Heavy metal
Also known as heavy metal
A broad rock umbrella that began with late-1960s heaviness and quickly spread into many subgenres, metal is less a single formula than a shared appetite for volume, weight, and dramatic force.
Origins and context
The genre emerged from late-1960s hard rock scenes that were amplifying distortion, volume, and darker moods into something more elemental and more aggressive.
How to listen
Mood
- Ominous, muscular, and often exhilarating
Best for
- Listeners who like riff-first songs and a big, physical drum sound
History
Heavy metal took shape in the late 1960s and early 1970s, especially in the United Kingdom and the United States, as bands pushed hard rock toward heavier distortion, more ominous harmonies, and a more forceful rhythmic attack. Black Sabbath’s early 1970 releases are widely treated as foundational to the genre, and later bands helped splinter that core sound into a wide metal family tree. Because the label itself developed alongside the music, “metal” has never been just one sound for long. By the late 1970s and 1980s, artists such as Iron Maiden were carrying the style into faster, more theatrical territory, while other scenes pushed it toward extremity, precision, or atmosphere.
Notable artists
- BSBlack Sabbath
- IMIron Maiden
Essential listening
- 1
Black Sabbath
- 2
- 3
- 4
Iron Maiden
