United States (duh!) during the early‑mid 1990s and expanded rapidly in the early to mid‑2000s. Some of the bands considered to be part of the movement had formed as early as the late 1980s but did not become influential or reach commercial popularity until the following decades. The term itself borrows from NWOBHM, also focusing on location and time period, rather than a distinctive sound. The term NWOAHM was reportedly coined in 2001 by Mark Hunter, vocalist of the American band Chimaira.
Related Genres: NWOBHM, Alternative Metal, Groove Metal, Industrial Metal, Nu Metal, Metalcore
Examples: Shadows Fall, Lamb of God, God Forbid, Darkest Hour, Killswitch Engage, Unearth, Chimaira, As I Lay Dying, Trivium, …And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead
Blackgaze (2005‑)
Blackgaze is one of the more recent Metal trends emerging since the start of the new millennium. Blackgaze seemingly represents another incongruous fusion between the harsh and aggressive sound of Norwegian Black Metal and the more introspective, atmospheric and melodic nature of British Shoegaze and Post‑Rock. Arguably, it might have resulted from Black Metal wanting to migrate from the exile of Extreme Metal into a more commercially acceptable mainstream. Alternatively, it has been suggested that it is a deliberate move to create something different by retaining the pagan and occult foundations of Black Metal while rejecting the offensive Neo‑Nazi leanings. Whether Blackgaze, as an engineered musical crossover, is a temporary niche fad or a serious attempt for discrete genre longevity has yet to be determined, although it has already been around for nearly two decades. Perhaps Blackgaze represents a quest to refresh and rejuvenate existing styles in a new and exciting way to attract a broader audience.
Related Genres: Black Metal, Shoegaze, Post‑Rock, Atmospheric Black Metal, Post Hardcore, Ambient Metal, Dark Ambient
Examples: Alcest, Møl, Agalloch, Deafheaven, Silvayne, Wolves in the Throne Room, Amesoeurs, Harakiri for the Sky, An Autumn for Crippled Children, Exclaim!
Djent (2008‑)
Djent (pronounced ‘jent’) is possibly the most recent primary sub‑genre of Metal at the time of writing, emerging from Sweden, the UK and America in the late 2000s. Djent is sometimes referred to as Math Metal, suggesting its roots lay in Mathcore and Metalcore. Djent is a style of Progressive Metal with syncopated rhythmic structures, angular melodies, and dissonant chords. The distinctive Djent guitar sound is often colloquially referred to as ‘chugga chugga’ and makes use of the same ‘buzzsaw’ BOSS HM‑2 Heavy Metal effect pedal so beloved by Death Metal bands. Typical traits of Djent include groovy polyrhythms (often 4/3 time signature), cycling patterns of varying length with more unusual and complex time signatures, a sporadic and relatively sparse use of snare drum, crash cymbals, and repetitive heavily distorted psychedelic‑style guitar riffs, to create a frenzied, chaotic atmosphere.
Related Genres: Progressive Metal, Alternative Metal, Death Metal, Math Rock, Mathcore, Metalcore
Examples: Meshuggah, Periphery, TesseracT, Animals as Leaders, Born of Osiris, Veil of Maya, After The Burial, Vildhjara, A Life Once Lost, Monuments
Final thoughts on Metal
Right, that’s it, in a pretty large nutshell. This has been a long article but it still only scratches the tip of the iceberg (regular readers will know that I like mixing metaphors!). It feels like I’ve done justice to what’s here while recognising that there is no way I could do justice to Metal as a whole. That would take an encyclopaedic tome and it is way beyond my area of expertise to accomplish.
Strangely for such a diverse and relatively youthful top‑tier genre, there hasn’t been much in the way of Metal genre innovation, development and evolution since c.2010. Most of the advancement has been around consolidating, reviving, rejuvenating, extending and expanding existing genres. That can’t be said for the bands or the music, only for the categories within which the bands and music ‘fit’. It will be interesting to see what direction(s) Metal might take for its next genetic mutation, whenever that may happen.
“The Force is strong with this one” – Darth Vader (from Star Wars IV: A New Hope, 1977)
A quick shout out to some independent Metal record labels that work hard outside the major studio system to bring Metal to consumers. Some of these labels include Nuclear Blast, Earache Records, Napalm Records, Noise Records, Sub Pop Records and Roadrunner Records, among many others. A large number of successful independent labels have routinely been swallowed up by the big corporate music businesses wanting to capture popular niches without having to build credibility and start from scratch.
Whether we like it or not, social diversity in Metal remains an issue. Inequality lies not necessarily with the audience or consumers but with the artists, which tend to remain stubbornly in the province of straight white males. Other than bands like Halestorm, Vixen, Burning Witches, Otep, Epica, Babymetal, Lovebites, Dark Sarah, Leaves’ Eyes, Lacuna Coil, Nightwish, Draconian and Evanescence, females are woefully underrepresented. Non‑white ethnicity of Metal artists also remain resolutely few and far between, bar bands like Living Colour, Sepultura, Alice in Chains, System of a Down, DragonForce and Skindred. Rob Halford, vocalist of Judas Priest became one of the first and most prominent openly gay Metal artist, helping to pave the way for greater openness regarding sexual orientation. There is, however, clearly still more to be done to level the playing field.
While writing this article, I was quite surprised at the number of artists listed that are part of my CD collection/iTunes library, with only a few omissions around the margins. There is also a surprisingly large number of Metal artists that I have on CD/iTunes that haven’t been mentioned here (e.g. Last House on the Left, 36 Crazyfists, The City Burns, Within the Ruins, Burning Skies, Iommi, Damageplan and Cave In). Writing the article has given me a very good reason to revisit many of the great Metal albums out there, as well as to check out new (to me) Metal artists. This venture has also spurred me onto new discoveries to add to my diverse, and sometimes guilty, listening pleasures.
Albums are one thing. Experiencing live music is another. There really is no substitute for seeing Metal played live, whether it’s in a local pub, a live music venue, a stadium arena, or a fully‑fledged open‑air festival. In the UK, annual Metal festivals include Download (which superseded the now‑defunct Monsters of Rock) and Bloodstock. In Germany, there is Wacken, while in France, there is Hellfest. Last but not least, there are Aftershock, Louder Than Life and Rockville in the US. These are just a few; there are numerous Metal Festivals in most countries around the globe if one is motivated to look for them. Keep Music Live.
Some of the most impressive and entertaining concerts the author has attended over the years have been Metal gigs, including German Industrial Metal band, Rammstein in 2022. Another great experience was seeing Black Sabbath’s penultimate gig of their ‘The End’ tour in 2017, concluding their long career (41 years after I first saw them play live). I also saw Metallica in 2009 and again headlining at Glastonbury Festival in 2014 (NB. the first Metal band to do so).
Rammstein Live 30-6-2022Black Sabbath Live – The End 31-1-2017Metallica Live – Glastonbury 28-6-14
Demonstrating that times have indeed changed, there is a growing acceptance of the global cultural importance of Metal. The Mongolian Heavy Metal band The HU (NB. Hu is the root of the word ‘human being’ in the Mongolian language) was named as a UNESCO Artist for Peace in 2022. The Hu’s music addresses the themes of gender equality, respect for difference and the importance of protecting nature.
A Metal gear plug
No, not the prongy thingy that you insert into a wall socket for electrical power. Rather a bit of shameless, flagrant self‑promotion. Why not take a browse around CRAVE (Cool & Rare American Vintage Electric) Guitars’ web site for some Metal‑minded matters?
Possibly my favourite vintage guitar is the Gibson Explorer, which is an ideal axe for heavier types of Rock, such as Metal. The Explorer’s ‘Dirty Fingers’ humbucking pickups featured on all CRAVE’s Explorers are absolutely superb. Explorers are great guitars to play and sound great. That’s probably why CRAVE Guitars has five of them, ranging from 1979 to 1983. The Gibson Flying V is another Metal favourite, although I find them unwieldy in comparison. Then there is the Gibson SG, complete with its own ‘devil horns’. Interestingly, while the Gibson Les Paul is commonly used for hard rock, it doesn’t seem to be as favoured by Metal guitarists.
1984 Gibson Explorer Designer Series ‘Union Jack’1984 Gibson Flying V Designer Series1968 Gibson SG Standard
Most Fender guitars aren’t really suited to Metal and don’t tend to appear often in the hands of Metal guitarists, bar a few notable exceptions such as Iron Maiden and John 5. Fender, however, did inspire the slinky ‘Super Strats’ favoured by a large number of shred Metal guitarists from the 1980s onward.
Guitar Brands such as Jackson, Charvel, Ibanez, ESP/LTD, EVH, Schecter, BC Rich, Dean and latterly PRS are more likely to be seen on TV and Metal stages in the 21st Century. PRS in particular were associated with Nu‑Metal guitarists in the 1990s. Many modern shred‑style guitars use the popular and specialised EMG active pickups and Floyd Rose vibrato systems.
Fender Precision bass guitars with their solid, percussive fundamentals are well suited to Metal, as are basses from the likes of Music Man, Ibanez, Warwick, Lakland, Schecter, Rickenbacker and ESP/LTD.
As far as CRAVE Effects goes, there are some interesting metal‑oriented stomp boxes including the aforementioned legendary 1980s BOSS HM‑2 Heavy Metal. There is an original 1960s Dallas‑Arbiter Fuzz Face (think, Hendrix) and vintage Tone Benders from Sola Sound and Colorsound, an early English Marshall The Guv’nor and a filthy ProCo Rat. Then, from Japan, there are also the OTT Ibanez SD9 Sonic Distortion and SM9 Super Metal effects to really push an amp’s front end as well as the obligatory Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer. Then there is my all‑time favourite, the Electro‑Harmonix Big Muff π fuzz pedal from 1977.
1985 BOSS HM-2 Heavy Metal
CRAVE Amps are generally clean American low gain affairs (but great as a platform for pedals). There are plenty of high gain amps out there ideally suited for creating Metal mayhem, including Marshall, Peavey, Orange, Mesa Engineering, Friedman, Diezel, EVH Gear, PRS, Engel, Hiwatt, Hughes & Kettner, Bogner, Randall, BOSS and Soldano.
CRAVE Guitars’ ‘Album of the Month’
For this article, there really can only be one logical choice. I mentioned at the top of this article that there was an identifiable moment that the Antichrist of Heavy Metal was born. While the Devil’s spawn may have been conceived earlier, there was nothing like it before and rock music changed forever after.
Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath (1970) – Wow! What an entrance from four ordinary lads from Birmingham, England; Ozzy Osbourne (vocals), Tony Iommi (guitar), Geezer Butler (bass) and Bill Ward (drummer). From the now‑iconic, gothic and clearly occult‑ish cover to the dark and ominous musical content, this was one of those milestone studio albums that literally changed the musical zeitgeist. It isn’t the polished, glossily produced, technically proficient album of much 21st Century Metal but back in 1970 it hit hard and, more importantly, it brims with raw passion and emotion. Who knows what would have happened had it not been for Black Sabbath’s savage seven tracks spanning a mere 38 minutes. If it was released today, it probably wouldn’t make much of an impression. However, the ground‑breaking debut has stood the test of time over the last 54 years and will likely continue to impress open‑minded metalheads for the next 54.
So shocking to the conservative majority was this album’s release that it was received with hysterical claims of sinister satanic worship, panic‑stricken proclamations of occult practices and dire warnings of the adverse effect on disillusioned uneducated youths looking for an alternative way to express their suppressed inner angst. Media histrionics added fuel to the frantic fire and headlines’ disproportionate doom mongering perversely helped to cement Black Sabbath’s dark and broody reputation. That is irony. One wonders what those same critics would have made of today’s Extreme Metal. Thankfully, most of us now know much better. I think we can all agree that the real world dangers of today are far, far scarier.
Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath (1970)
[Image: Black Sabbath ‑ Black Sabbath (1970)]
While many fans might cite, ‘Paranoid’ (also 1970) as being the archetypal Sabbath studio album, particularly given the band’s signature title track, it remains a sophomore release that builds on and reinforces their stunning debut. Together, the two albums made 1970 a pivotal year for Rock and vital for the emergence and enduring popularity of Heavy Metal.
“As long as there are kids who are pissed off and have no real way in venting out that anger, heavy metal will live on” – Ozzy Osbourne (Black Sabbath, 1948‑)
Tailpiece
That’s it for this Magnificent Metal Masterpiece (conceited gratuitous alliteration as usual). I trust that it has been an interesting excursion into the heavier and darker side of modern music. I hope that newcomers to Metal found something worth extra exploration (there is plenty of further reading on the hinterwebby thingummy) and I hope readers already familiar with Metal found something enjoyable hidden in the deep dark depths of the discourse.
As a guitarist, the author has dabbled with Metal on and off over the years, although my leanings were more towards Psychedelic/Space Rock/Stoner Rock/Metal. Unfortunately, my limited abilities, poor technical skill and a complete lack of playing speed mean that I never felt confident trying to master it.
Time for a worthy acknowledgement. My son is a long-time confirmed metalhead and I sought his input when writing this article. Many thanks to him for his valuable insights and suggestions. The outcome is much better for it.
A quick, unrelated postscript. Apologies to recent visitors to the CRAVE Guitars website. There is a technical issue with the site’s theme and it is causing problems with both downtime and poor presentation of images. Hopefully, things should be resolved soon. It annoys me as much as it does everyone else.
Next month, we’ll be looking at… erm… err… I have absolutely no idea. One thing is for sure, though, it will be different, again. Watch for this cavernous space to be suitably filled in due course.
Truth, peace, love, and guitar music be with you always. Until next time…
CRAVE Guitars’ ‘Quote of the Month’: “If only I could forget much of what I remember and remember some of what I forgot”
