Typically my favorite type of music is somewhat "Older & Heavy" in nature. What I have done here is to basically outline the difference between variations of this type of music.



Heavy/Hard Blues Rock: I.E. Bands & artists like Savoy Brown, Killing Floor, Moloch, etc. consist of music of a heavy or hard rock nature whereas the music as written and played is predominantly blues based. Very easy to discern.

Heavy Psych Rock: I.E. Bands like Maypole, Blue Cheer, Q65, Golden Dawn, Cream, Blue Mountain Eagle, Captain Beyond, etc. consist of music that is not overly mainstream or pop oriented, often consisting of highly talented musical underdogs. The music is often more philosophical in approach, rather than focusing on the relating of personal experience alone. The music tends to have more of a thud n thunder effect and usually does not focus on one primary instrument, but rather has a powerful "wall of sound" combination of drums, bass & guitar. The songs tend to be "longer" in nature and the music & lyrics are psychedelic drug culture oriented.


Hard Psych Rock: I.E. Bands like Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix (first three albums & only so because of commercial pressure placed on him by management), Amen Corner, Art, Brain Police, Chocolate Watchband, etc. This music tends to focus on dominant musicianship including vocals. It's most often the guitar that gets front and center in terms of instrumentation, but vocals are important as well. The songs are shorter and more radio friendly. Often the subject mater is social in nature with emphasis on personal experience and relationships either one on one (sex & getting high) or one as related to the many (the outcast effect and/or protest). The songs often consist of a rebellious "call to arms" that is easy to relate to and tend to illicit a "yeah man, right on"! reaction. Very seldom is fantasy an attribute of "Hard" music. It's one that deals much more commonly with human experience.

Heavy Rock: I.E. Bands like BLACK SABBATH, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin ( a bizarre hair slitting group by definition if ever there were one), Euclid, Chariot, Rush, Night Sun, Jeronimo, Blues Creation, etc. Drugs played a HUGE part in this music. Of this, there is no question. The element that sets these groups apart from traditional Heavy Psych is that we find them condoning the usage (and over usage) as much as we do condemning the same degree of use. In other words we find tons of time line based (fate) human experience mixed with just as much socio political, apocalyptic and out and outright fantastically based song/story content. Certainly human relations of a sexually based nature are not exempt lyrical content, but in no way is this found to be a dominant theme within the scope of these band's output. Heavy Rock is most always a equilateral combination of each musician's prowess. It seems as though a fateful chemistry was destined to bear out all the combined parts (musicians) to equate a greater whole or group identity when joined. These bands often fuse prevalent musical influences such as Classical, Celtic, Jazz, Blues, etc. into what is the musical recipe that each band is responsible for. This can and does often lend a very real progressive name tag to their music but the bottom line is the fact that this is a form of rock that is hands down the heaviest of them all.


Hard Rock: I.E. Bands like Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, Foghat, Stepson, Robert Savage, AC/DC, Bad Company,Lynyrd Skynyrd, Kiss, etc. These groups have an unmistakable guitar/lead vocalist orientation and most often offer up a smorgasbord of sex, freedom & rock n roll forever mentality. Almost always dealing with the ego in one way or another, their material is extremely relative & appealing on a youthful hormone driven level. Naturally they were the more commercially "successful" of the hard/heavy genres because their songs were often shorter (other than an occasional signature anthem like Free Bird that were often cut in length for radio airplay) and to the point. These groups mostly helped to "pave the way" for the ongoing successful radio domination of rock music & along with their more sophisticated and heavy brethren, were first wave of AOR driven rock groups. Glam was a very real, and only in the most minor of senses, sub category of Hard Rock. IMO, Like Iommi points out, along with Proto, it was the pre "German Metal" bands like Saxon, Iron Maiden, Accept, JUDAS PRIEST, Krokus, etc. that started Metal. Metal was born a hybrid from a combination of the *Denim & Leather motorcycle/military mentality. (*not to rip off Saxon) The term Heavy Metal was most likely first "penned" by William Burroughs and then spun by underground sub context journalists to describe certain loud speaker rock concert events. Many referrals to early linguistic similarities like "Iron Man" & "Led Zeppelin" as well as Mars Bonfire's "Heavy Metal Thunder" made famous by Steppenwolf, were actually cultural references pertinent to various motivations for this or that. Heavy Metal became a real definable musical identity when the intricate duel metal guitar onslaught/double bass drum came into play. I would say that most likely, Priest and Maiden were the first bands to "punch through" (direct as Sir Lord Doom would say) the somewhat commercially repressed packaging that was the European Hard Rock scene. Rob Halford was the leather clad lead singer poster boy for Heavy Metal whereas "Eddie" was rather the poster freak for a band that just plain loved to hang out drink ale, play pool & darts while retaining the comfort and sweat free environment that their jeans offered.