Bon Jovi, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Whitesnake and many others are also...

By Daniel Dystyler

I've wanted to write this text for a while now.

The idea came about 6 years ago, when we started Wikimetal and I realized that all we had to do was post anything that referenced these bands (and many others) and we would immediately receive several comments (as if we had committed heresy) like:

"Since when is AC/DC Heavy Metal?"
"And is Whitesnake, with all those ballads, Metal?"
"As if Scorpions were Heavy Metal!!!!"

The answer, for those who ask me this sort of thing, is quite short and simple:

It's OBVIOUS that these bands are Metal.
They always have been. Since their inception. They always will be.

Done. Short and simple.

I'm sure that right now several people are itching to go to the comments section and insult me, vent, etc.

And it's fine if you want to destroy me... But first, if you have a little patience, I invite you to read my text (which is quite short). It's just two points.

First:
Being Heavy Metal is much more than liking a very specific style of music. It's a lifestyle. It's a certain attitude against the "normal." It's a stance. It's going against the status quo. It's a life choice. It's the culture of the excluded. Of those who don't participate in the mainstream, the common, the popular. It's the hardest path. No shortcuts.

Just read the biography of any of the bands mentioned above, and you'll see exactly that: In a scene where distorted guitars were abhorrent, long hair was considered something for vagrants, and stage presence like that of Angus, Plant, Axl, or Coverdale (just to name a few) horrified 96% of the population who don't follow, know, or understand anything about the Heavy Metal movement, it's easy to see how much these bands, in their time and countries, suffered to help shape the Metal movement.

In this sense, the type of sound the band makes isn't so important. Because if we're going to be purists and stick exclusively to the type of sound traditionally called Heavy Metal, we'd have to exclude all the derived subgenres (Hard Rock, Thrash, Hair, Death, Melodic, Nu, Speed, Power, etc.) to say that none of the bands belonging to these subgenres are actually Heavy Metal. Not Metallica, not Stratovarius, not Dream Theater, not Slayer, not Megadeth. And so we would be left with a very limited and restricted number of bands like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Manowar, and Saxon that represent the musical style "Heavy Metal".

But intuitively, we know it's okay to say that Testament, Sepultura, or Anthrax are Heavy Metal. But in terms of sound, the distance between these bands and what we know as Heavy Metal is perhaps as great as the distance between Kiss and AC/DC. Some are above (in terms of heaviness) what we know as "traditional Heavy Metal," while others are below (less heavy). But still distant.

Some are closer, others further away. But even so, one could argue that neither Pantera nor Skid Row are Heavy Metal. In fact, musically they are not. But in this broader context, of a culture that has endured for almost 50 years across Planet Earth and therefore represents much more than just a type of music, it is clear that they are Metal!

The second point (and I promise, the final argument) has to do with the context in time. Let me explain:

Things have meaning within a context. You know the famous saying , "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king" ? It's a perfect abstraction of that. Having (only) one eye can make you the person who sees the least or the person who sees the most. It depends on where you are. It depends on the context.

What did Angus's distorted guitar sound like in the 70s? What was the reaction of people and critics to that sound, which was one of the heaviest things of the time? And John Bonham's drumming? And Geddy Lee's high notes? Bon Jovi's hair or Ian Gillan's stage presence? I affirm: All of that was pure Metal in each of its respective eras!

How was the first Rock in Rio reported in 1985? Don't know? Okay... I'll help:

"HEAVY ROCK – Whitesnake, Ozzy Osbourne, Scorpions and AC/DC were the stars of the Heavy Metal night at the first edition of Rock in Rio."

Notice the expressions:
– Heavy Rock.
– Heavy Metal Night.

It's not Rock N' Roll night, nor Hard Rock night. It's Heavy Metal night!!! With Whitesnake, Scorpions and AC/DC!!!!

And most importantly (and fundamental to this text):

Nobody, ABSOLUTELY NOBODY, questioned this! Nobody thought it was wrong for these bands to be considered Heavy Metal!! Because at the time (within that context), they were indeed among the greatest representatives of Heavy Metal!

In 1985, there would have been no doubt that these bands were/are Heavy Metal.

And note: Considering that they have practically not changed their style to this day, there is no reason to conclude that they have ceased to be what they always were: Heavy Metal Bands. PERIOD.

Other articles about the day these bands played at Rock In Rio in 1985 can be seen in the video below, which says:

"The Heavy Metal Night was one of the most exciting of the festival"

"The Heavy Metal night of the festival saw a different kind of excitement. Dressed in a very peculiar way, the metalheads arrived early at Rock City and made a lot of noise. Some had been waiting for the gates to open since 6 am."

There was absolutely no possibility at the time of anyone writing to the media outlets that reported the above stories questioning, “Heavy Metal? Since when is Scorpions Heavy Metal??? ”

But today, people think it's normal to doubt that… Somehow, AC/DC, who have been making the same sound since they were founded, have ceased to be Metal for the vast majority of people.

Scorpions, too! Which is a huge absurdity since all accounts of the beginning of the Metal scene in Germany in the 70s mention Scorpions as a central figure in this movement and one of its main references.

Kiss in Brazil in 1983 is another example: While we were plagued by the media's ignorance at the time, looking at the accounts, articles, and news, it becomes very clear how common it was that Kiss (at the time) was considered, both by the ignorant press and by Metal fans, to be a Heavy Metal band. Examples that leave no room for doubt:

At the Rio de Janeiro show, fans were approached in the vicinity of the Maracanã stadium with a pamphlet that read, “Young person, if you want to be a free person, free yourself from the clutches of Satan. With Kiss, they say you must become a follower of this International Society of King Satan .

The article in Folha de São Paulo featured "A Pastiche of Black Mass ." The text stated that the band's sound was an "indistinguishable, distorted, dirty noise with unpleasant timbres .

Finally:
Besides the two points I mentioned above (which everyone obviously has the right to agree with or disagree with), there's one very important thing left:

It remains for each of us to ask ourselves, what is best for us? What interests us? What is best for this community that fights so hard for Heavy Metal to be more respected in a country that doesn't give us the slightest credit, space, or respect?

Is it better for us to split up or to unite? Is it better to make our scene "smaller" by saying that AC/DC or Kiss aren't Metal? Or is it better to become more representative, stronger, with more bands, some even with mainstream representation like Scorpions?

So before puffing out your chest and posting around that "Guns N' Roses isn't Metal" or "since when is AC/DC Heavy Metal?" , it's worth thinking a little first about whether that's actually true in the historical context and longevity of these bands and everything they had to go through in a time when any guitar riff was considered something demonic.

And please, don't be mistaken: Don't think that by writing to me "AC/DC isn't Metal" you're doing me a favor or telling me something I didn't know or realize... I know all the AC/DC albums, the year they were released, the lineup, the track order, the lyrics... The same goes for Kiss, Whitesnake, or any of those legendary bands that helped build the Heavy Metal movement.

I know exactly how much "Metal" is in each album, in each song, and I can perfectly compare it to Kreator's latest album (which, by the way, is spectacular). But I also know how to put that into perspective, in context, in time, and in the history of Metal.

And most importantly of all:
I think we should all consider what this division and segmentation causes. What good and bad it brings us. And how we can help build a stronger scene.

Some people think that writing to me, "Since when is Deep Purple Metal?" will cause me some kind of epiphany or revelation.

It won't work.

The epiphany or revelation will happen when these people realize how good it will be to embrace the glorious past of these bands that fought so hard for Metal, include them in the movement, and help us create, here and now, a stronger Heavy Metal scene.

This is our battle.