Label that band!

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Ok, so I was at work last night, and a few of my coworkers and I were talking about music. One guy kept saying that Metallica was black metal, while another kept saying that Motley Crue is a 'Big Hair Metal' band, but not a glam rock band.

So I had an idea. I know a lot of the regulars here in the Sensorium are Metal Heads, I decided to make a thread where the bands listed get their appropriate label. Yes, I know that it's hard to label a band, and many bands qualify for more than one label, but let's try to be as specific as possible...

You can start your own list, or comment on other's lists if you like.

So I guess I'll start:

Metallica - thrash metal
Megadeth - speed/thrash metal
Motley Crue - Glam Rock/???
Led Zepplein - Classic heavy metal?
Queensriche - ???
Ratt - Big Hair/???
Rob Zombie - ??? (someone once told me he's death metal, but I don't think that his lyrics should decide his genre of metal)

Ok, so that's just a small list to get things rolling...so get on with it! \m/>.<\m/

 

Punch that moron on the face, Kitrax. It's blasphemy to call Metallicrap black metal.

Motley Crue - Glam Rock/Hair Metal
Rob Zombie - Traditional heavy metal
Queensryche - Traditional metal

 

Led Zepplin I-III was "classic" hard rock (arguably even blues rock) instead of metal.

Glam Rock pre-dates "Crue".

Izzy Stardust (I think I got that right) and the likes of the late 70s where glam rock, they where the step before "Pop Metal" in the muscial evolution chain. Glam Rock was arguably more sophisticated and narcissistic in it's decadance then the metal rockers of the 80s.

I'm 99% sure the Sex Pistol's "Pretty Vacant" was about the glam rockers.

Metallica is typically credited for founding Thrasher Metal so I don't see why anyone would call it black metal. That would be like calling Peal Jam adult contemporary or Nirvana alt metal.

 

Motley Crue: While the majority places them (without being wrong) with bands like Poison, L.A. Guns, Great White or Britney Fox, which means the glam/sleaze rock scene of L.A. in 80s and early 90s, I place them next to bands like W.A.S.P., Twisted Sister, Lizzy Borden and Quiet Riot, which means tratidional american heavy metal of 80s, mainly due to their first two albums "Too fast for love" and "Shout at the devil".

Led Zeppelin: Hard/blues rock

Queensryche: It depends on which of their period you are reffering to. In their first period ("Queen of the reich" and "The Warning") they were a power metal band, in their second ("Rage for order", "Operation Mindcrime" and "Empire"), they moved close to progressive metal, and in their third period ("Promised land" and afterwards), they introduced too many alternative elements in their music. I haven't listened to "Operation mindcrime II" yet but from what I've read, it seems that they are returning back to "Operation Mindcrime" and "Empire" days.

 

HIM is emo metal

 

Hey! You guys are only discussing the bands I listed! You are *supposed* to add your own lists too!

@Ara...they have been playing this one HIM song over and over for the past 2 months. I don't remember what it's called, but it's annoying.

 

I have only three categories.

All power, true, and other metal bands whose members wear tight pants, big hair and/or whose singers sing with high voices fall into "castrate metal". They are evil, because they make me cringe.
Examples: Iron Maiden, Blind Guardian, Hammerfall, Symphony X, Rhapsody, Manowar, Nevermore (most of the time), etc.

(I happen to like Falconer. I really don't know why.)

Then there is the good category, that contains bands who play powerful, driving music with "normal" voices (mostly thrash, industrial, doom):
Metallica, late Pantera, early Sepultura, Slayer, Machine Head, Kreator, Grip Inc., Devildriver, early Life of Agony, Crowbar, Fear Factory, Meshuggah etc.

The last I call "black metal", but I really don't care which style the bands follow. It contains bands that play black, death, and other obscure metal.
As long as the singers don't screech too much I'm happy. There are not much bands I like in this category:
Opeth, Finntroll, and a few other cannot name at the moment.


P.S.: HIM don't play metal. They play crap. But don't let me stop you. It's your ears.

 

Fabius, you just listed all my favourite bands Power Metal and Symphonic Metal- Hmm, not much of a difference here. Symphonic Metal seems more refined (to me at least) than POwer Metal


Symphonic Metal- Symphony X, Newer RHapsody and Nightwish stuff (the last albums, I'd say)

Ara, HIM are Lovemetal, not emo.

 

"lovemetal"

Oh man, that was great!

Do the Smashing Pumkins quallify as grunge? Some of thier songs are just too soft and slow to be grunge, so that's why I'm asking.

 

They are soft rock/grundge.

 

@ Kitrax. I know, it's an oxymoron

 

the American Alt radiowaves use to refer to the Pumkins as Alt Punk back in the day when there was actually a coherent category known as "Alternative".

I miss those days. I miss the sound of grunge, progressive blues rock, alt rock, alt metal, alternative, and grunge rock.

Janes Addiction, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Smashing Pumkins, the old look Wallflowers, Stone Temple Pilots, Better then Ezra, Garbage (one of the few female bands I like) and the Violent Femmes. Yea those where the days.

 

Yay, genres. Last time I tried to start a thread like this I got bitched at for being 'confined by genres' and had everyone tell me 'Oh, I just listen to music I like - don't know anything about this 'genre' crap'

Anyway, good to see that people have moved in who have a healthy respect for the usefulness of genres

So, someone help me classify these bands:
The Cure (miserable stuff): I've heard them called 'gothic rock' (however, I recently saw something by the Sisters of Mercy who people call definitive of gothic rock - I am doubting this one very very strongly, even though it fits my notion of what is 'goth'), 'darkwave' (whatever the **** that is...), or just general 'rock' (useless classification).

Opinions?

Also - Within Temptation's new stuff. While old stuff is clearly gothic metal, their new stuff (Mother Earth and The Silent Force) clearly isn't. Is there a genre for it...?

Hmm, that'll do...

 

Ok here is a sub genre of metal - Celtic Metal.

Most of the bands are Irish but not all. Some excellent 'Celtic Metal' bands are:

Waylander - Use tin whistle and bodhran in addition to guitars etc

Best song - The King of Fairies

Primordial - A very original black/doom band with excellent Irish singing, in addition to the normal black metal vocals. Sings about Irish mysticism

Best song - Spirit the Earth Aflame

Worst in Celtic Metal:

Cruachan - Uses lots of Irish instruments including Irish bag pipes, but unfortunately they sound cheesy rather than majestic. Sings mostly about Irish mythology, however they have a political side which does not fare well. The Irish melodies are of the generic and cheesy kind, which you will find in any US 'Irish pub'. This is a band to avoid.

Progressive metal - Andromeda
Humppa - Finntroll, Moonsorrow
Doom Metal - Mourning Beloveth, My Dying Bride
Thrash - Testament, Overkill
Power Metal - Gamma Ray, Hammerfall, Edguy
Traditional - Judas Priest, Tank, Raven
Death - Morbid Angel, Death, Vader, Dismember
True Doom - Pentagram (US version)
Eastern folk Metal - Pentagram (Turkish version)
Viking Metal - Mithotyn, Amon Amarth, Ensiferum

Some crazy metal that defies catagorization - Sigh

 

I have a bit of a problem with lumping both Alice In Chains and Nirvana under the grunge tag, because they really don't sound alike. Around the time of AIC's first album, they were classified as metal. The term grunge wasn't really in wide use yet. For their second album, their sound didn't change *that* much, but they were hailed as grunge.

AIC sounds like heavy rock with country and blues influences. Nirvana sounds like midtempo punk. To me, if one of them is grunge, the other one can't be.

 

Nirvana is grunge, no doubt. Alice in Chains is medium/heavy rock.

 

@Aikanaro: In my mind, the Cure is '80s alternitive rock. They are definatly *not* 'gothic rock'.

 

The Cure and Sisters of Mery are 'New Wave'.

 

... then what's 'gothic rock'?

 

Older Within Temptation?