The History Of Metal

TheProgtologist wrote: MikeEnRegalia wrote: To me there are the following stages in the history of Metal: - Thrash Metal: Metallica's ...And Justice For All and Megadeth's Rust In Peace set the roots in the late 80s for a new generation of Thrash Metal bands (Anthrax, Death Angel, ...).   I was a huge fan of Thrash as a teenager in the early 80's and I disagree with this Mike.Anthrax was one of the founding fathers of thrash along with Metallica,Megadeth,Slayer,Exodus and S.O.D.Metallica and Megadeth definitely did not pave the way for them.These bands paved the way for a new generation of thrash bands such as Testament,Nuclear Assualt,Overkill,Brutal Truth,Sacred Reich,Flotsam and Jetsom and the like.

You're right in that bands like Anthrax were founded in the early 80s along with Metallica and Megadeth. But in retrospect, Metallica and Megadeth were most successful both commercially and in their influence on other bands. They are mentioned more often by other artists. But I completely agree that Slayer kind of stands out as a pioneer of high speed Thrash Metal, which influenced a lot of bands in Death Metal or extreme Thrah Bands like Death.

Tony R wrote: Well the first Judas Priest album was in 1974 (Rocka Rolla) so is really the second wave with Early Rush,AC/DC,Budgie,Motorhead,Lizzy,Lynyrd Skynyrd,ZZ Top and UFO et al. Rush's influence on Progressive metal should not be under-estimated. NWOBHM:Maiden,Saxon,Def leppard,Tygers of pan tang,Diamond Head,Preying Mantis,Girlschool....... Not to mention where the likes of Cheap trick,Ted Nugent,Rainbow,Whitesnake, and Journey come in.

I forgot to mention: I cannot list every single band. Do you really think that Rocka Rolla was part of the NWOBHM?

Journey is a tough one ... don't know where they fit in. Whitesnake is Blues Rock, Ted Nugent also seems more like Rock to me. And even you forgot some bands, most of all Kiss.

Could you post bands that I forget and which aren't properly addressed by my categories, together with the genre that you would associate them with?

To me there are the following stages in the history of Metal:

- FWOHM: First Wave Of Heavy Metal, starts with Hendrix as a pioneer of the Heavy Metal guitar sound, first real Heavy Metal bands emerge in in the early 70s: Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Scorpions

- NWOBHM: New Wave Of British Heavy Metal: Bands like Iron Maiden, Motorhead, Judas Priest etc. start to modify the initial Heavy Metal sound in the late 70s

- American Metal: Van Halen emerges in 1978 and introduces a form of Party Metal, which is basically Rock & Blues with a Metal guitar sound and a new kind of guitar solos (later to be dubbed "shred").

- European Metal: Bands like the Scorpions (post-Roth), Accept etc. define a new, riff-oriented Metal sound in the late 70s

- Bay Area Metal / Early Thrash Metal: Metallica and Megadeth explore a new level of "Heavyness" in 83/84.

- Hair Metal: The Van Halen Party Metal leads to bands like Motley Crüe, Poison etc.

- Early Progressive Metal/ Power Metal: Bands like Fates Warning and Queensryche are influenced by Metallica etc., but use elements of 70s Progressive Rock to create more sophisticated, epic/symphonic songs, culminating in Queensryche's Operation: Mindcrime. That phase starts 85/86.

- Peak of the Party/American Metal: in the late 80s, bands like Guns 'n Roses, Aerosmith and Whitesnake have huge commercial success with their HArd Rock combined with ultra heavy guitars & solos.

- Shred: Guitar Virtuosos like Steve Vai, Joe Satriani and Eric Johnson adopt the highly distorted guitar sound and create highly sophisticated albums of interesting music, yet not really commercially sucessful.

- Thrash Metal: Metallica's ...And Justice For All and Megadeth's Rust In Peace set the roots in the late 80s for a new generation of Thrash Metal bands (Anthrax, Death Angel, ...).

- Progressive Metal: In the early 90s Dream Theater enter the stage and define Progressive Metal with the release of Images And Words. Throughout the 90s, that genre is expanded by other great bands like Pain Of Salvation, Shadow Gallery, Symphony X, Threshold, Opeth etc. that lead to a similar situation like Progressive Rock faced in the 70s: Many great bands are all associated with one label, yet their musical style is totally different.

- Death/Black/Math/Hardcore/Emocore/... subgenres emerge throughout the 90s, not unsimilar to the subgenres of Progressive Rock which emerged in the 70s (Krautrock, Zheul, ...).

- Power Metal: An interesting subgenre of Metal (also emerging throughout the 90s), which is often combined with elements of Progressive Metal. Bands like Blind Guardian, Avantasia and Rhapsody use classical elements to create Metal symphonies.

This is the metal world as I see it. If you find an error, please tell me ... I'm not an expert on the early stages of metal!