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Heavy metal music

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Jump to: navigation, search "Heavy metal" redirects here. For use of the term in chemistry, see Heavy metals. For other uses, see Heavy metal (disambiguation).
Heavy metal Stylistic origins: Psychedelic rock, European classical music and British blues Late 1960s United Kingdom Guitar - Bass - Drums

Cultural origins: Typical instruments: Mainstream popularity:

Extensively followed by dedicated fans throughout the world.

Subgenres
Avant garde metal - Black metal - Classic metal - Death metal - Doom metal - Folk metal - Glam metal - Gothic metal - Groove metal- Hair Metal - Neo-classical metal Power metal - Progressive metal - Speed Metal - Thrash metal

Fusion genres
Alternative metal - Christian metal - Funk metal Grindcore - Industrial metal - Metalcore - Nu metal Rapcore - Stoner metal - Symphonic metal - Vedic metal

Regional scenes
Gothenburg - Britain - Bay Area - Florida

Other topics
Fashion - History - Bands - Umlaut

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that emerged as a defined musical style in the 1970s, having its roots in hard rock bands which, between 1967 and 1974, mixed blues and rock to create a hybrid with a thick, heavy, guitar-and-drums-centered sound, characterised by the use of highly-amplified distortion. Out of heavy metal various subgenres later evolved, many of which are referred to simply as "metal". As a result, "heavy metal" now has two distinct meanings: either the genre as a whole or traditional heavy metal in the 1970s style, as exemplified by the likes of Black Sabbath, Blue Cheer, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Vanilla Fudge and others. Heavy metal began gaining popularity in the 1970's and 80's, at which time many of the now existing subgenres first evolved. Heavy metal has a large world-wide following of fans known by terms such as metalheads and headbangers.

Contents
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1 Characteristics o 1.1 Instrumentation o 1.2 Themes o 1.3 Classical influence 2 History o 2.1 The term "heavy metal" o 2.2 Origins (1960s and early 1970s) o 2.3 Classic Heavy Metal (Late 1970s and early 1980s) o 2.4 Mainstream Dominance (1980s) o 2.5 Underground Metal (1980s, 1990s, and 2000s) o 2.6 Alternative Metal/Nu Metal (1990s and 2000s) 3 Cultural impact o 3.1 Eurovision 4 Related styles 5 Heavy metal dance 6 See also 7 Sources

8 External links [edit]

Characteristics
Heavy metal is typically characterized by a distorted guitar-led sound, straightforward rhythms, and classical or symphonic styles. However, heavy metal subgenres have their own stylistic variations on the original form that often omit many of these characteristics. According to Allmusic.com, "Of all rock & roll's myriad forms, heavy metal is the most extreme in terms of volume, machismo, and theatricality. There are numerous stylistic variations on heavy metal's sound, but they are all tied together by a reliance on loud, distorted guitars and simple, pounding rhythms."

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Instrumentation
The most commonly used line-up for metal is a drummer, a bassist, a rhythm guitarist, a lead guitarist, and a singer (who may or may not be an instrumentalist). Keyboards are used in some styles of heavy metal and shunned by others, although as different subgenres develop they have become increasingly popular. The guitar, however, is the key element in heavy metal. Distortion of the guitar sound is used to create a powerful, 'heavy' sound. Some of the original heavy metallers joke--much like punk rockers--that their simplified sound was more the result of limited ability than of innovation. Later, more intricate solos and riffs became a big part of heavy metal music. Guitarists use sweep-picking, tapping and other advanced techniques for rapid playing, and many sub-genres praise virtuosity over simplicity. Also, as technology has developed, new ways of altering the guitar's sound have been adopted. Metal vocals vary widely in style. Vocalists' abilities and styles range from the multioctave operatic vocals of Judas Priest's Rob Halford and the singing of Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson, to the intentionally gruff vocals of Lemmy Kilmister from the band Motrhead. In terms of the live sound, volume is often considered as important as anything. Following the lead set by The Who and Jimi Hendrix, early Heavy Metal bands set new benchmarks for sound volume during shows. Tony Iommi, guitarist in Heavy Metal pioneers Black Sabbath, is just one of the early Heavy Metal musicians to suffer considerable hearing loss due to their live volume. Detroit rocker Ted Nugent (who rejects the term "heavy metal" to describe his music) and The Who (who once held the distinction of "The World's Loudest Band" in the Guinness Book Of World Records) guitarist Pete Townshend are nearly deaf. Canada's Eudoxis are credited as having the longest and loudest bass drums (six feet long), which proves that size does matter. Heavy Metal's volume fixation was mocked in the rockumentary spoof This Is Spinal Tap by guitarist "Nigel Tufnel", who revealed that his Marshall amplifiers had been modified to "go to eleven." [edit]

Themes
As with much popular music, visuals and images are integral to metal. Album covers and stage shows are almost as important to the presentation of the material as the music itself, although they seldom exceed the actual music in priority. Thus, through heavy metal, many artists collaborate to produce a menu of experiences in each piece offering a wider range of experiences to the audience. In this respect, heavy metal becomes perhaps more of a diverse art form than any single form dominated by one method of expression. Whereas a painting is experienced visually, a symphony experienced audibly, a heavy metal band's "image" and the common theme that binds all their music is expressed in the artwork on the album, the set of the stage, the tone of the lyrics, and the clothes of the band, in addition to the sound of the music.

Rock historians tend to find that the influence of Western pop music gives heavy metal its escape-from-reality fantasy side, as an escape from reality through outlandish and fantastic lyricswhile African American blues gives heavy metal its naked reality side, focusing on loss, depression and loneliness. Heavy metal has a relationship with spiritual issues in both symbol and music theory, as heavy metal chords and harmonies emphasize the use of open fifthsdrawing ironic parallels to harmony changes in Christian Sacred Harp singing. If the audio and thematic components of heavy metal are predominantly bluesinfluenced reality, then the visual component is predominantly pop-influenced fantasy. The themes of darkness, evil, power and apocalypse are fantastic language components for addressing the reality of life's problems. In reaction to the "peace and love" hippie culture of the 1960s, heavy metal developed as a counterculture, where light is supplanted by darkness and the happy ending of pop is replaced by the naked reality that things do not always work out in this world. Whilst fans claim that the medium of darkness is not the message, critics have accused the genre of glorifying the negative aspects of reality.

Metallica's debut album Kill 'em All Heavy metal themes are typically more grave than the generally airy pop from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970sfocusing on war, nuclear annihilation, environmental issues, and political or religious propaganda. Black Sabbath's "War Pigs", Ozzy Osbourne's "Killer of Giants",Metallica's "...And Justice for All (album)" (as well as their "Disposable Heroes"), and Iron Maiden's "2 Minutes to Midnight" are examples of serious contributions to the discussion of the state of affairs. The commentary on reality sometimes tends to become over-simplified because the fantastic poetic vocabulary of metal deals primarily with clear dichotomies of light and dark, hope and despair, or good and evil, which do not leave much room for complex shades of grey. Power metal bands, whose lyrical and musical tones are often bombastic and optimistic, are one exception to the dark stereotype. Many power metal fans and bands, most notably Manowar, believe metal should be inspiring and upbeat music, often resulting in comical bravado or jingoism. [edit]

Classical influence

Ozzy Osbourne The Blizzard of Ozz The appropriation of classical music by heavy metal typically includes the influence of Bach and Paganini, rather than Mozart or Franz Liszt. Though Deep Purple/Rainbow guitarist Ritchie Blackmore had been experimenting with musical figurations borrowed from classical music since the early 1970s, Edward Van Halen's solo cadenza "Eruption" (released on Van Halen's first album in 1978) marks an important moment in the development of virtuosity in metal. Following Van Halen, the "classical" influence in metal guitar during the 1980s actually looked to the early eigtheenth century for its model of speed and technique. Indeed, the late Baroque era of Western art music was also frequently interpreted through a gothic lens. For example, "Mr. Crowley," (1981) by Ozzy Osbourne and guitarist Randy Rhoads, uses both a pipe organ-like synthesizer and Baroque-inspired guitar solos to create a particular mood for Osbourne's lyrics on the legendary occultist Aleister Crowley. For the introduction to 1982's "Diary of a Madman", Rhoads borrowed heavily from Cuban classical guitar composer Leo Brouwer's "Etude #6". Like many other metal guitarists in the 1980s, Rhoads quite earnestly took up the "learned" study of musical theory and helped to solidify the minor industry of guitar pedagogy magazines (such as Guitar for the Practicing Musician) that grew up during the decade. In most instances, however, metal musicians who borrowed the technique and rhetoric of art music were not attempting to be classical musicians. (An exception can arguably be found in Yngwie Malmsteen, though many argue that his music relies more on virtuosity and the use of classical-sounding elements such as the harmonic minor scale to appear classical without actually being classical).

Iron Maiden Powerslave The Encarta encyclopedia claims that "when a text was associated with the music, Bach could write musical equivalents of verbal ideas," Progressive rock bands such as

Emerson, Lake, and Palmer and Yes had already explored this relationship before heavy metal evolved. As heavy metal uses apocalyptic themes and images of power and darkness, the ability to translate verbal ideas into musical ideas that successfully convey the ideas of the words is critical to heavy metal authenticity and credibility. An excellent example of this is the theme album, Powerslave, by Iron Maiden. The cover is of a dramatic Egyptian pyramid scene and many of the songs on the album have subject matter that requires a sound suggestive of life and death, including a song entitled "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," based on the poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. However, the 1977 Rush album A Farewell to Kings features the twelve-minute "Xanadu," also inspired by Coleridge and predating the Iron Maiden composition by several years. Bassist Steve Harris has also cited progressive rock bands such as Rush and Yes as influences on his own considerable talents. [edit]

History
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The term "heavy metal"

Cover from Led Zeppelin. The album greatly influenced many heavy metal musicians The origin of the term heavy metal in relation to a form of music is uncertain. The term had been used for centuries in chemistry and metallurgy and is listed as such in the Oxford English Dictionary. An early use of the term in modern popular culture was by counter-culture writer William S. Burroughs. In his 1962 novel, The Soft Machine, he introduces the character "Uranian Willy, the Heavy Metal Kid". His next novel in 1964, Nova Express, develops this theme further, heavy metal being a metaphor for addictive drugs. "With their diseases and orgasm drugs and their sexless parasite life forms Heavy Metal People of Uranus wrapped in cool blue mist of vaporized bank notes And the Insect People of Minraud with metal music" Burroughs, William S, (1964). Nova Express. New York: Grove Press. p. 112

Given the publication dates of these works it is unlikely that Burroughs had any intent to relate the term to rock music; however, Burroughs' writing may have influenced later usage of the term. The first use of the term "heavy metal" in a song lyric is the words "heavy metal thunder" in the 1968 Steppenwolf song "Born to be Wild" (Walser 1993, p. 8): "I like smoke and lightning Heavy metal thunder Racin' with the wind And the feelin' that I'm under" The book, "The History of Heavy Metal," states the name as a take from "hippiespeak," heavy meaning anything with a potent mood, and metal, more specifically designating what the mood would be, grinding and weighted as metal. The word "heavy" (meaning serious or profound) had entered beatnik/counterculture slang some time earlier and references to "heavy music"typically slower, more amplified variations of standard pop farewere already common; indeed, Iron Butterfly first started playing Los Angeles in 1967, their name explained on an album cover, "Iron- symbolic of something heavy as in sound, Butterfly- light, appealing and versatile...an object that can be used freely in the imagination". Iron Butterfly's 1968 debut album was entitled Heavy. The fact that Led Zeppelin (whose moniker came partly in reference to Keith Moon's jest that they would "go down like a lead balloon") incorporated a heavy metal into its name may have sealed the usage of the term. In the late 1960s, Birmingham, England was still a centre of industry and (given the many rock bands that evolved in and around the city, such as Led Zeppelin, The Move, and Black Sabbath), some people suggest that the term Heavy Metal may have some relation to such activity. Biographies of The Move have claimed that the sound came from their 'heavy' guitar riffs that were popular amongst the 'metal midlands'. Sandy Pearlman, original producer, manager and songwriter for Blue yster Cult, claims to have been the first person to apply the term "heavy metal" to rock music in 1970. A widespread but disputed hypothesis about the origin of the genre was brought forth by "Chas" Chandler, who was a manager of the Jimi Hendrix Experience in 1969, in an interview on the PBS TV programme "Rock and Roll" in 1995. He states that "...it [heavy metal] was a term originated in a New York Times article reviewing a Jimi Hendrix performance," and claims the author described the Jimi Hendrix Experience "...like listening to heavy metal falling from the sky." The precise source of this claim, however, has not been found and its accuracy is disputed. The first well-documented usage of the term "heavy metal" referring to a style of music, appears to be the May 1971 issue of Creem, in a review of Sir Lord Baltimore's Kingdom Come. In this review we are told that "Sir Lord Baltimore seems to have down pat most all the best heavy metal tricks in the book". Creem critics David Marsh and Lester Bangs would subsequently use the term frequently in their writings in regards to bands such as Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath.

Heavy metal may have been used as a jibe initially by a number of music critics but was quickly adopted by its adherents. Other, already-established bands, such as Deep Purple, who had origins in pop or progressive rock, immediately took on the heavy metal mantle, adding distortion and additional amplification in a more aggressive approach. [edit]

Origins (1960s and early 1970s)

Deep Purple Machine Head. One of the first quintessential heavy metal albums American blues music was highly popular and influential among the early British rockers; bands like the Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds had recorded covers of many classic blues songs, sometimes speeding up the tempo and using electric guitar where the original used acoustic. (Similar adaptations of blues and other race music had formed the basis of the earliest rock and roll, notably that of Elvis Presley). Such powered-up blues music was encouraged by the intellectual and artistic experimentation that arose when musicians started to exploit the opportunities of the electrically amplified guitar to produce a louder and more dissonant sound. Where blues-rock drumming styles had been largely simple shuffle beats on small drum kits, drummers began using a more muscular, complex, and amplified approach to match and be heard with the increasingly loud guitar sounds; similarly vocalists modified their technique and increased their reliance on amplification, often becoming more stylised and dramatic in the process. Simultaneous advances in amplification and recording technology made it possible to successfully capture the power of this heavier approach on record.

Black Sabbath Paranoid The earliest music commonly identified as heavy metal came out of the Birmingham area of the United Kingdom in the late 1960s when bands such as Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath applied an overtly non-traditional approach to blues standards and created new music often based on blues scales and arrangements. These bands were highly influenced by American psychedelic rock musicians including Jimi Hendrix, who had pioneered amplified and processed blues-rock guitar and acted as a bridge between black American music and white European rockers. Other oft-cited influences include Vanilla Fudge, who had slowed down and psychedelicised pop tunes, as well as earlier British rockers such as The Who and The Kinks, who had paved the way for heavy metal styles by introducing power chords and more aggressive percussion to the rock genre. Another key influence was Cream, who exemplified the power trio format that would become a staple of heavy metal. Perhaps the earliest song that is clearly identifiable as prototype heavy metal is "You Really Got Me" by The Kinks (1965). By late 1968, heavy blues sounds were becoming commonmany fans and scholars point to Blue Cheer's 1968 cover of Eddie Cochran's hit "Summertime Blues" as the first true heavy-metal song. Beatles scholars cite in particular the songs "Helter Skelter" from The White Album and the single version of "Revolution" (1968), which set new standards for distortion and aggressive sound on a pop album. Dave Edmunds' band Love Sculpture released an aggressive heavy guitar version of Khachaturian's Sabre Dance in November 1968. The Jeff Beck Group's album Truth (late 1968) was an important and influential rock album released just before Led Zeppelin's first album, leading some (especially British blues fans) to argue that Truth was the first heavy metal album. The Yardbirds' 1968 single, "Think About It," should also be mentioned, as that employed a similar sound to that which Jimmy Page would employ with Led Zeppelin. Also, progressive rock band King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man" from their debut album, In the Court of the Crimson King (1969), featured most of the thematic, compositional, and musical characteristics of heavy metala very heavily distorted guitar tone and discordant soloing by Robert Fripp with lyrics that focused on what is wrong about what the 21st century human would be, a dark mood and even Greg Lake's vocals were passed through a distortion box. However, it was the release of Led Zeppelin in 1969 that brought worldwide notice of the formation of a new genre. The first heavy metal bandsLed Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, UFO, and Black Sabbath, among a feware often now called hard rock bands by the modern metal community rather than heavy metal, especially those bands whose sound was more similar to traditional rock music. In general, the terms heavy metal and hard rock are often used interchangeably, in particular when discussing the 1970s. Indeed, many such bands are not considered "heavy metal bands" per se, but rather as having contributed individual songs or works that contributed to the genre. Few would consider Jethro Tull a heavy metal band in any real sense, for example, but few would dispute that their song Aqualung was a quintessential early Heavy Metal song.

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Classic Heavy Metal (Late 1970s and early 1980s)

Album by Van Halen The late 1970s and early 1980s history of heavy metal music is highly debated among music historians. Bands like Blue yster Cult achieved moderate mainstream success and the Los Angeles glam metal scene began finding pop audiencesespecially in the 1980s. Others ignore or downplay the importance of these bands, instead focusing on the arrival of classical influenceswhich can be heard in the work of Eddie Van Halen and Randy Rhoads and such like. Others still highlight the late-70s crossfertilization of heavy metal with fast-paced, youthful punk rock (e.g. Sex Pistols), culminating in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal around the year 1980, led by bands like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. These two in particular became very popular in the Heavy Metal movement. Some followers, including Heavy Metal musicians of prominent groups, believe that the foundations of the definite style and sound of pure heavy metal were laid down by NWOBHM band Judas Priest (another Birmingham band) with three of their early albums: Sad Wings Of Destiny (1976), Sin After Sin (1977), and Stained Class (1978). Rainbow are also sometimes cited as pioneering a sort of pure heavy metal and one could also make this claim about the later albums of Deep Purple such as Burn and Stormbringer, but these bands are generally considered to be hard rock bands. Beginning with Judas Priest, metal bands quickly began to look beyond the almost exclusive use of the blues scale to incorporate diatonic modes into their solos. This has since spread throughout virtually all sub-genres of metal (some doom metal, following in Black Sabbath's footsteps, being the main exception) and along with an overriding sense of musicianship are the main contributions classical and jazz (via progressive rock) have made to the genre. The explosion of guitar virtuosity (pioneered by Jimi Hendrix a musical generation earlier) was brought to the fore by Eddie Van Halenmany consider his 1978 solo "Eruption" (Van Halen, 1978) a milestone. Ritchie Blackmore (formerly of Deep Purple), Randy Rhoads (with pioneers Ozzy Osbourne, and Quiet Riot) and Yngwie Malmsteen went on to solidify this explosion of virtuoso guitar work, and in some cases, classical guitars and nylon-stringed guitars were played at heavy metal concerts. Classical icons such as Liona Boyd also became associated with the heavy

metal stars as peers in a newly diverse guitar fraternity where conservative and aggressive guitarists could come together to "trade licks." This explosion would cool down in the music of Ronnie James Dio (who himself had a tenure at lead vocals with the legendary Black Sabbath) and continue to settle towards Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, who may be the final and complete consummation of "pure" heavy metal in the lineage of the "grandfathers"Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and Black Sabbath. [edit]

Mainstream Dominance (1980s)

Quiet Riot Metal Health The most popular subgenre of Metal emerged in the United States, coming from glam metal bands of the 1980s the epicentre for this explosion was mostly in Los Angeles. This scene was led by Van Halen, Mtley Cre and the first wave included groups such as Dokken, Ratt, Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, and others. At times even the likes of Dio and Judas Priest experimented with Glam Metal stylings in their music. 1984 was a big year for Heavy Metal as Van Halen's Jump and Prince's Let's Go Crazy hit number 1 on the charts that year. These two songs opened the flood gates for many more hit metal songs. The genres caused a divide in the metal community, mostly due to the glam metal bands image, which fans of thrash metal (a fellow subgenre) generally saw as negative compared to their less eccentric look, a common misconception was that glam metal bands were not technically proficient musicians; even though this movement included some of the most critically acclaimed musicians in hard rock of their era such as Steve Vai (David Lee Roth, Whitesnake), Michael Angelo Batio (Nitro), Eddie Van Halen (Van Halen),Richie Sambora, (Bon Jovi) and Billy Sheehan (David Lee Roth, Mr. Big). [edit]

Underground Metal (1980s, 1990s, and 2000s)

Slayer Reign in Blood Many subgenres of heavy metal developed in the 1980s. In a shift away from metal's hard rock roots, a more underground (at first) genre that took influences from Hardcore punk emergedthrash metal. The genre's sound was far more aggressive, louder and faster than the original metal bands or their glam metal contempories of the time. This subgenre was pioneered by the 'Big Four Of Thrash', Anthrax, Megadeth, Metallica, and Slayer, with bands like San Francisco's Testament, New Jersey's Overkill and Brazil's Sepultura also making an impact. Meanwhile an even harsher sound was coming from Europe, as Germany's Destruction, Kreator and Sodom used harsher vocals and a generally more aggressive sound in a style that would later influence black and death metal. In the early and mid 1980s, thrash began to split further into death metal (a term probably originating from Possessed's song "Death Metal", off their influential "Seven Churches" album), led by Possessed and Death, and black metal (a term coined by Venom, with an album called "Black Metal", who themselves lacked most integral characteristics of the genre, such as the buzz-saw vocals) and Denmark's Mercyful Fate who are often considered the originators of the Corpse Paint and Satanic and Pagan themes, in which Bathory (generally considered one of the first black metal acts although later deemed to be more in tune with Viking culture) and Mayhem were key players early on. From the 80s and into the 90s power metal, especially in Europe, evolved in an opposite direction from death metal and thrash. Keeping the anti-commercial mentality and intensity of heavy metal but focusing on upbeat and epic themes and catchy melodies. Power metal usually involves high pitched 'clean singing' as opposed to death grunts and often contains keyboards or orchestration. Progressive metal, a fusion of the progressive stylings of bands like Rush, King Crimson and traditional metal began in the '80s, too, behind innovators like Fates Warning and later Queensrche and Dream Theater, who enjoyed substantial mainstream acceptance and success in the glam metal era. [edit]

Alternative Metal/Nu Metal (1990s and 2000s)

Ozzfest poster (1998). Ozzy Osbourne, Megadeth, System of a Down, Tool, Motrhead appeared among others. The era of metal dominating the mainsteam came to an end with the emergence of Nirvana and other grunge bands that signaled the popular breakthrough of alternative rock. As the 1990s progressed metal began to make a comeback. This time around, the music had a much more aggressive feel than most of the mainstream metal of the 1980s. In some cases, bands also fused traditional elements with electronic beats and samples as well as the conventions and attitude of alternative rock. These newer bands are sometimes labeled alternative metal. Still more subgenres began to appear, such as funeral doom and brutal death metal, drawing on existing heavy metal subgenres. Heavy metal's comeback was solidified with the arrival of Ozzfest in 1996, a touring music festival hosted by heavy metal legend Ozzy Osbourne. Later, Osbourne grew even more famous when he and his family starred in a reality TV show called The Osbournes. Many well-known metal bands played at Ozzfest, including Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie, Deftones, Disturbed, Godsmack, Tool, System of a Down, Queens of the Stone Age, Slipknot, Korn, Dimmu Borgir and many more. Some of these bands were grouped under the heading nu metal in order to signify a new wave of metal music. Much debate has arisen over the genre's massive success and whether or not it is metal in a conventional sense. Fans of extreme metal, which itself is debated by purists as to whether it is metal or not in the conventional sense, often levy these criticisms against nu metal. In recent years, Ozzfest has had many metalcore bands playing at the festival and has helped the genre gain much popularity. Some see this style as nu metal's successor, whilst others believe that it will become popular and fashionable in the same way as nu metal. [edit]

Cultural impact

The loud, confrontational aspects of heavy metal have led to friction between fans and mainstream society in many countries. Due to the hedonistic nature, public perception thinks of as being promoted by the music and its occasional anti-religious sentiments, some heavy metal as a sub-culture has come under attack in many Christian and Islamic countries where even wearing a black T-shirt can be an arrestable offense. In Jordan, for example, all Metallica albums, past, present and future were banned in 2001.[1] In Europe and America, the fan base for heavy metal consists primarily of white males in their teens and 20smany of whom are attracted to heavy metal's overtly anti-social yet fantastical lyrics and extreme volume and tempos. Hence, the stereotype of the adolescent headbanger venting his rebellious urges by listening to presposterously loud, morbid music emerged. This image has been highlighted in popular culture with such television shows and movies as "Beavis and Butt-head" and "Airheads." Heavy metal's bombastic excesses, exemplified by glam metal, have often been parodied, most famously in the film This Is Spinal Tap (see also the phenomenon of the heavy metal umlaut). Many heavy metal stylings have made their way into everyday (albeit ironic) use; for instance, the "devil horns" hand sign popularized by Ronnie James Dio and Gene Simmons has become a common sight at many rock concerts. During the 1970s and 1980s, flirtation with occult themes by artists such as Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, KISS, Mercyful Fate, Led Zeppelin, Mtley Cre, Ozzy Osbourne, and W.A.S.P., led to accusations of "Satanic" influences in heavy metal by fundamentalist Christians. One popular contention during that period was that heavy metal albums featured hidden messages urging listeners to worship the Devil or to commit suicide (see Judas Priest and backward message and Allegations of Satanism in popular culture). [edit]

Eurovision
On Eurovision 2006 a heavy metal band won the first place, for the first time in the contest's history. That band is Lordi with the song Hard Rock Hallelujah from Finland. [edit]

Related styles
Hard rock, mentioned earlier, is closely related to heavy metal (and often the terms overlap in usage), but it does not always match the description of what purists consider the definition of heavy metal. While still guitar-driven in nature and usually riff-based, its themes and execution differ from that of the major heavy metal bands listed earlier in this article. This is perhaps best examplified by The Who in the late1960s and early-1970s, as well as other 1970s and 1980s bands like Queen who have had a large influence on heavy metal music, AC/DC, Aerosmith, KISS, Thin Lizzy, and Scorpions.

Glam rock, a short-lived era in the early 1970s, relied on heavy, crunchy guitars, anthemic songs, and a theatrical image. T. Rex, David Bowie, and Alice Cooper are among the more popular standard examples of this sub-genre. Some cross-influence has occurred between punk rock, hardcore punk and heavy metal. Punk rock was influential on the NWOBHM movement. Another example is Motrhead; the band's leader Lemmy, spent time in punk band The Damned and attempted to teach Sid Vicious how to play bass guitar. [edit]

Heavy metal dance

Although some heavy metal fans would disagree with the term "dance," there are certain body movements that are nearly universal in the metal world, including headbanging, moshing, and various hand gestures such as devil horns. Stage diving, air guitar, and crowd surfing are also practiced, but crowd surfing and moshing are most popular today

Psychedelic music
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Music Samples Green Tambourine - The Lemon Pipers (Redirected from Psychedelic rock) Jump to: navigation, search

Psychedelic rock Stylistic origins: Cultural origins: Typical instruments: British rock, jazz, folk Circa 1964, United States Guitar - Bass - Keyboards Drums

Mainstream popularity:

Large in the 1960s, with a small but loyal cult following today

Derivative forms: Progressive rock Subgenres

Acid rock - Stoner rock - Desert rock

For the most concise psychedelic music guide, click this link: Music to show you why less-popular albums are the most interesting Psychedelic music is a musical style inspired by or attempting to replicate the mindaltering experience of drugs such as cannabis, psilocybin, mescaline, and especially LSD. Psychedelic music is a misnomer and should properly be called psychedelic rock music, but for the purposes of this article it is not rigorously defined, and is sometimes interpreted to include everything from Acid Rock and Flower Power music to Hard Rock. There are also other forms of psychedelic music that started from the same roots and diverged from the prevalent rock style into electronic music. However, an inner core of the psychedelic style of rock that came to public attention in 1967 can be recognized by characteristic features such as modal melodies; esoteric lyrics often describing dreams, visions, or hallucinations; longer songs and lengthy instrumental solos; and "trippy" electronic effects such as distortion, reverb, and reversed, delayed and/or phased sounds. The album that brought psychedelic rock into pop culture was The Beatles's Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. While the first musicians to be influenced by psychedelic drugs were in the jazz and folk scenes, the first use of the term "psychedelic" in popular music was by the "acidfolk" group The Holy Modal Rounders in 1964. The first use of the word "psychedelic" in a rock music context is usually credited to the 13th Floor Elevators, and the earliest known appearance of this usage of the word in print is in the title of their 1966 album The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators. The psychedelic sound itself had been around at least a year earlier in the live music of the Grateful Dead and Pink Floyd, and Donovan's hit Sunshine Superman.

Contents
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1 History o 1.1 U.S.A. in the 1960s o 1.2 Britain in the 1960s o 1.3 The end of the 1960s o 1.4 More recent bands (Neo-Psychedelia) 2 See also 3 External links

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History
In 1962 British rock embarked on a frenetic race of ideas that spread back to the U.S. with the British Invasion. The folk music scene also experimented with outside influences. In the tradition of Jazz and blues music many musicians began to take drugs, and include drug references in their songs. In 1965 Bob Dylan was influenced by The Beatles to bring in electric rock instrumentation in his album Bringing It All Back Home, but The Byrds beat him to it with a jangling electric hit single version of a track from the album with hints of psychedelia, Mr. Tambourine Man. [edit]

U.S.A. in the 1960s

Psychedelia began in the United States folk scene, with New York City's Holy Modal Rounders introducing the term in 1964. A similar band called Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions from San Francisco were influenced by the Byrds and the Beatles to switch from acoustic music to electric music in 1965. Renaming themselves the Warlocks, they fell in with Ken Kesey's LSD-fuelled Merry Pranksters in November 1965, and changed their name to the Grateful Dead the following month. The Dead played to light shows at the Pranksters' "Acid Tests", with pulsing images being projected over the group in what became a widespread practice. Their sound soon became identified as Acid rock which they played at the Trips Festival in January 1966 along with Big Brother & the Holding Company. The festival was held at the Fillmore Auditorium and was attended by some 10,000 people. For most of the attendees, it was their first encounter with both acid-rock and LSD. Throughout 1966, the San Francisco music scene flourished, as the Fillmore, the Avalon Ballroom, and the Matrix club began booking local rock bands on a nightly basis. The emerging "San Francisco Sound" made local stars of numerous bands, including the Charlatans, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Country Joe and the Fish, The Great Society, and the folk-rockers Jefferson Airplane, whose debut album was recorded during the winter of 1965/66 and released in August 1966. Jefferson Airplane Takes Off was the first album to come out of San Francisco during this era and sold well enough to bring the city's music scene to the attention of the record industry. Jefferson Airplane gained greater fame the following year with two of the earliest psychedelic hit singles: "White Rabbit" and "Somebody to Love". In fact, both these songs had originated with the band The Great Society, whose singer Grace Slick left them to accept an offer to join Jefferson Airplane, taking the two compositions with her. While the Grateful Dead were the acknowledged leaders of the San Francisco music scene in the 1960s by both local concert-goers and rival bands, their records didn't sell as well as those by many of their Bay Area peers. As a result, the Grateful Dead didn't begin to attain national popularity until around 1969-1970, when their constant touring gained them a cult following.

Although San Francisco receives much of the credit for jumpstarting the psychedelic music scene, many other American cities contributed significantly to the new genre. Los Angeles boasted dozens of important psychedelic bands, including the Byrds, Love, Spirit, the United States of America, and the Doors, among others. New York City produced its share of psychedelic bands such as the Blues Magoos, the Blues Project, and the Third Bardo. The Detroit area gave rise to psychedelic bands the Amboy Dukes and the SRC. Texas (particularly Austin) is often cited for its contributions to psychedelic music, being home to the aforementioned 13th Floor Elevators, as well as Bubble Puppy, Golden Dawn, the Zakary Thaks, Red Krayola, and many others. The Byrds went psychedelic in 1966 with Eight Miles High, a song with odd vocal harmonies and an extended guitar solo that guitarist Roger McGuinn states was inspired by Raga and John Coltrane. In 1965, members of Rick And The Ravens and The Psychedelic Rangers came together with Jim Morrison to form the Doors. They made a demo tape for Columbia Records in September of that year, which contained glimpses of their later acid-rock sound. When nobody at Columbia wanted to produce the band, they were signed by Elektra Records, who released their debut album in January 1967. It contained their first hit single, "Light My Fire." Clocking in at over 7 minutes, it became one of the first rock singles to break the mold of the three-minute pop song, although the version usually played on AM radio was a much-shorter version. Initially, the Beach Boys, with their squeaky-clean image, seemed unlikely as psychedelic types. Their music, however, grew more psychedelic and experimental, perhaps due in part to writer/producer/arranger Brian Wilson's increased drug usage and burgeoning mental illness. In 1966, responding to the Beatles' innovations, they produced their album Pet Sounds and later that year had a massive hit with the psychedelic single "Good Vibrations". Wilson's magnum opus SMiLE (which was never finished, and was remade by Wilson with a new band in 2004) also shows this growing experimentation. The psychedelic influence was also felt in black music, where record labels such as Motown dabbled for a while with psychedelic soul, producing such hits as "Ball of Confusion (That's What the World is Today)" and "Psychedelic Shack" (by The Temptations), "Reflections" (by Diana Ross & the Supremes), and the 11-minute-long "Time Has Come Today" by The Chambers Brothers, before falling out of favour. [edit]

Britain in the 1960s

In the United Kingdom, Donovan, going electric like Dylan, had a 1965 hit with "Sunshine Superman," one of the very first overtly psychedelic pop records. Pink Floyd had been developing psychedelic rock with light shows since 1965 in the underground culture scene, and in 1966 the Soft Machine formed. In August 1966 The Beatles joined in the fun with their Revolver featuring psychedelia in "Tomorrow Never Knows" and in "Yellow Submarine," which combined these references with appeal to children and nostalgia, a formula repeated in "Strawberry Fields Forever"

which would keep their music widely popular. From a blues rock background, the British supergroup Cream debuted in December. The Jimi Hendrix Experience with Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell brought Jimi Hendrix fame in Britain, and later in his American homeland. Pink Floyd's "Arnold Layne" in March 1967 only hinted at their live sound; then after the Beatles' groundbreaking album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band ("Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds") was released in June, Pink Floyd showed their psychedelic sounds in The Piper at the Gates of Dawn and Cream did the same in Disraeli Gears. In the folk scene itself blues, drugs, jazz and eastern influences had featured since 1964 in the work of Davy Graham and Bert Jansch, and in 1967 the Incredible String Band's The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion developed this into full blown psychedelia. Other artists joining the psychedelic revolution included Eric Burdon (previously of The Animals), and The Small Faces. The Who's Sell Out had an early psychedelic track "I Can See for Miles", but the album concept was out of tune with the times, and it was their later album Tommy that established them in the scene. The Rolling Stones had drug references and psychedelic hints in their 1966 singles "19th Nervous Breakdown" and "Paint it Black", then the fully psychedelic Their Satanic Majesties Request ("In Another Land") suffered from the problems the group was having at the time. In 1968 Jumpin' Jack Flash and Beggars Banquet re-established them, but their disastrous concert at Altamont in 1969 ended the dream on a downer. [edit]

The end of the 1960s

A good number of the bands who pioneered psychedelic rock gave it up by the end of the 1960s. The increasingly hostile political environment and the embrace of amphetamines, heroin and cocaine by the underground led to a turn toward harsher music. At the same time, Bob Dylan released John Wesley Harding and the Band released Music from Big Pink, both albums that rejected psychedelia for a more rootsoriented approach. Many bands in England and America followed suit. Eric Clapton cites Music from Big Pink as a primary reason for quitting Cream, for example. The Grateful Dead also went back to basics and had major successes with Workingman's Dead and American Beauty in 1970, then continued to successfully develop their rambling live music and produce a long string of records over the next twenty-five years. The musicians and bands who continued to embrace psychedelia often went on to create progressive rock in the 1970s, which maintained the love of unusual sounds and extended solos but added jazz and classical influences to the mix. For example, progressive rock group Yes sprang out of three British psychedelic bands: Syn (featuring Chris Squire), Tomorrow (featuring Steve Howe) and Mabel Greer's Toy Shop (Jon Anderson). Also, psychedelic rock strongly influenced early heavy metal bands, Black Sabbath probably being the best example. Psychedelic rock, with its distorted guitar sound and adventurous compositions can be seen as an important bridge between heavy metal and earlier blues oriented rock.

Alongside the progressive stream, space rock bands such as Hawkwind, Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come and Gong maintained a more explicitly psychedelic course into the 1970s.

[edit]

More recent bands (Neo-Psychedelia)

Although the groups listed here are labeled with the Psychedelic moniker, it should be noted that some Psychedelic purists claim that much of the sound is actually quite different from the original Psychedelic bands and production from the sixties, thus pointing to different terminology, such as Revival Rock or Modern Rock. Phish, a jam band active from the early 1980s, played psychedelic music with a strong jazz influence, utilizing elaborate modal melodies and complex rhythmic accompaniment. In the mid 1980s a Los Angeles-based movement named the Paisley Underground acknowledged a debt to the Byrds, incorporating psychedelia into a folky, jangle pop sound. The Bangles were arguably the most successful band to emerge from this movement; amongst others involved were Green on Red, the Three O'Clock and Dream Syndicate. Loxley Beade from Darmstadt/Germany created a mixture of Psychedelic, Folk-Rock and oriental influences by using exotic instruments. A British counterpoint to the Paisley Underground was a number of post-New Wave bands, including The Soft Boys and the solo albums of their singer Robyn Hitchcock, and The Teardrop Explodes and its vocalist Julian Cope. Hitchcock was heavily influenced by Syd Barrett and John Lennon. In the mid 1980s, The Shamen began with a self-consciously psychedelic curriculum influenced by Barrett and Love, before reorienting itself towards rave. Other British dabblers in psychedelia included XTC and Martin Newell with The Cleaners from Venus and The Brotherhood of Lizards. Beginning in the late 1980s, travelers, musicians, and artists from around the world formed a new form of psychedelic music in the Indian state of Goa. Initially called Goa trance, this psychedelic music was the result of bajigga the 60s influences with industrial music and electronica. Popular rock artists also made several psychedelic songs, including Nirvana and Prince The group Kula Shaker, under the leadership of Crispian Mills, created much Indianinfluenced psychedelic music, such as the album "Peasants, pigs and Astronauts." Bands such as Ozric Tentacles and the Welsh Gorky's Zygotic Mynci play psychedelic music in a tradition that goes back to the 60s via acts such as Steve Hillage, Gong and their assorted side projects. British bands Anomie and My Bloody Valentine play British garage psychedelia, citing Pink Floyd and Hawkwind as musical influences. Some electronic or

electronic-influenced music termed "ambient" or "trance" such as Aphex Twin or Orbital, had it been written between 1966 and 1990, would have fallen within the category of psychedelia. Later Psychedelic trance artists such as Hallucinogen (musician) and Shpongle have continued the psychedelic music tradition within a dance-oriented context. Stoner rock acts like Kyuss and their successors also perform explicitly psychedelic music. Bands such as The Smashing Pumpkins and Tool fused psychedelic rock sounds with heavy metal, becoming highly successful alternative rock acts in the 1990s. In Australia in the 80s, bands such as The Tripps and Prince Vlad & the Gargoyle Impalers explored and reinvigorated the psychedlic genre. Rising from the Japanese noise underground, Acid Mothers Temple mix the subtle resonance of Blue Cheer, the Grateful Dead's psychedelic sound, the thought-provoking melodies of French folk, and concrete bursts of noise that run through music of Boredoms. Other endeavours in experimental rock with psychedelic influences include Neutral Milk Hotel, The Apples (In Stereo), Of Montreal, and Olivia Tremor Control: all members of the Elephant 6 musical collective, which was headquartered in Athens, Georgia, until its demise. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, a new psychedelic scene flourished in the Silverlake area of Los Angeles. Among the bands were the Brian Jonestown Massacre, led by Anton Newcombe. Other bands in the scene were Beachwood Sparks. Beachwood Sparks' influences were the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, and Gram Parsons and his Flying Burrito Brothers group. Spinning off from the Beachwood Sparks is a band called the Tyde. A new British psychelic scene also re-emerged amongst the London electronica movement in the late 1990s, giving birth to bands like desert rockers MJ13, where the British interpretation of the Kyuss influx showed more psychedelic sensibilities than the American Stoner rock sound was originally attributed to. More well-known bands of the Los Angeles scene were the Warlocks and BRMC. The Quarter After, a lesser-known group, is Byrds-influenced and has toured with the Brian Jonestown Massacre. The groups of the Silverlake Scene are mentioned in the documentary Dig!, which documents the rivalry between Brian Jonestown Massacre and the Dandy Warhols.

European classical music

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search This article is about the genre of classical music or art music in the Western musical tradition. For articles on classical music of non-Western cultures, see Classical music. For the period of music in the late 18th century, see Classical music era.

History of European art music Medieval Renaissance Baroque Classical Romantic 20th century Contemporary classical music (476 1400) (1400 1600) (1600 1760) (1730 1820) (1815 1910) (1900 2000)

Classical music is a broad, somewhat imprecise term, referring to music produced in, or rooted in the traditions of, European art, ecclesiastical and concert music, encompassing a broad period from roughly 1000 to the present day. The central norms of this tradition, according to one school of thought, developed between 1550 and 1820, focusing on what is known as the common practice period. The term classical music did not appear until the early 19th century, in an attempt to "canonize" the period from Bach to Beethoven as an era in music parallel to the golden age of sculpture, architecture and art of classical antiquity (from which no music has directly survived). The earliest reference to "classical music" recorded by the Oxford English Dictionary is from about 1836. Since that time the term has come in common parlance to mean the opposite of popular music.

Contents
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1 Timeline 2 Classical music as "music of the classical era" 3 The nature of classical music o 3.1 Complexity o 3.2 Emotional content o 3.3 Instruments o 3.4 Durability o 3.5 Influences between classical and popular music o 3.6 Classical music and folk music 4 Commercial uses of classical music 5 Classical music in education 6 Related genres 7 Composers of classical music 8 Terms of classical music 9 Literature

10 External links [edit]

Timeline
According to one school of thought, musical works are best understood in the context of their place in musical history; for adherents to this approach, this is essential to full enjoyment of these works. There is a widely accepted system of dividing the history of classical music composition into stylistic periods. According to this system, the major time divisions are:

Ancient music - the music generally before the year 476, the approximate time of the fall of the Roman Empire. Most of the extant music from this period is from ancient Greece. Medieval, generally before 1450. Monophonic chant, also called plainsong or Gregorian Chant, was the dominant form until about 1100. Polyphonic (multivoiced) music developed from monophonic chant throughout the late Middle Ages and into the Renaissance. Renaissance, about 14501600, characterized by greater use of instrumentation, multiple melodic lines and by the use of the first bass instruments. Baroque, about 16001750, characterized by the use of complex tonal, rather than modal, counterpoint, and growing popularity of keyboard music (harpsichord and pipe organ). Classical, about 17301820, an important era which established many of the norms of composition, presentation and style. Also, the classical era is marked by the disappearance of the harpsichord and the clavichord in favour of the piano, which from then on would become the predominant instrument for keyboard performance and composition. Romantic, 18151910 a period which codified practice, expanded the role of music in cultural life and created institutions for the teaching, performance and preservation of works of music. Modern, 1905-1985 a period which represented a crisis in the values of classical music and its role within intellectual life, and the extension of theory and technique. Some theorists, such as Arnold Schoenberg in his essay "Brahms the Progressive," insist that Modernism represents a logical progression from 19th century trends in composition; others hold the opposing point of view, that Modernism represents the rejection or negation of the method of Classical composition. 20th century, usually used to describe the wide variety of post-Romantic styles composed through the year 2000, which includes late Romantic, Modern and Post-Modern styles of composition. The term contemporary music is sometimes used to describe music composed in the late 20th century through present day. The prefix neo is usually used to describe a 20th Century or Contemporary composition written in the style of an earlier period, such as classical, romantic, or modern. So for example, Prokofiev's Classical Symphony is considered a Neo-Classical composition.

The dates are generalizations, since the periods overlapped. Some authorities subdivide the periods further by date or style. However, it should be noted that these categories are to an extent arbitrary; the use of counterpoint and fugue, which is

considered characteristic of the Baroque era, was continued by Mozart, who is generally classified as typical of the Classical period, by Beethoven who is often described as straddling the Classical and Romantic periods, and Brahms, who is often classified as Romantic. This chart shows a selection of the most famous classical composers. For a more complete overview see Graphical timeline for classical composers

[edit]

Classical music as "music of the classical era"

Main article: Classical music era In music history, a different meaning of the term classical music is occasionally used: it designates music from a period in musical history covering approximately Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach to Beethovenroughly, 17301820. When used in this sense, the term is usually capitalized to avoid confusion.

[edit]

The nature of classical music

Classical music is primarily a written musical tradition, preserved in music notation, as opposed to being transmitted orally, by rote, or in recordings. While there are differences between particular performances of a classical work, a piece of classical music is generally held to transcend any interpretation of it. The use of musical notation is an effective method for transmitting classical music, since the written music contains the technical instructions for performing the work. The written score, however, does not usually contain explicit instructions as to how to interpret the piece, apart from directions for dynamics and tempo; this is left to the discretion of the performers, who are guided by their personal experience and musical education, their knowledge of the work's idiom, and the accumulated body of historic performance practices. Classical music is meant to be experienced for its own sake, unlike music that serves as an adjunct to other forms of entertainment (although orchestral film music is occasionally treated as classical music). Classical music concerts often take place in a relatively solemn atmosphere, and the audience is usually expected to stay quiet and still to avoid distracting the concentration of other audience members. The performers often dress formally, a practice which is taken as a gesture of respect for the music and the audience, and performers do not normally engage in direct involvement or casual banter with the audience. Private readings of chamber music may take place at more informal domestic occasions. Its written transmission, along with the veneration bestowed on certain classical works, has led to the expectation that performers will play a work in a way that realizes in detail the original intentions of the composer. Indeed, deviations from the composer's instructions are sometimes condemned as outright ethical lapses. During the 19th century the details that composers put in their scores generally increased. Yet the opposite trendadmiration of performers for new "interpretations" of the composer's workcan be seen, and it is not unknown for a composer to praise a performer for achieving a better realization of the composer's original intent than the composer was able to imagine. Thus, classical music performers often achieve very high reputations for their musicianship, even if they do not compose themselves. Classical composers often aspire to imbue their music with a very complex relationship between its affective (emotional) content, and the intellectual means by which it is achieved. Many of the most esteemed works of classical music make use of musical development, the process by which a musical germ, idea or motif is repeated in different contexts, or in altered form, so that the mind of the listener consciously or unconsciously compares the different versions. The classical genres of sonata form and fugue employ rigorous forms of musical development. (See also History of sonata form) Another consequence of the primacy of the composer's written score is that improvisation plays a relatively minor role in classical music, in sharp contrast to traditions like jazz, where improvisation is central. Improvisation in classical music

performance was far more common during the Baroque era than in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and recently the performance of such music by modern classical musicians has been enriched by a revival of the old improvisational practices. During the Classical period, Mozart and Beethoven sometimes improvised the cadenzas to their piano concertos (and thereby encouraged others to do so), but they also provided written cadenzas for use by other soloists. Art music, concert music, and orchestral music are terms sometimes used as synonyms of classical music. [edit]

Complexity
Classical works often display great musical complexity through the composer's use of development, modulation (changing of keys), variation rather than exact repetition, musical phrases that are not of even length, counterpoint, polyphony and sophisticated harmony. Also, many long classical works (from 30 minutes to three hours) are built up from a hierarchy of smaller units: namely phrases, periods, sections, and movements. Schenkerian analysis is a branch of music theory which attempts to distinguish these structural levels. [edit]

Emotional content
As with many forms of fine art, classical music often aspires to communicate a transcendent quality of emotion, which expresses something universal about the human condition. While emotional expression is not a property exclusive to classical music, this deeper exploration of emotion arguably allows the best classical music to reach what has been called the "sublime" in art. Many examples often cited in support of this, for instance Beethoven's setting of Friedrich Schiller's poem, Ode to Joy in his 9th symphony, which is often performed at occasions of national liberation or celebration, as in Leonard Bernstein's famously performing the work to mark the collapse of the Berlin Wall, and the Japanese practice of performing it to observe the New Year. However, some composers, such as Iannis Xenakis, argue that the emotional effect of music on the listeners is arbitrary and therefore the objective complexity or informational content of the piece is paramount. [edit]

Instruments
Classical and popular music are often distinguished by their choice of instruments. The instruments used in common practice classical music were mostly invented before the mid-19th century (often, much earlier), and codified in the 18th and 19th

centuries. They consist of the instruments found in an orchestra, together with a few other solo instruments (such as the piano, harpsichord, and organ). Electric instruments such as the electric guitar and electric violin play a prominent role in popular music, but of course play no role in classical music before the twentieth century, and only appear occasionally in the classical music of the 20th and 21st centuries. Both classical and popular musicians have experimented in recent decades with electronic instruments such as the synthesizer, electric and digital techniques such as the use of sampled or computer-generated sounds, and the sounds of instruments from other cultures such as the gamelan. None of the bass instruments existed until the Renaissance. In Medieval Music, instruments are divided in two categories: loud instruments for use outdoors or in church, and quieter instruments for indoor use. Many instruments which are associated today with popular music used to have important roles in early classical music, such as bagpipes, vilhuela, hurdy-gurdy and some woodwind instruments. On the other hand, the acoustic guitar, for example, which used to be associated mainly with popular music, has gained prominence in classical music through the 19th and 20th centuries. Finally, while equal temperament became gradually accepted as the dominant musical tuning during the 19th century, different historical temperaments are often used for music from earlier periods. For instance, music of the English Renaissance is often performed in mean tone temperament. [edit]

Durability
One criterion that might be said to distinguish works of the classical musical canon is its cultural durability. However, this is not a distinguishing mark of all classical music: works by J. S. Bach (16851750) continue to be widely performed and highly regarded, while music by many of Bach's contemporaries, while undoubtedly "classical", is deemed mediocre, and is rarely performed. [edit]

Influences between classical and popular music

Classical music has always been influenced by, or taken material from, popular music. Examples include occasional music such as Brahms' use of student drinking songs in his Academic Festival Overture, genres exemplfied by Kurt Weill's The Threepenny Opera, and the influence of jazz on early- and mid-twentieth century composers including Maurice Ravel. Certain postmodern and postminimalist classical composers acknowledge a debt to popular music. There are also many examples of influence flowing the other way, including popular songs based on classical music, the use to which Pachelbel's Canon has been put since the 1970s, and the musical crossover phenomenon, where classical musicians have achieved success in the popular music arena (one notable example is the

"Hooked on Classics" series of recordings made by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in the early 1980s). In fact, it could be argued that the entire genre of film music could be considered part of this influence as well, since it brings orchestral music to vast audiences of moviegoers who might otherwise never choose to listen to such music (albeit for the most part unconsciously). [edit]

Classical music and folk music

Composers of classical music have often made use of folk music (music created by untutored musicians, often from a purely oral tradition). Some have done so with an explicit nationalist ideology, others have simply mined folk music for thematic material. See: European Classical Composers Noted for Use of Folk Music [edit]

Commercial uses of classical music

Certain staples of classical music are often used commercially (that is, either in advertising or in the soundtracks of movies made for entertainment). In television commercials, several loud, bombastically rhythmic orchestral passages have become cliches, particularly the opening "O Fortuna" of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana; other examples in the same vein are the Dies Irae from the Verdi Requiem, and excerpts of Aaron Copland's "Rodeo". Similarly, movies often revert to standard, cliched snatches of classical music to represent refinement or opulence: probably the most-often heard piece in this category is Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik. [edit]

Classical music in education

Throughout history, parents have often made sure that their children receive classical music training from a young age. Early experience with music provides the basis for more serious study later. For those who desire to become performers, any musical instrument is practically impossible to learn to play at a professional level if not learned in childhood. Some parents pursue music lessons for their children for social reasons or in an effort to instill a useful sense of self-discipline; lessons have also been shown to increase academic performance. Some consider that a degree of knowledge of important works of classical music is part of a good general education. The 1990s marked the emergence in the United States of research papers and popular books on the so-called Mozart effect: a temporary, small elevation of scores on certain tests as a result of listening to Mozart. The popularized version of the controversial theory was expressed succinctly by a New York Times music columnist: "researchers have determined that listening to Mozart actually makes you smarter." Promoters marketed CDs claimed to induce the effect. Florida passed a law requiring toddlers in

state-run schools to listen to classical music every day, and in 1998 the governor of Georgia budgeted $105,000 a year to provide every child born in Georgia with a tape or CD of classical music. One of the original researchers commented "I don't think it can hurt. I'm all for exposing children to wonderful cultural experiences. But I do think the money could be better spent on music education programs."

Electric guitar
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Jump to: navigation, search

Left: Rosa Hurricane, a heavy metal-style solid body guitar. Right: Maton Freshman, a hollow body electric guitar. An electric guitar is a type of guitar that utilizes electronic pickups to convert the vibration of its steel-cored strings into electrical current. The signal may be electrically altered to achieve various tonal effects prior to being fed into an amplifier, which produces the final sound which can be either an electrical sound or an acoustic sound. Distortion pedals can change the sound that is emitted from the amplifier. There are two main types of electric guitar:

Hollow body electric guitars, sometimes called semi-acoustic, and themselves of two types: o Archtop electric guitars with a full sound box. o Thin hollow body guitars. Solid body guitars.

Some acoustic guitars are fitted with pickups purely as an alternative to using a microphone. These are also sometimes called semi-acoustic, and sometimes acoustic electric, but are regarded as acoustic rather than electric guitars. The terminology is not generally agreed, and the line hard to draw.

Specialised steel guitars, although they are also electric instruments descended from the guitar, are normally not considered electric guitars but rather as a separate instrument. This distinction has important consequences on claims of priority in the history of the electric guitar. The electric guitar is used extensively in many popular styles of music, including blues, rock and roll, country music, pop music, jazz, rap and even contemporary classical music. It's distinctive sound and intimate association with many legendary internationally-famous musicians has made it the signature instrument of late twentieth-century music.

Contents
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1 History o 1.1 Early years o 1.2 Fender o 1.3 Gibson 2 Types of electric guitar 3 Pickups 4 The physical principle 5 Electric guitar sound and effects 6 Uses o 6.1 Contemporary classical music 7 Common Brands 8 See also

9 External links [edit]

History
The popularity of the electric guitar began with the big band era because amplified instruments became necessary to compete with the loud volumes of the large brass sections common to jazz orchestras of the thirties and forties. Initially, electric guitars consisted primarily of hollow archtop acoustic guitar bodies to which electromagnetic transducers had been attached. [edit]

Early years
Electric guitars were originally designed by an assortment of luthiers, electronics enthusiasts, and instrument manufacturers, in varying combinations. Some of the earliest electric guitars used tungsten pickups and were manufactured in the 1930s by Rickenbacker. The electric guitar was first made famous in performance by jazz legend Charlie Christian.

The version of the instrument that is most well known today is the [solid body] electric guitar, a guitar made of solid wood, without resonating airspaces within it. One of the first solid body electric guitars was built by musician and inventor Les Paul in the early 1940s, working after hours in the Gibson Guitar factory. His "log" guitar (so called because it consisted of a simple 4x4 wood post with a neck attached to it, two Swedish hollow body halves attached to the sides, and homemade pickups and hardware) was generally considered to be the first of its kind until recently, when research through old trade publications and with surviving luthiers and their families revealed many other prototypes, and even limited production models that fit our modern conception of an 'electric guitar.' At least one company, Audiovox, built and may have offered an electric solid-body as early as the mid-1930s. Rickenbacher, later spelled Rickenbacker (both are pronounced Rickenbocker) offered a solid Bakelite electric guitar beginning in 1935 that, when tested by vintage guitar researcher John Teagle, reportedly sounded quite modern and aggressive. [edit]

Fender
In 1950 and 1951, electronics and instrument amplifier maker Leo Fender, through his eponymous company, designed the first commercially successful solid-body electric guitar, which was initially named the Broadcaster. However, the Gretsch company had a drumset by the same name (Broadkaster), so Fender was forced to change the name, choosing Telecaster in homage to the new phenomenon of television. Features of the Telecaster included an ash body; a maple 25" scale, 21-fret neck attached to the body with four-bolts reinforced by a steel neckplate; two single-coil, 6-pole pickups (bridge and neck positions), with tone and volume controls, pickup selector switch, and an output jack mounted on the side of the body. A black bakelite pickguard concealed body routings for pickups and wiring. The bolt-on neck was consistent with Leo Fender's belief that the instrument design should be modular to allow cost-effective and consistent manufacture and assembly, as well as simple repair or replacement. A variant of the Telecaster, the Esquire, had only the bridge pickup. Due to the Broadcaster trademark issue, the earliest Telecasters were delivered with headstock decals with the Fender logo but no model identification, and are commonly referred to by collectors as "Nocasters". In 1954 Fender introduced the Stratocaster, or "Strat", which was positioned as a deluxe model and offered various product improvements and innovations over the Telecaster. These innovations included an ash or alder double-cutaway body design for badge assembly with an integrated vibrato mechanism (called a synchronized tremolo by Fender, thus beginning a confusion of the terms that still continues), three single-coil pickups, and body comfort contours. The Stratocaster has become the most-recognizable and most copied electric guitar design ever. Pink Floyd's guitarist, David Gilmour, owns one of the first Fender Stratocasters ever made. Leo Fender is also credited with developing the first commercially-successful electric bass called the Fender Precision Bass, introduced in 1951. [edit]

Gibson
Gibson, like many guitar manufacturers, had long offered semi-acoustic guitars with pickups, and previously rejected Les Paul and his "log" electric in the 1940s. In apparent response to the Telecaster, Gibson introduced the first Gibson Les Paul solid body guitar in 1952, designed at least in part with input from Les Paul. Features of the Les Paul included a mahogany body with a carved maple top (much like a violin) and contrasting edge binding, two single-coil "soapbar" pickups, a 24" scale mahogany neck with a more traditional glued-in "set" neck joint, binding on the edges of the fret board, and a tilt-back headstock with three tuners to a side. The earliest models had a combination bridge and trapeze-tailpiece design that was deemed unsuitable by Les Paul himself. Gibson then developed the Tune-o-Matic bridge and separate stop tailpiece, an adjustable non-vibrato design that has endured. By 1957, Gibson had made the final major change to the Les Paul as we know it today - the humbucking pickup, or humbucker. The humbucker, invented by Seth Lover, was a dual-coil pickup which produced a distinctive tone but also offered the advantage of elimination of the 60-cycle hum associated with single-coil pickups.The more traditionally designed and styled Gibson solid-body instruments were a contrast to Leo Fender's modular designs, with the most notable differentiator being the method of neck attachment and the scale of the neck (Gibson-24.75", Fender-25.5"). Each design has it own merits. To this day, the basic design of nearly every solid-body electric guitar available today echoes the features of early 1950s originals - the Fender Telecaster & Stratocaster, and the Gibson Les Paul. [edit]

Types of electric guitar

Most electric guitars are fitted with six strings and are usually tuned from low to high E - A - D - G - B - E, the same as an acoustic guitar, although many guitarists occasionally tune their instruments in a different way, including "dropped D", various transposed and open chord tunings, usually to simplify fretting of some chord inversions in a certain key. Some guitarists also tune to very low tunings, almost 4 whole steps down from E - A - D - G - B - E. Seven-string models exist, most of which add a low B string below the E. Seven-string guitars were popularized by Steve Vai and others in the '80s, and have been recently revived by some nu metal bands. Jazz guitarists using a seven-string include veteran jazzman Bucky Pizzarelli and his popular son John Pizzarelli. There are even eight-string electric guitars, such as the one played by Charlie Hunter (manufactured by Novax Guitars), but they are extremely unusual. The largest manufacturer of 8- to 14-strings is Warr Guitars. Their models are used by Trey Gunn(of King Crimson) who has his own signature line from the company. Jimmy Page, an innovator of hard rock, used and made famous custom Gibson electric guitars with two necks - essentially two instruments in one; in his case, a 6string and 12-string guitar, to replicate his use of two different guitars when playing live "Stairway to Heaven" so that he didn't have to pause to switch from one section to another. These are commonly known as double-neck (or, less commonly, "twinneck") guitars. The purpose is to obtain different ranges of sound from each

instrument; typical combinations are six-string and four-string (guitar and bass guitar) or, more commonly, a six-string and twelve-string. Such a combination may come handy when playing ballads live, where the 12-string gives a mellower sound as accompaniment, while the 6-string may be used for a guitar solo. English progressive rock bands such as Genesis took this trend to its zenith using custom made instruments produced by the Shergold company. Rick Nielsen, guitarist for Cheap Trick, uses a variety of custom guitars, many of which have five necks - more for comic effect than for actual usefulness. Guitar virtuoso Steve Vai occasionally uses a triple-neck guitar; one neck is twelve string, one is six string and the third is a fretless six string.

Detail of a Squier-made Fender Stratocaster. Note the tremolo arm, the 3 single-coil pickups, the volume and tone knobs. Some electric guitars have a tremolo arm or whammy bar, which is a lever attached to the bridge that can slacken or tighten the strings temporarily, changing the pitch or creating a vibrato. Tremolo properly refers to a quick variation of volume, not pitch; however, the misnaming (probably originating with Leo Fender printing "Synchronized Tremolo" right on the headstock of his original 1954 Stratocaster) is probably too established to change. Eddie Van Halen often uses this feature to embellish his playing, as heard in Van Halen's "Eruption". Early tremolo systems tended to cause the guitar to go out of tune with extended use; an important innovator in this field was Floyd Rose, who introduced one of the first improvements on the vibrato system in many years when in the late 1970s he began to experiment with "locking" nuts and bridges which work to prevent the guitar from detuning even under the most heavy whammy bar acrobatics. [edit]

Pickups
Electric guitars are not usually amplified by using a microphone, but with special pickups that sense the movement of strings. Such pickups tend to also pick up the ambient electrical noises of the room, the so-called "hum", with a strong 50 or 60 Hz component depending on the frequency used in the local power transmission system. Hum is annoying, especially when playing with distortion, so "humbucker" pickups were invented to counter this. Normal pickups are single-coil; humbuckers are essentially like twin microphones arranged in such a way that electrical noise cancels itself. A similar effect may be achieved using a guitar with multiple single coil pickups with an appropriate selection of dual pickups. (See main articles on pickups and humbuckers.) Another instrument, the pedal steel guitar, does not look like a guitar at all, but resembles a small rectangular table with one or more sets of strings

on top. Country musician Junior Brown uses a custom-built instrument of his invention, the guit-steel, which has one neck that is a steel guitar, and one standard electric guitar neck. [edit]

The physical principle

The physics of electric guitars and other electric string instruments is fairly simple, since they are based on induced currents (see the electromagnetism article for more details). Magnets are located under each string, which make the strings behave as magnets themselves. When a string is played, it oscillates at a certain frequency, causing the magnetic field it creates to oscillate with it. Solenoids (electromagnetic coils) are wrapped around each magnet, giving a periodic induced current (at the same frequency) [1]. [edit]

Electric guitar sound and effects

Both the North America-built Godin LG (left) and the Fender Stratocaster (right - an entry-level, Korean-made Squier model is shown) are solidbody electric guitars, but they differ significantly in design, including scale length, neck and body woods, and pickup type. An acoustic guitar's sound is largely dependent on the vibration of the guitar's body and the air within it; the sound of an electric guitar is largely dependent on a magnetically induced electrical signal, generated by the vibration of metal strings near sensitive pickups. The signal is then shaped on its path to the amplifier. By the late 1960s, it became common practice to exploit this dependence to alter the sound of the instrument. The most dramatic innovation was the generation of distortion by increasing the gain, or volume, of the preamplifier in order to clip the electronic

signal. This form of distortion generates harmonics, particularly in even multiples of the input frequency, which are considered pleasing to the ear. Beginning in the 1960s, the tonal palette of the electric guitar was further modified by introducing an effects box in its signal path. Traditionally built in a small metal chassis with an on/off foot switch, such "stomp boxes" have become as much a part of the instrument for many electric guitarists as the electric guitar itself. Typical effects include stereo chorus, fuzz, wah-wah and flanging, compression/sustain, delay, reverb, and phase shift. Some important innovators of this aspect of the electric guitar include guitarists Frank Zappa, Link Wray, Jimi Hendrix, Brian May, Eddie Van Halen, Steve Jones, Jerry Garcia, David Gilmour, Yngwie J. Malmsteen, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Thurston Moore, Adam Jones, Daniel Ash, and Tom Morello, and technicians such as Roger Mayer. By the 1980s, and 1990s, digital and software effects became capable of replicating the analog effects used in the past. These new digital effects attempted to model the sound produced by analog effects and tube amps, to varying degrees of quality. There are many free to use guitar effects software for personal computer downloadable from the Internet. Today anyone can transform his PC with sound card into a digital guitar effects processor. Although there are some obvious advantages to digital and software effects, many guitarists still use analog effects for their real or perceived quality over their digital counterparts. Some innovations have been made recently in the design of the electric guitar. In 2002, Gibson announced the first digital guitar, which performs analog-to-digital conversion internally. The resulting digital signal is delivered over a standard Ethernet cable, eliminating cable-induced line noise. The guitar also provides independent signal processing for each individual string. Also, in 2003 amp maker Line 6 released the Variax guitar. It differs in some fundamental ways from conventional solid-body electrics. For example it uses piezoelectric pickups instead of the conventional electro-magnetic ones, and has an onboard computer capable of modifying the sound of the guitar to realistically model many popular guitars. [edit]

Uses
The electric guitar can be played either solo or with other instruments. It has been used in numerous genres of popular music, as well as (much less frequently) classical music. [edit]

Contemporary classical music

While the classical guitar had historically been the only variety of guitar favored by classical composers, in the 1950s a few contemporary classical composers began to use the electric guitar in their compositions. Examples of such works include Karlheinz Stockhausen's Gruppen (1955-1957); Morton Feldman's The Possibility of

a New Work for Electric Guitar (1966); George Crumb's Songs, Drones, and Refrains of Death (1968); Hans Werner Henze's Versuch ber Schweine (1968); and Michael Tippett's The Knot Garden (1966-70). In the 1980s and 1990s, a growing number of composers (many of them composerperformers who had grown up playing the instrument in rock bands) began writing for the instrument. These include Steven Mackey, Omar Rodriquez, Lois V Vierk, Tim Brady, John Fitz Rogers, Tristan Murail, Randall Woolf, Scott Johnson and Yngwie Malmsteen with his Concerto Suite for Electric Guitar and Orchestra. The American composers Glenn Branca and Rhys Chatham have written "symphonic" works for large ensembles of electric guitars, in some cases numbering up to 100 players. Still, like many electric and electronic instruments, the electric guitar remains primarily associated with rock and jazz music, rather than with classical compositions and performances. [edit]

Common Brands

B.C. Rich Dean Epiphone ESP Fender Gibson Gretsch Ibanez Jackson Johnson Peavey PRS Rickenbacker Schecter Squier Washburn Yamaha Godin

Bass guitar
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Martin EB18 Bass Guitar in flight case The electric bass guitar (also called electric bass or simply bass) is an electrically amplified plucked string instrument. It is similar in appearance to an electric guitar but has a larger body, a longer neck and scale length, and, usually, four strings (compared to six on an electric guitar) tuned an octave lower in pitch. Electric basses may be fretted or fretless, but fretted basses are far more common in most popular music settings. There are also hollow-bodied acoustic bass guitars. Since the 1950s the electric bass has largely replaced the double bass in popular music as the instrument that provides the low-pitched bassline(s) and bass runs. The electric bass is used as a soloing instrument in jazz, fusion, Latin, and funk styles, and bass solos are sometimes performed in other genres.

Contents
[hide]

1 History o 1.1 1920s prototypes o 1.2 1930s: Fretted basses o 1.3 1950s and 1960s: Fender Bass o 1.4 1970s: Boutique Basses 2 Nomenclature 3 Design considerations o 3.1 Body o 3.2 Strings and tuning o 3.3 Pickups 3.3.1 Pickup types 3.3.2 Pickup configuration 3.3.3 Non-magnetic pickups o 3.4 Frets 4 Fretless basses 5 Amplification and effects 6 Playing techniques o 6.1 Sitting or standing o 6.2 Plectra vs. fingers or thumb o 6.3 Right hand support and position o 6.4 Downward stroke o 6.5 Striking or plucking position 6.5.1 'Piano hammer' style o 6.6 "Slap and pop," tapping, and related techniques 7 Musical role 8 See also

9 External links [edit]

History
[edit]

1920s prototypes
In the 1920s and early 1930s, several early prototypes of electric double basses were developed. Even though these instruments had electric pickups, they were still variants of the double bass, because they were unfretted and played vertically. The Audiovox Manufacturing Company in Seattle, Washington had an upright solidbody electric bass on the market by February 1935, designed by Paul Tutmarc, a musician, instrument maker, and amplifier designer. [edit]

1930s: Fretted basses

Subsequently, Paul Tutmarc developed a guitar-style electric bass instrument that was fretted and designed to be held and played horizontally. Audiovox's sales catalogue of 1935-6 listed what is probably the worlds first fretted, solid body electric bass that is designed to be played horizontally - the Model #736 Electric Bass Fiddle. The change to a "guitar" form made the instrument easier to hold and transport; the addition of guitar-style frets enabled bassists to play in tune more easily (which also made the new electric bass easier to learn). [edit]

1950s and 1960s: Fender Bass

A self-taught electrical engineer named Leo Fender developed the first mass-produced electric bass in the 1950s. His Fender Precision Bass became a widely-copied industry standard. The Precision Bass (or "P-bass") evolved from a simple, uncontoured 'slab' body design with a single piece, four-pole pickup to a contoured body design with beveled edges for comfort and a single "split coil pickup" (staggered humbucker). In 1960, Fender introduced the Jazz Bass, which became an industry standard. The jazz bass featured two single-coil pickups, one close to the bridge and one in the Precision bass' position, each with separate volume and tone controls. As well, the neck was more narrow at the nut than the Precision bass (1 1/2" vs 1 3/4"). Pickup positions on other manufacturers' basses are often referred to as "P" or "J" position pickups, in reference to Precision and Jazz basses. During the 1960s, Fender also produced a six-string bass, the Fender VI, although it was tuned higher than a modern six-string bass. Following Fender's lead, other companies such as Gibson, Danelectro, ESP Guitars, and many others started to produce their own version of the electric bass. Some became identified with a particular style of music, such as the Rickenbacker 4000 series which became identified with progressive rock bassists. [edit]

1970s: Boutique Basses

In 1971 Alembic established the template for what would subsequently be known as "boutique" or "high end" electric basses. These expensive, custom-tailored instruments featured unique designs, premium wood bodies chosen and hand-finished by master craftspeople, onboard electronics for preamplification and equalization, and innovative construction techniques such as multi-laminate neck-through-body construction and graphite necks. Alembic and another "boutique" bass manufacturer, Ken Smith, both produced 5-string basses with a low "B" string in the mid-1970s. Ken Smith also developed and marketed the first wide-spacing six-string electric bass. [edit]

Nomenclature
The instrument is called a "bass guitar" (pronounced like "base"), "electric bass guitar," "electric bass," or simply "bass." In the 1950s and 1960s, the term "Fender bass" was widely used to describe the bass guitar, due to Fender's early dominance in the market for mass-produced bass guitars. However, the term "electric bass" began replacing "Fender bass" in the late 1960's, as evidenced by the title of Carol Kaye's popular bass instructional book in 1969 (How To Play The Electric Bass) and the use of the term "electric bass" by US musicians' unions. [edit]

Design considerations

"Headless" Steinberger bass. Musicians have embraced a wide variety of different electric bass designs, which include a huge variety of options for the body, neck, pickups, and other features. Musicians have become open minded towards the new technologies and approaches to musical instrument design that have developed for the electric bass. As well, instruments handmade by highly-skilled masters of the craft of lutherie (guitarmaking) are becoming an increasingly popular choice for professional and highlyskilled amateur bassists. These developments have given the modern bass player a wide range of choices when choosing an instrument. Design options include: [edit]

Body

Bodies are typically made of wood although other materials such as graphite (for example, some of the Steinberger designs) have also been used. A wide variety of woods are suitable - the most common include alder, mahogany and ash, and bubinga. The choice of body material and shape can have a significant impact on the timbre of the completed instrument as well as aesthetic considerations. Other design considerations include:

A wide range of colored or clear lacquer, wax and oil finishes exploiting the amazing variety of natural wood forms Various flat and carved industrial designs for different types of both traditional and exotic woods, large percentage of luthier-produced unique instruments (affecting weight, balance and aesthetics) Headed and headless (with tuning carried out using a special bridge, mainly manufactured by Steinberger and Hohner) designs Several artificial materials developed especially for instrument building, most notable being luthite Unique production techniques for artificial materials, including die-casting for cost-effective complex body shapes

One further variable is the solidity of the body. Most basses have solid bodies but variations include chambers for increased resonance or to reduce weight. Basses are also built with entirely hollow bodies, which changes the tone and resonance of the instrument and allows performers to practice without an amplifier. Since the size of the resonant chamber for acoustic bass guitars is much smaller than the resonant chambers of other acoustic bass instruments such as the double bass or the guitarron, acoustic bass guitars cannot produce much unamplified volume; as such acoustic bass guitars are typically equipped with piezoelectric or magnetic pickups and amplified. Hollow-bodied bass guitars are discussed in more detail in the article on acoustic bass guitars. [edit]

Strings and tuning

The standard design electric bass has four strings, tuned E, A, D and G (with the fundamental frequency of the E string set at 41.3 Hz, the same as the lowest string on the double bass). This tuning is the same as the standard tuning on the lower four strings on a 6-string guitar, only an octave lower. The materials used in the strings gives bass players a range of tonal options. String types include all-metal strings (roundwound or flatwound), metal strings with different coverings, such as tapewound and plastic-coatings, and non-metal strings made of nylon. Early basses used flatwound strings, with a smooth surface. These gave a smooth, somewhat damped sound reminiscent of a double bass. In the 1960s and 1970s roundwound bass strings similar to guitar strings became increasingly popular. Roundwounds give a brighter sound, more similar to that of a guitar or piano, and with much greater sustain. The clearer roundwound sound more readily "cuts through" rock bands and other forms of pop music, and have replaced flatwounds in

most popular music. Flatwounds are still used by some who prefer the sound or desire a "classic" tone for Motown music or other genres which originally involveded flatwound bass strings.

Note positions on a right-handed 4-string bass in standard EADG tuning As performers sought to expand the range of their instruments, a range of other tuning options and bass types has been used. The most common include:

Four strings with alternate tunings to obtain an extended lower range. Tunings such as "BEAD" (this requires a low "B" string in addition to the other three "standard" strings), "D-A-D-G" (a "standard" set of strings, with only the lowest string detuned), and D-G-C-F or C-G-C-F (a "standard" set of strings, all of which are detuned) give bassists an extended lower range. These options are sometimes used by players who do not like the "feel" of the thicker, heavier 5-string neck, or by bassists who do not have access to a 5-string bass.

A musician warming up on a five-string electric bass guitar. Five strings (normally B-E-A-D-G but sometimes EADGC). The 5-string bass with a low "B" provides added lower range, as compared with the 4-string bass. As well, it gives a player easier access to low notes when playing in the higher positions. The resultant tone of the instrument is usually "thicker," as the fatter strings give fewer harmonics. This is particularly the case for notes on the low "B" string.

Six strings (BEADGC or BEADGB although EADGBE has also been used). While six-string basses are much less common than 4- or 5-string basses, they are used in Latin, jazz, and several other genres. Bassists using six-string basses include New Order's Peter Hook and Dream Theater's John Myung. Detuners, one of which is sold under the name Hipshot, are mechanical devices operated by the left-hand thumb that allow one or more strings to be detuned to a lower pitch. Hipshots are typically used to drop the "E"-string down to "D" on a four string bass). More rarely, some bassists (e.g., Michael Manring) will add detuners to more than one string, to enable them to detune strings during a performance and have access to a wider range of chime-like harmonics.

Less commonly, bassists use other types of basses or tuning methods to obtain an extended range. Instrument types or tunings used for this purpose include:

Eight-, 10-, and 12-string basses with double or triple courses of strings, as compared with their 4-, 5-, and 6-string counterparts. An 8-string bass would be strung Ee, Aa, Dd, Gg, while a 12-string bass might be tuned Eee Aaa Ddd Ggg, with standard pitch strings augmented by two strings an octave higher. Guitar-tuned bass (4-string): the D-G-B-E tuning has the same note names as the first (e.g., from highest to lowest) four strings of a guitar, although they are pitched two octaves lower. Tenor bass: A-D-G-C Piccolo bass: e-a-d-g (an octave higher than standard bass tuning-the same as the bottom four strings of a guitar) Sub-contra bass: C#-F#-B-E ("C#" being at 18 Hz and the "E"- string being the same as the "E"-string found on standard basses). To amplify the low pitches of this instrument, a subwoofer capable of extended low-range reproduction is needed. Extended range 11-string basses which go from a low "C#" up to a high Eb (one semitone below a guitar's high E). Eleven-string basses are uncommon and are typically custom built instruments. Al Caldwell, Jean Baudin (of the band Nuclear Rabbit), and Garry Goodman (from The Neilson-Goodman Project) play 11-string basses.

[edit]

Pickups
The vibrations of the instrument's metal strings within the magnetic field of the permanent magnets in the pickups, produce small variations in the magnetic flux threading the coils of the pickups. This in turn produces small electrical voltages in the coils. These low-level signals are then amplified and played through a speaker. Less commonly, non-magnetic pickups are used, such as piezoelectric pickups which sense the mechanical vibrations of the strings. Since the 1990s, basses are often available with battery-powered "active" electronics that boost the signal and/or provide equalization controls to boost or cut bass and treble frequencies.

"P"-style split pickups

[edit] Pickup types

"P-" pickups (the "P" refers to the original Fender Precision Bass) are actually two distinct single-coil halves, wired in opposite direction to reduce hum, each offset a small amount along the length of the body so that each half is underneath two strings. "J-" pickups (referring to the original Fender Jazz Bass) are wider eight-pole pickups which lie underneath all four strings. Soapbar pickups, found, for example, in MusicMan basses, are the same height as a J pickup, but about twice as wide (much like an electric guitar's humbucker). The name comes from the rectangular shape being similar to a bar of soap.

[edit] Pickup configuration

Many basses have just one pickup, typically a "P" or soapbar pickup. Multiple pickups are also quite common, two of the most common configurations being a "P" near the neck and a "J" near the bridge (e.g. Fender Precision Deluxe), or two "J" pickups (e.g. Fender Jazz). Some basses use more unusual pickup configurations, such as a Humbucker and "P" pickup (found on some Fenders), Stu Hamm's "Urge" basses, which have a "P" pickup sandwiched between two "J" pickups, and some of Bootsy Collins' custom basses, which had as many as 5 J pickups. The placement of the pickup greatly affects the sound, with a pickup near the neck joint thought to sound "fatter" or "warmer" while a pickup near the bridge is thought to sound "tighter" or "sharper." Most basses with multiple pickups allow blending of the output from the pickups, providing for a range of timbres.

[edit] Non-magnetic pickups

Piezoelectric pickups are non-magnetic pickups that produce a different tone and allow bassists to use non-metallic strings such as nylon strings. Piezoelectric pickups sense the vibrations of the string, as transmitted to the pickup through the basses' wooden body. Since piezoelectric pickups are based on the vibration of the strings and body, they can be prone to feedback "howls" when used with an amplifier, especially when higher levels of amplification are used. Optical pickups such as Lightwave Systems pickups are another type of nonmagnetic pickup. Optical pickups are expensive and rarely used, apart from a small number of professional bass players who require the advantages offered by optical pickups: no noise (e.g., hum) or feedback problems, even at high levels of amplification.

[edit]

Frets
The frets divide the fingerboard into semitone divisions, although fretless basses are also widely available. The original Fender basses had 20 frets. [edit]

Fretless basses
Fretless basses have a distinctive sound that is created because the absence of frets means that the string is pressed down directly onto the wood of the fingerboard and buzzes against it as with the double bass. The fretless bass allows players to use the expressive devices of glissando and microtonal intonations such as quarter tones and just intonation. Fretless basses are mostly used in jazz and jazz fusion music. Nonetheless, bassists from other genres use fretless basses, such as thrash metal/death metal bassist Steve DiGiorgio. Some bassists use both fretted and fretless basses in performances, according to the type of material they are performing. Fusion-jazz virtuoso Jaco Pastorius, who brought the fretless bass into the spotlight, used a fretless bass that he created by removing the frets from a fretted bass and filling in the grooves, a method that is still used by some bassists. Some fretless basses have 'fret lines' inlaid in the fingerboard as a guide, while others only use guide marks on the side of the neck. Strings wound with tape or coated in epoxy are sometimes used with the fretless bass so that the metal string windings will not wear down the fingerboard. Some fretless basses, including those used by Pastorius, have a fingerboard coated with epoxy or a similar hard material. This increases durability and sustain and gives a brighter tone than a bare wooden board. [edit]

Amplification and effects

Electric bassists use either a 'combo' amplifier, so-named because it combines an amplifier and a speaker in a single cabinet, or an amplifier and a separate speaker

cabinet (or cabinets). Some bassists plug directly into a mixing console for large-scale PA amplification. For further information see :

bass instrument amplification

Various electronic components such as preamplifiers and signal processors, and the configuration of the amplifier and speaker, can be used to alter the basic sound of the instrument. In the 1990s and early 2000s, signal processors such as equalizers, distortion devices, and compressors or [limiter]s became increasingly popular additions to many electric bass players' gear, because these processors give players additional tonal options. For further information see:

bass guitar effects

[edit]

Playing techniques
[edit]

Sitting or standing
Most bass players stand while playing, although sitting is also accepted, particularly in large ensemble settings (e.g., jazz big band) or acoustic genres such as folk music. It is a matter of the player's preference as to which position gives the greatest ease of playing, and what a bandleader expects. When sitting, the instrument can be balanced on the right thigh, or like classical guitar players, the left. Balancing the bass on the left thigh positions it in such a way that it mimics the standing position, allowing for less difference between the standing and sitting positions. [edit]

Plectra vs. fingers or thumb

The electric bass, in contrast to the upright bass (or double bass), is played in a similar position to the guitar, held horizontally across the body. Notes are usually produced by plucking with the fingers or with a guitar pick, which is a type of plectrum. This choice often depends on a bassit's musical genre very few funk bassists use plectrums, while they are widely found in punk rock and metal styles. Using a pick typically gives the bass a brighter, punchier sound, while playing with fingers makes the sound softer and round. Some bassists use their fingernails flamenco-style to provide some compromise between playing fingerstyle and using a pick. Bassists trying to emulate the sound of a double bass will often pluck the strings with their thumb, and use their fingers to anchor their hand and partially mute the strings. This palm-muting creates a short, "thumpy" tone.

James Jamerson, one of the most influential bassists during the Motown era, was well-known for his work in many popular Motown songs. Jamerson played the bass with only his index finger (which gained him the nickname "The Hook") but created intricate bass lines that have proven challenging even for modern bassists using the more common used two-fingered (typically index and middle) technique. [edit]

Right hand support and position

Variations in style also occur in where a bassist rests his right-hand thumb. A player may rest his thumb on the top edge of one of the pickups. One may also rest his thumb on the side of the fretboard, which is especially common among bassists who have an upright bass influence. Also, bassists may simply anchor their thumbs on the lowest string (and move it off to play on the low string). This technique is known as the "floating thumb", and was previously popular mainly with bassists who played 5 or more string basses, but is now common for all bassists. Early Fender models also came with a "thumbrest" attached to the pickguard, below the strings. Contrary to its name, this was not used to rest the thumb, but to rest the fingers while using the thumb to pluck the strings. The thumbrest was moved above the strings in 70's models, and eliminated entirely in the 80's. [edit]

Downward stroke
This is a technique that consists in hitting the strings with continuous downward strokes with a plectrum at a very fast pace. This provides the continuous and repetitive sound of finger picking but with a punchy sound. This technique was used by Dee Dee Ramone of the early punk rock band The Ramones. [edit]

Striking or plucking position

Bassists also have different preferences as to where on the string they pluck the notes. While the influential bassist Jaco Pastorius and many with him preferred to pluck them very close to the bridge for a bright and sharp sound, many prefer the rounder sound they get by plucking closer to the neck, mostly near the neck pickup. Geezer Butler, among others, plucks the strings over the higher frets. [edit] 'Piano hammer' style The "piano hammer-style" is a high-speed technique used of striking the bass string with the index finger. In this technique, the index hand is whipped towards the bass string then retracted quickly by pivoting of the wrist. The index finger snaps down and taps the string like a piano hammer. The result is a smooth dark tone which can be

contrasted by "back-pedaling" the string with the tip of the finger in an upward pluck. Usually two fingers are required with this technique. [edit]

"Slap and pop," tapping, and related techniques

The slap and pop method, in which notes and percussive sounds are created by slapping the string with the thumb and releasing strings with a snap, was pioneered by Larry Graham of Sly and the Family Stone in the 1960s and early 1970s. Stanley Clarke and Louis Johnson further developed Graham's technique. Other notable slap and pop players include Mark King, Flea, Les Claypool, and Victor Wooten . In the late 1980s, fusion bass player Victor Wooten (of Bla Fleck and the Flecktones) developed the so-called "double thumb," in which the string is slapped twice, on the upstroke and a downstroke (for more information, see Classical Thump). Examples of the slap and pop technique can be seen at HowToSlapBass.com In the two-handed tapping style, both hands play notes by tapping the string to the fret, which makes it possible to play contrapuntally, chords and arpeggios. Players using this technique include John Entwistle, Geddy Lee, Stuart Hamm, Roscoe Beck, Billy Sheehan, Victor Wooten, and Michael Manring. For more information on twohanded tapping technique, see the articles on Chapman Stick and Warr guitar, manystringed instruments that are designed to be played using two-handed tapping. Tony Levin, the bassist for King Crimson and Peter Gabriel, pioneered the use of wooden dowel "funk fingers" affixed with velcro to the tips of the index and middle fingers and used to strike the strings of the bass. [edit]

Musical role
The electric bass is the standard bass instrument in many musical genres, including modern country, post-1970s-style jazz, many variants of rock and roll, metal, punk, reggae, soul, and funk. Even though the double bass is still the standard bass instrument in orchestral settings, some late-20th-century composers have used the electric bass in an orchestral setting. Modern bass playing draws on guitar and double bass for inspiration as well as an increasing vernacular of its own. The bass may have differing roles within different types of music and the bassist may prefer different degrees of prominence in the music. Early uses of the electric bass saw bassists doubling the double bass part or replacing the upright bass entirely with their new, more portable and easily amplified instrument. By the 1960s, the electric bass had replaced the upright bass in most forms of popular music (although country music and jazz were an exception to this trend). The switch to electric bass moved bassists more into the foreground of a band, in several senses:

From an aural perspective, electric bass tone can often "cut through" a live mix better. As well, electric basses can be amplified to very high levels without the problem of feedback "howls" that upright bass players face. These factors enabled some electric bass players to develop a soloistic role for the bass. From a visual point of view, the switch to the electric bass allowed bassists much more freedom of movement on stage. The double bass sits on an endpin, and stands vertically, and players typically play in a single location for the duration of a song. However, the electric bass is smaller, and is held up with a strap, which allows the electric bassist to move about on the stage while playing, and get closer to other musicians or the audience.

Drum
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Redirected from Drums) Jump to: navigation, search For other uses, see Drum (disambiguation).

Drum carried by John Unger, Company B, 40th Regiment New York Veteran Volunteer Infantry Mozart Regiment, December 20, 1863

Several American Indian-style drums for sale at the National Museum of the American Indian. A drum is a musical instrument in the percussion family , technically classified as a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drumskin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with parts of a player's body, or with some sort of implement such as a drumstick, to produce sound.

Drums are among the world's oldest and most ubiquitous musical instruments, and the basic design has been virtually unchanged for hundreds of years. The shell almost invariably has a circular opening over which the drumhead is stretched, but the shape of the remainder of the shell varies widely. In the western musical tradition, the most usual shape is a cylinder, although timpani for example use bowl-shaped shells. Other shapes include a frame design (tar (drum)), truncated cones (bongo drums), and joined truncated cones (talking drum). Drums with cylindrical shells can be open at one end (as in the timbales) or can have two drum heads. Single headed drums normally consist of a skin or other membrane, called a head, which is stretched over an enclosed space or over one of the ends of a hollow vessel. Drums with two heads covering both ends of a tubular shell often have a small hole halfway between the two drumheads; the shell forms a resonating chamber for the resulting sound. Exceptions include the African slit drum, made from a hollowed-out tree trunk, and the Caribbean steel drum, made from a metal barrel. Drums are usually played by the hands or by one or two sticks. In some non-Western cultures drums have a symbolic function and are often used in religious ceremonies. The sound of a drum depends on several variables including shell shape, size, thickness of shell, materials of the shell, type of drumhead, tension of the drumhead, position of the drum, location, and how it is struck. In popular music and jazz, drums usually refers to a drum kit or set of drums, and drummer to the band member or person who plays them. Drums are played by percussionists whose skills can be called for in all areas of music from Classical to Heavy Rock & all areas in between. Many drummers are also adept at both playing the drum set and a set of hand drums for added musical variety. In the past, drums were used as a means of communication and not just for their musical qualities. They are sometimes used in sending signals. The talking drums of Africa can imitate the inflections and pitch variations of a spoken language and are used for communicating over great distances.- see drum (communication).

History of Heavy metal

(See also) hard rock, grunge, gothic rock, gothic metal, nu metal,
The history of heavy metal music began around 1964-1970 with bands like the Kinks, the Who, Alice Cooper's The Spiders, Cream, Golden Earring, Led Zeppelin, Vanilla Fudge, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Iron Butterfly, Steppenwolf, Blue Cheer, Atomic Rooster, Cactus, Grand Funk Railroad, Deep Purple, Free, Uriah Heep, Mountain, Bloodrock, Black Widow, and Black Sabbath, Iron Butterfly Heavy album and Steppenwolf's song Born to Be Wild which contained the phrase "heavy metal thunder" share credit for the name heavy metal. The genre borrowed heavily from rock and the blues but moved towards a more aggressive direction than other bands from the 60's incorporating energetic live shows and darker melodies and themes. Cream is one of the best known bands which appeared early in the genre known for classic songs like Sunshine Of Your Love and White Room. The Jimi Hendrix Experience featuring the legendary Jimi Hendrix on guitar and vocals was incredibly revolutionary and remains a strong influence on musicians today, especially guitarists. Groundbreaking albums like Are You Experienced?, Axis Bold as Love, and Electric Ladyland were pivotal in the future direction of rock. Led Zeppelin was also a big

contributor to the movement incorporating in heavy thudding guitars and high almost screaming vocals. Deep Purple's classic Deep Purple In Rock showcased Ritchie Blackmore's classical guitar style juxtaposed against the intense screams of Ian Gillan's vocal. In 1970 Black Sabbath made what many consider to be the first true heavy metal album self titled Black Sabbath followed in the next few years by Paranoid and Master of Reality. Guitarist Tony Iommi, vocalist Ozzy Osbourne, drummer Bill Ward, and bassist Geezer Butler churned out gloomy heavy churning riffs and rhythms accompanied nicely by Ozzy's eerie vocal style. This Birmingham act nearly single handedly defined the essence of the heavy metal genre combining a fascination with dark mythological and religious subject matter juxtaposed against the reality of a working class life in poverty ridden industrial Birmingham during the early 70's. Newer bands like Judas Priest, Queen and Blue Oyster Cult took up the mantle of these older bands and added their voice to an ever growing revolution in rock music. Queen was the most experimental of the groups combining interesting and beautiful melodies with classically inspired harmonies which bordered on progressive and experimental rock. Kiss took the genre to a fevered pitch using classic elements of theatre such as fire and fake blood to keep audiences interested. In the late 70's heavy metal went through a decline and the giants of the early 70's started to loose influence due to deaths and personnel changes. AC/DC, Judas Priest, Queen, and Rush kept the genre alive but only just. The early 1980s saw a revival of metal of a sort with bands like Ozzy Osbourne and Motley Crue among others. Unfortunately due to highly commercialized excess driven hair bands the genre was sent in to another decline where the music would be reabsorbed into new genres. By around 1990 most heavy metal had evolved into other rock genres like hard rock, grunge, gothic rock, gothic metal, thrash metal, speed metal, doom metal, and nu metal

To God and My Own Self Be True...

a story of heavy metal and my life!
Heavy Metal is more than just a style of music, its a way of life. It has been a large part of my life as far back as I can remember. In this page I am going to attempt to give a short history of metal as well as tell you a little bit about myself. I was born in Trenton, NJ in March of 1967. I started listening to hard rock and what became known as metal as early as 5 years old because of a neighbors who turned me on to Aerosmith. Being born in NJ and living close to Philadelphia and New York City, I was in the heart of the NY metal movement in the 80's, but I am getting ahead of myself. Lets start from the beginning... (Please note that this is not a complete history, it is only the history as I saw it and as it happened in my life.) Heavy metal derived from the loud blues-rock and psychedelia of the late '60s. For the most part, metal lost most of the blues influences and leaving the powerful, loud, guitar riffs. In the late 60's and early '70s, heavy metal began establishing itself as one of the most commercially successful forms of aggressive rock & roll. Guitarists like Jimi Hendrix and bands like Cream, The Who, Steppenwolf, Hawkwind, Alice Cooper, and Led Zeppelin fused heavy guitars with blues based rock 'n roll and began to put on outrageous live performances. These bands also began to gain dedicated and loyal followers, as opposed to most of the "here to today, gone tomorrow" pop stars that would attract instant popularity, only to lose it all within a few months.

Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin) By the mid-70's, the leaders of the new heavy metal movement were being established and beginning to influence a whole new school of metal fans. Bands like Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Thin Lizzy, Aerosmith, AC/DC, Uriah Heep, Nazareth, Angel, and Judas Priest were beginning to gain large audiences. Of course KISS would be one of the biggest bands to emerge from the 70's. Their impact on the 80's metal explosion would be enormous; not just the music but also the gigantic, bigger than life, stage persona and show.

KISS (1976) Below are some incredible albums that are usually credited with being the true beginning of HEAVY METAL!

Led Zeppelin ('69)

Deep Purple-Machine Head ('72)

Black Sabbath ('70)

While these albums are usually credited with being the start of metal, they were not for the start for me. It was actually the second wave of bands that caught my attention, mostly because this was about the time that I was old enough to start listening to music. I can remember listening to Aerosmith's "Toy in the Attic" for the first time when I was in grade school. I was mesmerized and from then until today have been a huge Aerosmith fan, as well as a big metal fanatic. (Since then, I have bought every Aerosmith album the day it was released. I actually hitch hiked to the mall to buy Aerosmith's "Done With Mirrors" when I was in college.)

Aerosmith (1976) Even in grade school I would brag to friends that I had the new Aerosmith record. I even got into a playground fight because someone said that Led Zeppelin was a better band than Aerosmith. I can remember being mocked for listening to Rush, Ted Nugent, Queen, Mahogany Rush etc. when the "cool" bands were Bay City Rollers, the Jackson 5 and KC & the Sunshine Band. (GAK!!!) Disco was in; Donna Summer, the Bee Gees, Saturday Night Fever were all the rage-but I was a metal addict. KISS was probably my biggest addiction of the time, as their posters and magazine photos took up every inch of wall space I had in my bedroom. While KISS did disappoint through the late 70's/early 80's, I remained a KISS fan and still am one to this very day. Aerosmith and KISS were actually the first two albums that I bought. (ok, actually my parents bought them for me.) Aerosmith "Toys in the Attic" and KISS "Destroyer" Two records that changed my life in the mid 70's:

Aerosmith-Toys in the Attic ('76)

Kiss-Destroyer ('76)

The late 70's disco was all but dead and albums like Thin Lizzy's "Live & Dangerous" and Boston's "Don't Look Back" were gracing my turntable. (and of course Aerosmith's "Night in the Ruts") This is also about the time I discovered, what is now refered to as "true metal" or "classic heavy metal" Through the next decades, metal adapted itself to the times and it would never completely disappeared from the charts. Trends came and went, as did the trendy followers, but metal fans were devoted. In the early 80s, heavy metal exploded in popularity. Judas Priest, although they had been touring and recording albums since the early 70's, experienced a major popularity surge in '82 with the release of "Screaming for Vengeance." It was actually this band that pulled me deeper into the metal culture. Upon hearing the classic "Stained Class" I was convinced that Judas Priest was the ultimate heavy band. This is about the time I discovered bands like Iron Maiden, who had just released "Number of the Beast," Accept "Restless & Wild," Motorhead's classic "Ace of Spades," Raven "Rock til You Drop," Saxon "Wheels of Steel," Scorpions "Lonesome Crow" and "Fly to the Rainbow." Yup, I had discovered the incredible NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal.) This movement never did gain as much popularity in the States, but was an incredible influence on some of the early American Metal bands as well as some of today's popular bands.

Judas Priest (1991)

In high school I bought, as new releases by then unknown bands, Motley Crue's "Too Fast for Love" on Leather Records, Slayer's "Hell Awaits," Venom's "Black Metal," Metallica's "Kill 'em All," and Queensryche's debut EP. A few "local bands" were beginning to gain some popularity as well. Anthrax, from NY released a 45 single called "Soldiers of Metal"; from Long Island Twisted Sister were filling up the clubs and had finally signed a decent record contract; Heathen's Rage were filling local halls and opening for some major acts. We all know what happened with Anthrax and Twisted Sister, both went on to be huge successes. Heathen's Rage released a vinyl EP with a killer track called "City of Hell" and finally a four song demo in 1987 before disappearing off the face of the earth. Below are some of the albums I discovered in the mid 80's:

Metallica-Kill 'Em All ('83)

Slayer-Show No Mercy ('84)

Iron Maiden-Killer ('81)

From the glam-hair bands like Stryper, Ratt, and Cinderella, to the intense thrash bands like Megadeth, Overkill, Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer, and Celtic Frost, to the more traditional bands like Iron Maiden, Helloween and Armored Saint to the hardrockers like Frehley's Comet to the incredible comeback of bands like Kiss, Deep Purple, and especially Aerosmith, the 80's were definitely a strong time for metal lovers. What was really great about this time was that there was a unity among metalheads. The same metalhead that liked Motley Crue and Accept also liked Slayer and Motorhead.

Kiss in the 80's

Frehley's Comet in the mid-80's

The 80's for me was a time of many concerts. Some of the better remembered and highly cherished from that time were: Black Sabbath with Ian Gillan, which was an awesome experience. Quiet Riot opened that show. Black Sabbath was being chastized for doing "Smoke on the Water" live, which I thought was GREAT! ELO's drummer was filling in for the ailing Bill Ward. Many thought they would do a cover of ELO's "Evil Woman" but they did not. Aerosmith on the "Rock in a Hard Place" tour and the incredible "Back in the Saddle" show with the return of Joe Perry and Brad Whitford, both at the Spectrum in Philadelphia. Pat Travers opened up the "R.I.A.H.P." show. He was on his "Black Pearl" tour and Ted Nugent co-headlined the "Back in the Saddle" show. Dio and Twisted Sister at a small theatre in downtown Philly. The very next year they both returned together and sold out the Spectrum. The year after that Dio did a live video with us Philly maniacs.

Tony Lee (Heathen's Rage)

Anthrax on the "Spread It" Tour with Heathen's Rage at City Gardens in Trenton, NJ. I was also privileged to see Anthrax at the infamous LaMore Club in NYC. Judas Priest "Defenders" tour two times in one month-Spectrum, PA and the Meadowlands, NJ

Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force at a little club in PA. I still have the t-shirt from that show. Queensryche and headliners KISS in Philadelphia, PA and in Rochester, NY. The metal guard rail in front of the stage broke in Philly and we were able to sit on the edge of the stage for the entire KISS show. I got my picture in FACES Magazine. I have seen KISS several other times since then. The reunion and farwell tours have blown me away! David Lee Roth with Steve Via and Billy Sheehan on the "Eat 'Em And Smile" tour at the War Memorial in Rochester. TT Quick and Helstar at a little club in Rochester. After Helstar played, almost everyone left, so we watched TT Quick with about 20 other people, then they hung out with us and drank some beers and played pool. Cool show! Of course, later some of the TT Quick guys went on to be with Nuclear Assault. Ted Nugent and Alcatrazz (with Yngwie Malmsteen) at Six Flags Great Adventure. Killer show, although my girlfiiend (now my wife) got violently sick from some laced alcohol she drank.! Also saw Petra, Molly Hatchet (on their reuion tour with Danny Joe Brown), and Charlie Daniels at Six Flags. Not a bad seat in the place. In the mid-'80s thru the early 90's, speed metal and thrash became the most popular form of heavy metal in the American underground. Crossing the new wave of British heavy metal with hardcore punk, speed metal was extremely fast and more technically demanding. Tthe bands played fast, but their attack was precise and clean. In that sense, speed metal remained true to its metal roots. But what it borrowed from hardcore; the insanely fast tempos and a defiant, do-it-yourself attitude was just as important, and sometimes it was even more important. It gave the band not only a unique musical approach but also an attractive "anti-image" for legions fans, including myslef. Of course, Metallica became the leaders of the genre until their recent style changes. Other key bands were Megadeth, Dark Angel, Exodus, Nuclear Assault, Testament, Slayer and Anthrax. Of course, this is only a small list of some of the better known. There were actually hundreds of bands of this style- Vengeance Rising, Powermad, Laaz Rockit, Flotsom & Jetsam, Hallow's Eve, Deliverance, Sepultura, Heathen, Kreator, Coroner, Destruction, Believer, Forbidden, Forced Entry, Mortification, Annihilator are some others that were riding the thrash wave while it was hot. This raw style stood in direct conflict to the chart topping, more commercial, and glammy bands of the 80's and early 90's (Guns n Roses, Ratt, Poison, Stryper, Kix, Dokken, and Motley Crue, among others), Many of the bands developed a dedicated cult following that would eventually allow them to go gold and for some, like Megadeth, Anthrax, Guns n Roses and especially Metallica, platinum+. What was so amazing about this was they they had little, if any, radio support. Unfortunately, this great art form began to fall apart and fracture into what is now either hardcore, grindcore, or black metal. In the 1990's, the few bands who do exist have changed styles. Metallica has gone for a more "alternative" radio friendly sound, while Megadeth have gone for a more melodic radio friendly sound. Anthrax parted ways with vocalist Joey Belladonna and their lead guitarist Dan Spitz and have stayed pretty true to their roots, although I prefer their older music to the newer releases. (Belladonna reunited with Anthrax in April 2005). Testament and Slayer are still

together, albeit with some new faces, but are still pounding out some aggressive thrash that sometimes borders early death metal.

Metallica (1991)

Megadeth (1990)

Another form of metal that came out of the 80's is Progressive Metal. Bands like Fates Warning and Savatage, that started out as more traditional heavy metal bands, as well as Queensryche have lead the way for others. Watchtower, Dream Theatre, Veni Domine, Stratovarious, Angra, Viper, and hosts of others took the heaviness of metal and combined it with the progressive tendencies of Rush, Marillion, Pink Floyd, Yes, and early Genesis and even mixed in some classical elements.

Fates Warning (1999)

Savatage (1993)

There was one thing for sure, heavy metal was more than just a passing trend. Some critics, even today, continue to dismiss metal as over simplistic, primal pounding, with annoying screams. Certainly, there is some heavy metal that is nothing but threechord riffing, but most metal bands place major importance on technical skill. Even those who play the simplistic forms of metal like AC/DC, do so with such skill and attitude, that it cannot be ignored. Metal guitarists have always been innovators in technique, speed, and skill. In every subgenre of heavy metal, the guitar is the center of the music. The songs are assembled around the riff, with the guitar solo taking prominence.

The 90's also ushered in a big change in my life. While I had always been somewhat "religious" it was during this time that I met some friends at a Motorhead/Raven concert in Rochester, NY that changed my life. These guys were in a metal band called Holy Saint and they were a Christian metal band. Through this band I became a Christian. I can honestly say the knowing Jesus really changed my life. While some of the story you are about to read has some regrets, I have never regretted my relationship with Him. Fortunately these guys also opened up a whole new world of Christian heavy metal to me.

From L to R: Myself (1984), Holy Saint vocalist Chris Books and bassist Micheal Amico Dig the poofy hair I was sporting and the blonde streak, inspired by Joe Perry and Gregg Giuffria.

Unfortunately, after graduating from college, I got involved in a church that condemned metal. I got deeply involved along with my new wife of only a few months. We conviced ourselves that "secular metal" was all evil and so we got rid of the, literally, thousands of albums, tapes and the beginnings of my CD collection. (I know, I often cry myself.) Thank God for Stryper! I would have been without any music I liked if not for them.

Stryper (1990)

I began to discover that there was hundreds of Christian metal bands, ranging in style from thrash to classic rock. I bought up bands like Deliverance, Vengeance Rising, Trouble, Sacred Warrior, Believer, Seventh Angel, Sardonyx, Whitecross, Bride, Haven, Bloodgood, Rez, Barren Cross. These bands got me through some tough times.

me (white shirt) on stage with Sardonyx 1992.

Below are some of the classic Christian thrash discs that still frequent my CD player:

Vengeance Rising Human Sacrifice

Deliverance Weapons of Our Warfare

Believer Extraction from Mortality

Eventually, we figured out that Christianity was not about having your life lived for you. We left the church we were in and got involved in a well balanced church. I discovered that a relationship with Jesus was what was important, not a list of manmade do's and dont's. In 1993 I joined a Christian heavy metal band myself, becoming the vocalist for Ultimatum.

A picture of a sweaty me singing for Ultimatum.

Eventually I began collecting some of my old favorites again. Once again, it was Aerosmith that brought me around. I was in my car, flipping through radio station,

when I heard a block of songs off "Rocks," perhaps the greatest Aerosmith disc ever. It was a lunch hour album side and they played five songs off that disc. Man, it was like seeing an old friend again. I knew then, after enjoying those five songs, like having a cold Pepsi on a hot day, it was not the music I needed to change, it was me! In the mid 90's, with the popularity of grunge, metal took a big dive in popularity. Some even went so far as to say metal was dead. This was, of course, untrue as it still had a huge underground following. While the magazine that we all grew to love began to cover trendy garbage, the metalheads began to put out their own zines. The 90's seemed to be a time of short lived trends. Grunge, Industrial, Alternative, PopPunk, Techno, Emo, and now Ska, Rapcore and Goth. Death Metal had its time in the spot light too, although never to the extent of grunge or alternative. I, honestly, am not a big death metal fan, as I feel the vocals all pretty much sound the same. That being said, there are some death bands I really enjoy that play their music with a skill not hear before. Amorphis, Children of Bodom, Extol, Metanoia, Death and a few other all mix elements of classic metal with death metal and in turn create some beautiful music. Despite the trends, metal continued to stay strong. New blood began to emerge, as well as the reformation of such greats as Exodus, Death Angel, Nuclear Assault, Anthrax, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. I was even blessed with the opportunity to join the guys from the original Vengeance Rising as the new vocalist for their new project called Once Dead. The 90's came and went and despite the changes in music, there a host of new, killer bands: Nevermore, Iced Earth, Mortification, Hammerfall, Destinys End, Narnia, Extol, New Eden, Teramaze, Place of Skulls, and the list goes on and on. As you can see from my CD list, I have once again attained a large collection of my favorites. For a more condensed list of favorites, see my favorites list.