Megadeth

Megadeth is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1983. Founded by Dave Mustaine following his departure from Metallica, the band has since released twelve studio albums, six live albums, two EPs, twenty six singles, thirty-two music videos, and three compilations.

As a pioneer of the American thrash metal movement, Megadeth rose to international fame in the 1980s, but experienced numerous line-up changes, due partly to the band's notorious substance abuse problems. From 1983 to 2002, Mustaine and bassist Dave Ellefson were the only continuous members of the band. After finding sobriety and securing a stable line-up, Megadeth went on to release a string of platinum and gold albums, including the platinum-selling landmark Rust in Peace in 1990 and the Grammy nominated, multi-platinum Countdown to Extinction in 1992. Megadeth disbanded in 2002 after Mustaine suffered a severe nerve injury to his left arm. However, following extensive physical therapy, Mustaine reformed the band in 2004 and released The System Has Failed, followed by United Abominations in 2007; the albums debuted on the Billboard Top 200 chart at #18 and #8, respectively. Megadeth, along with their new lead guitarist Chris Broderick, released their twelfth studio album, titled Endgame, on September 15, 2009.

Megadeth is known for a distinctive guitar style, often involving complex, intricate musical passages, and trade off guitar solos. Mustaine is also known for his original "snarling" vocal style, as well as his recurring lyrical themes, often involving politics, war, addiction, and personal relationships.

Megadeth has had commercial success worldwide and has sold more than 20 million albums,[1] with six consecutive albums being certified platinum in the USA. The band has also received great critical acclaim with seven consecutive Grammy nominations for Best Metal Performance. In the band's 24 active years, Megadeth has had 20 official members, with Dave Mustaine remaining as the driving force, main songwriter, and sole original member following the end of his musical partnership with David Ellefson in 2002, due to personal disagreements. In the mid-late 1980s, Megadeth are one of the "Big Four of Thrash," along with Metallica, Slayer, and Anthrax, who were responsible for creating, developing and popularizing the thrash metal sub-genre.

Butterfingers (Malaysian band)

In 1991, Loque and his Malay College Kuala Kangsar (MCKK) schoolmate, Kadak formed what was then known as Loque's Tail , Loque and Kadak, together with a few MCKK friends, started producing their own material, with the hopes of making a name for themselves in the Malaysian music scene. It is worth remembering that this was during the start of the grunge era which managed to reach the shores of Malaysia in substantial force.

It was while jamming in Kuala Lumpur during 1993 at Black Widow Studios that they bumped into Emmett, who was there jamming (as a guitarist) with his band at that time, Grunge Dayz . Impressed with what he saw, Loque challenged Emmett to a ‘jamming showdown', after which they mutually decided to join skills and creativity, to form their own band. After meeting up with drummer Kalai later that year, Butterfingers was officially born by the end of 1993. And with the final line up of Loque (songwriter, guitarist), Emmett (vocals, guitar, strings and lyricist), Kadak (bass) and Kalai (drums), Butterfingers hit the underground gig scene with such vengeance that had most of their shows sold out and described today as ‘the stuff of underground legends'.

"1 goat, 2 apples and 16 oranges" was a demo cassette published by butterfingers into the underground circuit. The demo introduced butterfingers' raw energy in music, heavily influenced by grunge during that time, and Emmett's vocals which is a carbon-copy of Kurt Cobain. A lot of listeners thought that the demo was an unreleased Nirvana album, until butterfingers made their first appearance at the superUnderground music gig at Picadilly on February 1995. The gig and the circulation of their now very popular demo raised butterfingers into becoming one of the most recognizable underground bands at that time, along with other bands such as OAG, The Splatters and Spiral Kinetik Circus.

1.2 mg was released in 1996 to a reasonably strong and rapidly growing fanbase, (owing to the massive reputation the band had achieved during their years in the underground scene) with Nirvana-esque tunes, much like Silverchair was with their early albums. The band was evidently very much influenced by the Seattle scene which at that time was dying away after the death of Kurt Cobain, and the evolution of Pearl Jam into a more melodic, diverse and less angst-ridden band, among other things. The Malaysian youth however, were far from over with grunge and received 1.2 mg very well. The following year's release of their second album Butter Worth Pushful strengthened their following with more intricate, but still grungy, tunes.

It was however, the 1999 album Transcendence, which showcased massive songwriting potential, that brought Butterfingers to the peak of their popularity. With hit songs The Chemistry (Between Us) and Epitome, Transcendence sold over 50 000 units, which was an admirable feat for an English-singing Malaysian band at a time when such bands were still by and large almost automatically considered inferior to American and British imports.

Discography:

- 1996 - 1.2 Milligrams (Butterworld)

- 1997 - Butter Worth Pushful (Butterworld/EMI)

- 1999 - Transcendence (Butterworld/EMI)

- 2001 - Malayneum (Butterworld/EMI)

- 2005 - Selamat Tinggal Dunia (Butterworld/EMI)

- 2008 - Kembali (Butterworld)

Black Death Metal (Malaysia)

Langsuyr







Langsuir was created by Batara Guru (formerly known as Sam's) and Azmaniac in the mid of 1991, and they've been only a two-piece band since then until they found it hard to rehearse when Sam's playing the guitar and singing while Azmaniac handling the drums. So, they've decided to recruit Azlan, who handles the vocals and Ajiz playing the drums. Azmaniac then became a rhythm guitarist.

With this line up, in 1993, they've recorded their one and only demo "Occultus Mysticism" which gained a wide response worldwide. People tend to know LANGSUIR better from it's "Occultus Mysticism". Recorded in Universal Studio, Klang, this demo perhaps was the best ever produced by a Malaysian band at that time.

The demo was sold out rapidly and an agreement was made between LANGSUIR and EAST GOTHIC PRODUCTIONS to re-release the demo professionally for 500 copies. And again, in 1994, the "Occultus Mysticism" hits the street and sold out in a short time, and there are still demands on it.

The demands is perhaps the best thing to show that LANGSUIR had reached the stardom. Since then too, LANGSUIR had made few gigs, the most successful gig was 'The Nocturn

Feast' held in their hometown in 25th December 1994. LANGSUIR had also featured in numerous compilation tapes and underground magazines. Deals were also been negotiated, but nothing came in reality. LANGSUIR has decided to remain silence.

1996 sees the dark clouds cover the Malaysian scene, when LANGSUIR finally awake and release their second masterpiece.. "The Eastern Cruelty" EP. Although this EP contains a lot more weaknesses (especially the sounds.. from my opinion), it shows how LANGSUIR has progressed since their demo age.

"THE EASTERN RULZ !!!"

Band Members
Batara Guru-guitar
Azmaniac-guitar
Azlan-vocals
Ajiz-drums


Langsuyr's Albums
Occultus Mysticism (Démo - 1993)
The Eastern Cruelty (EP - 1996)
Riusgnal (Compilation - 1999) mp3
Ipoh Metal Militant (Supremacist) (Compilation - 1999)
Asyik (CD - 2006)

Punk (Malaysia)

Famous Malaysian punk bands include the anarcho punk Carburetor Dung and streetpunk/oi! A.C.A.B..

The first punk rock scene in Malaysia started in Terengganu in 1978/1979. It started in the small town of Dungun by a group of friends influenced by British music magazines such as NME, Melody Maker, Sounds and Zig Zag, as well as their brothers and friends studying or living in the more modern West Coast cities who would pass them the magazines and music.

It was known as the Malaysian capital of punk rock throughout the late 1979 and the 1980s but there were no bands then as the punks were too poor to afford the equipment. The scene then was more a covergence of pioneering punk rockers trading pre-recorded music and fanzines acquired from pen-pals and friends from overseas while dabbling in home-made DIY punk fashion.

Most of the trading material came from friends studying overseas, friends living in the West Coast cities and also punk rockers from UK, Europe and US who sent tapes and magazines. Irregular trips were made to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur (and Georgetown, but rarely as it was too far) to dub punk rock records at the music stores or buy pirated tapes.

Some fishing villages would have the most punks and thus became the center of activities. The main two villages were Kampung Mengabang Telipot (an hour north to the city) and Kampung Tanjung (right at the mouth of the city's river system). In Mengabang Telipot, there was a small punk community library with fanzines, magazines and music, which the kids would share. This library was actually a wooden cupboard situated at one of the punk rockers' houses, it was called as "logen".

The first Malaysian punk fanzine came out from this scene. It appeared in 1986 with the title of Huru Hara (meaning "chaos"); it was written in Terengganu slang by editor Mamat Hitam but never distributed on a large scale. The first fanzine to do that was Aedes, which lasted until 1996.

Bands like The Pilgrims, Carburetor Dung, The Bollocks, A.C.A.B and A.R.T were playing in the underground gig circuit 90's around Kuala Lumpur, sharing the same stage with other bands playing different genres. The Oi! scene was also popular with street punk music by bands like A.C.A.B, The Official & Roots N Boots, with the look of the mods and skinheads. Joe Kidd (Carburetor Dung), who was a journalist from Malaysia's The Sun newspaper, wrote his column called 'Blasting Concept' which reviewed most of the records and demo released by D.I.Y bands in the 90's. There was also reviews of concerts and shows all around Malaysia. Joe Kidd now owns a D.I.Y shop called 'The Ricecooker' which is located in the heart of the Malaysian underground scene, Central Market.

A new generation picked it up again in the late-90s with bands, DIY labels and intermittent gigs.

There are still a lot of active punk-influenced bands such as Dirty Divider and The Goodnight Goodies.

Guns N' Roses

Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock/heavy metal band that formed in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California in 1985. The band, led by frontman and co-founder Axl Rose, has gone through numerous line-up changes and controversies since its formation; the current lineup comprises vocalist Rose, guitarists Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal, DJ Ashba and Richard Fortus, bassist Tommy Stinson, drummer Frank Ferrer and keyboardists Dizzy Reed and Chris Pitman. The band has released six studio albums, three EPs and one live album during its career.

The band has sold an estimated 100 million albums worldwide, including over 43 million in the United States.The band's 1987 major label debut album Appetite for Destruction has sold in excess of 28 million copies and reached number one on the United States Billboard 200. In addition, the album charted three Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including "Sweet Child o' Mine" which reached number one. The 1991 albums Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II debuted on the two highest spots on the Billboard 200 and have sold a combined 14 million copies in the United States alone and 35 million worldwide. After over a decade of work, the band released their follow-up album, Chinese Democracy, in 2008.

Their mid-to-late eighties and early nineties years have been described by individuals in the music industry as the period in which "they brought forth a hedonistic rebelliousness and revived the punk attitude-driven hard rock scene, reminiscent of the early Rolling Stones.

The music of Guns N' Roses is a fusion of punk rock, blues-rock, heavy metal and classic rock and roll. In the 1990s, the band integrated keyed instruments (played by either Rose or Reed, and accompanied on tour by Teddy Andreadis) into the band, and for roughly half of the Use Your Illusion tour, added a horn section to the stage. While Reed has remained on some of the Chinese Democracy demos, tours since 2000 have not included wind instruments, though the band has employed synthesized horns on some of their new songs.

A heavy influence on both the image and sound of the band was Finnish band Hanoi Rocks (singer Michael Monroe and Rose have collaborated on various occasions). Rose has stated that the band was massively inspired by bands like Queen,[58] AC/DC, The Rolling Stones, and Rose Tattoo and also that the sound of Appetite for Destruction was influenced by AC/DC, Aerosmith, The New York Dolls and Hanoi Rocks.

Album:

- Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide (1985)




- Appetite for Destruction, G N' R Lies (1987–1989)




- Use Your Illusion (1991)




- Use Your Illusion II (1991)




- The Spaghetti Incident? (1993)




- Chinese Democracy (2008)

Grindcore

Grindcore is a branch of extreme metal that fuses elements of death metal, hardcore punk and other genres. Of all the genres of extreme metal grind is the most alien to inexperienced listeners, frequently confrontational and flirting with outright noise.

The genre got started in the mid-1980s on opposite side of the Atlantic. In Michigan, Repulsion combined blast beasts with a distinct fuzzy bass tone. In England, the early lineups of Napalm Death began playing ultra-fast and short songs with an acidic political edge. The genre, which has spawned sub-genres including goregrind and cybergrind, is now entrenched in underground metal and has produced some of metal’s most iconoclastic and experimental music.
Musical Style:
Grindcore is characterized by speed, blast beasts and often indecipherable vocals. Many grindcore songs are short even by punk standards and some tracks are just seconds long. Many bands have expanded on the grind template and broadened the music in the process. Brutal Truth is known for bringing an experimental flair to the music; Pig Destroyer showed that you can create a full palate of sound with just a guitar and drums and Nasum’s music is uncannily rhythmic. While there are shared traits the best grind bands have expanded on the template.

The vocals vary to match the music and speed, but screams and guttural singing are standard. Some grindcore artists also use a variation of spoken word vocals.

Grindcore Pioneers:

Napalm Death



Napalm Death is the key band in the grind genre. Opening albums Scum (featuring the famous one-second song “You Suffer”) and From Enslavement to Obliteration are grind benchmarks. Napalm Death favored a death metal approach in the 1990s but returned to their roots in 2000 and have since produced albums that match their earlier work, including the recent albums Smear Campaign and Time Waits for No Slave.

Brutal Truth




Brutal Truth pushed grind to a higher musical level in the 1990s. Initially formed by S.O.D. and Anthrax bassist Dan Lilker, the band took grind music down an unexpected path beginning with Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses and Need to Control. The band broke up in 1999 but began playing together several years ago and recently issued their comeback album Evolution Through Revolution.

Repulsion




Repulsion initially formed in Flint, Michigan in 1985 and has only recorded roughly one album’s worth of material. Their sole record Horrified was highly influential to metal, particularly the band’s blast beats, violent lyrics and unabashedly primitive sound. Repulsion has played concerts in recent years but recorded no new material.

Metal (Malaysia)

Sil Khannaz















Power band of Sil Khannaz was formed in Kangar Perlis (1987). Their concept is Death Metal. They are influanced by band like Death and Obituary.Their first album is Conceptions of Madness.

SIL KHANNAZ
(Metal)
BIODATA


FORMED: 1987, Perlis
VOCAL: Jaie Jokhannaz
GUITAR: CD Naz
Dark-E (Joined Vociferation Eternity)
BASS: Hashim (Joined Brain Dead & The Pilgrims)
DRUM: -
ALBUM: Doctrine To Hell, demo (1990)
Assassin Led By Blasphemy, demo (1992)
Conception Of Madness (1993)
Pendita Gila (1995)
Gerbang Kayangan (1997)
Conception Of Madness (1999)
Bara Pawaka (2000)
Darah Muda (2003)
20th Anniversary Live at Planet Hollywood (2007)
SINGLE: Raja Kumbang (2001 / album The Underground Tribute To
SweetCharity)
Oh Rambulan (2001 / album Kompilasi Terbaik FTG & Sil Khannaz)
Metallurgical: (2007 / album Hail To The King: A Tribute To Cromok)
VIDEO CD: Rockumentari (2005)
DVD: Live at Rock The World 7 (2007)
FILEM: Dari Jemapoh Ke Manchestee (2001 / Soundtrack)

Metal (Malaysia)

Cromok is a thrash metal band from Malaysia. They are known to be an otai band (where the term otai refers to old-timers or pioneers) of thrash metal music.Sam, Karl, Miji and Din were Malaysian students studying at the University of Wollongong, in Australia, where they decided to form a thrash metal band (1987). While in Australia, Cromok went on to achieve a steady following and a large fanbase, and eventually returned to Malaysia.When they back home to Malaysia, they were signing a contract with valentine record.And out with Metallurgical album. Their album sole 70,000 units. The song 'Ulek Mayang' became the hit song at that time.Din died as a result of malaria in 1996, but the band continued as a trio. In 2001 Karl announced to out from the band and replaced by lead guitarist Hillary Ang.

In 2005, Sam announced that they were going on hiatus and that all band activities would be suspended.Lead guitarist Hillary Ang rejoined his old band called Search, thus adding to speculation of a break-up (and the end of Cromok).

The group sings in English. They are also known to have at least one instrumental track in every album. The band's vocals sound like the Teutonic Thrash style, while their music is more like the Bay Area thrash metal.

Their song structures are characterised by very simple riffs and minimalist drumming overlaid with complex guitar solos.

Cromok also often experiments with Malay cultural music elements and sounds, adding Malay elements to their artwork.

Cromok:


1. Sam - Vocalist, Bassist
2. Din - Vocalist, Guitarist
3. Miji - Drummer
4. Karl - Guitarist
5. Hillary Ang - Guitarist



Discography:


1. Image of Purity (1990)
2. Forever In Time (1993)
3. Yours Truly (1996)
4. Mean Meaner Meanest (1999)
5. Image of Purity (2000) - Re-release
6. What's Left (2000)
7. Deafening Silence (2002)
8. Engrave in Eternity (kompilasi 2003)
9. Untitled (2004)
10. Untitled+Raw (2005)
11. The Great : Metal Manifest (2006)

Punk rock

is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed the perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock. They created fast, hard-edged music, typically with short songs, stripped-down instrumentation, and often political, anti-establishment lyrics. Punk embraces a DIY (do it yourself) ethic, with many bands self-producing their recordings and distributing them through informal channels.

By late 1976, bands such as the Ramones, in New York City, and the Sex Pistols and The Clash, in London, were recognized as the vanguard of a new musical movement. The following year saw punk rock spreading around the world. Punk quickly, though briefly, became a major cultural phenomenon in the United Kingdom. For the most part, punk took root in local scenes that tended to reject association with the mainstream. An associated punk subculture emerged, expressing youthful rebellion and characterized by distinctive styles of clothing and adornment and a variety of anti-authoritarian ideologies.





By the beginning of the 1980s, faster, more aggressive styles such as hardcore and Oi! had become the predominant mode of punk rock. Musicians identifying with or inspired by punk also pursued a broad range of other variations, giving rise to post-punk and the alternative rock movement. By the turn of the century, pop punk had been adopted by the mainstream, with bands such as Green Day and The Offspring bringing the genre widespread popularity.

Punk rock bands often emulate the bare musical structures and arrangements of 1960s garage rock. Typical punk rock instrumentation includes one or two electric guitars, an electric bass, and a drum kit, along with vocals. Punk rock songs tend to be shorter than those of other popular genres—on the Ramones' debut album, for instance, half of the fourteen tracks are under two minutes long. Most early punk rock songs retained a traditional rock 'n' roll verse-chorus form and 4/4 time signature. However, punk rock bands in the movement's second wave and afterward have often broken from this format. In critic Steven Blush's description, "The Sex Pistols were still rock'n'roll...like the craziest version of Chuck Berry. Hardcore was a radical departure from that. It wasn't verse-chorus rock. It dispelled any notion of what songwriting is supposed to be. It's its own form."

Punk rock vocals sometimes sound nasal, and lyrics are often shouted instead of sung in a conventional sense, particularly in hardcore styles. The vocal approach is characterized by a lack of variety; shifts in pitch, volume, or intonational style are relatively infrequent—the Sex Pistols' Johnny Rotten constituting a significant exception. Complicated guitar solos are considered self-indulgent and unnecessary, although basic guitar breaks are common. Guitar parts tend to include highly distorted power chords or barre chords, creating a characteristic sound described by Christgau as a "buzzsaw drone". Some punk rock bands take a surf rock approach with a lighter, twangier guitar tone. Others, such as Robert Quine, lead guitarist of The Voidoids, have employed a wild, "gonzo" attack, a style that stretches back through The Velvet Underground to the 1950s recordings of Ike Turner. Bass guitar lines are often uncomplicated; the quintessential approach is a relentless, repetitive "forced rhythm", although some punk rock bass players—such as Mike Watt of The Minutemen and Firehose—emphasize more technical bass lines. Bassists often use a pick due to the rapid succession of notes, which makes fingerpicking impractical. Drums typically sound heavy and dry, and often have a minimal set-up. Compared to other forms of rock, syncopation is much less the rule. Hardcore drumming tends to be especially fast. Production tends to be minimalistic, with tracks sometimes laid down on home tape recorders or simple four-track portastudios. The typical objective is to have the recording sound unmanipulated and "real", reflecting the commitment and "authenticity" of a live performance. Punk recordings thus often have a lo-fi quality, with the sound left relatively unpolished in the mastering process; recordings may contain dialogue between band members, false starts, and background noise.
The Clash, performing in 1980





Punk rock lyrics are typically frank and confrontational; compared to the lyrics of other popular music genres, they frequently comment on social and political issues. Trend-setting songs such as The Clash's "Career Opportunities" and Chelsea's "Right to Work" deal with unemployment and the grim realities of urban life. Especially in early British punk, a central goal was to outrage and shock the mainstream. The Sex Pistols classics "Anarchy in the U.K." and "God Save the Queen" openly disparage the British political system and social mores. There is also a characteristic strain of anti-sentimental depictions of relationships and sex, exemplified by "Love Comes in Spurts", written by Richard Hell and recorded by him with The Voidoids. Anomie, variously expressed in the poetic terms of Hell's "Blank Generation" and the bluntness of the Ramones' "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue", is a common theme. Identifying punk with such topics aligns with the view expressed by V. Vale, founder of San Francisco fanzine Search and Destroy: "Punk was a total cultural revolt. It was a hardcore confrontation with the black side of history and culture, right-wing imagery, sexual taboos, a delving into it that had never been done before by any generation in such a thorough way." However, many punk rock lyrics deal in more traditional rock 'n' roll themes of courtship, heartbreak, and hanging out; the approach ranges from the deadpan, aggressive simplicity of Ramones standards such as "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" to the more unambiguously sincere style of many later pop punk groups.

Glam rock

Glam rock (also known as glitter rock) is a style that developed in the UK in the post-hippie early 1970s that was "performed by singers and musicians wearing outrageous clothes, makeup, hairstyles, and platform-soled boots." The flamboyant costumes, and visual styles of glam performers were a campy, theatrical blend of nostalgic references to science fiction and old movies.

Largely a British phenomenon, glam rock visuals peaked during the mid 1970s. According to many researchers, the most famous exponents of the fashion were David Bowie,Marc Bolan and T. Rex, Gary Glitter, and Slade.Other influential British and American performers include: Queen,Sweet, Wizzard, Roxy Music,Mud, Mott the Hoople, The Glitter Band, Elton John, and Suzi Quatro.

Glam fans (usually referred to in the contemporary music press as "glitter kids") and performers distinguished themselves from earth-toned hippie culture with a deliberately "artificial" look. This is derived in large part from a fusing of transvestism with futurism. Evoking the glamour of 'Old Hollywood' whilst consciously wallowing in 1970s drug and sleaze success, the stars of Andy Warhol's films and his stage play Pork were crucially influential to the nascent glam movement. The Warhol coterie were provocatively camp, flamboyant, and sexually ambiguous. Mid-1960s Warhol Superstar Edie Sedgwick cultivated an androgynous, ultra-hedonistic image.

Science fiction imagery was a core strand of glam rock's stylistic weave. Themes of spaceflight and alien encounters were prevalent at the more cerebral end of the glam rock spectrum. Glam style strongly referenced this anticipated era with silver astronaut-like outfits, multicoloured hair and allusions to a new multi-gender social morality. This trend was often musically represented with science-fiction-oriented lyrics and music tinted with early synthesizers such as the Moog. Glam performers and fans combined nostalgic, "decadent" and "space age" influences alike into a uniquely "glam" synthesis of Victorian, cabaret, and futuristic styles.

Doom Metal

diSEMBOWELMENT






My Dying Bride




This is probably one of the trickiest questions to answer and has been the issue of many heated debates. There are however a few things that we can be certain about.

Doom-metal is a sub-genre of the highly diverse metal genre. This means that the first criteria will always be that the music must be metal at its core. There are also many misconceptions about what metal really is, but that particular topic does not fall within the scope of this article.

Whilst the general public may think that all music belonging to this genre sounds very alike, if one takes the time to scrutinise the genre it is apparent that the real situation is very different from this. If this is the case, what makes doom-metal so different from other metal genres? One answer is that doom-metal is filled with heaviness, darkness, sadness, depression and melancholy. It emanates a dark and brooding atmosphere that cannot be found with such intensity in any other genre.

Black Sabbath For some, the earliest examples of doom albums are Black Sabbath's self-titled debut album, and their second album, 'Paranoid'. Both of these records were released in 1970 upon a largely unexpecting audience. Whilst the first album retained a heavy dose of Sabbath's blues roots, "Paranoid" remains one of their darkest records. This leads some people to hail Black Sabbath as the originators of doom-metal. Whilst this opinion is a controversial one, Black Sabbath are definitely one of the founders of modern heavy metal. To claim that Black Sabbath is a doom band would be misleading in that it would be akin to saying that all metal bands have doom influences because they depict the dark side of music. Still, it must be said that Black Sabbath heavily influenced the bands that genuinely helped form the doom-metal genre. However, this is not to say that Black Sabbath did not play an important role in creating the metal genre as a whole.

Several forms of Doom-Metal have existed since 1970 or thereabouts, but most doom bands originated in the late 80s and onwards. Bands such as Trouble, Saint Vitus and Candlemass are examples of some of the earliest doom-metal bands. The descriptive label "doom-metal" is attributed to Candlemass' 'Epicus Doomicus Metallicus' album, although some believe the term comes from the Black Sabbath song 'Hand of Doom'. The bands of the past used clean vocals and it is therefore a misconception that a band needs to resort to grunts to be considered part of the doom-metal genre.

Solitude Aeturnus For a full overview of the history of Doom-metal it is advisable to visit that section of our page. However one more thing that is still worth mentioning about it is that fact that the bands mentioned so far are often referred to as being the more traditional doom-metal bands. There are still a great deal of good bands around that employ this style (Solitude Aeturnus for example), but you also these days have many other styles of doom. One of the best known these days is a more or less "second generation Doom-metal", and the Doom-metal most "new" fans will know; Death/Doom-Metal. This further fuels the debate as to what truly constitutes Doom-Metal.

Death/Doom-metal, is thought of by many as a reaction to death-metal, just like death-metal originated from thrash metal. As a reaction to the incredibly fast death-metal riffs some bands began playing ultra slowly, with low-pitched guitars and dragging grunts. One of the most noteworthy examples of this is Lee Dorian, formerly the vocalist of Napalm Death, who started his own band: Cathedral. The early Cathedral albums were extremely slow.

This brings us to another possible factor that can be used to define doom-metal. It is slow music, in sharp contrast to most metal. This has given rise to a school of critics that dismiss doom-metal as being a"boring" genre in which little ever happens. As with any genre, there exists some indubitably talentless, thoroughly unoriginal bands out there who are indeed boring, but in general saying that Doom-metal is boring means that one has not been paying attention to the music. One of the true attributes of Doom-metal is that it can be extremely slow, yet not at all boring.

diSEMBOWELMENT Although previously mentioned, it ought to be stressed that the sheer heaviness of the music is an important characteristic of the Doom-metal genre. This takes many shapes, from the gut-wrenching sounds of a band such as diSEMBOWELMENT, to the Sabbath-like riffs of St. Vitus, to the trancendental sounds of Esoteric, and the romantic depression of My Dying Bride. All these bands share a quest for heaviness in their music.

At times, this also leads Doom-metal close to another genre called "Stoner-rock". Both genres clearly strive to create the heaviest sound ever and often intermix (indeed there is such a grey area as Stoner/Doom). However one misconception made by a lot of Stoner fans is the notion that pure Stoner rock or Stoner/Doom is the only form of Doom (sometimes referred to as "True Doom" by fans, but not to be confused with the "True Doom" as claimed by a small number of Traditional and Epic Doom-metal diehards). On the same tack however, the ignorant ideas of some Death/Doom fans that theirs is the only true form of Doom-metal is equally insupportable, this being the cause for many a heated debate. We would rather concentrate on the great diversity Doom-metal has to offer us.

In all fairness, an attempt at defining doom-metal by way of its sound is akin to trying to define a race solely by its appearance. In today's rather varied market, we have slow, hurtful doom-metal. We have medium-paced, harmonic doom-metal. We have occasional moments of really fast, energetic doom-metal. We even have doom-metal you can play at a Pagan festival. Although it isn't strictly essential, we have many doom-metal bands that employ harmonic instruments such as the violin, synthesiser, flute, and so on. We even have doom-metal being mixed with other styles such as techno-industrial, black metal or classical music.

The misconception that doom-metal encourages people to commit suicide is absolutely untrue.

Emo

Fugazi






Hüsker Dü




The Emo genre and subculture has become something that is very hard to define. Because of this it is difficult to trace its ancestry. Most people who claim to be “in the know” cite the D.C. hardcore/punk scene and more specifically the band Rites Of Spring as the founders of emo. However, history has shown that it is rash to attribute the formation of a musical genre to one band. By looking at the musical scenes of the late 1980’s and early 1990’s we can better determine the roots and influences that started and continue to affect the emo genre and subculture.

Before one can understand where “emo” comes from one must first understand what it is today. “I prefer to think of it [emo] as punk rock that’s more melodic and introspective/depressing than hardcore, but still tapping into that primal energy and anger” (DeRogatis 1). This style of music has spawned a subculture of and scene that has been continually growing since the early nineties. Most of the kids look like nerds; wear dark rimmed glasses, chuck taylor high tops, and thrift store clothes. It is pretty easy to stereotype an “emo” kid, which is ironic because no can seem to define “emo” music.

The best way to describe “emo” music is by soft arpeggiated guitars overtop soft airy vocals that build up and release into an orchestra of heavy distorted guitars and then brought back down to the original quiet part. Emo lyrics are generally very poetic and range from topics of lost love to religious beliefs or other emotional subjects. Yet “emo” covers a wide variety of bands these days, from the soft melodic pines of American Football to the hard driving sounds of At the Drive In. How can a genre so large be traced to anything?

The problem is that what one person defines as “emo” is not to the next, it all depends on your point of view. Jason Gnewikow from The Promise Ring states it well, “ I could validate the point that we are an emo band, and I could also go on the other side and invalidate it. It all comes down of whoever’s asking, their perception of what it is” (DeRogatis 3). The prevailing perception of emo usually comes from the band Sunny Day Real Estate. Started in Seattle in 1992, SDRE combined their roots in hardcore with melodic vocals and a “pop” feel. Their 1994 release of “Diary” changed the emo scene forever. “Sunny Day came out of nowhere and changed a lot of peoples lives,” (Kurland 2) says Jeremy Gomez, bass player for the band Mineral. “Most people today when they think of emo think of the The Get Up Kids, Mineral. , and bands like that, that are coming from Sunny Day Real Estate” (DegRatis 3).

Many people argue that Sunny Day is not emo at all. They claim that “emo” rose out of the D.C. hardcore/punk scene and the band Rites of Spring. “[Rites of Spring] was a melodic hardcore group, but what set it apart was the subject matter of its songs. Rather than ranting about revolution and anger, Picciotto sang about lost love and forgotten memories” (Kurland 1). While Rites of Spring did bring a more melodic sound to hardcore/punk, they certainly were not the first, and they also were not the first hardcore punk band to focus their lyrics on other subject matter.

The hardcore/punk scene as a whole had been moving in this direction. A Rolling Stone article in 1985 cites this growing trend, “Primal punk is passé… They have learned how to play their instruments. They have discovered melody, guitar solos and lyrics that are more than shouted political slogans” (Goldberg 1). Bands like Hüsker Dü had been pioneering new avenues in hardcore punk. “For the past two years, Hüsker Dü has been confounding warrior punks and mainstream rockers alike with a rapidly evolving fusion of high-speed thrash, recombinant pop-song structures, and emotionally scared lyric confessions” (Frickle 1).

Rites of Spring put out one full album and an EP; they lasted for a little less than 2 years and played around fourteen shows. Lead singer Guy Picciotta then went on to start the band Fugazi, whom took some of what Rites of Spring started and progressed from there. However, only “to some extent Fugazi moved the legacy of Rites of Spring and Embrace forward, though its music was never quite as emotionally exposed. It would fall on the bands that followed to fashion emo into the style heard today” (DeRogatis 1).

Although the influence of Fugazi and the Washington D.C. scene on emo were substantial, emo, as we know it today did not rise solely from hardcore scene. What is disturbing is that most sources that try to trace the history of emo leave a huge gap between the “D.C. Dischord sound” of the mid to late eighties and Sunny Day Real Estate of the mid nineties. How did emo get where it is today? I propose it was a marriage between hardcore and indie rock with grunge as the father of the bride, paying for the wedding.

While bands like Rites of Spring and Hüsker Dü were breaking new ground in the hardcore scene, a band named Sonic Youth was transforming the indie/underground scene. “Sonic Youth used guitar riff hooks as the bait, but obliterated melodies and conventional song structures with long passages of drone, odd guitar strains and scathing atmospherics” (McGurgan 1). Their 1987 release of Sister would prove to be a hugely influential album.

“On this record they use the soft, warm sound as a base from which each of the song's emotions flower. The effect is comforting and primal, like the hum of a mother cooing her child to sleep. Then out of nowhere, like the opening bars on "(I Got A) Catholic Block," guitars crash in and twist the pervading sense of peace into feelings of disruptive frustration. As the lyrics and the tempo converge and take the song's feelings to a pitch, the pace slows down; the guitars slowly drop off as if the emotions had been spent…



Sonic Youth continued to redefine the predictable rock song by producing progressive albums throughout the 1980’s, following Sister with their masterpiece Daydream Nation. Their influence on rock music is almost unprecedented, especially for a band that never had a Top 40 hit. However, full recognition of their significance would not come until the effect of Nirvana’s Nevermind was felt throughout the rock community.

Another band that was redefining the indie scene at this time was The Pixies. They formed in 1986 when lead singer Charles Thompson placed an ad in Boston for a “bassist for a Hüsker Dü and Peter, Paul, & Mary band” (Kane 1). Once Charles had all the members he needed The Pixies began to write songs and play shows around the Boston area. Their music is typified by stop/start-distorted guitar beneath Thompson’s vocals as he “veers from a whisper to a scream” (1).

“The Pixies' busy, brief songs, extreme dynamics and subversion of pop song structures proved one of the touchstones of '90s alternative rock” (Erlewine 1). However, more importantly The Pixies laid the groundwork for the alternative explosion of the early '90s. They were one of the first indie bands to break through the pop charts giving the lesser-known underground bands of the early 90’s an opening to gain success.

As the eighties moved into the nineties the American youth was looking for a new direction in music. Kids were tired of the fake pop anthems sung only to make a dollar. “There has been a return to the emotionally charged performance, the display of raw power as an assurance of the truthfulness and sincerity of the performer(s)” (Santiago 189). These Generation X’ers wanted music that mirrored their feelings. “They defined nineties rock with an angry metal/punk and rap, which reflected their fears, frustration, desperation, and hopes” (Szatmary 315). Out of this need for emotion, feeling, and true music came the grunge scene and eventually the emo scene.



Seattle’s Sup Pop label arguably was the impetus behind the grunge and emo movements. “Sup Pop scored its first success with Soundgarden” (326). They began signing other similar acts in the early nineties and eventually stumbled upon a local band named Nirvana. The Seattle scene and the “Sup Pop sound” had shaped a worldwide explosion of ripped-jeaned, flannel shirt wearing teenagers. “By the end of 1990, Sub Pop had helped to create the image of Seattle as the site of an exciting, emerging music scene” (328).

Nirvana was the band that broke things open in Seattle. After their first album, Bleach, on Sub Pop, Nirvana went on a European tour with Sonic Youth. Sonic Youth introduced Nirvana to David Geffen, owner of the DGC label. Geffen paid off Sub Pop and singed Nirvana to his label. In 1991 Nirvana released their landmark album Nevermind. “[Nevermind] was the perfect embodiment of punk attitude, classic rock, and pop melody -- the combination of which had never been embraced, or heard before” (Gulla 1).

“In early 1992 Nirvana hit the top of the chart…within a year the band had sold 10 million copies of their debut…” (Szatmary 328). Nirvana was the quintessential overnight success story, giving record labels and garage bands everywhere a dream that they could find or become the next big thing. “Everywhere music critics spoke of the search for the ‘next Nirvana.’ Major labels scoured Seattle for still – unsigned bands” (Bertsch 1). Now the music industry had an ear to the underground and underground bands now had a platform to stand on.

After Nirvana left Sub Pop, they continued to look for new ground breaking talent. They discovered local Seattle band Sunny Day Real Estate and released their first full-length album in 1994. “On "Seven" and "In Circles," the first two songs of its debut album Diary, Seattle's Sunny Day Real Estate practically drew up the blueprints for an entire genre of rock” (Cohen 1). It was with this album “that emo began making waves outside the hardcore community” (Kurland 1).

“Sunny Day Real Estate inadvertently signaled ‘go’ for the emo-core frenzy with Diary” (Cohen 1). Jeremy Egnik's powerful falsetto voice coupled with vast dynamic shifts and heartfelt lyrics typify Sunny Day revolutionary sound. Their influence on the emo community was immense considering the low profile they kept, only doing one interview and never playing a show in the state of California. In 1995, before the release of their second album, LP2, Sunny Day Real Estate disbanded, however, their impact had already been made.

The emo-core genre was now off and running. With bands such as Mineral, Texas is the Reason , and Christie Front Drive following in Sunny Day’s wake the genre had begun planting its roots around the country. Today, emo has evolved into many different styles and sounds with every new band adding it’s own twist to the genre. Because of these artist’s diversity I would not be surprised if many other genres of music will develop from the huge canopy of emo.

Music is something that does not change overnight it evolves slowly yet dramatically. Music advances because artists are constantly pushing the boundaries, striving to be different, striving to be original. No true musician wants to be labeled or put in a box and that is why few bands want the “emo” stereotype. The fact is that the underground/indie scene evolves within itself, even within different genres, labels, and subcultures.

In order to trace this evolution we must look at the scenes and genres in general that contributed to emo. While certain bands become more popular than their other contemporaries, and other great artists are overlooked it is important to touch on the larger more influential group and artists so that a general consensus can be reached. There are far too many bands that have influenced the emo genre to list, however, by looking at the main artists in a genre one can get a general feel of what was happening in that genre at the time.

Rites of Spring and Sunny Day Real Estate did not start the emo genre. They were two of the more influential bands in the development of emo. Emo was the culmination of many bands and genres all brought together at the right place and the right time. Many bands had to build bridges for underground artists to be heard in the mainstream. Many other bands also brought about new sounds and ideas that helped to form the emo sound. With all of these factors in place a band and or a label had to start the wheels in motion forming the emo genre.

Britpop

Blur







Oasis





Britpop is a subgenre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom. Britpop emerged from the British independent music scene of the early 1990s and was characterised by bands influenced by British guitar pop music of the 1960s and 1970s. The movement developed as a reaction against various musical and cultural trends in the late 1980s and early 1990s, particularly the grunge phenomenon from the United States. In the wake of the musical invasion into the United Kingdom of American grunge bands, new British groups such as Suede and Blur launched the movement by positioning themselves as opposing musical forces, referencing British guitar music of the past and writing about uniquely British topics and concerns. These bands were soon joined by others including Oasis, Pulp, Supergrass and Elastica.

Britpop groups brought British alternative rock into the mainstream and formed the backbone of a larger British cultural movement called Cool Britannia. Although its more popular bands were able to spread their commercial success overseas, especially to the United States, the movement largely fell apart by the end of the decade.

Britpop bands were influenced by British guitar music of the past, particularly movements and genres such as the British Invasion, glam rock, punk rock and post-punk. Along with The Beatles, the likes of The Kinks, David Bowie, The Who, The Jam, The Small Faces, and countless other "classic" rockers and later bands like Echo and the Bunnymen, XTC, The Psychedelic Furs, and The Smiths, laid the foundation for what would blossom in the late '80s and early '90s as the key popular musical movement of the day. However, influences varied: Blur and Oasis drew from The Kinks and The Beatles, respectively, while Elastica had a fondness for arty punk rock. Regardless, all Britpop artists projected a sense of reverence for the sounds of the past.

Alternative rock acts from the 1980s and early 1990s indie scene were the direct ancestors of the Britpop movement. The influence of The Smiths was common to the majority of Britpop artists.The Madchester scene, fronted by The Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, and Inspiral Carpets (for whom Oasis' Noel Gallagher had worked as a roadie during the Madchester years), was the immediate root of Britpop since its emphasis on good times and catchy songs provided an alternative to shoegazing.

Stylistically, Britpop bands relied on catchy hooks and wrote lyrics that were meant to be relevant to British young people of their own generation.Britpop bands conversely denounced shoegazing and grunge as irrelevant and having nothing to say about their lives. Damon Albarn of Blur summed up the attitude in 1993 when after being asked if Blur was an "anti-grunge band" he said, "Well, that's good. If punk was about getting rid of hippies, then I'm getting rid of grunge."In spite of the professed disdain for the genres, some elements of both crept into the more enduring facets of Britpop. Noel Gallagher has since championed Ride, and Martin Carr of the Boo Radleys has pointed out Dinosaur Jr's influence on their work. Noel Gallagher stated in a 1996 interview that Nirvana's Kurt Cobain was the only songwriter he had respect for in the last ten years, and that he felt their music was similar enough that Cobain could have written "Wonderwall".

The imagery associated with Britpop was equally British and working class. Music critic Jon Savage asserted that Britpop was "an outer-suburban, middle-class fantasy of central London streetlife, with exclusively metropolitan models."A rise in unabashed maleness, exemplified by Loaded magazine and lad culture in general, would be very much part of the Britpop era. The Union Flag also became a prominent symbol of the movement, and its use as a symbol of pride and nationalism contrasted deeply with the controversy that erupted just a few short years before when former Smiths singer Morrissey performed draped in it.The emphasis on British reference points made it difficult for the genre to achieve success in the US.

Oasis' third album Be Here Now (1997) was highly anticipated. Despite initially attracting positive reviews and selling strongly, the record was soon subjected to strong criticism from music critics, record-buyers and even Noel Gallagher himself for its overproduced and bloated sound. Music critic Jon Savage pinpointed Be Here Now as the moment where Britpop ended; Savage said that while the album "isn't the great disaster that everybody says," he noted that "it was supposed to be the big, big triumphal record" of the period.At the same time, Damon Albarn sought to distance Blur from Britpop with the band's fifth album, Blur (1997).[28] On the album, Blur moved away from their Parklife-era sound, and their music began to assimilate American lo-fi influences, particularly that of Pavement. Albarn explained to the NME in January 1997 that "We created a movement: as far as the lineage of British bands goes, there'll always be a place for us", but added, "We genuinely started to see that world in a slightly different way."



As the movement began to slow down in the 1990's, many acts began to falter and broke up.[30] While established acts struggled, attention began to turn to the likes of Radiohead and The Verve, who had been previously overlooked by the British media. These two bands—in particular Radiohead—showed considerably more esoteric influences from the 1960s and 1970s, influences that were uncommon among earlier Britpop acts. In 1997, Radiohead and The Verve released their respective efforts OK Computer and Urban Hymns, both of which were widely acclaimed. However, as Radiohead showed more indie rock influence and prowess, The Verve were seen as more as the last hurrah of Britpop. One of The Verve's most popular songs, Bittersweet Symphony is widely considered a great late Britpop anthem.

Grunge

Soundgarden




Alice In Chain




Pearl Jam






Nirvana




Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song dynamics, and apathetic or angst-filled lyrics. The grunge aesthetic is stripped-down compared to other forms of rock music, and many grunge musicians were noted for their unkempt appearances and rejection of theatrics.

The early grunge movement coalesced around Seattle independent record label Sub Pop in the late 1980s. Grunge became commercially successful in the first half of the 1990s, due mainly to the release of Nirvana's Nevermind and Pearl Jam's Ten. The success of these bands boosted the popularity of alternative rock and made grunge the most popular form of hard rock music at the time.However, many grunge bands were uncomfortable with this popularity. Although most grunge bands had disbanded or faded from view by the late 1990s, their influence continues to impact modern rock music.

The word grunge is believed to be a back-formation from the US slang adjective grungy,which originated in about 1965 as a slang term for "dirty" or "filthy." Mark Arm, the vocalist for the Seattle band Green River—and later Mudhoney—is generally credited as being the first to use the term grunge to describe this sort of music. Arm first used the term in 1981, when he wrote a letter under his given name Mark McLaughlin to the Seattle zine, Desperate Times, criticizing his band Mr. Epp and the Calculations as "Pure grunge! Pure noise! Pure shit!" Clark Humphrey, editor of Desperate Times, cites this as the earliest use of the term to refer to a Seattle band, and mentions that Bruce Pavitt of Sub Pop popularized the term as a musical label in 1987–88, using it on several occasions to describe Green River.Arm said years later, "Obviously, I didn't make [grunge] up. I got it from someone else. The term was already being thrown around in Australia in the mid-'80s to describe bands like King Snake Roost, The Scientists, Salamander Jim, and Beasts of Bourbon." Arm used grunge as a descriptive term rather than a genre term, but it eventually came to describe the punk/metal hybrid sound of the Seattle music scene.

Grunge is generally characterized by a sludgy guitar sound that uses a high level of distortion, fuzz and feedback effects. Grunge fuses elements of hardcore punk and heavy metal, although some bands performed with more emphasis on one or the other. The music shares with punk a raw sound and similar lyrical concerns.However, it also involves much slower tempos, dissonant harmonies, and more complex instrumentation – which is reminiscent of heavy metal. Some individuals associated with the development of grunge, including Sub Pop producer Jack Endino and the Melvins, explained grunge's incorporation of heavy rock influences such as Kiss as "musical provocation." Grunge artists considered these bands "cheesy" but nonetheless enjoyed them; Buzz Osborne of the Melvins described it as an attempt to see what ridiculous things bands could do and get away with.[6] In the early 1990s, Nirvana's signature "stop-start" song format became a genre convention.

Lyrics are typically angst-filled, often addressing themes such as social alienation, apathy, confinement, and a desire for freedom. A number of factors influenced the focus on such subject matter. Many grunge musicians displayed a general disenchantment with the state of society, as well as a discomfort with social prejudices. Such themes bear similarities to those addressed by punk rock musicians and the perceptions of Generation X. Music critic Simon Reynolds said in 1992 that "there's a feeling of burnout in the culture at large. Kids are depressed about the future."However, not all grunge songs dealt with these issues. Nirvana's satirical "In Bloom" is a notable example of more humorous writing. Several other grunge songs are filled with either a dark or fun sense of humor—Mudhoney's "Touch Me I'm Sick" or Tad's "Stumblin' Man"—though this often went unnoticed by the general public at the time. Humor in grunge often satirized glam metal—for example, Soundgarden's "Big Dumb Sex"—and other forms of popular rock music during the 1980s.

Grunge concerts were known for being straightforward, high-energy performances. Grunge bands rejected the complex and high budget presentations of many musical genres, including the use of complex light arrays, pyrotechnics, and other visual effects unrelated to playing the music. Stage acting was generally avoided. Instead the bands presented themselves as no different from minor local bands. Jack Endino said in the 1996 documentary Hype! that Seattle bands were inconsistent live performers, since their primary objective was not to be entertainers, but simply to "rock out."

Clothing commonly worn by grunge musicians in Washington consisted of thrift store items and the typical outdoor clothing (most notably flannel shirts) of the region, as well as a general unkempt appearance. The style did not evolve out of a conscious attempt to create an appealing fashion; music journalist Charles R. Cross said, "Kurt Cobain was just too lazy to shampoo," and Sub Pop's Jonathan Poneman said, "This [clothing] is cheap, it's durable, and it's kind of timeless. It also runs against the grain of the whole flashy aesthetic that existed in the 80's."

Mainstream success
Nirvana performing at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards.

Grunge bands had made inroads to the musical mainstream in the late 1980s. Soundgarden was the first grunge band to sign to a major label when they joined the roster of A&M Records in 1989. Soundgarden, along with other major label signings Alice in Chains and Screaming Trees, performed "okay" with their initial major label releases, according to Jack Endino.Nirvana, originally from Aberdeen, Washington, was also courted by major labels, finally signing with Geffen Records in 1990. In September 1991, the band released its major label debut, Nevermind. The album was at best hoped to be a minor success on par with Sonic Youth's Goo, which Geffen had released a year previous.It was the release of the album's first single "Smells Like Teen Spirit" that "marked the instigation of the grunge music phenomenon". Due to constant airplay of the song's music video on MTV, Nevermind was selling 400,000 copies a week by Christmas 1991.In January 1992, Nevermind replaced pop superstar Michael Jackson's Dangerous at number one on the Billboard 200.

The success of Nevermind surprised the music industry. Nevermind not only popularized grunge, but also established "the cultural and commercial viability of alternative rock in general."Michael Azerrad asserted that Nevermind symbolized "a sea-change in rock music" in which the glam metal that had dominated rock music at that time fell out of favor in the face of music that was authentic and culturally relevant.Other grunge bands subsequently replicated Nirvana's success. Pearl Jam, which featured former Mother Love Bone members Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard, had released its debut album Ten in August 1991, a month before Nevermind, but album sales only picked up a year later. By the second half of 1992 Ten became a breakthrough success, being certified gold and reaching number two on the Billboard charts.Soundgarden's album Badmotorfinger and Alice in Chains' Dirt, along with the Temple of the Dog album collaboration featuring members of Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, were also among the 100 top selling albums of 1992.The popular breakthrough of these grunge bands prompted Rolling Stone to nickname Seattle "the new Liverpool."Major record labels signed most of the prominent grunge bands in Seattle, while a second influx of bands moved to the city in hopes of success.

The popularity of grunge resulted in a large interest in the Seattle music scene's perceived cultural traits. While the Seattle music scene in the late 1980s and early 1990s in actuality consisted of various styles and genres of music, its representation in the media "served to depict Seattle as a music 'community' in which the focus was upon the ongoing exploration of one musical idiom, namely grunge."The fashion industry marketed "grunge fashion" to consumers, charging premium prices for items such as knit ski hats. Critics asserted that advertising was co-opting elements of grunge and turning it into a fad. Entertainment Weekly commented in a 1993 article, "There hasn't been this kind of exploitation of a subculture since the media discovered hippies in the '60s"The New York Times compared the "grunging of America" to the mass-marketing of punk rock, disco, and hip hop in previous years.Ironically the New York Times was tricked into printing a fake list of slang terms that were supposedly used in the grunge scene; often referred to as the grunge speak hoax. This media hype surrounding grunge was documented in the 1996 documentary Hype!.

A backlash against grunge began to develop in Seattle; in 1993 Bruce Pavitt said that in the city, "All things grunge are treated with the utmost cynicism and amusement [. . .] Because the whole thing is a fabricated movement and always has been."Many grunge artists were uncomfortable with their success and the resulting attention it brought. Nirvana's Kurt Cobain told Michael Azerrad, "Famous is the last thing I wanted to be."Pearl Jam also felt the burden of success, with much of the attention falling on frontman Eddie Vedder.Nirvana's follow-up album In Utero (1993) was an intentionally abrasive album that Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic described as a "wild aggressive sound, a true alternative record." Nevertheless, upon its release in September 1993 In Utero topped the Billboard charts.Pearl Jam also continued to perform well commercially with its second album, Vs. (1993). The album sold a record 950,378 copies in its first week of release, topped the Billboard charts, and outperformed all other entries in the top ten that week combined.

Thrash Metal

Kreator





Megadeth







Slayer








Metallica



Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized by its fast tempo and aggression. Thrash metal songs typically use fast, percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work.Thrash metal lyrics often deal with social issues using direct and denunciatory language, an approach which partially overlaps with the hardcore genre. The "Big Four" bands of thrash metal are Anthrax, Megadeth, Metallica, and Slayer, who simultaneously created and popularized the genre in the early 1980s.

The origins of thrash metal are generally traced to the late 1970s and early 1980s, when a number of bands began incorporating the sound of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal,creating a new genre and developing into a separate movement from punk rock and hardcore. This genre is more aggressive compared to its relative, speed metal, and can be seen in part to be a reaction to the lighter, more widely acceptable sounds and themes of glam metal.

Thrash metal generally features fast tempos, low-registers, complex guitar riffs, high-register guitar solos, double bass drumming, and aggressive vocals.

Most thrash guitar solos are played at high speed, as they are usually characterized by shredding, and use techniques such as sweep picking, legato phrasing, alternate picking, string skipping, and two-hand tapping. Thrash lead guitarists are often influenced by the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement.

Thrash guitar riffs often use chromatic scales and emphasize the tritone and diminished intervals, instead of using conventional single scale based riffing. For example, the main riff of Metallica's "Master of Puppets" is a chromatic descent, followed by a chromatic ascent based on the tritone. Rhythm guitar playing is characterized by extensive palm muting and down picking to give the riffs a chugging sound, along with extensive use of the pedal point technique (creating what can be considered a distinctive, 'thrashy' sound).

Speed, pacing, and time-changes also define thrash metal. Thrash tends to have an accelerating feel which may be due in large part to its aggressive drumming style. For example, thrash drummers often use two bass drums, or a double-bass pedal, in order to create a relentless, driving beat.

To keep up with the other instruments, many thrash bassists use a pick. However, some prominent thrash metal bassists have used their fingers, such as Frank Bello, Greg Christian, Steve DiGiorgio and the late Cliff Burton.Several bassists use a distorted bass tone, an approach popularized by Burton and Motörhead's Lemmy.

Lyrical themes in thrash metal include isolation, alienation, corruption, injustice, addiction, suicide, murder, warfare, and other maladies that afflict the individual and society. Humor and irony can occasionally be found, but they are limited, and are the exception rather than the rule.