Evolution of Heavy Metal Music: The Saga of Human Carte Blanche

The development of Heavy metal music took place when Western civilization was suffering from agony of fascism and jingoism. Heavy metal is a genre of rock music with its roots placed in UK and US. It was the period of 1960s when the evolution of Heavy metal begun that provided relief to citizens ailing from strict social life set by fascist rulers. Heavy metal music endowed people with liberal and progressive thoughts and helped people to improve their social and political life.

The credit of development of pro-metal music goes to first generation after WWII. The music overturned the old social system, rules, and knowledge that were being followed from ancient times. It was like an awakening to enter future age with more liberation and determination to end the evils of old social system. It was like going beyond boundaries and rediscovering yourself, nature and the world around you. The music portrayed the sufferings of war and called for liberal and peaceful world.

The Origin of Heavy Metal Music:

During 1960s, Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin were the first music bands to create heavy metal music that included lengthy guitar solos, highly amplified distortion, massive sound, emphatic beats and aggressive loud voice. Other music bands that played significant role in development of heavy metal music include Psychedelic rock, Blues rock and Deep Purple. In January 1968, San Francisco band ‘Blue Cheer’ launched a cover of Eddie Cochran's classic "Summertime Blues" from their debut album ‘Vincebus Eruptum’, that people consider as the first true heavy metal recording.

The Saga from 1970 to till date:

During the mid-1970s, Judas Priest created heavy metal music devoid of Blues influence. Heavy Metal bands from Britain namely Saxon and Iron Maiden followed the same style. Soon, a large population in UK and US became fan of heavy metal music. The metal fans are known as ‘metal heads’ or ‘headbangers’.

In 1980s, composition and production of heavy metal took commercial form and many groups such as Poison, Mötley Crüe, Megadeth, Metallica, Anthrax and Slayer emerged as successful bands. Apart from commercial stream, many subgenres of heavy metal evolved that received both acclaim and criticism from audience and concurrent musicians. The subgenres can be classified into five major categories: Death metal, Thrash metal, Power metal, Black metal and the subgenres of Doom and Gothic meta. Musicians started experimenting with Heavy metal and blended it with hardcore punk, nu metal, grunge and hip hop.

In April 2010, the Welsh band ‘Bullet for My Valentine’ released the album ‘Fever’ that bagged 3rd position on the Billboard 200 and 1st position on Billboard's Rock and Alternative charts. Today’s most popular heavy metal music bands include: Kiss, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Aerosmith, Motor head and many others. There are many metal bands, which are playing significant role in reviving metal music. The list of such metal bands include ‘The Sword’ from Texas, ‘High on Fire’ from California, ‘Witchcraft’ in Sweden and ‘Wolfmother’ in Australia. These metal bands are recognized as ‘retro-metal’.

With optimistic or pessimistic views on life, metal bands are still unleashing the charm of heavy metal and rocking the world with vibrant music. The optimists invent the airplane and the pessimists arrange parachute. Music flows with life and always sets new definitions of life. Heavy metal music has yet to offer many new experiences to audience.