AboutSteven Gibb Expertise Ask me anything, details about specific bands, albums, artwork, members(past or present), tours, songs, differences between sub genres, history of metal. You can also ask me questions about metal guitarists or guitars in general. I can help you discover more bands with ease!
Experience I have been a big fan of this style of music for years, have learned about many bands and styles as I am guitarist in a metal band.
Expert: Steven Gibb Date: 9/24/2007 Subject: Heavy metal project
Question Dear Steven, we are four students from Wageningen University at the Netherlands. We are doing a small research on heavy metal music scene and its use of history/cultural heritage. It would be really useful to us if you could answer the following questions.
1.the definitions “heavy metal” and “metal” music is still confusing us. Is heavy metal a subcategory of metal music or can you claim that both two words are “the same”-define the same music?
2.which groups of people are considering heavy metal fans and musicians as “outsiders” ?
3.how does this type of music influence the fans daily life?
4.do you think heavy metal musicians/ bands are inspired by history -cultural heritage? Could you give us some striking examples ?
5.do you know any dutch metal band that are inspired by dutch history - cultural heritage? If yes how is it represented? Can you give us an example?
Looking forward to having your answers
Best Regards
Answer Hi Sonia. I will answer these questions as well as I know them. The Dutch metal scene isn't as large as other countries such as Norway, Sweden, Germany and other such places...so I do not know as much about it as other places!
1) .the definitions “heavy metal” and “metal” music is still confusing us. Is heavy metal a subcategory of metal music or can you claim that both two words are “the same”-define the same music?
A - I will give a brief history lesson here. It is a genre of rock music developed in the late 60s and early 70s from genres such as psychedelic rock and blues rock. These bands used high distortion with their instruments, faster guitar solos and the music was just "heavier" than anything around. Heavy Metal and Metal can and cannot be classed as the same thing. Might seem confusing but someone can say they like METAL music , which covers every single metal genre, others say they like HEAVY METAL music, this to a lot of people means the same thing...but others who really care about musical genres say HEAVY METAL is a distinct genre of metal music itself with bands like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest usually being called HEAVY METAL...I hope this isnt too confusing for you...it basically just depends on the person, but you wouldnt really be wrong to call the music HEAVY METAL!
2) which groups of people are considering heavy metal fans and musicians as “outsiders” ?
A - I assume you mean which group of people in the world consider fans of heavy metal and the musicians of heavy metal as outsiders? It is a strange question, many people in the music industry disregard heavy metal music, this is for a number of reasons (not being able to show it on TV for example). Record companies who care more about money will obviously pick a gorgeous pop star over a metal band...they will make more money that way easily through music videos and singles (albums are more important in metal than singles). The general public who do not know anything about metal will usually automatically assume it requires no skill and is loud heavy music with no structure and a "Singer" screaming down a mic...this leads to them thinking metal fans are idiots for liking this style of music. Of course this is wrong, you definetly require more skill to be a "neo classical metal" guitarist than a miming pop singer for example. I can explain this more if you need me to!
3) how does this type of music influence the fans daily life?
A - If a fan of metal music is REALLY into it and is fully dedicated to it then it is one of the most important things in that persons life. I for example listen to metal music every single day, play metal music on guitar everyday and will talk to a few people about it every day. This is the same case for countless people over the world. Metal fans tend to get into many arguments over bands, musicians, albums and songs...it's all about caring about the music!
4) do you think heavy metal musicians/ bands are inspired by history -cultural heritage? Could you give us some striking examples ?
A - most definetly , countless bands focus songs and lyrics, even albums on history (this can be about anything in history or the history of their own culture). Some examples include these :
Grave Digger - This metal band released a trilogy of albums in the 90s, "Tunes Of War" (an album focused on Scottish history), "Excalibur" (an album focused on the legend of King Arthur) and "Knights Of The Cross" (an album focused on the crusades and the Templar Knights)
Bathory - this band pretty much invented the genre VIKING METAL, with albums dedicated to Norse mythology (they are Swedish).
Iced Earth - Iced Earth are an american band and released a full concept album based on american military history.
Sabaton - Sabaton are a band who focus most of their songs on World War II.
There are plenty more examples if you need them! Many metal bands focus all their works on history and cultural heritage, some bands focus some albums or just some songs on history.
5) do you know any dutch metal band that are inspired by dutch history - cultural heritage? If yes how is it represented? Can you give us an example?
A - Slechtvalk ( little known dutch band, who even take influences from the Viking genre ).
Ayreon
These bands dont focus their music on dutch history but they have stated an influence in their cultural heritage. It is definetly not as easily noticeable as some Scandinavian bands for example who use folk instruments from their native country !
