Heavy+Metal+Music

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Heavy Metal music evolved as a genre of the rock music in the 1970s. Heavy metal music concentrates on the use of the "standard rock'n'roll instruments" (drums, guitars and bass) to create a loud and heavy metallic sound as a basis for the music. Early heavy metal music in the 1960s originated from the United States and England and incorporated different genres of music such as classical and blues into the music. Heavy metal music started to popularize during the 1970s to 1980s in which it became one of the mainstream music on the market. Fans of the heavy metal music are widespread all over the world nowadays and they are often referred to as “headbangers". The reason is because performers of the heavy metal music usually shake their heads while they play their instruments, which looks like someone is banging the head. (Source number 4 in bibliography)

=**Attributes of Heavy Metal Music**=

= = Again, nowadays, Heavy Metal is the agressive use of percussive instruments, mainly guitar, bass and drums. But early Heavy Metal music also included keyboard instruments such as organs and pianos. These instruments became less important and eventually eliminated from Heavy Metal. With the ability of altering a clean electric guitar sound into a loud, distorted, and fuzzy sound, this became the main component of the heavy metal music in which it is capable of producing loud metallic-like sounds. Heavy Metal music albums usually use social or global issues such as war, propaganda on politics and religions and environmental concerns as their main lyrical content. That lyrical content evokes more of a darker and crueler sense in that Heavy Metal lyrics usually go against the grain as to what is socially acceptable. (Source number 4 in bibliography)

=**History**=

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The 1970s
In the early 1970s, blues and Rock'n'Roll music was popular in the United States and in Europe. From this influence, many musicians incorporated the distortion effect and increased tempos and more hard-hitting drumming into their music. The combination of blues music with these new found "metallic elements" eventually became more prevalent in popular music. Many guitarists started using/overusing power chords as the basis to propel their music. These chords are made up of the first, the fifth and the octive of any root and produce a heavier sound than a regular major or minor chord. These chords also functioned to eliminate the higher pitches of their music and with the limited amplifier technology of the time, this new Heavy Metal music could be played louder. Arguably, [|Black Sabbath] was/is the first Heavy Metal band hitting audiences with songs like //Paranoid//, //War Pigs//, and //Iron Man// to name a few. Some other bands who pioneered Heavy Metal music are [|Led Zeppelin] and [|Deep Purple] although Led Zeppelin is more widely known as the Hard Rock band. (Sources number 1 and 2 in bibliography)

The 1980s
In the 1980s, Glam Metal, a sub-genre of heavy metal became popular in the United States. The overall look and impression that glam metal bands cast on audiences are more feminine oriented, in which male band members tend to have long hairs and sometimes wear makeup. This creates a deviance from the genuine heavy metal music. Another popular sub-genre of heavy metal was also introduced in the 1980s called Thrash Metal. Thrash metal tends to use faster tempos and louder sounds that can be described as a hardcore version of heavy metal. Bands like [|Anthrax], [|Megadeth], Metallica and Slayer are the pioneers of Thrash metal music. (Source number 3 and 4 in bibliography)

**The 1990s**
In the 1990s, the popularity of Heavy metal gradually decreased while Alternative metal gained popularity. The Alternative metal is the combination of Heavy metal and Alternative rock genres. Some of the famous Alternative metal bands such as Fear Factory, Helmet and [|Marilyn Manson] facilitated the creation of new rock music genre such as Nu metal. Bands like [|Limp Bizkit], [|Linkin Park] and [|Papa Roach] are some of the most successful Nu metal bands in the late 1990s. Nu metal, also called new metal is a music genre that has origins in the mid 1990s. Nu metal might be a new music genre but actually it is a subgenre of heavy metal music of 1970s. The key characteristic of Nu metal is its experimental trial of combinning grunge and alternative metal of the early 1990s with hip hop music, electronic music and other metal genres, most often thrash metal. Nu metal can be generally characterized as a hybrid between guitar-rock and rap. Many bands of Nu metal began to use rapping instead of singing, hip hop samplings beats and other new techniques with traditional heavy metal guitar and drum sounds. These never-before-heard sounds made big sensation to the listeners and music industry. Nu metal doesn’t take the same approach as the Alternative metal sound of adopting combination of heavy metal and alternative rock, but it is a sub-genre created from Alternative metal. (Source number 3 in bibliography)

**The 2000s**
Heavy Metal nowadays is a very wide-spread genre in that there are sub-genres being introduced everyday. Some current bands like Wolfmother, The Sword and Witchcraft tend to play music that mimics the pioneers this genre. The heavy metal bands in the 2000s are influenced significantly by those pioneers of Heavy metal bands. (Source number 4 in bibliography) Glam metal is still around but much less so. The look and sound have diversified by artists like Marilyn Manson. The Darkness is a band that is still "traditionally" Glam metal.

=Homoeroticsm In Metal=

As the ‘metal world’ consists of an audience that is 90% male, Sam Dunn’s video documentary “Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey” highlights the seemingly homoeroticism of the roots in heavy metal music. A lot of this issue deals with two dichotomies that have been put forth: “Male/Female”, and “Hetero/Homo”. These dichotomies exist in the assumption of one’s identity where we automatically ascribe certain things to a subject in situations that we have no reasoning to support it. This is common when we read the work of a person, in that we automatically assume the author is male and heterosexual unless they state otherwise. These dichotomies also present themselves in a hierarchy as well; the unmarked being superior to the marked. In the following discussion of homoerotism in Heavy Metal, note how the identity of the unmarked subject relies on so many aspects of the marked.

It divides this degree of this musical genre’s between the on stage performances and portrayal of those considered to the ideal male and those who participated in the 1980’s Glam Metal period.

As one of the genre’s pioneers, Led Zeppelin’s frontman, Robert Plant wore exceptionally tight pants that accentuated his pelvic region. At this time, in the mid 1970s, the general consensus of the band’s audience idealized and idolized Plant for his extreme masculinity. Here, heavy metal music lovers were (and still are) idolizing a man that would present himself in a particularly sexualize manner, gyrating his hips during his performance, vocalizing seemingly climatic sounds in the middle of songs (“Whole Lotta Love”), and this audience that consisted of a 90% male populace fed off of this energy.

Dunn then goes into the period that brought heavy metal music into the mainstream: Glam Metal. During this period in the genre’s evolution, bands like Mötley Crüe, Poison, Cinderella, and Twisted Sister became household names. Here, essentially, Dunn presents an account of how the material fetish that existed in heavy metal culture went from leather to lace. Within the documentary, it highlights this transition with the sentiment of presentation of the “hyper masculine man” as the one who is ‘brave’ enough to present themselves with heavy layers of makeup on, to integrated lingerie into their onstage wardrobe, and to write sappy love songs with distorted guitars. Here, effeminate appearances were perceived as masculine features.

Although these arguments for the existence of a homoerotic nature within heavy metal can be questionable on some degree, a degree of acceptance is presented in the genre. Though you have classic metal bands like Guns’N’Roses tossing around the word “faggot” like its some sort of thing that needs to be explained (“One in a Million”), the general feel in this seemingly hetero-driven vehicle is that there is room for homosexuality to exist within it. The case of Judas Priest lead singer Rob Halford; where after fronting the band for twenty-four years, came out of the closet in 1998 and publicly acknowledge himself as a gay; demonstrates an instance where this hetero-influenced culture respects and accepts homosexuals freely. Judas Priest has since been on many tours and has released numerous albums; their popularity has not decrease. Halford has even had a successful solo career since outing himself in public as well.

During the times that it was unknown that Judas Priest had a homosexual singer, Halford’s onstage attire was accepted as nothing more than a pure heavy metal image: the leather and silver studs. After his outing, the essential sense of masculinity of the heavy metal image has to come into question. In Mapplethorpe’s photo “Brian Ridley and lyle Heeter”, the two characters are presented in dress that has such a resemblance to the attire of a heavy metal fan, especially those who are fans of Judas Priest. In this picture, the coupling of the two generates a homosexual aura.

The problem that I personally see in this is that in Judas Priest, all of the band members dressed in this fashion, and yet no one perceived the same homosexual aura that surrounds Mapplethorpe’s image in the same way they did with Judas Priest. Judas Priest had performed countless shows where this type of image was served straight up to their audiences, and yet, their fans determined this image to be of a hetero-masculine quality. In Mapplethorpe’s image, we only see two figures dressed in this fashion, and we sense this homosexual feeling that it portrays. But in every instance of Judas Priest, here are five figures commonly dressed in the same fashion Ridley and Heeter were, and yet, they were still presumed to possess this hetero-masculine quality. It is within this problem that it seems that Halford was the most ‘honest’ with Judas Priest fans. The rest of his bandmates knew of his homosexuality and they wore the things they did to coincidentally conceal this fact.

=**Bibliography:**=

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1) Unknown, Author. "The History of Heavy Metal Music." __ANUS__. 2004. 30 Oct. 2006 <[|http://www.anus.com/metal/about/history.html>.]

2) Silveyra, Marcelo. "The History of Heavy Metal." __Hardradio__. 2004. 30 Oct. 2006 <[|http://www.hardradio.com/history/prologue.html>.]

3) Bowar, Chad. "What is Heavy Metal?" 2006. 30 Oct. 2006 <[|http://heavymetal.about.com/od/heavymetal101/a/101_history.htm>.]

4) Unknown, Author. "Heavy Metal Music." __Wikipedia__. 30 Oct. 2006 <[|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_metal_music>.]

5) “__Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey__”. Dir. Sam Dunn, Scott McFayden, Jessica Joywise. Banger Productions, 2005.


 * Picture Sources:** Various Wikipedia and official sites of referenced artists.