Ehen people think of Metal music, many assume it consists of angry, sweaty dudes who scream into a microphone, play their guitars too loudly, and bang their drums a little too hard. Those people are right, however, that doesn’t mean that all Metal is the same; the genre can be put onto a spectrum ranging from softer music similar to Hard Rock to extremely heavy music like Death metal.
The title of the “Godfather” of Metal is given to Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath, who worked with Ozzy Osbourne to establish the foundations of and pioneer the genre. With their first five extraordinary albums, Black Sabbath, Paranoid, Master of Reality, Vol. 4, and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, they were able to influence generations upon generations of musicians. Ensuing the newfound success of heavier music, countless bands began to create Metal and drastically expand the genre. Bands such as Judas Priest, Motörhead, and Iron Maiden dominated the more traditional Metal scene in the late ’70s and early ’80s. Bands like Anthrax, Metallica, Megadeth, and Slayer dominated the Thrash Metal scene during the mid-’80s and early ’90s, focusing more on both speed and power. However, emerging in 1994, one band singlehandedly revolutionized an entire subgenre on their own, a variation that incorporated Metal with other genres such as hip-hop, grunge, alternative rock, hard rock, and funk unlike anything seen before. This band was Korn.
The massive success of Korn’s self-titled debut album instigated a seismic shift in metal throughout the mid-’90s all the way to the mid-2000s. Almost in an instant, Nu-metal became one of the next big things and didn’t die off, unlike the Grunge craze in the ’90s whose life was vibrant but short. The prominence of Nu-metal can be seen during Woodstock 1999, one of the most popular rock festivals of all time. During that year’s festivals, abnormally large crowds came to see Korn along with other Nu-metal bands such as Limp Bizkit and Rage Against the Machine represent the subgenre. Today, this subgenre of Metal continues to be one of the most popular, with many of the Nu-metal bands from the ’90s still making music to this day. The history of Metal is a long one, but because of that, there are countless subgenres within it. Since the variety of Metal is so wide, why not give it a shot? Maybe you’ll find a new favorite band that you never thought you’d listen to!
Song Recommendations
Anthrax (Thrash): Got the Time, Madhouse*, Bring the Noise
Black Sabbath (Hard Rock/Traditional): Paranoid, Iron Man, Sabbra Cadabra*
Deftones (Nu-metal): Change in the House of Flies, Be Quiet and Drive Away (Far Away)*, Mein
Iron Maiden (Traditional): Hallowed Be Thy Name, The Trooper, Wasted Years*
Judas Priest (Traditional): Breaking the Law, Electric Eye, You’ve Got Another Thing Coming*
Korn (Nu-metal): Blind*, Falling Away From Me, Got the Life
Limp Bizkit (Nu-metal): Break Stuff, Take A Look Around, I’m Broke*
Linkin Park (Nu-metal): In the End, Lying from You*, Faint
Megadeth (Thrash): Tornado of Souls*, Lucretia, Symphony of Destruction
Metallica (Thrash) : Enter Sandman, Fade to Black*, Leper Messiah
Pantera (Groove): Walk, 10’s, Shedding Skin*
Rage Against the Machine (Nu-metal): Killing In the Name, Bombtrack, Take the Power Back*
Slayer (Thrash): South of Heaven*, Raining Blood, Angel of Death
Slipknot (Nu-metal): Duality, Psychosocial, Dead Memories*
Staind (Nu-metal): It’s Been a While*, Outside, So Far Away
System of a Down (Nu-metal): Chop Suey, Innervision, Aerials*
Tool (Progressive): Schism*, The Pot, Vicarious
*means author’s favorite
