JUST NOISE? BY HENRY SOUTHWICK

Just Noise?

Thoughts from Henry Southwick

People are always asking me, “Henry, you gorgeous hunk of man, we think you’re so beautiful, but your music taste is so screamy! Why do you like metal so much? It’s all screaming and noise!” I figured it was about time I compact the lengthy history of metal into a pithy 350 words.

Ready, set, metal blitz. First came the simultaneous development of blues-rock, psychedelic rock, and hard rock throughout the 1960’s. Blues-rock developed through artists like Jimi Hendrix and Cream, setting the basis for sexy guitar solos and more fast paced and syncopated rhythms. Hard rock developed throughout the late sixties with the explosion of Led Zeppelin, Thin Lizzy, Deep Purple, and other bands featuring more heavily distorted guitars and creative, alternative vocals. There was a very thin line between the original hard rock and heavy metal (which have both changed definition since). They include the grandfather of all metal, Black Sabbath, as well as Judas Priest and Motorhead.

The progression of the 1970’s and the success of bands like Kiss and AC/DC (hard rock), paved the way for the popularization of metal and new underground movements that eventually exploded. The most significant underground movement that had probably the biggest splash on the metal world (especially in the US) was thrash metal. Thrash metal includes bands like Slayer and Metallica. More melodic bands also developed at this time in the mainstream such as Iron Maiden and Megadeth. These were the last major metal bands that penetrated the mainstream until Avenged Sevenfold, Korn, and System of a Down broke through around the start of the millennium, each with a new hybrid sound.

There are (arguably) 30 different genre offshoots of metal now, all drawing influences from other major music waves. If someone were to ask me what my two favorite subgenres are, I would say 1) symphonic metal, mixing in synth backed by guitars (Epica is my favorite), and 2) folk metal, which hybridizes folk music with heavy guitar work. In neither of those will you find only screaming and noise.