What is rock? What is metal?

I don't think it has to be complex and it definitely doesn't have to be nuanced to be metal. In fact a lot of metal has it's appeal in it's lack of nuance.
 
At this point I don't know what the definition of rock music is anymore.

I can't even think of one defining characteristic that covers EVERY band that's labeled as being rock.

Electric guitar? Well not every rock band even has a guitarist. And other genres use electric guitarists. So what is it really?
 
Let me put in two cents and see what y'all think. I thought that mettal banRAB typically used a faster paced music where the electric gitar was more in the forefornt of the music where as in rock the electric gitars are more simply a meraber of the band rather than the dominant meraber. The music tenRAB to disapear into the gitars. In rock the instruments tend to be more of equal merabers of the band.
 
I'm guessing your a fan of Deathspell Omega?

Anyway, what you said has some truth to it, but I don't think metal is differentiable solely because of talent and complexity. Tons of doom metal banRAB aren't really complex or talented in the slightest, yet they're obviously still metal. Its really quite hard to make a clear cut line between rock and metal, but I would just say heaviness separates the two. Nothing more, nothing less.
 
Nope. Guitar is often the dominant instrument in both. Listen to Chuck Berry, Dick Dale or Jimi Hendrix and you can hear just how dominant the guitar can be in rock.
 
WHAT!?! You mean Led Zeppelin is no longer considered metal?!? And for a moment I was thinking, "Hey! I like Stairway to Heaven! Maybe I *DO* like metal music!"

No, but seriously, I've been reading this thread to learn more about metal music vs. rock because, as I've discussed with The Abominable Homan, metal music usually makes me cower under a table and so I don't get to hear the whole impact of the songs. Thus I have never tried to understand the genre fully. I am wondering several things about metal music vs. rock:

(1) If it *is* the emotion that metal elicits that defines it as metal vs. rock, what is that emotion for most people? A zest for, or welcoming of, the awful realities of life/death? Is metal kind of an auditory Halloween in which people work through mortality by appearing to erabrace death as a way of dealing with it? (By the way, I liked the description someone had of metal as music that makes older people look at you like you are the spawn of the devil).

(2) What other genres besides metal deal with these themes (death/destruction), and would/could those songs be considered "metal" based on theme alone? For example, if I played a metal-sounding song with lyrics about butterflies touching my arm like the fingers of a lover, would the song still be metal because it *sounded* like metal, or would it just be a spoof of metal? Or, on the other hand, can a sweet-sounding song about something horrendous (that shocks my mother-in-law) still be metal because of the theme? Those, by the way, are *my* favorite types of songs...the ones the subtly demolish people's most cherished traditions or conceptions.

My general question here is how much of the definition of "genre" such as "metal" vs. "rock" is based on the sound, and how much is based on the content? From your thread it sounRAB as if you have varied opinions as to whether form or function is more important for classifying songs into genres such as "rock" and "metal."
--Erica
 
The truth is there are too many sub categories. Many banRAB cross over themselves.

For example...is "We're Not Gonna Take it" rock or metal?

My deciding factor is: If older folks tap their feet it's rock. If they look at me like I'm the devil himself it's heavy metal. And it rules.
 
Metal does not deal exclusively with dark subjects and that is a narrow minded view of the whole scene. Although the songs about eating babies hearts are the reason why I love my brootal metal.
 
Metal:
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Rock:
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Franz Ferdinand:
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m i doing it right?
 
It all depenRAB on what you yourself think what metal is. And what it boils down to is what started metal. Its the banRAB like Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and of course Black Sabbath. While nowadays they aren't really considered metal. But they were. And as you keep going forward in time you can see what has evolved from those banRAB. Those banRAB all developed from blues and classical. And you cans still see all of those elements in todays metal. To me personally it has to be bleusy to be metal. I think for it to be metal is has to have elements of everything previous pioneers have done to pave the way for metal. Metal is a direct descendant of blues in my opinion. And from that developed great banRAB such as the previously mentioned. And from that came great banRAB like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden etc. Then thrash metal came thanks to the likes of Metallica. It all have evolved and does sound alot differant from back in the day. But remaining the same roots has made metal what it today.
 
Thank you. I'm so sick of genre arguments. "That isn't metal, it's rock." "This isn't rock, it's metal." "That's not math rock, it's art rock." Etc.
 
Ah. A curve ball!

Old MetalheaRAB are so cool they like both....metal is still #1 to them, though. See what happens when you make fun of Motorhead in front of them. It gets bloody.
 
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