History - Heavy Metal Chapter 1 (Part 1 of 4)

Heavy metal is one of the most misunderstood genres of music in our day. Rather unfortunately, this is often a result of brazen ignorance about the subject, brought about by certain sectors of the media, society, and listeners themselves. Instead of blindly backlashing against those responsible for the defamation of heavy metal, I decided to write a history of the aforementioned music, in hopes of providing yet another source of information for those who wish to learn about its development.

In no way is this a heavy metal band list or an attempt to include every detail, important or not, within the genre's history, but I believe it is a fairly comprehensive guide. I have included bands that have been influential, prominent, representative, or successful throughout their careers, and in the process omitted several others that would prevent any conciseness. I have also made the attempt of remaining as objective as possible (although words like "well-deserved" will appear throughout the text), and therefore have also included bands that I do not enjoy listening to or whose general visual image I do not respect. After all, heavy metal is something of an acquired taste. With no further comments, I leave you to read my take on the history of heavy metal. I hope you will enjoy it and maybe learn a little from it (and with any luck, you won't find it boring at all).

The Kinks - You Really Got Me

The Who - My Generation

When did heavy metal begin? It's hard to say. According to most metal annals, the first outbursts came from the Kinks with "You Really Got Me" and the Who with "My Generation" around 1964. As for the first heavy metal artist, that position arguably belongs to Alice Cooper, whose band was founded in 1965 under the name The Spiders. Heavy metal, however, was not to truly flourish until the year of 1967, and Alice Cooper was to become embedded in the collective mind of the world until 1971 with the classic Love It To Death.

 

Steppenwolf - Born To Be Wild

Cream - White Room

During 1967, the rock world was still absorbed by the Summer of Love, but it was about to witness one of its most important revolutions. Bands like Golden Earring (formed in 1965), Cream, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Led Zeppelin, Vanilla Fudge, Iron Butterfly, Steppenwolf, Blue Cheer, Deep Purple, Grand Funk Railroad, Free, Uriah Heep, Mountain, Humble Pie, Bloodrock, MC5, Black Widow, Atomic Rooster, Cactus, and Black Sabbath came to being between 1966 and 1970, and struck the world with what both Iron Butterfly and Steppenwolf would first baptize "heavy metal;" the first through reviews of its Heavy album and the second due to the phrase "heavy metal thunder," found in the motorcycling classic "Born to Be Wild." A new type of music, which borrowed heavily from rock and roll and the blues, was gaining influence on the youth of those times, which was slowly getting tired of the stagnant Summer of Love scene.

Iron Butterfly - Filled with Fear

Blue Cheer - Summertime Blues

Vinilla Fudge - Some Velvet Morning

Out of the explosion of new bands, it was Cream and the Jimi Hendrix Experience that were to be the first bands to give heavy metal a high commercial profile. The legendary guitarist Eric Clapton was part of the first; a band that remains a seminal power trio and heavy metal act that released such memorable songs as "Sunshine Of Your Love" and "White Room." During the course of four albums and two years, Cream became a prominently successful band that influenced the likes of Rush and Van Halen, and would later spawn the also legendary Blind Faith. Meanwhile, the Jimi Hendrix Experience was another musical trio, based around the guitar histrionics of the legendary Jimi Hendrix. Albums such as Are You Experienced? and Electric Ladyland drew thousands of ravenous fans, which feasted on the music provided by a band that is often mentioned along with Janis Joplin and the Doors as one of the world's all-time premiere rock units.

Mountain - Mississippi Queen

Black Widow - Come To The Sabbat

Atomic Rooster - VUG

Rainbow - Rising

One of the most Underappreciated hard rock outfits ever, Rainbow were, in their heyday, one of the most talented and interesting bands of the '70s. Though its impossible to not compare them with Deep Purple (due to their guitarist's credentials,) and though they share many similarities with the groundbreaking band, they are an entity of their own.

When guitar hero Ritchie Blackmore departed Deep Purple in 1974, he met a then unheard of singer by the name of Ronnie James Dio. The two would form Rainbow soon after, then consisting of the two men and bandmates from Dio's band Elf. Their debut, while fairly inconsistent, did sport some incredibly promising songs such as the anthem Man on the Silver Mountain and the beautifully dreamy ballad Catch the Rainbow. But immediately after the albums release, Dio and Blackmore fired their lineup, replacing it with a much more talented one.

Consisting of Dio on vocals, Blackmore on guitar, Jimmy Bain on bass, Tony Carey on keyboards, and Cozy Powell on drums, this lineup is certain to raise more than a few eyebrows. Jimmy Bain would appear on Dio's massively successful solo debut Holy Diver, as well as many other of the singers albums. Tony Carey would go on to some moderate solo success, and Cozy Powell (previously of the Jeff Beck group) is hailed as one of the greatest hard rock drummers of all time, and would go on to record with numerous artists.

The album itself is by far Rainbow's best. Its balanced between direct rockers (Run With the Wolf, Starstruck, Do You Close Your Eyes) and longer, more progressive tinged pieces (Tarot Woman, Stargazer, A Light in the Black,) all of which fair well. Every member shines equally on here. Dio's trademark growls and wails (as well as sometimes cheesy, sometimes mystical lyrics) are present even at the start of the singer's career. Blackmore's classic stratocaster tones tare through massive solos and riffs. Bain is always audible, and plays some pretty catchy basslines. Carey draws upon a bevy of synth's to provide a partner to Blackmore, and Powell's drumming is nothing short of fantastic.

A good one and a half minutes of spacey synthesizer introducing the listener to the album, before Blackmores strident riffs rip into Tarot Woman. Dio's vocals are his usual powerful best, and his catchy chorus of " Beware of a place/A smile on her bright shining face/I'll never return, how do you know/Tarot woman/I don't know, I don't know" sets the tone for Rainbow's signature sound, and will be stuck in your head for weeks. Blackmore's solo is quite effective to boot.

Tarot Woman gives way to the bluesy groove of Run With the Wolf. With memorable guitar licks and bass lines, combined with rhythmic organ, steady drumming and a signature Dio chorus, the quality of the album can't be denied.

The same groove is carried over to Starstruck, which openings with one of Blackmore's most catchy riffs. This is easily the most Deep Purple-ish of the tracks on here, with organ and vocals that could have come compliments of Jon Lord and Ian Gillan respectively.

With a massive riff, and hugely strong vocals Do You Close Your Eyes is also the shortest and most direct of the songs on Rising. It rocks with a powerful groove. But its the next track, Stargazer that really shows off Rainbow's potential. With a hugely technical and hectic drum intro, tasteful synth arrangements, Dio's huge vocals, and a wonderful guitar solo this track clock in at a full eight and a half minutes, the longest on the album. Its easily one of the best tracks Rainbow has pulled off, an mini masterpiece in itself.

The albums finale, another eight minuter, A Light In the Black is just as powerful as Stargazer. Blackmore's unforgettable intro riff and Bain's great bass lines set the tone for Dio's vocals, and some truly amazing synth and guitar soloing. By the time the song has run its course, its certainly made more than a minor impression.

Rising is a startling brief record, however, clocking in at about thirty three minutes in length, but this is an easily forgivable flaw. While Tarot Woman, Stargazer, and A Light in the Black are easily my favorites on here, all the songs are great. Unfortunately, Rainbow's next record, while certainly a stellar offering in its own right, was not as good as this would be. Even when Dio departed the band to do a stint fronting Black Sabbath, Blackmore would take the group down a surprisingly poppy road, before the guitarist returned to Deep Purple. But all that was in the future, at the time it was released, Rising was an unconditional triumph.

Cathedral - The Guessing Game

To paraphrase Nick Drake, time has told us that Cathedral are a rare, rare find. Twenty years time, in fact, since ‘In Memoriam’ first made its crepuscular crawl towards the darker reaches of our consciousness, in which Cathedral have proved themselves to be so much more than the paragons of doom metal they originally resembled. Twenty years, in which they’ve proved themselves to be a band who not only transcend metal, but all or any genre classifications one might attempt to restrict them within. Yet far beyond all expectations, their ninth album, ‘The Guessing Game’ marks perhaps the most dizzyingly eclectic, eccentric and fascinating album they’ve yet committed to posterity.

Cathedral’s frame of reference has always been a unique one, yet here their curious and captivating sound takes on new dimensions, fuelled in equal parts by a fiercely anti-establishment imperative borne from punk rock origins, and a skyward reach gleaned from a longstanding devotion to the most outré and rewarding realms of progressive rock, folk and psychedelia. A 78-minute, 13-track magnum opus, ‘The Guessing Game’ fuses the expansive ambition of the most ornate gatefold double-album with Cathedral’s trademark marriage of incandescent ire and monstrous riffage.

Herein, wide-eyed blow-outs like ‘Painting In The Dark’ and ‘Casket Chasers’ pay testimony to Cathedral’s longstanding forte for barnstorming rock action, and the gloriously moribund ‘Edwige’s Eyes’ and ‘Death Of An Anarchist’ lurch into horrific catacombs to gripping effect. Yet elsewhere, the foursome’s furthermost extremes are showcased, from the labyrinthine, psych-infused ‘Funeral Of Dreams’ (aided and abetted by legendary Melllow Candle chanteuse Alison O’Donnell) and the beatific ‘Cats, Incense, Candles And Wine’, to the abject, expressly doom-laden ‘Reqiuem For The Voiceless’, an animal-rights themed tour-de-force that may well be the most vehement and incensed Cathedral song to date.

Throughout, however, the passion for experimentation and the fiery idealism that have separated Cathedral from their peers throughout their lengthy and wayward history blaze more brightly than ever. More than merely the sum of a charismatic and iconic frontman, a guitarist who can happily dash off ten killer riffs before breakfast, and a rhythm section embarrassingly overburdened by chemistry and power, Cathedral are a band who exist refreshingly outside of time and easy classification. A band always working on their own co-ordinates whether delving into NWOBHM-esque riff-shapes or mellotron-and-Moog-assisted astral voyages. Showcased in a sleeve by synonymous Cathedral artist Dave Patchett that conveys its kaleidoscopic allure in extremis, ‘The Guessing Game’ is the boldest outing yet by a foursome whose blossoming into one of the most life-affirmingly freakish bands in living memory has been a particularly potent pleasure to behold. Yet more, who can dare to wonder what twenty more years may bring…

The Giant's Ring, Belfast, Co. Down

The Giant’s Ring. The Giant’s Ring is a henge monument at Ballynahatty, near Shaw’s Bridge, Belfast, Northern Ireland. It consists of a circular enclosure, 200 m in diameter, surrounded with an 4 m high earthwork bank with five entrances, and a small neolithic passage grave slightly off-centre. The tomb is believed to date from ca. 3000 BC, and the bank slightly later. It can be viewed plainly using Google Earth at 54 deg 32 min North and 5 deg 56 min West. The enclosure with passage tomb known as the Giant’s Ring is a State Care Historic Monument sited in the townland of Ballynahatty, in Lisburn City Council area, at grid ref: J3272 6770.

In the 18th century the site was used for horse racing.  A ritual site adjacent to the henge was excavated in the 1990s by Barrie Hartwell of the Queen’s University of Belfast. At the moment the site has ASAI status (Area of Significant Archaeological Interest).

H.R. Giger

H. R. Giger is recognized as one of the world’s foremost artists of Fantastic Realism. Born in 1940 to a chemist’s family in Chur, Switzerland, he moved in 1962 to Zurich, where he studied architecture and industrial design at the School of Applied Arts. By 1964 he was producing his first artworks, mostly ink drawings and oil paintings, resulting in his first solo exhibition in 1966, followed by the publication and world-wide distribution of his first poster edition in 1969. Shortly after, he discovered the airbrush and, along with it, his own unique freehand painting style, leading to the creation of many of his most well known works, the surrealistic Biomechanical dreamscapes, which formed the cornerstone of his fame. To date, more than 20 books have been published about Giger’s art.

Giger’s most famous book, Necronomicon, published in 1977, served as the visual inspiration for director Ridley Scott’s film Alien, Giger's first high-profile film assignment, which earned him the 1980 Oscar for the Best Achievement in Visual Effects for his designs of the film's title character, including all the stages of its lifecycle, plus the film’s the extraterrestrial environments. Giger's other well-known film work includes his designs for Poltergeist II, Alien3 and Species, as well as the legendary unmade film, Alejandro Jodorowsky’s Dune.

From the onset of his career, Giger also worked in sculpture and had an abiding desire to extend the core elements of his artistic vision beyond the confines of paper into the 3D reality of his surroundings. But it wasn’t until 1988 that he was given the opportunity to design his first total environment, a Giger Bar in Tokyo, Japan. However, it was four more years before his concepts were properly realized, under his personal supervision, with the opening of a second Giger Bar in Chur, the city of his birth, in 1992.

The HR Giger Museum, a further extension of this dream, opened its doors in June of 1998, in the Chateau St. Germain, in the historic medieval walled city of
Gruyères, Switzerland. As the permanent home to many of the artist’s most prominent works, the museum houses the largest collection of Giger’s paintings, sculptures, furniture and film designs, dating from the early 1960's to the present day.

The top floor of the four-level building complex houses prime examples of Giger’s vast private art collection, which includes works by Salvador Dali, Ernst Fuchs, Dado, Bruno Weber, Günther Brus, Claude Sandoz, François Burland, Friedrich Kuhn, Joe Coleman, Sibylle Ruppert, Andre Lassen, as well as works by many other of the artist’s accomplished contemporaries.

In 1999, to help broaden the art appreciation of the younger visitors to the museum, Giger inaugurated a three-room exhibition space in the adjoining wing of the museum as The Giger Museum Gallery. There, on a six month rotating basis, Giger has presented, in expanded one person shows, the work of Prof. Ernst Fuchs, Hans Bellmer, Fred Knecht, Stelio Diamantopoulos, Martin Schwarz, Claude Sandoz, Günther Brus, François Burland, Victor Safonkin, Sybille Ruppert and others, many of whom already in his private collection.

In continuing evolution, the spring of 2003 marked the celebration of the official opening of the H.R. Giger Museum Bar. Giger’s designs for the 400-year-old space emphasize its pre-existing Gothic architecture. The giant skeletal arches covering the vaulted ceiling, together with the bar’s fantastic stony furniture, evoke the building’s original medieval character and give the bar a cathedral-like feeling.

During the last 6 years, Giger has been honored with a series of major museum retrospectives. 2004 saw the opening of a six-month exhibition at the Museum Halle Saint Pierre in Paris, France. "Le monde selon H.R. Giger" (The World According to H.R. Giger) was the largest exhibition of the artist's work to take place outside of his native Switzerland. Over one year in preparation, ninety percent of the work on loan was assembled from Giger's art collectors, including three Swiss museums. The display of more than 200 pieces, covering two floors of the museum's exhibition space, spanned four decades of the celebrated artist’s career. On December 17, 2004, H.R. Giger received the prestigious award, "La Médaille de la Ville de Paris", at Paris City Hall.

The Paris retrospective was followed by ‘H.R. Giger in Prague” in 2005 at the National Technical Museum of Prague, in the Czech Republic and in 2006 by “Giger in Wien” at the Kunsthaus Wien, in Austria. In July of 2007 Giger was honored with his first museum exhibition in the city of his birth, at the Bündner Kunstmuseum, in Chur, Switzerland, followed in October by his first major exhibit in Spain, at The Polytechnic University of Valencia.

In back-to-back shows, January 2009 heralded the opening of “KUNST - DESIGN – FILM”, a traveling retrospective of Giger’s film designs, at the Deutsches Filmmuseum in Frankfurt, Germany, which was followed by the opening of a major retrospective in October at the SALA KUBO – KUTXA, in San Sebastián, Spain. In January 2010, the traveling film retrospective moved to its next venue, the Tampere Art Museum in Finland. Plans are in the works for major 2011 exhibitions in Lisbon, Moscow and Chile, as well as participation in numerous group exhibitions at museums all over the world.

The artist lives and works in Zurich with his wife, Carmen Maria Scheifele Giger,
the Directrice of the H.R. Giger Museum.

To learn more about the artist and his current projects, visit his primary official websites, www.HRGiger.com, http://www.hrgigermuseum.com/, and http://www.giger.com/.

Rush - A brief history

Over the course of their decades-spanning career, the Canadian power trio Rush emerged as one of hard rock's most highly regarded bands; although typically brushed aside by critics and although rare recipients of mainstream pop radio airplay, the group nonetheless won an impressive and devoted fan following while their virtuoso performance skills solidified their standing as musicians' musicians.

Rush formed in Toronto, Ontario, in the autumn of 1968, and initially comprised guitarist Alex Lifeson (born Alexander Zivojinovich), vocalist/bassist Geddy Lee (born Gary Lee Weinrib), and drummer John Rutsey. In their primary incarnation, the trio drew a heavy influence from Cream, and honed their skills on the Toronto club circuit before issuing their debut single, a rendition of Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away," in 1973. A self-titled LP followed in 1974, at which time Rutsey exited; he was replaced by drummer Neil Peart, who also assumed the role of the band's primary songwriter, composing the cerebral lyrics (influenced by works of science fiction and fantasy) that gradually became a hallmark of the group's aesthetic.

With Peart firmly ensconced, Rush returned in 1975 with a pair of LPs, Fly by Night and Caress of Steel. Their next effort, 1976's 2112, proved their breakthrough release: a futuristic concept album based on the writings of Ayn Rand, it fused the elements of the trio's sound -- Lee's high-pitched vocals, Peart's epic drumming, and Lifeson's complex guitar work -- into a unified whole. Fans loved it -- 2112 was the first in a long line of gold and platinum releases -- while critics dismissed it as overblown and pretentious: either way, it established a formula from which the band rarely deviated throughout the duration of their career.

A Farewell to Kings followed in 1977 and reached the Top 40 in both the U.S. and Britain. After 1978's Hemispheres, Rush achieved even greater popularity with 1980's Permanent Waves, a record marked by the group's dramatic shift into shorter, less sprawling compositions; the single "The Spirit of Radio" even became a major hit. With 1981's Moving Pictures, the trio scored another hit of sorts with "Tom Sawyer," which garnered heavy exposure on album-oriented radio and became perhaps their best-known song. As the 1980s continued, Rush grew into a phenomenally popular live draw as albums like 1982's Signals (which generated the smash "New World Man"), 1984's Grace Under Pressure, and 1985's Power Windows continued to sell millions of copies. 

As the decade drew to a close, the trio cut back on its touring schedule while hardcore followers complained of a sameness afflicting slicker, synth-driven efforts like 1987's Hold Your Fire and 1989's Presto. At the dawn of the '90s, however, Rush returned to the heavier sound of their early records and placed a renewed emphasis on Lifeson's guitar heroics; consequently, both 1991's Roll the Bones and 1993's Counterparts reached the Top Three on the U.S. album charts. In 1996, the band issued Test for Echo and headed out on the road the following summer. Shortly thereafter, Peart lost his daughter in an automobile accident. Tragedy struck again in 1998 when Peart's wife succumbed to cancer. Dire times in the Rush camp did not cause the band to quit. Lee took time out for a solo stint with 2000's My Favorite Headache; however, rumors of the band playing in the studio began to circulate. It would be five years until anything surfaced from the band. Fans were reassured in early 2002 by news that Rush were recording new songs in Toronto. The fruit of those sessions led to the release of Rush's 17th studio album, Vapor Trails, later that spring. By the end of the year a concert from the supporting tour was released on DVD as Rush in Rio. In 2004 the band embarked on their 30th anniversary tour, documented on the DVD R30, and in 2006 they returned to the studio to begin work on a new album. The resulting Snakes & Arrows was released in May 2007, followed by the CD/DVD set Snakes & Arrows Live in early 2008. Material from the latter was combined with footage from Rush in Rio and R30 for the CD/DVD compilation Working Men which was released in 2009. 

Rush - Working Man

Rush - A Farewell To Kings