Heavy metal
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music, the seminal genre of heavy metal music. Usually «heavy metal» is used for classic metal that was created in the 1970s by Black Sabbath and Judas Priest.
Birth: 1968 Bloom: 1974
There are a lot of versions about the origin of the term «heavy metal». Some people think that this term emerged in hippie or beatniks communities in the early 70s.
An American novelist William S. Burroughs used the expression «heavy metal» in his novel «Nova Express» describing aliens. The expression «heavy metal thunder» was used in the song «Born to Be Wild» by Steppenwolf that was released in 1968. The euphemism «heavy metal» also was used by artillerymen and meant a loud cannonade, maybe originally the expression «heavy metal» related to hard music as an epithet for the volume and rhythm.
It`s known that «heavy metal» was firstly related to music due to the Sir Lord`s album Kingdom Come by a critic Mike Sanders, later the term was popularized by a critic Lester Bangs due to his articles devoted to Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. Initially, critics didn`t make any distinction between hard rock and heavy metal, which now are considered absolutely different genres.
Heavy metal finally had developed by the late 70s with the new wave of British heavy metal. Contemporary heavy metal is characterized by an average or fast tempo, aggressiveness, long guitar solos, quite high pitched vocals. Lyrics address a wide variety of other themes like wars, Apocalypse, social and philosophic problems, and even love. Heavy metal concerts are usually bright with pyrotechnic effects.
Umbrellate style: Rock
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