Possibly the gratest genre of music ever conceived by man .... Ever! Not only is Metal one of the oldest and most robust genres of music, spanning back as far as the 70s when the band Black Sabbath combined Blues and rock with dark lyrical content and down tuned guitars (Most metal heads will agree that Black Sabbath "invented" metal), but its also the most diverse genre of music. Five Common Genres of Metal are Heavy,Thrash, Death, Black and Power and this branches off into all different fusion an crossover genres, there are now hundreds of different Metal variants, which is one of the reasons it has survived and thrived for so long.

Metal music generally is a very fast, aggressive, loud and technical sounding music, ofcourse it depends on what type is i mentioned erlier, there are so many different types. After Black Sabbath, metal bands started growing and progressing but still keeping the same raw sound.

From the 1980's up to today metal has evolved into so many different forms such as Black metal, Death metal, Groove metal, Progressive metal, Power metal, Gothic metal, Funk metal, Folk metal, Rap metal, Punk metal, Experimental, Stoner metal, Drone metal, Sludge Metal, Industrial metal, Extreme metal and hundreds of different combinations of the above.

Warning, watch out for fake metal or poser metal bands or emo bands such as Bring me the Horison, Suicide Silence, Black Veil Brides, Slipknot, to name a few.

A young person (typically female or feminine/emo male) who listens to metalcore, deathcore or nu-metal. These genres represent the extremely commercial form of metal music and are designed for teenage girls/boys. These genres are widely considered as fake metal or poser metal among the true metal-fans.

Bands like Bullet For My Valentine, Bring Me The Horizon, As I Lay Dying and Slipknot are typical examples about fake metal, poser metal and mallcore.

Metal-poser is basically a fan of nu-metal, metalcore or deathcore.

This is the newest form of metal.

Metalheads are people (both girls and guys)who enjoy and are particularly devoted to metal music. Metal music includes (limited list - theres LOTS more subgenres): death metal, black metal, heavy metal (for example 80s heavy metal), nu metal (often disregarded by old school/death metal lovers) symphonic/gothic metal etc.

Metal heads dont HAVE to dress in a particular way, however a STEREOTYPICAL male metalhead could be seen wearing long pants (ie army pants) in dark colours like grey, black, karki green etc, a band shirt often bought from a concert, and long hair - popular because of effect when headbanging. patches are also popular. Females dress is harder to stereotype - ranging from gothic tendancies to indie/emo (thrift store emo - not wannabe hate life emo).

some metal heads (particularly males) get very defensive when describing a metal head - often calling those not as devoted as them as posers (often assosiated with nu metal)

Fast, brutal, epic, catchy, full of power, skill,technical ability and full of diversity. Able to suit most musical needs for those seeking them. Those who have limited or no knowledge of metal music shouldnt judge it! For those wanting to know, Metal music contains many sub-genres including Heavy, Death, Melodic Death, Black, Doom, Power, Thrash, Speed, Folk, Industrial, Progressive, Metalcore & Nu-Metal to name a few. Black Sabbath arguably invented Heavy + Doom Metal which was later characterised by bands like Iron Maiden.'Death' along with other bands like Celtic Frost started the Death Metal movement, Venom invented Black Metal + was later characterised by bands like Mayhem, Emperor & Burzum. Bands like Dark Tranquility and In Flames characterised Melodic death or gothenburg metal. Thrash metal was basically defined by Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Testament, Sodom & Sepultura. While the more recent and commercially successful genres include Nu-Metal popularised by bands like Korn, Mudvayne, Papa Roach & Slipknot. While Metalcore includes bands like Killswitch engage, Trivium, Caliban & Shadows fall. While progressive metal includes bands like Nightwish, Lacuna Coil, Within Temptation & Apocalyptica. Contrary to believe there is no such genre as Emo-Metal (which most metal fans will express their hate/dislike for emo music and its fans). Bands that are considered to be Emo-Metal like Atreyu & Avenged Sevenfold most likely fall into the Hardcore category seperate from m...

A metal head is a person who loves metal music. Some of them may dress a certain way, such as blue/black jeans and extremely often band shirts. They only wear band shirts of bands they love and are talented. After the 80's, metal went downhill and became a lot less common. Most play a musical instrument, ELECTRIC guitar, especially flying V's, as well as bass guitar, drums, etc.
Metal: Old Metallica, Iron Maiden, Slayer, Megadeth, Dragonforce, Children of Bodom, Pantera, Iced Earth, Dream Theater, Venom, Exodus, Death, Kreator, Black Sabbath & Ozzy, Motorhead, Testament, Judas Priest, Hammerfall, Sonata Arctica, Grim Reaper, etc.
NOT metal: Slipknot, Korn, Disturbed, etc.

A much-hated subgenre of metal or hard rock, depending on how you view it, that started in the early 90s.

The main characteristics of nu-metal are as follows:
1. Rather short, simplistic songs with some sort of pop hooks
2. Lyrics about personal issues and feelings
3. Lack of guitar solos (if any solos are present, they are usually ahort or not very complex)
4. Many bands take in some elements of funk and rap and mix it with heavy metal music (early Slipknot, Limp Bizkit, Korn, etc.)
5. Music which places more emphasis on lyrical meaning and image than technicality

While I agree that some nu-metal out there is quite terrible, a lot of nu-metal out there is hated for the wrong reasons. Some people hate it just because it's popular, some people hate it just because it has no solos, or some people hate it just because the lyrics are somewhat more emotional than lyrics of old-school metal.

Hating a band just because it's popular is like refusing to play a sport like, say, football, just because a lot of people love it. "No way, man! I'm TOTALEE underground and