Heavy Metal Rock Is Still Alive And Well

Even if heavy metal is seen by many people as evil and destructive it is still very popular among young and old. It is pretty obvious that the thing teenagers today (and yesterday and tomorrow) are crazy about is music. Of all the musical genres the one with probably the most enthusiastic fans has to be heavy metal and all the hundreds of sub-categories, whether it is classic hard rock or grindcore.

Discordant heavy metal music struck a chord with many teenagers during the late '70s and '80s. The loud, fast, guitar-driven music has since languished commercially as successive generations have chosen newer soundtracks to fuel their rebellion against the establishment. Many of the original fans, however, never moved on, even as they aged, started careers, got married and had children of their own.

"If you're seeing a 40-year-old at a concert, you're quite sure at 18 you know what kind of music he was into. For so many people the music of the most emotional point of their lives is a touchstone that they return to for the rest of their lives, there keeping their own youth alive.

Heavy metal fans wear their passion on more than just the sleeves of skull T-shirts and black leather jackets. For many of them, the music--louder and faster than anything heard before--became a way of life. The mostly white, mostly male and mostly middle-class listeners found a feeling of power over their parents, over their teachers, over the jocks at school that treated them as outcasts.

Metalheads, or headbangers, as they called themselves, built up a community linked through underground tape swapping networks and conversations about Metallica lyrics while camping out on line for concert tickets.

A second wave of British and American rock bands became popular during the late 1960s to the 1970s, with groups that were more steeped in American blues music than their more pop-oriented predecessors. Bands such as Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Alice Cooper, Judas Priest, Status Quo, Aerosmith, Queen, Black Sabbath, and Uriah Heep played highly amplified, guitar-driven hard rock that would come to be known as heavy metal. Heavy metal languished into obscurity in the late 1970s. A few bands including Kiss, Queen, Black Sabbath,AC/DC, Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith maintained large followings and there were occasional mainstream hits such as Blue Öyster Cult's "(Don't Fear) the Reaper". Music critics overwhelmingly disliked the genre. This began to change in 1978 following the release of Van Halen's eponymous, self-titled debut album. The album helped to usher in an era of high-energy rock and roll, based out of Los Angeles, California.

One genre that was widely popular in the 1980s (c.1983) was glam metal. Taking influence from various artists such as Aerosmith, Guns N' Roses, Bon Jovi, Queen, Kiss, Alice Cooper, Twisted Sister, (all but Queen would eventually play glam metal at some point in the 80s), Sweet and the New York Dolls. The earliest glam metal bands to gain notability included: Mötley Crüe, W.A.S.P. and Ratt. They became known for their debauched lifestyles, teased hair and use of make-up and clothing. Their songs were bombastic and often defiantly macho, with lyrics focused on sex, drinking, drugs, and the occult.

By the mid 1980s, a formula developed in which a glam metal band had two hits -- one a "power ballad" (slow-dance tempo, with soft verses and bombastic anthemic choruses), and the other a hard-rocking anthem. In 1987 a second wave of glam metal acts, sometimes referred to as sleaze rock, emerged including L.A. Guns and Faster Pussycat.

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The Beginning of Thrash Metal

Thrash metal is another genre of the metal music community. Metal with fast drum beats, guitar riffs and aggressive vocals is known as thrash metal. Having fast guitars, lots of distortion and loud singing is included in this genre. This genre was created by 4 different bands know as "The Big Four." The four bands that fit into this group are Anthrax, Megadeth, Metallica and Slayer. All of these bands are spin offs of British heavy metal which began the revolution of the genre thrash metal.

In the late 70's and early 80's there was series of popularity of British heavy metal music. Giving a hardcore metal or punk rock a more extreme vocal and a faster beat gives you the foundation of thrash metal music. This music introduced more distortion and bass, complex riffs and solos and more double kick bass drum and loud vocals.

Most songs played long introductions, high speed complex solos and long endings. The technique of high speed solos was called shredding. Shredding is a way to play notes quickly during your solos. Using techniques like hammer-ons and pull-offs. For the metal community and having these new styles being played was a great movement for the typical styles.

It broke wide open in 1984 when Metallica, Anthrax, Overkill and Slayer all released top selling albums. All of these different bands brought something new to trash metal, usually competing in making the heaviest and fastest music. This began a new world in the metal community and opened the doors as a recognizable metal genre.

Through a couple of decades and into the 90's there was a small change in the music and in the bands. With bands changing their style of music and new age bands coming in, there was a change in thrash metal. Band slowing down and changing their styles brought Metallica's release of "Load" and "Reload." These two albums were more of a hard rock than a thrash metal. Not only did Metallica take a different route with their music, so did Megadeth. Megadeth's album "Countdown to Extinction" was a different style than their earlier releases.

To the year 2000 thrash metal isn't as popular as it was in the early 80's. There are still bands that make their mark in metal, Municipal Waste, Gama Bomb and Evile are to name a few. With a few handfuls of bands, "The Big Four" still lead the way for sales and tours for the thrash metal community. With popularity falling, it still isn't going anywhere anytime soon with "The Big Four" still rocking.

If your looking for more information about Metal Music Bands visit Metal Call-Out. Or come post on our Ultimate Metal Forum.

John Bonham - The World's First Heavy Metal Drummer

John Bonham was one of the world's most influential drummers, especially in the genre of hard rock and heavy metal. He was born in England in 1948, and from an early age he began banging on pots and pans, boxes, anything with a flat surface that would let him imitate the jazz and big band drummers who inspired him. He spent his teenage years working construction with his father and searching for bands to play with. This was how he ran into Robert Plant for the first time, and although the two only performed together in the same group for a brief time, they kept in touch throughout the years.

Bonham got his big break at the age of 20, when that same Robert Plant called him up to ask him if he was interested in joining a band that noted guitarist Jimmy Page was putting together. Bonham, or 'Bonzo' to his friends answered in the affirmative and history was made. With the addition of John Paul Jones, the lineup for Led Zeppelin was set.

Many musicologists and modern drummers agree that John Bonham was an absolute master of his instrument. He hit the drum skins very hard, and used extremely thick drum sticks. These sticks could be used to batter out the most brutal rhythm, or become incredibly agile to tap out a gentle sound no louder than that of the falling rain. He was famous for creating a groove where the drum sound seemed to occur just behind the beat, instead of hitting it exactly in the middle as was the tradition for rock drummers in his day. This playing style match very well the both Jones and Page, and Bonham was able to incorporate many complex drum patterns and fills into songs that most drummers wouldn't even attempt during a solo.

As was the case with so many rock stars in the 1970's, John Bonham was plagued by the demons of substance abuse, particularly alcohol. A great fan of automobiles, he also had rotten luck with them due to his drinking, and his hard partying had gotten completely out of control. On a typical morning for him in September of 1980, Bonham began his day with an extremely large amount of alcohol before being driven to and from tour rehearsals. He was left at home to 'sleep it off', and when Jones and the band's tour manager found him the next morning, he had choked to death in his sleep, a victim of the day's excessive drinking.

Bonham's tombstone to this day covered with respectfully stacked drum sticks left by those who have come to pay their respect. He is survived by a son and daughter, and his son Jason has become an excellent drummer in his own right.

Classic-Rock-Music.com is the mystical rehearsal studio for rockers DEMON TWEAK. Listen as they prepare for battle with the evil trickster Loki by playing home brewed classic rock direct from Ragnarok. Also read articles on your favorite classic rock band written by resident historian VIRGIL THE STORYTELLER.

Electronic Innovation Meets the Raw Power of Heavy Metal - Industrial Metal Music

Industrial metal blends a range of influences from heavy metal to electro-industrial and noise music, while typically remaining within standard rock conventions and song structures. Since its beginnings, the genre has been controversial among both fans of other industrial genres and metal fans alike; those who favor other styles of industrial music have denounced it as a "watered-down version of 'true' industrial music," and many fans of other metal genres object to the widespread use of synthesizers and electronic instruments. Despite this controversy, the industrial metal scene has spawned numerous platinum-selling artists and bands with millions of albums being sold worldwide and influenced artists from across the entire musical spectrum.

Musically, industrial metal combines heavy metal guitar riffs with synthesizer leads and production techniques commonly used for other genres of industrial music. Consequently, the music equipment used by industrial metal bands typically includes both hardware and software synthesizers in addition to electric guitars and guitar effects processors. Drums are often acoustic, electronic or a mixture of both. Somewhat uncommon in industrial music, it is usually performed live with a full band, following the standard "rock band lineup," including a lead singer, guitarist, bassist, drummer and keyboardist.

Combining guitar melodies with industrial elements was a big departure from the anti-rock sentiments of most early industrial acts of the 1980s. Bands who embraced this approach included Nine Inch Nails, Fear Factory, Ministry and KMFDM. This more accessible sound soon found a large following in North America among fans of other guitar-oriented music.

Though industrial metal enjoyed a degree of mainstream success throughout the late 1990s, this would eventual fade by the turn of the century. A number of the genre's leading bands broke up or were dropped by major labels around this time. Today it has a considerably smaller audience, based mostly in the United States and Europe. Nonetheless, bands such as Nine Inch Nails remain popular today and continue to play sold-out shows around the world.

Taylor is a contributor at Alternative-Electronics.com, the most comprehensive resource online for the music equipment used in alternative electronic music. Read more about industrial metal bands.

What is Heavy Metal Music?

Classic heavy metal music is described as having a thick, massive sound that includes extended guitar solos, complex beats, amplified distortion and an overall loudness. The main instruments in most groups are the electric guitar, bass guitar, drums, vocals and sometimes, keyboards. While most groups focus on a vocalist as their front man, heavy metal music, more often than not, uses the lead guitarist as the focus.

The guitarist in heavy metal music is key. They perform extended riffs and usually lead the group. While some guitarists use main power chords in their songs, most have studied classical music and have amazing abilities. Some of the techniques used are alternate picking, string skipping, tapping, legato, sweep picking and economy picking.

Heavy metal music developed in the late 1960's with groups such as Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. From the origins of this new style of music emerged a huge sub-genre of music. The lyrics tend to focus on dark or depressing subjects, including death, war, paranoia and personal trauma. Some extreme forms often focus on aggressive or gory lyrics, while others focus on more philosophical themes. A common theme in most metal is the idea of doing what you want, despite what the world says.

Genres of heavy metal music are as vast as the ideologies of each artist. The most popular styles include alternative metal, drone metal, funk metal, classic metal, grindcore, industrial metal, metalcore, neo-classical metal, nu metal, gothic, speed, post metal, rap metal, sludge metal and doom and death metal. Each sub-genre brings in elements of other styles of music such as blues, rap, rock, alternative, folk, punk, hip hop and classical.

Visual appearance has always been a strong factor in heavy metal music. Some groups, such as Kiss and Alice Cooper, have become known for their outlandish costumes and huge stage performances.

The classic dress of today's metalhead consists of long hair, past the shoulders, black t-shirt with a favored metal band logo, jeans, black boots and black leather jackets. According to journalist Nader Rahman, long hair gave the members of the metal community "the power they needed to rebel against nothing in general".

Heavy metal music is extremely masculine and, therefore, there is not the usual dancing at concerts. Most of the audience will engage in headbanging or just make arm gestures. Other displays may include "moshing", stage diving or crowd surfing.

Heavy metal fans have their own code of authenticity. The code demands that performers be authentic, devoted to the sub-culture and the music and they must never sell out. Some performers have been shut out of mainstream metal because they lacked the authenticity the crowd was looking for.

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Metal Guitar Lessons - Learning the Guitar With Heavy Metal Music

Although heavy metal is distinctive as a genre of music, it's also known for having numerous sub-genres (and in some cases, sub-sub-genres!). In particular, many of these sub-genres play out their differences in the guitar parts.

As you progress in your guitar lessons, it can be fun to explore the varying elements in these styles. Below we'll go over a few of the most well-known kinds of metal.

Classic Metal - Originally, this was the only kind of metal! Bands like Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, and Judas Priest really helped to define metal as its own kind of music. Although influenced by blues and psychedelic rock, early heavy metal was defined by distorted guitar sounds, gruff, heavy vocals, and complex dual guitar work. It's a great genre to explore as a student of the guitar, as it provides numerous classic and popular songs to explore.

Thrash - The key element of thrash metal is SPEED! Thrash music is known for being incredibly fast paced, and therefore might not be the best choice for beginner musicians. Look for bands like Metallica, Megadeth and Testament for great thrash songs.

Power Metal - Although it grew out of early heavy metal, power metal now has its own distinctive sound. Many elements are separate from the guitar, including high pitched vocals, double bass drumming, and fantasy lyrics. However, there's still plenty to offer for the guitar. Chord changes are somewhat less frequent compared to other styles of metal, although complexity is far from lacking in this genre due to fast guitar solos. Power metal is a great place to look for long, exciting guitar solos that are at times missing from other kinds of music.

Extreme Metal - Somewhat of a catch-all of term for non-traditional styles like death metal, black metal, and doom metal. Every element of metal sees exaggeration in these kinds of music. It might be the slow, dirge-like sound in doom metal, or the highly distorted melodies in death metal. Although not for everyone, excellent musicianship can be found in this kind of music.

There are many more styles of metal music to be found! As you progress in your guitar lessons, a great way to add some variation to practicing chords and scales is studying and learning popular metal songs.

Constantine Walker is a life-long metal fan and musician. He wants to make learning to play music as fun as possible!

Metal Guitar Lessons

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What is Progressive Metal?

Progressive metal emerged as sub-genre of progressive rock which have instrumental playing like progressive rock with heavy metal twist with powerful guitar driven sound. It is a very technical genre of music. Most of the guitar players, drummers, pianist and other instrument players listen to them because progressive metal songs improve technicality and dexterity of instrument playing. Covering progressive songs increase the knowledge about music. Like progressive rock songs, prog metal songs are usually much longer than standard metal songs, and they are often thematically linked in concept albums. As a result, prog metal is rarely heard on mainstream radio and video programs.

Prog metal got introduced in 1980s when bands which were influenced by 60s and 70s progressive rock bands such as Rush, Yes, Pink, Atomic rooster, Focus, Queen etc took elements of these progressive rock groups primarily the instrumentation and compositional structure of songs and merged them with heavy metal styles associated with early Metallica, Megadeth and Iron Maiden. Bands such as Fates Warning, Queensryche and Dream Theater were first to define this genre of music. The three flagship bands for prog metal of the time each had somewhat different sounds. Queensryche had by far the most melodic sound of the three and was ultimately the most commercially successful. Dream Theater have more traditional progressive sound and also built much of their earlier career on the band members' instrumental skills. Fates Warning were the most aggressive and heavy with the thrash and extreme metal sound of that time.

Now the band such as Pain of Salvation, Tool, Opeth, Threshold, Symphony X and the project Ayreon are also in progressive metal genre with their own signature sounds. It was started as progressive rock sub genre but now it is a completely different ball game. Now prog metal can be broken down into countless sub-genres corresponding to certain other styles of music that have influenced prog metal groups. For example, two bands that are commonly identified as progressive metal, King's X and Opeth, are at opposite ends of the sonic spectrum to one another. King's X are greatly influenced by softer mainstream rock and in fact, contributed to the growth of grunge, influencing bands like Pearl Jam. Opeth's growling vocals and heavy guitars often see them cited as progressive death metal.

Most of the time people are misinformed that progressive metal and avant-garde metal are same. Yes they both favor experimentation and non-standard ideas, but there are rather large differences between the two genres.Prog metal experiments with complex rhythm and song structure with traditional instruments. While avant-garde metal experiments with the use of unusual sounds and instruments. Progressive metal gives more emphasis technicality and theoretical complexity like in jazz. Where avant-garde metal is more unorthodox and tends to question musical conventions.

Progressive metal is great music to listen. So try it out.

To find out more about progressive metal bands and to watch and listen to their songs CLICK HERE.

Sub Genres Within Doom Metal

With this genre there are also some sub genres to understand. Some of these variations and styles come from inspiration of doom metal and other genres. The follow are a handful of the more popular sub genres of doom metal.

Traditional

The beginning of doom metal. All started in the 1990's, this is where all of the inspiration started. This metal music has heavy distortion and a slower tempo with heavy distortion. You can find plenty of clean vocals, some high pitched screaming.

Traditional bands include Ogre, Reverend Bizarre and Witchcraft.

Epic Metal

Epic and Traditional Metal is very similar in style. With the music being equivalent the style of vocals is what sets it apart. Bands usually utilize a cleaner vocal style. Consider these band for more information: Candlemass, Solstice, Solitude Aeturnus and Doomsword.

Stoner Metal

Psychedelic Metal is also another term for this sub genre. Why you might ask, because it has psychedelic variations to the music. Watch for lots of effects with synthesizers and guitar pedals when listening to this style of music. The guitar effects could be flanger, phaser and fuzz. There have been plenty of Stoner metal bands which use various effects.

For a few samples of Stoner metal bands consider Acid King, Electric Wizard, Sleep, Sons of Otis and KyussSons of Otis, Sleep, Kyuss, Electric Wizard and Acid King are some of the most popular stoner metal bands.

Sludge Metal

This style incorporates metal and hardcore punk with a little bit of Southern rock. Bands within this genre incorporate a fast tempo. Sludge metal has more double bass drum beats plus more of a raw distortion sound guitar. Most bands could have lyrics that include society, politics and drugs. Take a look at Crowbar, Acid Bath, Grief and Eyehategod.

Death

Putting together slow tempos plus some really heavy distortion gives you more of a death metal feel. The vocal style is the largest alternation in this sub genre. Growling and snarls are the most typical ones. With more double bass drumming than typical doom metal. Most bands that belong to this category were influenced by Hellhammer and Celtic Frost.

For further death bands check out My Dying Bride, Paradise Lost, Asphyx, Winter and Autopsy.

Black Metal

Black Doom metal is typical Doom metal with all the features and elements of Black metal. Whenever you mix with Black metal you bring that raw state of distortion together with you. Full of dirty distortion and a slow pace is common in Black metal.

Nortt, Ajattara, Dolorian and Gallhammer are probably the most popular bands in Black Doom metal.

Doom Metal Continues

Doom metal as you can tell can be separated into other categories, even more than this. It has been popular sense the 90s and it is alive today. There isn't a ton of new bands that fall into this genre, nevertheless it does keep growing.

If your looking for more information about Heavy Metal Bands or Metal News, check out Metal Call-Out.

Metal Guitar Lesson Resources

Ok, so you want to throw away your cardboard guitar and thrash out some real Heavy Metal music. Right, you're going to need an electric guitar, a big powerful amplifier, and above all, Metal Guitar Lessons!

Lessons? Yes, lessons. Because it might look like Dave Murray just hammers his guitar, but there's 30 years of experience gone into making the Iron Maiden sound. If you want to play like Metallica or Judas Priest, you have a lot to learn.

Metal Guitar has bred it's own techniques and styles, you don't need to learn how to quietly strum chords, but you do need to know how to do hammer-ons and pull-offs, and do it with the hard fast beat that Metal music demands. Metal Guitar Lessons place the emphasis from the outset on the special techniques that are fundamental to Heavy Metal music. Some Metal riffs can seem impossible to play, unless you know all the little tricks that Metal guitarists have invented over the years.

Metal guitar uses a lot of special fingering techniques, using both the right and left hands. Not only do you need to learn to play them, if you want to learn all the famous tracks then you'll need to learn how to read and write them as well. Traditional music scores are pretty useless for explaining how a heavy metal guitar note is to be played, guitarists have developed their own system of notation for Rock Guitar called TAB. This type of notation shows the way to play the note as well as which note. Unlike traditional music scores it doesn't include timing, being a modern system it assumes the player can listen to a recorded track to understand the speed.

TAB notation is easier to read than other music notations. Invented just for the guitar, it shows the 6 strings and the fret numbers, learning from the outset using TAB notation is quicker than traditional techniques.

Metal guitarists hammer out power chords like machine guns, they're not superhuman, there's a trick. The classic Metal sound relies heavily on sets of chords that can be easily played in quick succession, sometimes relying on unusual fingering for fast changes from one chord to another. To get the chords out faster they dampen the strings with the palms of their hand. It's no good learning traditional guitar playing techniques, to pump Heavy Metal you need Metal Guitar Lessons.

Metal Guitar is hard on the hands, playing the guitar always requires agile fingers, Metal Guitar needs sheer brute force as well. It's very useful to have exercises designed to work out your fingers and build strength and resistance in the right places.

In any sort of music the instrument is important, but with Metal guitar the effects pedals and the amplifiers play a big part in making the heavy metal sound. Metal Guitar lessons will teach you all about the different types of equipment guitarists use, it's essential if you want to create the same unique styles of the big Metal bands. Using the right guitar is important, but you need to know when to use which pickup, how to use your tremolo bar properly, and how to use the gain control to regulate the sustain and overdrive.

Metal bands might be noted for the big guitar solos, but it's the drummer who calls the shots on the speed. There's no conductor in a metal band, you have to learn to listen to the other instruments and play in time with them. It's not some magical harmony, Heavy Metal bands have developed their skills to allow them to thrash out their music at high speed all in time with each other. Metal Guitar lesson put a lot of emphasis on band playing, you'll also need specially recorded jamming sessions that allow you to practice playing along with other instruments, adapting your speed to theirs.

Playing Heavy Metal guitar is a 100 times more satisfying than playing an air guitar, but a 1000 times more difficult! It's no good just learning how to play an ordinary guitar and then try to play it harder and faster, Heavy Metal has it's own special techniques and if heavy metal is what you want to play, then you're best off starting with Metal Guitar lessons from the outset.

For information on where you can find the best online metal guitar lesson resources you need to take a look at http://www.online-guitar.org.

The Eras of Metal Guitar

Music has seen a very detailed progression since the birth of metal and hard-rock in the late 1960s. It would be impossible to fit it all into an article, but I'm going to go over the basic progression of how metal guitar found its way into the current state that we know it. It started out with Hendrix and Steppenwolf, also Black Sabbath and began to work its way up to the sounds of bands like Zeppelin and AC/DC, then pushed out gradually into how we know it now. In this article I'm going to talk analytically about the differences in sounds that occurred throughout these times.

The 60s contained the birth of distorted guitar with Hendrix, that quickly began to catch on with other musicians like Clapton and so you begin to see more experimentation that continued to progress to what we have today. Without those originals we would not have had bands like Megadeth, Metallica and Avenged Sevenfold.

The 70s were an important time for the generation of metal guitar, because this is when bands like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest first began to rear their heads and play a sound that was heavier and darker sounding than their previous counterparts. Their songs and playing were faster, a bit more complex, and just more sinister.

Over the following decades we began to see bands emerge from the underground local scenes such as Metallica from the thrash metal scene, also in the early 1980s there were the first Black Metal groups like Mayhem. The 80s were when technical skills became the main emphasis, because this was following the rise of a band called Van Halen who popularized two-handed tapping. Guitarists were focusing more on techniques like tapping and arpeggios, sweeps and even classical implementation.

This set the stage going into the 1990s for a new sound and a new generation of metal guitar, technical skills were still relevant but grunge had also emerged and in those circles it was less emphasized. For the thrash metal scene guitar players like Marty Friedman and Dave Mustaine became well-known in Megadeth and instrumental players such as Steve Vai and Joe Satriani also started to set the bar very high. Keep in mind though that Friedman and Steve Vai were very active players before the 90s but had a considerable surge of popularity during this decade.

Moving into the 2000s a style called "nu-metal" became popular that mixed rap and rock together. Bands that flourished in this time were Korn, Kid Rock, Limp Bizkit and Slipknot. They enjoyed much popularity for a few years but going into our current day they are looked at differently and are not nearly as popular. This goes for the whole nu-metal genre.

In present some hard-rock/metal bands that are considered representative of our time are Avenged Sevenfold, Dragonforce, Arch Enemy and many more. These bands exhibit strong technical ability with a talent for songwriting, the result you get is a darkly diverse sound with incredible technical display.

If you love metal then you should learn how to play some of the greast guitar riffs of all time. If you prefer the learn the theory, and have a little experience then maybe try this modes guitar lesson.

Top 10 Best Metal And Hard Rock CDs From The 80's

It was the best of times... it was the worst of times... of course we're talking about 80's music. Nothing beats the heavy metal, hard rock, and hair bands of the 80's. Here's our list of the top 10 best metal / hard rock CDs from that decade (of course, most of these were first purchased on vinyl):

10. Twisted Sister - Stay Hungry: Twisted Sister introduced a whole new generation to anthem rock. Their videos had us cracking up and their music got the adrenaline pumping. Sure they looked pretty freaky in their drag-like outfits and makeup, but they knew how to write songs that kicked ass. We're Not Gonna Take It and I Wanna Rock had parents everywhere shaking in their boots. Burn in Hell was even featured in Pee Wee's Big Adventure in a memorable scene. They even got us going with the power ballad The Price.

9. Poison - Look What the Cat Dragged In: Poison?!? What the hell are they doing on this list? I don't know about you, but my friends and I had the greatest parties and this CD was always playing. They were a total party band, which was captured on this release. Songs like I Want Action, Talk Dirty to Me and Look What the Cat Dragged In were perfect for drinking and picking up girls. They still go on tour and bring a couple of the 80's metal acts with them. The shows are always fun although I could do without C.C. Deville's guitar solos. When you wear a ton of makeup and frizz up your hair, you're not going to be taken seriously as a guitar player.

8. Virgin Steele - Noble Savage: Dave Defeiss has such a distinct voice that you either think it's really cool or it's really annoying. This release has a lot of catchy songs and even makes keyboards sound good. Songs like We Are the Night, I'm on Fire, and Noble Savage still hold up today. The band is still around although I wouldn't recommend any of the new stuff that came out after Marriage of Heaven and Hell.

7. AC/DC - Back in Black: The songs on this release have been so overplayed that I'm almost reluctant to put this on the list. But it is one of the greatest hard rock CDs of all time. Angus Young has more energy than a 5 year old on a sugar high. His guitar playing incorporated a nice touch of blues during the solos while his brother held down the tight rhythm. Brian Johnson always sounded like his vocal chords were shredded, which really worked on songs like Hells Bells, Shoot to Thrill, Back in Black, and Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution. Of course, we can't forget about You Shook Me All Night Long. All classics.

6. Teeze - S/T: What? You never heard of this band? They released one of the best independent albums, then signed with a major label, changed their name to Roughhouse and released one of the crappiest CDs. If you go to http://www.roughhouse-teeze.com/, you can pick up the self-titled CD that's listed here. You won't go wrong with songs like Party Hardy, Midnight Madness, When the Moon Is Full, and Going Away.

5. Iron Maiden - Number of the Beast: "I am not a number... I am a free man!" The band still sounds awesome and they still put on great live shows. And they still play three songs from this release - Number of the Beast (with the classic Vincent Price intro), Run to the Hills, and Hallowed Be Thy Name. Bruce Dickinson took over the vocals for Paul Di'anno and took this band to the next level. He provided a melodic voice that matched the distinctive guitar and bass sounds.

4. Motley Crue - Shout at the Devil: I already had worn through my copy of Too Fast for Love when Shout at the Devil was released. When I saw the video for Looks that Kill, I was blown away. This looked like a bunch of the biggest bad asses at the time. They became bigger than life with their stories of sex, drugs and rock 'n roll, and this CD captured it all perfectly. After Vince got out of jail from the car accident that killed Razzle, they just didn't have the same sound any more. They released some catchy songs but I don't think they ever released another CD where all the tracks were memorable.

3. Metallica - Ride the Lightning: Metallica knew how to write kick ass songs in the 80's. They followed up Kill 'Em All with Ride the Lightning, taking their sound to the next level. Their song writing got better and the production really helped capture their crunching guitars and Hetfield's powerful voice. These were serious head banging songs - Fight Fire with Fire, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Trapped Under Ice, and Creeping Death still hold up today. I could do without The Call of Ktulu but that's only a minor complaint. If you ever want to get the adrenaline going, put this CD on and put the stereo to 11.

2. T.T. Quick - Metal of Honor: Not only are all the songs memorable on this release, but the production is amazing. With songs like Metal of Honor, Child of Sin, and Come Beat the Band, this band had so much potential. The release just wasn't promoted properly and the band never really hit it big like they should have. They've released a couple CDs since then and play live shows every once in a while.

1. Guns and Roses - Appetite for Destruction: Let me start off by saying that I can't even listen to this CD anymore. It's been so overplayed on the radio and MTV (when MTV used to play music). But when this came out, I couldn't get enough of it. The big discussion was whether Axl's voice sounded better on a song like It's So Easy and Mr. Brownstone or Welcome to the Jungle and Nightrain. Didn't matter though because every song was amazing. And it took about a year for this CD to become huge so we were able to see the band play at a 1000 seat venue. They put on a great live show and even went on on time. Too bad they just couldn't get along off the stage.

Honorable Mentions:

W.A.S.P. - S/T

TKO - I Wanna Fight

Killer Dwarfs - Big Deal

Tesla - Mechanical Resonance

Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force - Marching Out

Craig A. Neal runs the web site [http://www.metalfromthe80s.com] which is dedicated to the best hard rock, heavy metal, and hair bands of the 80s.

Jazz + Classical + Metal = Progressive Metal

Progressive metal or sometimes known as prog metal is another subgenre of the heavy metal community. It has some elements of progressive rock and jazz with complex structures and powerful guitar distortion from metal. Jazz and Classical music inspires a lot of bands. Progressive metal uses these genres of music to build on and create a more complex sound. This small metal genre has less fans and popularity than other metal genres. With more bands entering in, it could find its way to the mainstream of the community.

Where Progressive Metal Came From

This metal genre traces back to the 1960's and 70's. High Tide was one of the first metal bands to start mixing some of these other elements into their music. Other bands started to follow the trend. Rush and King Crimson was another band to take some of the features of other music genres and mix them. There was three bands that could really push progressive metal to what it has become today. Dream Theater, Queensryche and Fates Warning all had the same type of expertise in metal music. Each of these bands brought something new to the table for progressive metal. These three bands really had some progressive rock influences that gave them a more edgy and extreme metal sound.

Just Open the Door

This started to breakout in the community in the early 1990s. When there was a release from Queensryche called Silent Lucidity that became very popular on MTV and on the radio. And because of its wide popularity it increased other bands to be exposed. Band like Pain of Salvation, Ayreon, Symphony X, Tool, Opeth and Threshold all started to come out and make a name for them. Their music all had different features and elements that kept them from becoming "like the other guy."

More Progressive Music

More and more bands started to go with this trend. Bands like Dark Suns, Conscience and Disillusion were entering the metal words by being influenced from the earlier bands in this genre. Tool, Anathema, Pain of Salvation, Green Carnation and Opeth are the most influential bands of progressive music.

Rock, Metal, Jazz and Classical Needs some Progressive

With some heavy metal, elements of rock, jazz and classical music will give you the building block of progressive metal. You can branch down more genres within this genre. The most popular bands in progressive metal are King's X and Opeth. These two bands could even be considered to be progressive death metal bands. There is also traditional progressive metal, like Devin Townsend, Symphony X and Shadown Gallery. Jazz / Fusion Death Metal has bands like Pestilence, Between the Buried and Me and Meshuggah.

New Age of Progressive Metal Bands

With new bands emerging in the genre there are certain styles that will come with them. With some staying with tradition and some changing it will be interesting what will happen. The experimentation of this genre has been influenced by jazz, thrash, classical and even its own music and will continue to change. The metal community will also have progressive metal, giving the community some type of new and exciting genre of music.

If your looking for more information about Metal Music Bands or Metal Music News, check out Metal Call-Out.

Heavy Metal Guitar Riff Facts

If you are a fan of heavy metal music, you know how largely it depends on guitar riffs and solos for its existence. Guitar remains the central instrument of heavy metal music and cool guitar riffs are probably the most admired part of a performance. Here are some interesting facts about heavy metal guitar riffs which might help you to appreciate them even more.

For many years now heavy metal music has been critically vilified as an over simplistic and aggressive genre of music. The on stage violence and the showiness of the metal bands have added to the censure. However, there is no denying the fact that the guttural and the primal sounds of the metal guitar remain a popular form of protest against the consumerism and conformity of pop music. The metal guitar riffs are not meant to please, they are meant to express the anguish that results from our modern life style.

Many critics, without knowing the true facts about metal bands, dismiss all metal guitarists as gimmicky. They think that it is all about riffing involving three chords. However, it is a far cry from the truth. Metal guitarists have been leading innovators of many complicated guitar techniques. A good metal guitarist should also be technically sound and should be able to play at a great speed.

Much of the appeal of the heavy metal music depends upon the amplified distortion of the guitar licks. The very genre of the heavy metal music came to be distinguished by its powerful solos and speedy and powerful guitar riffs. In the 1960s, when the metal genre was coming slowly in to the forefront, it heavily depended upon the blues and the psychedelic versions of rock music. But what gradually distinguished it from the others, was the coming of age of the powerful guitar licks.

Therefore, the importance of the heavy metal guitar riffs cannot be undermined in the general growth and development of the metal music. If you really want to play them on your own, you should first work on your basic guitar techniques. Learning to play guitar licks and riffs like a pro will also require the knowledge of musical theory and guitar scales. There is quite a bit of hard work involved in attaining the status of a good metal guitar player. However, once you can manage to master them, there is nothing like the pleasure of playing a guitar like Kirk Hammett or Randy Rhoads.

Check Out Heavy Metal Guitar Riffs Today. Get Your Metal Method Coupon Code At GuitarPlayerWorld.com

Rock And Metal Domain

Welcome readers first of all let me introduce myself my name is Matthew White I have recently set up a website called "Rock And Metal Domain" its a website based on rock and metal music.

Not just rock and metal but all types of rock and metal music such as thrash, speed

metal, death metal, and hardcore.

There a various sections of the website that might interest you we have the "news

section" that gets updated on a regular basis the news section contains news about

all the things happening in the rock and metal world such as band news, new album

releases and various rumours.

Next we have a section called "Bands Of The Week" this section contains some of the

best metal and rock bands that I hand pick each and every Wednesday and post

them on my site there are also links to there websites so you can check out there

music.

Next there is a section called "Artists" this page contains many different Rock and

Metal bands in the industry today it also contain detailed descriptions of there work,

Track listings and links to there official websites the section also contains mp3

music

samples so you can sample some of their music work there is also a link to a site

where you can purchase there albums at a affordable price you just click on there

album covers.

Also on my site there is a section called "Hot Links" this generally contains links to

other music related sites i.e. mp3 music

There you have it so why not check out my site you can find my site at:

http://www.rockandmetaldomain.co.uk/

Thanks

Matthew White