Metal

[rod76]

Heavy Metal

 

How many of you listen to it

[tenthplanet]

Ok; there is got to be more than two of us.

 

Michael

[progfusion74]

Define Heavy Metal?!!! I still love Maiden and Black Sabbath, so I guess yes. Can appreciate early Metallica and some Megadeth, but gave away all my copies a few years ago.

 

prog

[rod76]

Anything LOUD in its own sense

 

the heavy stuff

[Botch.]

I'm a fan of KISS, Alice in Chains, and the mixing/production (especially vocals) on the Def Leppard recordings. I like AC/DC in small doses. What's funny is I couldn't stand the stuff when I was a teenager; I developed the taste later in life. Go figure.

[Rick K.]

I like it all except RAP. On any given day, I'll listen to various genres. My preference is Country, but how different is it from rock? Take a country song, remove the sappy lyrics, liven up the drum beat, increase the tempo, and voila a rock song!

 

Rick

[Dave Pierce]

Originally posted by HCMF:

Heavy Metal

 

How many of you listen to it

Add one more to the count.

 

I've been a fan since the very early 80s. Back then much of what we listened to and enjoyed was very underground, and it was sort of unthinkable that it could go mainstream. Seeing Metallica feature on the MTV Music Awards 10 years later was sort of strange for me. I still remember passing homemade tapes of those guys around, and seeing them at Ruthie's Inn in Berkeley when they were just another nobody Metal band. A damn good one, of course, but still.

 

One of the interesting things about metal is that the overall sound borrows less from other genre's than most rock music does. At least it seems that way to me. It's also not much of a keyboard players genre, but that's never stopped me from liking it. When I'm playing with people I don't know well, one of the ways I discover who has shared influences with me is to play the opening of Mr. Crowley. Whoever gives me a big grin is my people... Occasionally a guitarist will even answer me with the Randy solo. Love that.

 

I tend to listen to Metal in spurts that last a few weeks or months, and then put it down for a few months. When those spurts come, there's usually one or two new bands involved. I grew up on:

 

Sabbath

Ozzy

Priest

Iron Maiden

Motorhead

etc etc

 

Some of the *new* bands I've gotten into over the years include:

 

Metallica

Slayer

Deftones

Tool

and many more

 

Lately I've been listening to a local band, Lords of the Manor. Very strange combination of melodic, orchestral vibe, and that screaming death-metal vocal motif. Fun stuff. I got turned onto them because their keyboardist/backup vocalist is the stepdaughter of the bass player in Full Circle.

 

Good topic!

 

--Dave

[D_dup3]

I like the new "LITE Metal"---20% fewer decibels!

[mooghead]

I do listen to some...Iron Maiden, mainly, some ACDC...some Metallica, great stuff if you have the right mood!

[Steve LeBlanc]

I listen to a lot of Metal.

[Dave Pierce]

Funny, several people have mentioned AC/DC. I don't think of them as a metal band, but just straight-ahead hard rock. What's the difference? Hell, I don't know, but I know it when I hear it.

 

There are a few other groups often mentioned as "metal bands" that I think of as just rock 'n roll. No please, don't take this the wrong way, I absolutely LOVE some of these bands, they're just not metal:

 

Led Zeppelin

Pink Floyd

AC/DC

Skynyrd

Pat Benatar

 

There's more, but I can't think of any right now.

 

--Dave

[progfusion74]

Thats kinda why I asked what a "heavy metal" band is. Is Deep Purple a metal band? Rush?

 

prog

[Griffinator]

I'm a huge Prog Metal fan, myself - Iron Maiden (easily definable as the first true prog metal act), Dream Theater, Fates Warning, early Queensryche - garden variety metal pretty much didn't hold a lot of appeal for me - I can name specific albums I really dug - Pantera's Cowboys From Hell, Twisted Sister's Stay Hungry, Metallica's Master Of Puppets, Megadeth's Peace Sells...but Who's Buying? - the list goes on and on...

[coyote]

In their heyday Purple were considered one of the heaviest bands around. "Deep Purple In Rock" is considered by many critics to be one of the cornerstones of what eventually became heavy metal. Of course, this record came out on the heels of the first concerto scored specifically for a rock group & orchestra - a model later pursued by ELP, Yes, Procol Harum... and eventually 'borrowed' by Metallica. So were Purple metal? Were they prog? One hears their sound echoing down through such prog bands as Dream Theater. Whatever label you wanna hang on them, they were much more than Smoke On The Water might suggest.

 

Rush in their early days were influenced by LedZep, who of course were also considered heavy metal in the days before Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, and Metallica. They later went prog, and now seemingly feel free to assimilate any influence they want.

 

Originally posted by progfusion74:

Thats kinda why I asked what a "heavy metal" band is. Is Deep Purple a metal band? Rush?

prog

[Dave Pierce]

Originally posted by progfusion74:

Thats kinda why I asked what a "heavy metal" band is. Is Deep Purple a metal band? Rush?

 

prog

Deep Purple? Metal. Early metal, but metal.

 

Rush is a harder one. I would say that they are a prog rock band. Harder than most, but prog rock none the less. However, 2112 and Hemispheres were Metal albums.

 

There, is that ambiguous enough?

 

--Dave

[Dave Pierce]

As often happens, writing about those albums made me want to go listen to them. I don't seem to have a copy of 2112 handy, but I just listened to Hemispheres.

 

Man, I am full of shit. There is no way you can call that anything but progressive.

 

And what a great album! Neil Peart is just amazing, isn't he? The drums don't lay down a rhythm or create a pocket on that stuff, they are an *instrument*. Ah, nostalgia...

 

--Dave

[Gulliver]

If, for instance, what Devin Townsend plays is heavy metal - then I'm a fan of the genre. If heavy metal is what Kid Rock does... then I'm not. So "anything loud" is a bit of inadequate formula to me.

[R.S.M]

metal rules

[coyote]

heh heh, heh heh

I need cappucino!

 

Originally posted by rocksynthman:

metal rules

[flyscots]

Once again music is being squeezed into a tiny little name. Depending on who is asking this question - yes I do like some metal, but what are you using to categorize music as 'metal'

 

Heavy, distorted guitars??? To add to all the previous posts with the same question: How about British bands Spiritualized and Mogwai - heavy distorted guitars there but no metal.

 

For Keyboards in modern day 'metal' check out German band Rammstein. OK they sing in a foreign language, but who cares, they sound great.

 

John Scotsman

[rod76]

well said pal

 

i myself do dont even listen to basic Metal to ask that question

 

Add N to X were pretty heavy too but i dont define them as metal

[rod76]

Flyscots: But I am a HardCore fan of DISAFFECT

 

Scotlands finest crustcore band ever

[marino]

Just a side consideration... Sorry for the OT

 

Originally posted by flyscots:

For Keyboards in modern day 'metal' check out German band Rammstein. OK they sing in a foreign language, but who cares, they sound great.

 

John Scotsman

I wonder what English-speaking people would feel if 70% of the music on their radios were in a foreign language! This is exactly what it's like in the rest of the world...

[flyscots]

Marino:

 

Personally I wouldnt have much of a problem with it as the lyrics are usually the last things I listen to. Also, to me the vocals are another instrument (jumping back to the topic) This is especially the case in some of the hardcore/crustcore/grindcore/whatever-core metal tracks where many of the lyrics are indecipherable anyway.

 

Now as for the general public type music listeners - they would hate it. Everyone wants to sing along with the lyrics and seeing as the majority of English speakers dont speak more than their own language (some even struggle with just the one) they wouldnt be able to persistently annoy everyone with their karaoke style whinings all day every day!

 

I like Rammsteain attitude to singing in their native tongue. When asked by an American journalist why they dont sing in English when they're targetting an American audience, the simple reply was "American bands dont come to Germany and sing in our language, why should we sing in yours"

 

John Scotsman

[Bobro]

Originally posted by marino:

Just a side consideration... Sorry for the OT

 

Originally posted by flyscots:

For Keyboards in modern day 'metal' check out German band Rammstein. OK they sing in a foreign language, but who cares, they sound great.

 

John Scotsman

I wonder what English-speaking people would feel if 70% of the music on their radios were in a foreign language! This is exactly what it's like in the rest of the world...

And whose fault is that?

 

The ecstatic worship of a McDonald's/Coca-Cola version of America I find here in Europe blows my mind. The whole concept is utterly foreign to me- growing up in California, when you said "I'm a musician" you got all kinds of questions about your art, but here in Europe I've never once, except among older Yugos, experienced an initial response different from "how much money do you make?"

 

It's bizarre.

 

-Bobro

[marino]

Originally posted by Bobro:

Originally posted by marino:

Just a side consideration... Sorry for the OT

 

Originally posted by flyscots:

For Keyboards in modern day 'metal' check out German band Rammstein. OK they sing in a foreign language, but who cares, they sound great.

 

John Scotsman

I wonder what English-speaking people would feel if 70% of the music on their radios were in a foreign language! This is exactly what it's like in the rest of the world...

And whose fault is that?

 

The ecstatic worship of a McDonald's/Coca-Cola version of America I find here in Europe blows my mind. The whole concept is utterly foreign to me- growing up in California, when you said "I'm a musician" you got all kinds of questions about your art, but here in Europe I've never once, except among older Yugos, experienced an initial response different from "how much money do you make?"

 

It's bizarre.

 

-Bobro

Cameron: As an European who visited the USA several times (N.Y. and California, mainly) both to play music and just to go places, I have to say that my experience is a bit different, if rather limited... I understand your point about the enthusiasm and curiosity of Americans versus the (relative) cynism and staticity of Europeans; what I don't see is the connection with what has been said before. My comment was a rather light, tongue-in-cheek consideration, and I was certainly not trying to attribute "fault" to anyone for this situation - that's just like it is. We were raised to continuosly celebrate ("worship" is maybe too strong a word) a culture that's different from ours, without much choice.

Very early, we learn, in a rather distant and simplified way, to understand and sing a different language, a different musical rhythm... Of course it's the pop culture, controlled by the big labels and corporations, that promotes all this: I'm sure many Europeans are very aware that there's much more to America than this. But this is what we have, our first "imprinting" about American culture.

That's a rather unbalanced way to grow (in a rather unbalanced world ) - I believe a lot of our American friends could sympathize with that, even if they're not dirctly involved.

 

Very late... gotta get some sleep.

 

Carlo

[flyscots]

Marino - I've been lucky enough to experience life in the States first hand for the last 5 months and I can truly follow what you're saying. Most people will comment on topics they dont really know about, but then again who really does get a chance to live for any length of time in totally different countries with different ways of life - not many people.

 

Bobro - the questions you mentioned come up everywhere. Of course you are going to be asked more about your money when you are in a poorer country, especially when you are from another country. People assume that you must be succesful to be away from your home. I get similar questions over here, even in New York.

 

As for people asking questions about your art - it depends on who you are talking to. Generally if you are talking to another musically or artistically creative person they will ask interesting questions. When talking to a non-artistic person the questions are inevitably going to be different. It really depends on your company. I dont know Vienna first hand but I assume there are more musically creative people in California than there are in Austria. (sorry to any Austrians reading this)

 

Just the thoughts of an adventurous young Scotsman named John

[Bobro]

Carlo and John, I think it's more of a generation thing. Maybe just to old to hang in discos comparing mobile telephones. The American Northeast is much more foreign to an old-school Californian like me than Slovenia (where I have my studio and all my friends and family are), Croatia, and Italy are. I'm just prickly about "Coca-Cola culture" wherever I see it because I remember what happened to California in the '80s.

 

Anyway, heavy metal!

 

The classics of Metal/Hard Rock, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Thin Lizzy, etc. are great. Iron Maiden is cool because it's really well done and utterly shameless: "in the time, when dinosaurs walked the earth, and the land was swamp and caves were home..."

 

My 3 year old nephew is a big Rammstein fan; since he was 2 he's had very defined musical tastes. He likes Wagner the best, some Verdi and some Led Zeppelin- basically, if it isn't heavy, he says "turn it off!".

 

Heavy is beautiful. Bombastic is cool, it means you aren't ashamed of being alive. I think all metalers should go out of their way to go hear Wagner live.

 

Lite Metal/Shredder turns me off, but there are three guitarists, "Italian Americans" oddly enough, who are really very good- Satriani, Vai, and some other guy who played in a pitiful band but did some very tasteful and musical work, known for his "sweep-picking". Vito something.

 

My sister-in-law is into the Nordic metal movement, so I've heard quite a bit of that. Leaking from her headphones in the next room is the ideal volume- loud and clear. Pretty good stuff if you ask me.

 

You know something that I really like about real heavy metal? Cool people. When I hang with metalers I can go off about say the qualities of different rosewoods, or medieval beer recipes, or vintage aircraft, and have a great conversation.

 

-Bobro

[Analogaddict]

What's funny is I couldn't stand the stuff when I was a teenager; I developed the taste later in life. Go figure.

Me too! Hendrix opened the door for me, and then Purple, AC/DC and loads of other bands came running in. Something that I find interesting is how happy many of these guys seem; take a band like Slayer - really heavy stuff that would scare the living %"#¤& out of most people brought up on bubble gum pop - and when they do interviews, they´re the happiest guys around. Kinda makes Britney ("I love rock´n´roll"??? LOL!) seem like the troubled teen, eh?

 

I hope these boys aren´t neglecting their studies.

 

/J nas