I think it's great that people like to talk about the origins of metal. I personally don't care, because I have very little interest in any of the early pioneers (except for Iron Maiden).
I grew up on nu-metal, the song that got me interested in music was 'Falling Away From Me' by Korn in 1999. Nowadays, I still have a special place in my heart for nu-metal, but I typically listen to mostly European melodic death metal.
It's sad though even in 'real music' such as metal, there are a lot of posers. Such as this whole hardcore/deathcore movement, with these short haired doofuses pretending to play the heaviest music on earth. Emo and soft pop-rock piss me off, but at least they don't pretend to uphold the standard of metal. Whereas these new people do. The Black Dahlia Murder is one exception for me, as they do actually play a good style of At the Gates ripoff death metal.
I am especially tired of hearing about Disturbed though. They are possibly the most plain and generic band out there right now, and worse yet, they stagnate between nu-metal and heavy metal, never really deciding which. Then again, all of their songs sound just about the same. At least when they were strictly nu-metal (The Sickness) they had a good vibe going for them, and some good tunes. Totally overrated nowadays though...
/end rant
On the bright side, I see a lot of people mentioning Gojira these days. Good deal...
Metal first needs to be defined, and as with all socio-cultural phenomenons, it varies and evolves, and is not subject to objective discernment, but rather subjective opinionated rambling, and therefore is an irrelevent topic for serious discussion.
However... my two cents... Metal shall hereby be defined as a heavier sounding music, heavier than the mainstream, or heavier than any competeing genre. Heavy being defined as a darker toned guitar, darker vocals, vocals with dark imagry, or anything on the 'negative' spectrum of music. Low bass noices predominate. Everything is relative to the time period in question.
Helter Skelter was certinally heavy for its day. The Beatles and Hendrix are definitely the first to use a heavier sound, distortion and all.
However the credit to moderization of metal (bringing it to its current level) is definitely thrown to Black Sabbath. They invented the current sound completely by accident. Tony Iommi injured his fretting hand working in a (no joke) metalsmith (metal was born in fire!). His hand had to be bandaged and the wrappings conflicted with the strings of the guitar, creating a new sound. This sound has been emulated by several bands since.
Metal continued to evolve into Metallica, ACDC, Led Zepplin, etc. These are now considered more rock leaning, but they are metal for the day none the less.
Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, are other examples of strong metal bands during this period, the former being a later group.
Lamb of God and Crowbar argueably introduced us to actual modern metal. Slipknot and imitators then are children of the screamy-type. Hatebreed, Cannibal Corpse, Demon Hunter all are examples.
We can't forget Anthrax and their work with Public Enemy! This is when we start looking at Nu-Metal with their embracement of mainstream rap.
Disturbed and Korn then come onto the scene. Disturbed is undoubtably an amazing band, however lost its touch for two records (believe and ttf). I like how they are embracing the sickness-grungy style they started with agian. Korn is just weird, but they have the heavy sound. Nu Metal should be defined as metal with rap influence, or vice versa. Examples include: Limp Bizket, Disturbed, Korn. Linkin Park is not nu metal... or metal at all.
Tony Iommi injured his fretting hand working in a (no joke) metalsmith (metal was born in fire!). His hand had to be bandaged and the wrappings conflicted with the strings of the guitar, creating a new sound.
No, he lost the tip of two of his fingers and put thimbles on top of them so he could still play.
disturbed???omg they just...suck!!!!and i also hate linkin park i just can't stand them....as for my favourite metal bands i'd say metallica and king diamond
Even though I like Slipknot, I mostly listen to punk-rock
As for the Emo thing, Emo isnt just an "I cut myself" kinda thing. It's also a music and fashion scene, and the closest thing to punk nowadays, is emo.
Punk is still alive, Rise Against is a good example Anyway Nu-Metal is my favorite with System of a Down being my most liked band, and Godsmack comes next
