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by Mawgan on November 17th, 2006

Mawgan

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What is the difference between hard rock and heavy metal? What makes a particular song heavy metal?

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  • by SalientAlien on November 26th, 2006

    SalientAlien

    The terms are fuzzy and it's common to find two people who are in disagreement as to whether certain songs or bands are one or the other genre. Adding to this is the fact that heavy metal can refer to the group of genres that make up all of metal including Extreme metal, Sludge metal, and so forth, or it can refer only to one subtype of metal generally related to the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWoBHM) in the early eighties (for a time Heavy Metal could be associated with slow, distorted blues-based rock iconised by Black Sabbath, but this seems to have morphed into the meaning of the overall metal genre I first mentioned, and Black Sabbath is closer to what we now call Doom Metal). The most reasonable deliniation I can come up with is to consider the primary genres of influence: Hard Rock is based on Blues and other "folk" genres, where Heavy Metal is heavily influenced by classical music (especially by Wagner ethos) and virtuistic concepts, heavily tempered by a pro-masculine (but rarely anti-feminine) and blue-collar (but rarely political) worldview.

    A heavy metal song is unlikely to rely on pentatonic scales (as seen in blues, blues rock, and to a lesser degree in hard rock), less likely to have harmonies and melodies distinguished from each other, more likely to be diatonic or chromatic, a much higher degree of dissonance, an emphasis on atmosphere, more likely to have particularly slow or fast tempos and tempo changes, more likely to have uneven time signatures and signature changes, and more likely to have dark and brooding themes.

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  • by Miandulu on June 3rd, 2008

    Miandulu

    Hard Rock, or any rock genre has a particular rythm - 1,2,1,2... 1,1,2,1,1,2 and so on. The key to it is that they always have the 1,2 signature, even if it is hidden by lighter beats. Just listen to any of the rock compositions and the main beat always ends up as a 1,2 variation. Metal (most types of it anyway) is more into constant beats like 1,1,1 or 2,2,2 Now I'm not saying that metal can not have a 1,2 beat. It happens (although in lighter types of metal mostly). But Rock or Heave Rock can NOT have a constant rythm like the one I mentioned. It is simply against the music rules (despite some saying that music has none) Rock rythms have not changed since they were invented (or presented to a wide piblic opinion to be more correct), although they became more complex and sometimes it is difficult to extract the main theme beat from a given song.
    The beat characteristic is by no means a 100% indicator of a composition being rock or metal. It's just when you hear a anything other than a variation of a 1,2,1,2 beat, you can bet your last penny/cant/shilling (underline as required :) that this is not Rock

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  • by metalhead on July 13th, 2007

    metalhead

    first of all metal in my opinion is a completely different genre, though related, have a distinction between the two

    rock lyrics:song about a guy beeing turned down by a girl

    metal:guy is turned down by a girl and then rapes and dismembers her in a satanic ritual

    get the idea?
    metal is much more brutal and evil while rock is directed towards a mainstream odience

    plus the sound is much different, rock tends to be slower with more harmony to delight the listener

    metal is much more powerful and is attended to give more of a dramatic feel

    metal also tends to be more complex and harder to play

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  • by Ezzy on November 17th, 2006

    Ezzy

    Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that emerged as a defined musical style in the 1970s, having its roots in hard rock bands which, between 1969 and 1974,[1] mixed blues and rock to create a hybrid with a thick, heavy, guitar-and-drums-centered sound, characterised by the use of highly-amplified distortion.

    Hard rock is a form of rock and roll music which finds its closest roots in early-1960s garage rock and psychedelic rock. It is typified by a heavy use of distorted electric guitar, bass guitar and drums. The term "hard rock" is often used as an umbrella term for genres such as punk, grunge, in order to distinguish them from softer, more radio friendly pop rock music.

    Heavy rock is more hardcore so to say

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  • by BumbleBee on October 23rd, 2007

    BumbleBee

    Hard rock tends to have slightly added mixtures of other genres. The more common mixes include alternative, pop, or alternative pop. Hard rock also tends to have not so heavy anthem (the reason metal is referred to as HEAVY metal). Metal can usually be found as a more music angsty genre rather than lyrical angst, such as rock is. Rock and metal are commonly believed to be sub genres of eachother (rock is a sub genre of metal, metal is a sub genre of rock, etc.). It really all depends on time as well as genre. A few bands have learned to add their own spin on the genre they choose. The reason rock bands are usually mixed and metals are not, probably have to do with history. Rock was in fact built on other genres while metal was built to create its own sort of genre. The differences are wide spread and truly there are mostly dependencys.

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  • by beowulf- 66 on November 13th, 2009

    beowulf- 66

    aerosmith= hard rock.guns+roses=hard rock.maiden,priest,accept,metallica=heavy metal.

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  • by Mechaghostman2 on January 12th, 2010

    Mechaghostman2

    Simply put, Hard Rock is singing about haw someone feels about something, just like regular Rock N' Roll, where as Heavy Metal is singing about Satan and Demons, possibly using those for metaphores for how they are feeling (MAYBE.) Basically listen to the differences between Ozzy Osbourne and Metallica, the differences between AC/DC and Rob Zombie. And if you are into Death Metal, then that is all about nothing but summoning demons and worshiping the devil (in most songs) but can also be singing about how you feel as well. Listen to the difference between Disturbed and Soulfly really.

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  • by timventura on October 6th, 2010

    timventura

    The popular media is "rewriting history" here by labeling many hard-rock bands as "heavy metal", when anybody living in that era would have known differently (IMHO). The worst examples are Guns 'N Roses & AC/DC - both Hard Rock, NOT Heavy Metal.

    Hard Rock is more bluesy, but also sings about traditional rock subjects (sex, drugs, rock 'n roll). Heavy Metal has always been more fantasy oriented (dragons, demons, Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner, etc...). There's no mistaking GNR's singing about "Nightrain" with Metallica's "Leper Messiah" in terms of subject material, and even though they toured together one is hard rock, the other metal.

    Also, in terms of equipment there's overlap, but the pinnacle of hard rock is the Les Paul/Marshall combo, whereas in metal you're more likely to see Mesa Boogie & other super hard-core equipment (although Marshall is common here also).

    There's also differentiation in terms of origins: Guns 'N Roses, Motley Crue, and others came out of primarily a rock scene in 80's LA - whereas Iron Maiden/Metallica/Megadeth were inspired (or part of) NWOBHM.

    Hard Rock: GNR, Aerosmith, AC/DC, Bon Jovi (sometimes), Poison
    Heavy Metal: Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Metallica, Megadeth

    Another easy way is by association: your glam bands are all rock - could those guys even associate with metalheads? Show up at an Iron Maiden concert wearing lipstick & hair-extensions, and you'd probably find your way home on a gurney!

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  • by Michele on June 23rd, 2008

    Michele

    Metal is louder. Hard Rock smashes their guitars on stage. Or is it the other way around? Anyway, how would I know?! I'm 64 years old!

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  • by Mechaghostman2 on January 7th, 2010

    Mechaghostman2

    Simply put, Hard Rock is singing about haw someone feels about something, just like regular Rock N' Roll, where as Heavy Metal is singing about Satan and Demons, possibly using those for metaphores for how they are feeling (MAYBE.) Basically listen to the differences between Ozzy Osbourne and Metallica, the differences between AC/DC and Rob Zombie. And if you are into Death Metal, then that is all about nothing but summoning demons and worshiping the devil (in most songs) but can also be singing about how you feel as well. Listen to the difference between Disturbed and Soulfly really.

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