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Heavy metal
Heavy metal developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, mostly in the UK and the US, out of blues rock and psychedelic rock: thick, loud, distorted guitars and long solos.
- Where and when
- UK and US, late 1960s
- Tempo
- From ballads at about 60 BPM to blast beats
- Played on
- Distorted guitars, bass, drums, voice; keyboards sometimes
- Lesson
- Guitars →
What it is
Heavy metal developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, mostly in the UK and the US, out of blues rock and psychedelic rock. Its sound is thick and loud: distorted guitars, long solos, emphatic beats, a dense bass-and-drum floor and vigorous vocals.
For the producer. Early metal was "slow, even ponderous"; by the 2000s its tempos ran from ballads at a quarter note of 60 beats per minute to extremely fast blast beats. The guitar style built on distortion-heavy riffs and power chords goes back to Memphis blues guitarists of the early 1950s. Keyboards are sometimes added to fill the sound.
The records that made it
From the lesson Guitars, where the sources are listed · links open a search
- 1966Fresh CreamCream · Regarded as a prototype.
- 1967Disraeli GearsCream · Regarded as a prototype.
- 1970ParanoidBlack Sabbath · Set the dark lyrical tone that metal kept.
Heavy metal in this month’s records
New releases the press we read wrote about, tagged heavy metal on MusicBrainz · updated with every build