Three studio albums and a covers album may not be the proper measuring stick to analyze a band's career, but when it's an in your face outfit like Rage Against the Machine, their bomb tracks still resonate with an ever resounding freshness. The political and impassioned fervor of Zack de la Rocha, coupled with the sonic assaults of Tom Morello and Tim Commerford and rapid fire beats of Brad Wilk place them in an entire league of their own.
You all presumably know the facts of life by now. The birds do it. The bees do it. Hopefully you're all doing it, too. Sex is, obviously, everywhere. And rock and metal is no exception. Many is the scrawny nerd who picked up a guitar with the hope of turning his luck in love around. And sometimes it worked.
In 1993, Marilyn Manson hit the metal mainstream, sending kids to the record stores and scaring the crap out of parents. While the heavy sound and edgy lyrical content were a big part of the band's appeal, the band's videos certainly played a significant role in their huge success. From the early days of sloppy lipstick and ripped fishnets to the androgynous glam-rock image the band toyed with, they constantly worked to keep the fans on their toes and the parents complaining.
As we close in on the end of 2013, it's important to remember that the music world doesn't stop here. With a new year brings all kind of great music to look forward to.
There isn't much metal about traditional Christmas music. Lucky for us, many of our favorite artists have made their own holiday tunes to make the end of the year a little more brutal. Some of our favorite bands have even recorded covers of holiday classics as well. You know, just in case you want to spin a couple of more familiar tunes while you open presents at your parents house. No need to offend mom on Christmas.
You've heard Pearl Jam's big hits a million times and rightfully so. Tracks like 'Alive,' 'Betterman,' 'Yellow Ledbetter,' 'Black' and others capture the ears of listeners with Eddie Vedder's raw emotion and the wall of sounds coming from his bandmates. But for every 'Jeremy' and 'Even Flow,' there's a huge catalog of songs that never got the same commercial push.
"Winter is coming." These words were made famous on the hit TV show 'Game of Thrones' and although winter seems to be taking forever to arrive on the show, we can be a little more certain here in reality. For some regions of Earth, winter is not a big deal and the climate doesn't change all too much. For other regions, winter brings some of the most challenging weather to inhabitable places. It's such an event that many bands have dedicated songs to describing what it's like to face the frigid elements.
We've been looking at the evolution of the hard rock riff, and we've gotten to the turn of the century. The riff has come a long way since it was born some time ago and in our latest list we can see how it has evolved.
Every year there's a new slate of acts that seemingly come out of nowhere to add to the history of rock. For some, this journey is a short one as they get their breakthrough on their very first album. For others, it's been several years in the making with the act finally catching the attention of listeners.
Metal Christmas songs are not limited to bands doing turned up, louder and riffier versions of 'Jingle Bell Rock.' A vast assortment of holiday hymns and seasonal favorites are twisted, turned and offered up by metal and hard rock bands.