Traditional heavy metal
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 | This article possibly contains original research. (September 2007) |
| Classic metal | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins | Heavy metal Hard rock |
| Cultural origins | Late 1960s United Kingdom and United States |
| Typical instruments | Electric guitar - Bass guitar - Drums |
| Derivative forms | Glam metal - Power metal - Thrash metal - Speed metal - New Wave of British Heavy Metal |
| Other topics | |
| Timeline of heavy metal | |
Classic metal, sometimes called traditional heavy metal or heavy metal for short, is a term used to refer to heavy metal bands from the 1970s and 1980s who peaked later than the late 1960s and early 1970s pioneers of the genre, yet before the era when mainstream and underground heavy metal became seriously divided. Classic metal bands are typically characterised by thumping fast basslines, not so fast, heavy, riffs, extended lead guitar solos, high pitched vocals and anthemic choruses.
History
Classic metal artists were heavily influenced by hard rock and metal artists of the same period. Artists like Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper, Deep Purple, Van Halen, U.F.O. and Led Zeppelin were seminal influences.
Classic metal was also influenced by 70s punk rock although the punk influences diminished over time. For example, Iron Maiden had many punk elements in their first two albums but then moved away from punk rock to embrace and define New Wave of British Heavy Metal.
Classic metal enjoyed great worldwide success. Iron Maiden sold in excess of 58 million albums during the 80s[citation needed]. Scorpions and Judas Priest sold out big arenas around the world. Some classic metal bands like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest still release successful new albums and tour world wide to this day. This is a testament to the influence that the bands still exert and their ability to keep old fans interested and attract new ones.
Classic metal bands influenced many metal genres including glam metal, thrash metal, and power metal. Classic metal bands were not as loud and had a greater sense of melody than the thrash metal bands such as Metallica and Anthrax that they influenced. Often considered by some fans as the 'purest' form of metal, classic metal was popular for its combination of melody and aggression.
Characteristics
Classic metal evolved from hard rock, and classic rock and later took inspirations from the punk rock as well. The notion of Classic metal is related to original 70s and 80s heavy metal including NWOBHM. The wide variety of influences and similarities to other genres gives it a very wide appeal to many fans of heavy metal, but the genre still got quite a distinguishable sound.
Classic metal is typically characterised by thumping fast basslines, fast and crunchy riffs, extended lead guitar solos, clean, often high-pitched vocals and anthemic choruses. One of the most important and innovative concepts of classic metal was the use of the double lead guitar pioneered by classic metal bands like Scorpions and Judas Priest. And although, this concept was sparingly used by earlier hard rock bands like Uriah Heep and UFO, it was wholly developed as a heavy metal element during the classic metal era. This concept of dual lead guitars would reach more profound heights during the late 1980s when other bands like Accept would also use it. Another musical concept that evolved during the Classic metal era was that of the supposedly galloping basslines. Although, this bass style had its inception into music in the earlier rock n' roll era, it became highly evident in the Classic metal era, and was extensively used by Iron Maiden's Steve Harris, and others.
Lyrical theme
Classic metal is lyrically diverse, with a wide variety of lyrical themes being written by the bands without a centralised prerequisite. The themes in classic metal include: the occult, party and fun, fantasy, social themes, drug themes, and war themes. A single band can write songs based on various themes. For instance, Judas Priest writes songs on party (Living After Midnight), social themes (Victim Of Changes, Breaking the law), love songs (Prisoner of Your Eyes) and fantasy/fiction (Painkiller). The classic metal bands may exclusively write about party, sex, love and drugs, while other bands (such as Iron Maiden) having war, history, culture, violence, fantasy and religion as recurring themes.
Decline
Classic metal's position as a popular time in metal music's history withered away in the late 1980s, especially in the 1986-1989 period. At this time newer bands emerged to extend thrash metal and glam metal, with each genre taking a quite different approach to their music. Gradually, public interest drifted away from classic metal onto the newer genres. Due to the hierarchy of classic metal splitting into individual parts and drifting away from each other, many classic metal bands came to their end at this time. Some joined one of the newly founded or extended genres, (Motörhead), while some bands experimented with aspects of other genres (Scorpions), leaving others to carry on with typical classic metal stylings (Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Accept, Dio).
Revival and influence
Although classic metal went into regression as a commercially viable entity in the late 90s, there has been several bands who have tried to revive the feeling of the era, or alternatively have incorporated elements of classic metal into their music. Many bands, who came after the classic metal era had ended, played music akin to one genre, with heavy influence from classic metal. Bands like Hammerfall, Lordi, Iced Earth or Stratovarius being prominent among them.
Classic metal artists
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