Heavy Metal versus Hard Rock

[tomarin]

It’s come to my attention that a distinction exists between heavy metal and hard rock. I’m curious as to whether it’s a clear distinction or a fuzzy one, and whether the difference is based on actual musicological properties or just the themes of song lyrics.

What are the differences, if any?

(My guess is that metal is a sub-genre of hard rock that developed in the 1970’s from prog rock and was developed by Ozzy Ozbourne and Jethro Tull. AC/DC on the other hand is just hard rock, not metal. Hard rock is just loud rock music, whereas heavy metal guitarists are actually more skilled at their craft and often mute their strings, play weird scales insanely fast, i.e. they “shred.”)

I’ve never really been into metal, hard rock, or punk rock so that’s my excuse for not realizing this until now.

 

[John_Lazarus]

It’s come to my attention that a distinction exists between heavy metal and hard rock. I’m curious as to whether it’s a clear distinction or a fuzzy one, and whether the difference is based on actual musicological properties or just the themes of song lyrics.

What are the differences, if any?

(My guess is that metal is a sub-genre of hard rock that developed in the 1970’s from prog rock and was developed by Ozzy Ozbourne and Jethro Tull. AC/DC on the other hand is just hard rock, not metal. Hard rock is just loud rock music, whereas heavy metal guitarists are** actually more skilled** at their craft and often mute their strings, play weird scales insanely fast, i.e. they “shred.”)

I’ve never really been into metal, hard rock, or punk rock so that’s my excuse for not realizing this until now.

That’s a matter of opinion.

Hard rockers include Hendrix, Neil Young, Clapton, Page, Jeff Beck…

Metal is fractured into a bajillion sub-genres, like death, doom, speed, folk, black, melodic, operatic…and every combination and permutation of these.

Distinctions between genres and sub-genres are often blurry.

 

[oldgraymare2]

Hmmm…interesting to think about.

I guess that I would agree and say that, “the lines are blurry” between the two. I guess that I would say too that Heavy Metal would probably fall under the category of Hard Rock.

We have an area radio station that plays hard rock music, but calls it “classic rock.”

 

[bouncebanana]

It’s all very subjective. One person may say a band is rock where another says it’s hard rock and even another says it’s metal, or heavy metal.
I’d say they all fall under the broad category of “rock” in general. I think it’s more blurry with metal than rock or hard rock though.
There are so many sub-genres of metal it’s kind of silly, and most of them are probably indistinguishable for someone who doesn’t listen to it.
I’ve been listening to metal, rock and lots of their sub-genres for 20 years and still can’t really clearly define them, but usually will know it when I hear it I guess.

 

[punisherthunder]

Hard rock is just a tad bit slower and bands are more likely to have a couple of ballads in their catalogues.

Metal? Faster, with little to no ballads.

 

[tomarin]

Hard rock is just a tad bit slower and bands are more likely to have a couple of ballads in their catalogues.

Metal? Faster, with little to no ballads.

the guitar also has a different sound, wouldn’t you say, in metal? A big sound, but one that is often played with muted strings so it has a sort of definition to it. Hard rock guitar just has to sound loud and distorted, with the gain way up.

Heavy metal also seems to have more of a theatrical aspect to the performance with weird costumes and bats but I’m really out of my realm of experience commenting on that.

 

[tomarin]

The guitar sound I’m thinking of is sometimes called “punched up.”

 

[Joe_5859]

Now this is my area of expertise.

Honestly, I think musical categories can be pretty fluid. I know there are a lot of people that take this way seriously (just go over to the “Metal Encyclopedia” and suggest that they add “Def Leppard” to the list of bands ). I don’t overly concern myself about where to draw the line between the two.

I have a lot of CDs by bands from both categories and the fastest, heaviest Warrant or Europe song is heavier than the slowest Metallica or Megadeth song. When you start talking about some of the symphonic/prog metal bands, that is even more true.

 

[Joe_5859]

the guitar also has a different sound, wouldn’t you say, in metal? A big sound, but one that is often played with muted strings so it has a sort of definition to it. Hard rock guitar just has to sound loud and distorted, with the gain way up.

Heavy metal also seems to have more of a theatrical aspect to the performance with weird costumes and bats but I’m really out of my realm of experience commenting on that.

Kiss is fairly theatrical, but most would classify them as hard rock, not metal.

I also think there are plenty of hard rock acts with skilled guitarists. Van Halen for one.

I would say that, in general, metal utilizes a “crunchy” guitar sound more so than hard rock, but even that isn’t always true across the board.

Generally, metal will have faster drums, but that’s not always true either. Doom metal is very slow-paced, but still metal.

As the saying goes, “I cannot define it, but I know it when I see it.”

Here is hard rock: Europe - Got to Have Faith

And heavy metal: Dream Theater - Space-Dye Vest