The leap from punk to metal.

Growing up in the late 80's early 90's on a good healthy mix of outlaw country, hard rock, classic rock, and metal I got into reading quite a bit about band members and their roots. A good portion of them say they got their preference beginning with the late 70's early 80's punk style. Now having never really been a fan of it I can't see how they made the transition.

Anyone care to elaborate on this? I mean the early 80s metal movement from the UK to America doesn't seem to follow the same style as punk of the time. Could it be they happened upon the same venues and appealed to the same fans? I feel like I'm missing something.

seems like hardcore is kind of that crossover. Slayer, Suicidal Tendencies, DRI, Agnostic Front... Check out the book American Hardcore.

Punk came out of the so called prog rock scene around in the UK at the end of the sixties into the seventies. A lot of heavy rockers at the time turned to glam rock as it made a lot of money. Then UK music went downhill for a few years with the new romantic scene, then to everyone's surprise Punk Rock arrived. You only have to listen to the guitar riffs from the early sex pistols music to realise it's heritage change the lyrics and its rock.

a reply to: redchad

Oh yea, can surely hear it in the early thrash songs. I know there was an amount of "new wave of British metal" that made it's way over here.

originally posted by: JinMI
a reply to: redchad

Oh yea, can surely hear it in the early thrash songs. I know there was an amount of "new wave of British metal" that made it's way over here.

NWOBHM was the prime influence for thrash and speed metal. Metallica at least gave this movement some props and if you listen to "NWOBHM 79 revisited" you can totally here where the sound came from.

I grew up at the same time as you, and it drives me nuts that the only NWOBHM albums I had as a kid were the first two Def Leppard albums, which I adored.

I always thought that Punk was the untalented, social commentary music that rebelled against the prog and stadium rock dinosaurs of that era. Sort of like how grunge was the 'enuff' to hair metal in the early 90's.

I always kind of wondered if the Punk and NWOBHM kids got a long alright. One group bitching about Maggie Thatcher and the establishment while the other talking about wizards and outer space. Maybe over a couple pints they would come together who knows. Both groups worshipped the almighty electric guitar.

a reply to: JinMI

From a guitar standpoint as a former guitar instructor, I grew up on 50's to mostly 60's rock.

2 stand alone songs that had the first(s) distorted (grungy, loud and nasty) metal sounding songs were Keith Richards lead to the Stones "Satisfaction", and Eric Clapton in "Heart full of Soul" by the Yardbirds in 1965.

Worth noting? Jeff Beck replaced Eric Clapton who was later replaced by Jimmy Page. All were Yardbirds.The distorted and dirty loud sounding leads were soon able to be replicated by guitar pedal fx through clean normal amps.

originally posted by: mysterioustranger
a reply to: JinMI

From a guitar standpoint as a former guitar instructor, I grew up on 50's to mostly 60's rock.

2 stand alone songs that had the first(s) distorted (grungy, loud and nasty) metal sounding songs were Keith Richards lead to the Stones "Satisfaction", and Eric Clapton in "Heart full of Soul" by the Yardbirds in 1965.

Worth noting? Jeff Beck replaced Eric Clapton who was later replaced by Jimmy Page. All were Yardbirds.The distorted and dirty loud sounding leads were soon able to be replicated by guitar pedal fx through clean normal amps.

The " distorted Guitar Sound " began a year earlier in 1964.

Dave Davis of The Kinks took a razor blade to the speaker on his guitar amp to create the sound.

Story here.

www.ultimate-guitar.com...

a reply to: JinMI

Honestly, I think that it stemmed from punk becoming too "mainstream" at the time and many were looking for a new direction that still had that feeling of "f**k authority" and would still piss off adults/parents enough that they wouldn't listen to it.

Like Wateraven says, if you listen to hardcore punk, it's pretty easy to note the transition. Many metal bands still have a similar anti-authoritarian message like real punk rock does, but much of it also turned darker. Maybe a lot of the metal pioneers that started in punk rock moved to the "darker" side due to depression or something.

originally posted by: deuceawesome
I always thought that Punk was the untalented, social commentary music that rebelled against the prog and stadium rock dinosaurs of that era. Sort of like how grunge was the 'enuff' to hair metal in the early 90's.

That seems like a decent enough idea, at least as a whole and a reason why it became so popular with the youth of the time. I like to think of it, though, as also a reaction to "selling out," like prog and stadium rock bands did (and same with hair metal by the end of it all). Most of those same bands started out in their garages probably sounding similar to punk music and with similar messages in the relatively poorly written songs--punk rockers just kept that sound and message going as they became popular in the underground scene, and then eventually with a select few record labels.

Just like it high school, the sound and message remained popular with the ever-renewing youth and evolved with time. Some went the way of metal, others the way of garbage pop-punk that you hear on the radio.

a reply to: alldaylong

I didn't mention the razored speaker debate as it still rages on. Page has been quoted, Beck has quoted, Davies has been quoted....as much as Harrison being responsible for the 1st feedback on "I feel fine" by the Beatles.

Both sides of each debate rages on...and we can find numerous quotes supporting all 4 guitarists as the originators of distortion and feedback...

It will continue to be debated...but this is off topic of this op thread.

originally posted by: Wateraven
seems like hardcore is kind of that crossover. Slayer, Suicidal Tendencies, DRI, Agnostic Front... Check out the book American Hardcore.

Agreed, I thought of Bad Brains first but another big influence (along with loads of others of course) for some bands might have been Leeway, who had a good blend with some of their music.