by Jeremy Maples

Created on: March 05, 2007   Last Updated: May 09, 2007

Being a guy who grew up during the Eighties Heavy Metal days, I have a deep passion for all things Metal. Well not all things. The genre's classified as Death Metal and Nu-Metal are absolute rubbish in the opinion of this writer. Heav metal of my time was notabout screaming as far as it was about a group of individuals getting together and making amazing music.

Great bands like Anthrax, Slayer, Metallica, Exodus, Flotsam and Jetsam, and Testament, all of which have shared a stage, molded the sounds that would be known as heavy metal. Their goal: To create a sound that was faster, louder, harder, and ever increasingly difficult to play, all while putting their amazing talents to work. The men behind these sounds are what can be considered some of the greatest guitar players th world has ever seen. The sounds of the squelching guitar, the speed of the guitar solo, all unforgettable, are the things of legends. Listen to a solo from Kerry King of Slayer, Scott Ian of Anthrax, Kirk Hammett or Dave Mustaine. Listen to the lyrics about pain, suffering and misery. These things bring about the most fearl of feelings, they tap the nerve of aggression, they hit the deep, dark recesses of the human mind, triggering the animalistic instincts inside us all.

To call Metal just mere screaming and non-sensical noise is ignorance. One needs only to understand and learn to appreciate the intricacies of the craft to know what it truly means to love Metal. It is an artform that takes years to master, and many more to perfect. It is far more difficult than the fast, simplistic rythyms of punk rock, infintily more complicated than hip-hip, and I will not even discuss the "genre" of pop music. These genres candle to heavy metal and all that it stands for.

To many people, Heavy Metal is more than mere music, it is a way of life, an ideology, an ethos for living. In my experiance I have seen many people living lifestyles associated with the types of music they listen to. I have been around the punks, the wannabe rappers, the pop princesses, but none of them come close (with maybe the exception of punk) t the guys and gal who call themselves Heavy Metal. They are the most honest, steadfast, unintimidated people I have ever witnessed. They sense no fear, have no inhibitions, and live life as if every day was their last. You see them on motorcycles, in muscle cars, in beat up junkers, maybe with long hair, bald, mullet. They drink hard and party harder, they scare old ladies and children by pure presence alone. Now that's Metal.

Yes some screaming is involved sometimes, yes the music is loud, fast and violent. Is there a hint of Satan in some of the lyrics? Yes, but only because you cannot sound like a badass singing about God's love, sorry folks but Satan is cool and makes for good metal. The point is, Metal is all these thins and so much more. It's not about the money or the clothes or fame and success, its about the music. Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll, that's the motto.

Learn more about this author, Jeremy Maples.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.