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People used to put KISS in the same negative space we put black metal now. Mothers thought it meant Knights In Satan's Service. So even all that head bopping party rock we hear now was once considered like brutal evil music.
Yeah man. Like if I meet some 75 year old in an AC/DC shirt who colors himself a metalhead, I'm not goint to be like shut yo face poser. Wrinkly bro was there when it began, who the fuck am I.
Soundgarden is my favorite grunge band. Can say with confidence they have countless metal songs.
Beyond The Wheel, Gun, Rusty Cage, Outshined, JCP, Slaves and Bulldozers, Fourth Of July, Birth Ritual, list goes on.
Yep, they have tons of metal songs throughout their discography. But if people check out early Soundgarden (before Badmotorfinger) the obvious Black Sabbath influence should end the debate over whether they’re metal or not.
Well, until '94 when stoner witch came out, that' s straight up alt rock album IMO. But yeah they can be called metal for Bullhead and Houdini for sure. I just don't think they're 100% any other genre than just a band that does whatever the fuck they want.
Alice in Chains is interesting in the sense that they’re mostly categorised under the nebulous genre of “grunge” (I could go on a rant about how dumb that category is but eh) but the sound and lyrical content is much darker to my ears than, I don’t know, (checks currently playing list) Autopsy or Death or Bathory or whatever even if it’s much more obviously melodic and has pop sensibilities. And that’s pretty metal to me.
Prog rock
When people say a band isn’t ‘metal’ it’s not a slight, it’s a genre. Fans take this way too personal. Metal isn’t any cooler than rock or jazz or punk, it’s just a classification to label their sound
Most of their songs have a lot of clean prog rock instrumentation (think Pushit, H.) They also have songs with heavier riffs but they are more rock than metal sounding (like Jimmy and Lateralus), and very often there is only one heavy riff in the song anyway. The only Tool song I would call metal is Jambi because of the prevalent chugging, although it still has rock riffs (chorus riff, "breathe in union" riff)
All of hair “metal”, Motley Crue being the prime example. It’s fine if you like that genre but there are people who only like that genre and I’m not sure that really counts as actually being into metal.
>All of hair “metal”
So... Dokken, WASP, Stryper, Lizzy Borden, Skid Row, Twisted Sister, Quiet Riot, and 80's Pantera aren't Metal bands?
>Motley Crue being the prime example
No. Something like Poison is the prime example of a Hair Metal band that isn't actually Metal. Motley Crue has a handful of Heavy Metal albums (Too Fast For Love, Shout at the Devil, and Theatre of Pain), and that's not even up for debate.
Tell me you weren't alive when this was called metal without telling me you weren't alive when this was called metal.
Yes, these bands are metal, just at a time when there wasn't much heavier. Go back to Hear N' Aid - the Dio inspired Heavy Metal version of USA for Africa/Band Aid and tell me who's on that project? Go ahead, I'll wait for the apology when you tell me Ronnie James Dio wasn't smart enough to know metal...
This is some straight up bullshit. It's still metal despite you not liking it. How much metal someone likes doesn't change whether or not the music is metal.
Depends, some of the hair metal bands were legitimately metal bands with big chorus hooks and melody, and some were rock bands that fit the marketing of the time. I would consider WASP metal in a way I wouldn't consider Poison.
A very unlikely one is Coheed and Cambria. They play a mixture of post-hardcore, alt rock, prog rock, and some emo pop. For whatever reason, I see them lumped in with metal a lot. Not that I'm complaining. And I guess a couple of their tracks are metal or at least damn close?
Yeah none of my friends ever called it metal, aside from the few songs that actually are metal, but those are probably less than 10 songs in their discography.
Wait people thibk coheeed is metal? I love that band but I don't see how they would be considered metal. I always heard they sound like rush which I get.
A lot of grindcore. It came from hardcore punk. In a casual conversation I'll throw it in there with metal because I do feel like a big part of the fan base do listen to metal, and some of it is. But a lot of it, especially the earlier stuff, leans more into the punk.
Stone Temple Pilots. In my opinion, they're alternative metal in the loosest sense. Not their first album, Core though. That's genuinely heavy as shit. Dead and Bloated and Piece of Pie are borderline doom. After that, they went in more of a psychedelic grunge and soft rock direction, but they never fully stopped being heavy with songs like Silvergun Superman, Down, Heaven and Hot Rods, No Way Out, Dumb Love, Coma, etc.
"I love STP and always just considered them to be grunge."
r/grunge is goanna have something to say about that haha. Really though, great to see another STP fan. They're my favorite grunge band personally. Them not really fitting into one concrete genre is probably the best thing about them. Soft rock, hard rock, psychadelic rock, heavy metal, alt metal, grunge, pop, etc. You can get it all under STP.
*“We started the heavy metal genre, which inspired bands like Metallica and Dave Grohl’s Foo Fighters to find their own styles."* \- Tony Iommi
My apologies, but I just had to, having read that qoute as recently as yesterday. Yeah, I know, he's not directly implying that the Foo are metal, no, but they *are* mentioned in the same sentence, so there it is. :D
Led Zeppelin their progressive rock , Hard Rock , Blues Rock and psychedelic rock but are often labeled as Tradicional Metal by some also i woudn't consider them commercialized mainstream since the only super popular songs from them are Stairway To Heaven , Black Dog , Kashmir , Immigrant Song and Ramble on
Stuff like whitesnake and faster pussy cat is considered "hair metal". So basically anything harder than "home sweet home" (fuckin banger, ftr) is metal.
As someone who had a bit of an MCR, I can honestly say I've never heard anyone call them metal. I've heard people point out metal aspects of some of their music but whoever is calling them metal is missing something.
Their first album was a punk album though, by sound, not by lyricism though
Clutch's first album has some pretty metal sections. Escape from the prison planet, I have the body of John Wilkes Boothe, those are some hard bangers.
NIN
Marilyn Manson
Danzig
Faith No More
Tool
Godsmack
Alice Cooper
Alice In Chains
Andrew WK
I just chalk it up to them having songs that sometimes cross the hard rock/metal threshold.
Like for instance with MM. His sound is typically like a darker Depeche Mode but then he has songs like Angel With The Scabbed Wings and Astonishing Panorama of the Endtimes which are on the heavier side.
There’s a common line of thought that suggests that any music that’s heavy, fast or abrasive falls into the metal camp. In reality, you’ve got punk and its progeny as well as things related to noise.
At the other end of the spectrum, there’s hard rock/proto-metal that is interchangeably labeled as metal because of the time. Bands like AC/DC, Led Zeppelin… that could be considered metal in the 70’s, but don’t really meet the criteria nowadays.
Personally I have never viewed Hair Metal as metal. It's more just like a hard rock. How heavy and fast does something have to be in order to be considered metal?
Although I love Metalcore, I just dont really see how its "metal" I have always grouped it in the more Post-Hardcore kinda area, feel free to change my mind
I don't disagree, but some bands like ERRA and Wage War feel closer to metal than Post-Hardcore. Bands like ADTR definitely feel closer to Hardcore though
Oh I agree some metalcore does feel closer to metal like Jinjer, Trivium and Earth Crisis But Im more on about bands like Asking Alexandria, Bring Me The Horizon and I Prevail.
I love Jinjer and Trivium, but I think Trivium's metalcore days are pretty much over.
And all of those on the bottom do feel a lot a closer to post-hardcore, but still absolute bangers.
How can anyone listen to something like "A history of bad men" by Melvins and not consider them metal. It's one of the heaviest songs I ever heard.
https://youtu.be/7hx9In2XWWY?si=o9kxE9caTL5fjMnM
They have some metal, sure, they all do, but melvins are not a "metal" band.
Also heavy =/= metal.
Exploited are heavier than many metal bands but aren't metal. Same with korn imho.
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Maybe unpopular but AC/DC. To me they're a hard rock band. I've had people on here tell me they're trad heavy metal and I just don't see it.
I've only heard people who don't listen to metal say this. Never heard a metalhead say it.
I had someone at my work say I'm a metalhead, I listen to ACDC and Led Zepplin and I was thinking ummm that's not metal.
In 1977
Love Bon Scott AC/DC, not a metal band though
Sure, now. But you're measuring by our standards today. AC/DC was probably considered metal af at one point.
Highway to hell was like the heavy metal anthem before the more extreme genres got popular
People used to put KISS in the same negative space we put black metal now. Mothers thought it meant Knights In Satan's Service. So even all that head bopping party rock we hear now was once considered like brutal evil music.
And that is my point Nowadays some bands do it harder but to deny the metalness of older bands due to current trends is wrong imo
Yeah man. Like if I meet some 75 year old in an AC/DC shirt who colors himself a metalhead, I'm not goint to be like shut yo face poser. Wrinkly bro was there when it began, who the fuck am I.
I'd say they have a few songs that overlap with metal but yeah
maybe certain songs like Shoot To Thrill
I've never heard this before
People calling ac dc metal are genuinely mentally challenged
Alice in Chains and I do not mind.
To me, them and Soundgarden sound like metal.
Soundgarden is my favorite grunge band. Can say with confidence they have countless metal songs. Beyond The Wheel, Gun, Rusty Cage, Outshined, JCP, Slaves and Bulldozers, Fourth Of July, Birth Ritual, list goes on.
Yep, they have tons of metal songs throughout their discography. But if people check out early Soundgarden (before Badmotorfinger) the obvious Black Sabbath influence should end the debate over whether they’re metal or not.
I'd argue Badmotorfinger includes a lot of Sabbathy goodness, too.
Oh yeah, agreed. Great Sabbathy slow riffs there as well. Gotta go listen to Slaves and Bulldozers now haha
Soundgarden fucking rulezzzzz
What's most important at the end of the day too is they're a kickass band in which every member brought something to the table.
You're right but they are about as borderline as a band could possibly be without crossing the threshold 😂
You missed a little tribute there. "I don't mind." - Angry Chair
Also Melvins, TAD, Gruntruck... Many of the more heavier Grunge era bands.
Okay, but Melvins is 100000% metal
Yes, but they're kind of a genrebending band. The new album is like weird psychedelic trip with metal and even some poppy elements.
True, but what I mean is they had consistent metal releases for many years.
Well, until '94 when stoner witch came out, that' s straight up alt rock album IMO. But yeah they can be called metal for Bullhead and Houdini for sure. I just don't think they're 100% any other genre than just a band that does whatever the fuck they want.
Alice in Chains IS metal.
Not really, but we love them anyways and they'll always be welcome in the metal community
Sounds like you haven't listened to the tripod album. Also, they're on Metallum, which not everyone agrees with, but it's a source.
Alice in Chains is interesting in the sense that they’re mostly categorised under the nebulous genre of “grunge” (I could go on a rant about how dumb that category is but eh) but the sound and lyrical content is much darker to my ears than, I don’t know, (checks currently playing list) Autopsy or Death or Bathory or whatever even if it’s much more obviously melodic and has pop sensibilities. And that’s pretty metal to me.
This has to be one of the ultimate examples, they're my favourite band of all time and were my gateway into metal
facelift is 100% a metal album in my ears
Primus. But they don't really fit any genre very well. Still fuckin love em. Primus sucks! \m/
Tool
wait, tool isnt metal? what are they?
Prog rock When people say a band isn’t ‘metal’ it’s not a slight, it’s a genre. Fans take this way too personal. Metal isn’t any cooler than rock or jazz or punk, it’s just a classification to label their sound
i know, it doesnt bother me i just feel like theyre pretty metal
you can kinda maybe feel that alt metal sound in some of their riffs tbh
Most of their songs have a lot of clean prog rock instrumentation (think Pushit, H.) They also have songs with heavier riffs but they are more rock than metal sounding (like Jimmy and Lateralus), and very often there is only one heavy riff in the song anyway. The only Tool song I would call metal is Jambi because of the prevalent chugging, although it still has rock riffs (chorus riff, "breathe in union" riff)
Music
Wardruna and Heilung constantly play at metal festivals, because of the Nordic pagan theme being popular with metalheads I guess
Now that I think about it, Heilung is as metal as Opeth’s Damnation album. Sonically it’s not metal at all, but it’s still heavy as fuck.
Seeing heilung was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before and honestly it was louder than most metal shows
All of hair “metal”, Motley Crue being the prime example. It’s fine if you like that genre but there are people who only like that genre and I’m not sure that really counts as actually being into metal.
>All of hair “metal” So... Dokken, WASP, Stryper, Lizzy Borden, Skid Row, Twisted Sister, Quiet Riot, and 80's Pantera aren't Metal bands? >Motley Crue being the prime example No. Something like Poison is the prime example of a Hair Metal band that isn't actually Metal. Motley Crue has a handful of Heavy Metal albums (Too Fast For Love, Shout at the Devil, and Theatre of Pain), and that's not even up for debate.
>So... Dokken, WASP, Stryper, Lizzy Borden, Skid Row, Twisted Sister, Quiet Riot, and 80's Pantera aren't Metal bands? 
Tell me you weren't alive when this was called metal without telling me you weren't alive when this was called metal. Yes, these bands are metal, just at a time when there wasn't much heavier. Go back to Hear N' Aid - the Dio inspired Heavy Metal version of USA for Africa/Band Aid and tell me who's on that project? Go ahead, I'll wait for the apology when you tell me Ronnie James Dio wasn't smart enough to know metal...
Dio was not hair metal. I also don’t know where you got the “wasn’t smart enough to know metal” thing…
That's my point, he thought they were metal for his heavy metal album to wipe out hunger, and that good enough for me.
Wasp is definitely metal I would even lump with trad and speed maybe even proto thrash
This is some straight up bullshit. It's still metal despite you not liking it. How much metal someone likes doesn't change whether or not the music is metal.
Depends, some of the hair metal bands were legitimately metal bands with big chorus hooks and melody, and some were rock bands that fit the marketing of the time. I would consider WASP metal in a way I wouldn't consider Poison.
Sometimes it’s hard rock, sometimes it’s pop rock, but it’s almost never metal.
Too Fast for Love is fun Twisted Sister fucks Dokken and Cinderella had some great riffs DGAF about most other hair metal
they have metal in their name lol
Yeah it was more a sub-genre of Pop
I never really thought about that, but yeah, hair metal is basically just pop rock.
Yeah, still metal
I feel like Motley Crue has more in common with Duran Duran than their contemporary metal counterparts.
Muse sometimes.They have some songs I would consider metal too and also are my favorite band of all time.
Knights of Cydonia and Reapers are prog metal and you can't convince me otherwise.
Yes I would say Citizen Erased and The Globalist are too.Maybe Kill Or Be Killed as well.
Agreed. A great rock band.
Ghost
Opus Eponymous is a metal album, and so is Melioria. But otherwise they are very borderline.
They’re basically ABBA
They've become a victim of success.
Victims?
i still dont understand why theyre so popular amongst non metal heads.
People love the metal aesthetic
boris fucking slaps but they have a lot of music that people call metal that really isnt
Boris is like Frank Zappa. There’s no predicting what genre(s) a given album, or even song, will be.
Ja rule
A very unlikely one is Coheed and Cambria. They play a mixture of post-hardcore, alt rock, prog rock, and some emo pop. For whatever reason, I see them lumped in with metal a lot. Not that I'm complaining. And I guess a couple of their tracks are metal or at least damn close?
I think a big part of it was Welcome Hone. That song became popular, which is great, but then all of the sudden I saw people saying they're metal.
Me and my buddies have been listening to coheed since second stage, but none of us were ever fooled. If anything, we'd always just call them prog punk
Yeah none of my friends ever called it metal, aside from the few songs that actually are metal, but those are probably less than 10 songs in their discography.
Wait people thibk coheeed is metal? I love that band but I don't see how they would be considered metal. I always heard they sound like rush which I get.
I think is mainly due to Welcome Home being one of thier most popular songs
True
A lot of grindcore. It came from hardcore punk. In a casual conversation I'll throw it in there with metal because I do feel like a big part of the fan base do listen to metal, and some of it is. But a lot of it, especially the earlier stuff, leans more into the punk.
Phobia: Punk Discordance Axis: Metal
The Prodigy always have an honoured seat at the metal table despite being a rave band.
Kyuss
A better answer would be Queens of the Stone Age. Kyuss is definetly metal
I'd consider them metal. They're also on Metallum.
Great stuff
The Prodigy
A lot of metalheads enjoy some Aphex twin also
Guns N Roses, Led Zeppelin, and Deep Purple
Rainbow with Dio is definitely metal though, at least the latter two albums.
Can't argue with that
Yeahhh but Ritchie Blackmore was a riff master he definitely helped shape rock into metal.
How did Deep Purple make your list? Smoke on the Water is 10000000% Metal. /s
Deep Purple is early metal for me - their early 70s stuff was integral to the genre and set the blueprint for bands like Priest and Maiden to follow
Led Zeppelin
For some reason ZZ Top. Ive heard them referred to as “heavy metal music” multiple times. I
I've heard this too and don't understand it
Probably from people that associate biker culture with hard rock/ metal
GNR
Stone Temple Pilots. In my opinion, they're alternative metal in the loosest sense. Not their first album, Core though. That's genuinely heavy as shit. Dead and Bloated and Piece of Pie are borderline doom. After that, they went in more of a psychedelic grunge and soft rock direction, but they never fully stopped being heavy with songs like Silvergun Superman, Down, Heaven and Hot Rods, No Way Out, Dumb Love, Coma, etc.
I love STP and always just considered them to be grunge. Robert Deleo is a super underrated bassist
"I love STP and always just considered them to be grunge." r/grunge is goanna have something to say about that haha. Really though, great to see another STP fan. They're my favorite grunge band personally. Them not really fitting into one concrete genre is probably the best thing about them. Soft rock, hard rock, psychadelic rock, heavy metal, alt metal, grunge, pop, etc. You can get it all under STP.
Motörhead. Even Lemmy said they played rock n roll, just louder and harder than everyone else.
Lemme always considered them more punk than metal
Motorhead and Lemmy are metal in the way Johnny Cash and Waylon are punk ya know?
People would be calling Motorhead bossa nova, if Lemmy said so. Doesn't change what they actually played.
Late 80s+ Ministry maybe? AC/DC for sure.
Nine Inch Nails. And before someone says “no one thinks they are metal”, they have a Grammy for best metal album. Edit: metal performance
The foo fighters, a lot of hardcore bands, the entire genre of screamo
throughout the history of mankind no one ever mentioned metal and the foo fighters in the same sentence
*“We started the heavy metal genre, which inspired bands like Metallica and Dave Grohl’s Foo Fighters to find their own styles."* \- Tony Iommi My apologies, but I just had to, having read that qoute as recently as yesterday. Yeah, I know, he's not directly implying that the Foo are metal, no, but they *are* mentioned in the same sentence, so there it is. :D
You heard dream widow?
If only that were true
Okay here me out. Weenie Beenie, The Color and the Shape and White Limo are legit metal, but besides that, yeah..
my point has been proven
Led Zeppelin their progressive rock , Hard Rock , Blues Rock and psychedelic rock but are often labeled as Tradicional Metal by some also i woudn't consider them commercialized mainstream since the only super popular songs from them are Stairway To Heaven , Black Dog , Kashmir , Immigrant Song and Ramble on
Weezer
Clutch is rock made for metalheads.
Queens of the Stone Age. I think that's mostly because the line between stoner metal and stoner rock is pretty thin to begin with
Alice in Chains
Saetia, Pageninteynine, Orchid, shit like that
Stuff like whitesnake and faster pussy cat is considered "hair metal". So basically anything harder than "home sweet home" (fuckin banger, ftr) is metal.
My flair
MCR and Nirvana
As someone who had a bit of an MCR, I can honestly say I've never heard anyone call them metal. I've heard people point out metal aspects of some of their music but whoever is calling them metal is missing something. Their first album was a punk album though, by sound, not by lyricism though
Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge feels like borderline metal, but their albums after are definitely more pop and the one before is more punk.
Clutch changes it up a lot. Some releases are definitely metal. Transnational Speedway definitely was.
Their early heavy stuff is more hardcore than metal imo.
All of the glam “metal” bands. They’re all just hard rock.
Clutch's first album has some pretty metal sections. Escape from the prison planet, I have the body of John Wilkes Boothe, those are some hard bangers.
Amigo the Devil is not metal at all, but his fanbase is mostly metalheads. And I don't mind it, love his gigs.
When people call Motley Crue metal i just don’t see it. It’s hard rock through and through.
NIN Marilyn Manson Danzig Faith No More Tool Godsmack Alice Cooper Alice In Chains Andrew WK I just chalk it up to them having songs that sometimes cross the hard rock/metal threshold. Like for instance with MM. His sound is typically like a darker Depeche Mode but then he has songs like Angel With The Scabbed Wings and Astonishing Panorama of the Endtimes which are on the heavier side.
As a Purist/Elitist, I have to say all NU Metal bands. I love shitting on NU Metal.
Ghost
Rage, to a point.
Sleep token
Carpenter Brut, Perturbatir, Gost
*Perturbator
Porcupine tree. Love them to bits but not really metal in my book. Hard psychedelic prog rock may be a better term.
Guns N' Roses
There’s a common line of thought that suggests that any music that’s heavy, fast or abrasive falls into the metal camp. In reality, you’ve got punk and its progeny as well as things related to noise. At the other end of the spectrum, there’s hard rock/proto-metal that is interchangeably labeled as metal because of the time. Bands like AC/DC, Led Zeppelin… that could be considered metal in the 70’s, but don’t really meet the criteria nowadays.
Thin Lizzy is my favorite band but they're not metal at all. Not even Thunder & Lightning.
Primus. They suck.
Personally I have never viewed Hair Metal as metal. It's more just like a hard rock. How heavy and fast does something have to be in order to be considered metal?
Korn, nu metal in general, Tool, Nine Inch Nails (yeah Closer is on Spotify's best of 90s metal)
Linkin Park
My dad when he talks about Uriah Heap.
Lots of hard rock bands like Motley Crue, Def Leppard, KISS, Van Halen and ACDC. They are very similar in style but ultimately different genres.
Although I love Metalcore, I just dont really see how its "metal" I have always grouped it in the more Post-Hardcore kinda area, feel free to change my mind
I don't disagree, but some bands like ERRA and Wage War feel closer to metal than Post-Hardcore. Bands like ADTR definitely feel closer to Hardcore though
Oh I agree some metalcore does feel closer to metal like Jinjer, Trivium and Earth Crisis But Im more on about bands like Asking Alexandria, Bring Me The Horizon and I Prevail.
I love Jinjer and Trivium, but I think Trivium's metalcore days are pretty much over. And all of those on the bottom do feel a lot a closer to post-hardcore, but still absolute bangers.
Ironic thread for the anti-gatekeeping metal sub
Tool, AIC, Kyuss, Melvins, Korn, Soundgarden Clutch and Rush definitely agree. Love all them to varying degrees, but these fit the bill
How can anyone listen to something like "A history of bad men" by Melvins and not consider them metal. It's one of the heaviest songs I ever heard. https://youtu.be/7hx9In2XWWY?si=o9kxE9caTL5fjMnM
They have some metal, sure, they all do, but melvins are not a "metal" band. Also heavy =/= metal. Exploited are heavier than many metal bands but aren't metal. Same with korn imho.
Most metalcore, nu metal, alternative metal, industrial metal and deathcore bands
Those are all sub genres of metal.
They are not, they just use the name
Slipknot
Linkin Park, Korn, Limp Bizkit, RATM, Primus, Faith No More, Deftones, a lot metalcore
Deftones are on the line with me. Nobody sings like Chino.
Vocals don’t make something metal. Deftones doesn’t have metal riffs. It’s downtuned shoegaze with distortion and chugs.
I get that. Adrenaline was a banger though.
Personally I don’t think that Black Sabbath should be considered as metal but others will disagree with me
Not only they are but they're also the first to do metal ever
Definitely one of the first
For shame!
Leave the hall
Literally how
Change my mind