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.
Silver Dragon Records is now
signing metal influenced bands. Check out what we have to offer.
Thank
you for your interest in
Houston Rock Record Label Silver Dragon Records.
Below is some information on our
record label and website catering to rock fans and musicians.
Houston Rock Record Label Silver Dragon Records
presents
rock band Lazarus X
and the their latest independent CD release
Weapon of Love.
Lazarus X's combines determined hard hitting rock with haunting and soulful
melodies which struck a chord with many
underground
rock music fans. Some fans received a preview of the
publicity photos
and
underground
rock CD WOL at a
rooftop listening
party a day before it was released
and the response was amazing. Check out
Rock Band Lazarus X
merchandise like
The Weapon of Love Tour T-Shirt and
the
Weapon of Love CD
or preview one of their songs by
downloading a
free rock mp3.
Silver Dragon Records is a
Houston
rock record label
producing and promoting experimental, hard rock and alternative metal albums. We
provide 24 bit digital recording in a
quiet
private studio
free of distractions. If you think we are the label for you
submit a
demo to our record label and let us tell you how we can help your
band with
artist promotion,
publicity, marketing, recording, mastering, help in marketing a demo or shopping
for a major label deal. We are happy to offer musicians our online resources
like our
musicians
toolkit for recording audio, our
museum of rock
music history and our
Houston rock music resource.
Thank you for checking out
music history or rock genres and subgenres and enjoy the above links.
SDR Home
-
Free Mp3s -
Lazarus X
-
CDs - Concert
T-shirts - Rock T-Shirts -
SDR T-Shirts -
Prints
- More Products
- Next Feature
Copyright 2003 Lazarus X - Silver Dragon
Records - All rights reserved.
