Heavy metalC

haracteristics include loud volume, distortion, sreeching

vocals, emphatic beats, extended guitar solos, technical skills

on instruments, and provides an ideal outlet for frustrastion.

T

hemes include Social Chaos, good vs. evil, the afterlife,

dark/morbid issues, and the supernatural

Heavy Metal

v

isual imagery plays a large role in heavy metal

h

eavy metal band's "image" is expressed in album sleeve

art, logos, stage sets, clothing, and music videos

S

ome known for outrageous and wild performance personas

Prototypical Heavy Metal Bands

L

ed Zeppelin

B

lack Sabbath

D

eep Purple

(

Blue Cheer’s Summertime Blues often cited as first heavy metal

song)

Working Class Values

H

eavy Metal rose out of distrust of American

Government “Nixon Scandal,” Anti-War sentiments,

high unemployment, increasingly more depressed

society, wanting to explore issues such as drugs,

mythology, and the afterlife

Term “Heavy Metal”

F

irst appeared in a few William Burroughs books The

Soft Machine and Nova Express. “Heavy Metal Kid.”

(Heavy Metal Kid was refferred to as someone with

drug addictions).

S

teppenwolf’s Born to Wild “Heavy Metal Thunder”

Led Zeppelin and “Stairway to Heaven” from Led Zeppelin IV

Led Zeppelin formed in 1968 in London.

• Jimmie Page, guitar• John Bonham, drums• John Paul Jones, electric bass and organ• Robert Plant, vocals

Guitarist Jimmy Page and vocalist Robert Plant were fascinated by mythology, Middle Earth fantasy, and the occult.

They became one of the most enduring bands in rock history, selling over 50 million records.

Influences drew from various sources: urban blues, San Francisco psychedelia, the virtuoso guitar playing of Jimi Hendrix

“Stairway to Heaven”

Anthem of heavy metal music Thunderous volume The eight-minute track was never

released as a single. You had to purchase the album to own a copy of the song.

The album cover did not bear the name of the album, band, or record company. • Led Zeppelin IV eventually sold fourteen

million copies and reached Number Two on the Billboard Top 10 LP charts; it stayed on the charts for five years.

“Stairway to Heaven”

Text composed by Robert Plant

• References to mythological beings • The May Queen and the Piper

• Rural images• Paths and roads, rings of smoke through the forest, a

songbird by a brook, the whispering wind • Helped create a cumulative mood of mystery and

enchantment S

tructure of the song• Basic building blocks are straightforward four- and

eight-measure phrases• Three main sections• The arrangement is constructed to create continual

escalation in density, volume, and speed.

Black Sabbath

B

ritish Band

F

ormed in 1968 by Ozzy Osbourne(vocals), Tony

Lommi(guitar, Geezer Butler(bass), and Bill Ward(drums).

O

riginally formed as heavy blues band named Earth covering

Muddy Waters and Howlin Wolf songs

Deep Purple

E

nglish Rock Band formed in 1968

O

nce listed in Guiness Book of World Records as

“loudest pop group.”