Defending heavy metal music: Its not just screaming – Part 1
Everyone, at one point or another, has tuned into a radio station with metal playing, whether wanting to or not. The crunch of the distorted guitars, complex drum beats, fast bass riffs and deep vocals present in the majority of songs create a stereotype which the majority of people classify metal as. However, the screams and intensity of the music which gains substantial airplay is not a common characteristic throughout metal.
Take for instance any other type of music genre known to man. Jazz, rap, techno, alternative; they all have subgroups, metal being a subgroup of rock. To say that all metal is the same is similar to saying that Elvis played the same type of music as John Mayer. Though they sound completely different, they exist in similar genres. Metal is this way as well. Two bands, both metal, may sound completely different.
Metal originated with hard rock bands in the late 60’s and 70’s. By the end of the 70’s till now, metal as we know it had developed from the bluesy roots which generated rock. Many people consider some of the early pioneers, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, and others to be the forefront. They can be found today in the metal sections of music stores and playing on metal radio stations. But the music which we now consider metal began its mainstream expansion during the 80’s.
Some bands were heavier than others, involving screaming lyrics and deep intense vocals. Others however, did not even come close to screaming in their songs. Van Halen, Metallica, Megadeth, and bands of that nature and period, seldom, if ever, engaged in screaming. Screaming in metal didn’t start until the subgroups of “death metal”, “black metal”, “hardcore”, and the like emerged. But the bands which werent screaming before didnt all suddenly start to incorporate this into their music. Van Halen, Metallica, and Megadeth continued to and still are producing albums without the screaming which others think present in metal.
Metal should be instead characterized by the heavy distortion present in 99.9% of its songs. Technicality of the music is seldom surpassed by musicians in other fields of music as metal bands are constantly being forced to play faster and more complicated rhythms on whatever instrument they may be playing. Rock Legends such as Ozzy Osbourne and Guitar Virtuosos such as Yngwie Malmsteen, Joe Satriani, Zach Wylde all come from this genre of music. Oddly enough, none of them scream in their songs. Metal truly is different from its humble rock origins, but its nature truly isn’t. It just includes faster music, more effects, and occasional screaming. Just don’t jump to conclusions and assume that just because it is metal, it must have screaming.
Tags: Deep Purple, Megadeth, Music Stores