Because metal has become so varied in its rich history since Black Sabbath first thrilled listeners, it’s hard to please all of the headbangers all of the time. That codification, combined with many bands’ tough-as-nails demeanors, marked by scowls and black clothing, helped metal become a lifestyle that transcended the bands onstage.įans of the genre, whether you call them metalheads, headbangers or something else, are passionate, charismatic and bold, eager to debate, define and defend every nuance of their favorite bands’ music to the death. It could be virtuosic or it could be primal, but it was always loud. Metal bands weren’t the first to embrace dark imagery in their music – that tradition goes back to classical composers like Richard Wagner and blues artists like Robert Johnson – but they approached these subjects with a unique pomp, a hyper-masculine might that gave the genre a musical language of its own.

In between, it’s been rejiggered for maximum extremity in underground subgenres like death metal, black metal and grindcore, and, beginning in the early Eighties, the genre as a whole had become a cultural movement capable of overtaking the pop charts. And Avenged Sevenfold ornamented it with catchy, head-turning melodies.

Metallica whirled it into a breakneck blur. Judas Priest dressed it in denim and leather.

Its roots stretch back to the late Sixties, when artists like Blue Cheer, Iron Butterfly and Led Zeppelin cranked their amps to play bluesy, shit-kicking rockers, but it wasn’t until that fateful day, when Black Sabbath issued the first, front-to-back, wholly heavy-metal album – their gloomy self-titled debut – that a band had mastered the sound of the genre, one that still resonates nearly 50 years later: heavy metal.Īlthough Black Sabbath’s members have scoffed at the metal tag over the years, their lumbering, overdriven guitar, acrobatic drumming and forceful vocals, all originally intended to be rock’s equivalent to a horror movie, have been copied time and again, decade after decade. 15 and you can get tickets here.With a crash of thunder, the ringing of ominous church bells and one of the loudest guitar sounds in history, a heavy new music genre was born in earnest on a Friday the 13th early in 1970. Megadeth are currently on tour as a special guest of Five Finger Death Punch, alongside openers The Hu and Fire From the Gods. You know, all these bands that wouldn’t play solos and stuff,' Mustaine recalls of that difficult time in Megadeth's career. 'And so, there were several situations where we would make decisions were presented to us in a way kind of, like, ‘You got to do this,’ or ‘That’s just how it is.’ I can’t tell you how much we would laugh about the bands that we were forced to take out on tour with us, especially during the nu-metal period that we went through years ago. The idea of nu-metal being an affront to heavy metal has faded quite a lot lately as the genre is experiencing a surge in popularity, but it's a style that was mocked quite openly by artists who preceded the explosion in the mid-to-late '90s. I mean, why would you pay a manager if you’re not going to listen to them?'Įarning gold and platinum certifications for those records may hardly seem like an example of something backfiring to many, but Megadeth closed out the '90s with the highly polarizing Risk and had spent the last few years of the decade touring with nu-metal bands, such as Korn, Static-X, Coal Chamber and others. 'For us, we went through a period where like I said, admittedly so, we were trying to do what we were told,' explains Mustaine of Megadeth's musical aims during this era, 'And it backfired. Head here to listen to and follow Loudwire's 'Early Thrash: The Beginning & The '90s' playlist.

Painkiller vs rust in peace