What makes heavy metal heavy?

[311splawndude]

Oh man, so many.

Another Piece of Meat
Sails of Chiron
The Zoo
Blackout
Dynamite

Forgot about 'Another Piece of Meat'

Well. Anyway, it was kind of a trick question but not to call you out specifically. Back to our earlier comments about this kind of thing being subjective. One man's heavy metal may not be another man's heavy metal. It is subjective art. I don't consider the Scorpions heavy metal. They are hard rock. And very hard rock for that matter, especially for the mid - late '70's. Just like I don't consider Van Halen to be heavy metal even though Atomic Punk and a few others are very close in my book. Quiet Riot would probably be another one that is on the fence right?

PS: I think Dark Lady is heavier Love me some Scorps

 

[romanianreaper]

Forgot about 'Another Piece of Meat'

Well. Anyway, it was kind of a trick question but not to call you out specifically. Back to our earlier comments about this kind of thing being subjective. One man's heavy metal may not be another man's heavy metal. It is subjective art. I don't consider the Scorpions heavy metal. They are hard rock. And very hard rock for that matter, especially for the mid - late '70's. Just like I don't consider Van Halen to be heavy metal even though Atomic Punk and a few others are very close in my book. Quiet Riot would probably be another one that is on the fence right?

PS: I think Dark Lady is heavier Love me some Scorps

You bastard....lol, jk. Definitely is subjective.

I think it is like this mix of ingredients. Look, sound, subject matter, guitar tone.

 

[acceptance]

Metal or proto-metal?

 

[311splawndude]

^ great example

 

[anomaly]

I just skipped around the vid due to lack of attention span and he seemed to be hitting on everything that people would submit for answers to that question.

For me it's the feel of it.

Pantera- "I'm Broken" = Heavy
Pantera- "Walk"= Not Heavy

Dream Theater- "Lie" = Heavy
Dream Theater- Anything After 2003 = Not heavy

Metallica- "Battery" = Heavy
Metallica- "Enter Sandman" = Not Heavy

Pink Floyd- "Empty Spaces" = Heavy
Killswitch Engage- "My Curse" = Not Heavy

I don't mean the groove as much as I do whatever emotion I'm getting from the song, I can't even really put it into words. It's the same shit that makes bands like Five Finger Death Punch not heavy at all to me. It doesn't matter how much shit you do to intentionally be "heavy", if it ain't fuckin' heavy it ain't heavy.

There's Zep albums that are 100x heavier than a shitload of modern metal, IMO. And I'm a huge fan of modern metal.

"Walk" is heavy. Everything Pantera has done post CFH is heavy IMO, well minus Planet Caravan and Suicide Note pt.1. They are the heaviest of the heavy bands IMO, them and Crowbar. Crowbar's "Odd Fellow's Rest" album is a insanely heavy album to me, so is "Sonic Excess In It's Purest Form".

 

[stephen sawall]

What's light metal ?
Stuff like Bon Jovi and Def Leopard ?

 

[RevDrucifer]

"Walk" is heavy. Everything Pantera has done post CFH is heavy IMO, well minus Planet Caravan and Suicide Note pt.1. They are the heaviest of the heavy bands IMO, them and Crowbar. Crowbar's "Odd Fellow's Rest" album is a insanely heavy album to me, so is "Sonic Excess In It's Purest Form".

“Walk”, always reminded me more of a punk song with groove due to the overall feel of it. I totally get the majority of elements that make up the song are based in metal, but the feel of the song has always had more of a punk/hardcore vibe to me than a metal one.

 

[Bloodrock]

Mass X gravity...

 

[anomaly]

“Walk”, always reminded me more of a punk song with groove due to the overall feel of it. I totally get the majority of elements that make up the song are based in metal, but the feel of the song has always had more of a punk/hardcore vibe to me than a metal one.

It's almost got this military marching vibe to it IMO. It's totally metal sounding to me, mostly because of the guitars.

 

[311splawndude]

What's light metal ?
Stuff like Bon Jovi and Def Leopard ?

Again, I (personally) don't get why they guys are classified as metal. Maybe early Def Lep but again - more hard rock. Bon Jovi - no way. A LOT of "80's" bands in this era had staccato riffing on guitars and maybe more complex drumming than standard 4/4 but that doesn't make it metal.

Good question though. What is light metal? Is there such a thing?

What about Dokken 'Tooth n Nail'? Although I consider Dokken hard rock, that is a pretty metal song.

It's almost got this military marching vibe to it IMO. It's totally metal sounding to me, mostly because of the guitars.

Agreed.

 

[romanianreaper]

Again, I (personally) don't get why they guys are classified as metal. Maybe early Def Lep but again - more hard rock. Bon Jovi - no way. A LOT of "80's" bands in this era had staccato riffing on guitars and maybe more complex drumming than standard 4/4 but that doesn't make it metal.

Good question though. What is light metal? Is there such a thing?

What about Dokken 'Tooth n Nail'? Although I consider Dokken hard rock, that is a pretty metal song.


Agreed.

Yeah, it is hard. I think that is why there is hair metal, death metal, etc. I think those lines helped categorize things a bit.

I mean let's be honest, people that listen to metal, whether hair metal, black metal, thrash, etc., are all outcasts a bit. Go to a metal show of any kind, and you will bond with the people there because they get it.

The rock/metal thing has me thinking so much now, lol. AC/DC never metal. Priest always metal, etc. But look at Poison. To me, they are not "a rock band". Their music is lighter, etc but they were on the strip with those other bands. I don't know though because Faster Pussycat is rock to me but why is Dokken metal?

I always tell people that the origins are in Sabbath and Zeppelin. Based on that, you follow a lineage to metal or hard rock.

 

[311splawndude]

Yeah, it is hard. I think that is why there is hair metal, death metal, etc. I think those lines helped categorize things a bit.

I mean let's be honest, people that listen to metal, whether hair metal, black metal, thrash, etc., are all outcasts a bit. Go to a metal show of any kind, and you will bond with the people there because they get it.

The rock/metal thing has me thinking so much now, lol. AC/DC never metal. Priest always metal, etc. But look at Poison. To me, they are not "a rock band". Their music is lighter, etc but they were on the strip with those other bands. I don't know though because Faster Pussycat is rock to me but why is Dokken metal?

I always tell people that the origins are in Sabbath and Zeppelin. Based on that, you follow a lineage to metal or hard rock.

Agreed. We are talking the same thing now. I don't consider AC/DC or Poison to be metal either, just like Def Leppard, and Dokken and Bon Jovi.

Sabbath is the father of metal. Zeppelin helped just like Iron Butterfly, but I don't consider either of them metal bands either.

Again, metal means different things to different people. There is a really good book out there, not in front of me now, that dives deep into all of the metal sub genres.

PS:
Wikipedia says Def Leppard associated themselves as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal and are classified in Wiki as:
Heavy metal/hard rock/glam metal/arena rock/power pop