Judas Priest
Judas Priest is an immensely influential heavy metal band formed in 1969 in Birmingham, England by K.K. Downing and Ian Hill. The band's classic line-up consists of vocalist Rob Halford, guitarists K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton, and bassist Ian Hill. They epitomize the classic heavy metal genre, particularly the NWOBHM ("New Wave of British Heavy Metal") movement, and have influenced hundreds of musicians and bands. Their popularity and influence earned them the nickname "The Metal Gods".
Musical style and influences
One of the progenitors of heavy metal, Judas Priest are best known for their twin-lead-guitar sound and the complex guitar duets of K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton; and for Rob Halford's high-pitched screams, and lead vocals. However, the band's biggest musical innovation is the dual 'rhythm guitar', i.e. the accompaniment, or riff, which plays an essential role in all hard rock genres and especially in heavy metal.
Although Wishbone Ash and the Scorpions have had two guitarists each and to some extent did play harmonies and dual leads prior to Judas Priest, none had played dual rhythm consistently as an integral part of their music.
Dual rhythm consists of two guitarists playing the same exact melody (riff) simultaneously, often on the same exact octave, which is slightly different from traditional harmonies. There may be minor differences in sound, tone, tenacity, and an occasional deviation from the melody for a very short period (like a short improvisation, or insert - just a few notes). Since Judas Priest introduced this new style of rhythm guitar with their first release Rocka Rolla, it has become a standard feature of heavy metal. Another important aspect of their style is inserting very melodic solos, or "lead breaks" - between fast riffs (e.g. "The Sentinel", "Electric Eye", "Night Crawler", "Hellrider").
Many people, including influential musicians and members of prominent hard rock and heavy metal bands, believe that the foundation for what would define "pure" heavy metal were three early Judas Priest albums; Sad Wings of Destiny (1976), Sin After Sin (1977), and Stained Class (1978).
The band played faster and harder than most rock groups at the time and brought a more "metallic" sound to their guitars. The songs varied from extremely simple and straightforward tunes (eg. - "The Ripper", "One For The Road", "Starbreaker") to fairly structured, changing from fast and loud to slower tempo and softer tunes in one song (e.g. "Victim Of Changes", "Run Of The Mill", "Beyond The Realms Of Death"). Some songs, such as 1979's "Exciter", were truly groundbreaking for their sheer ferocity and speed; others, like "Dissident Aggressor", "Sinner" and "Tyrant" were incredibly heavy for their day, and even today are considered classic metal landmarks.
Their 1978 album Killing Machine (retitled Hell Bent for Leather and released in 1979 in the USA) saw a slight change of direction towards shorter, more "poppy" or "Americanized" songs, especially lyrically. The following release, British Steel, took an even sharper turn in the same direction, and was perhaps the first heavy metal album to record radio-friendly songs with pop hooks, in a concise format, pioneering an approach used by many others (Quiet Riot, Dokken, Twisted Sister, Accept, Def Leppard) to later commercial success. All of them used dual lead guitar. However, Priest are perhaps the only one of these bands to retain a definite heavy metal sound, despite the commercial twist to it. Songs like "Living After Midnight" and "Breaking the Law" are excellent examples of this style.
Their next effort, Point of Entry (1981), is harder to define - the sound was very "raw" (minimal sound manipulation) and the songs were somewhat moody, and paced at a slower than usual tempo. As guitarist Glen Tipton later admitted, Point of Entry had the tough task of living up to the standards set by its predecessor, and failed to do so. Subsequent albums Screaming for Vengeance (1982)--which contained the popular radio hit "You've Got Another Thing Coming", and Defenders of the Faith (1984) once again set high standards in intensity and production, and continued to influence the sonic shape of heavy metal. Turbo (1986) found the group introducing a "synth-guitar" sound to their metal template. Painkiller (1990) dropped all the synth, over-production and commercial tendencies. A straightforward, extermely fast and heavy album, became an all-time heavy metal classic. Their latest release, Angel of Retribution (2005) also contributed to the current revival of classic heavy metal, after the fade of grunge, alternative, thrash, indie and other temporary trends. It contains songs in their classic style like "Judas Rising" and "Hellrider", as well as mid-tempo songs with clear and prominent drums and less prominent guitars ("Worth Fighting For", "Wheels Of Fire"), a ballad, and an over 12 minute epic - something they haven't done since their concerts in the early 70's.
Influence on the genre
Judas Priest have influenced countless musicians in three musical generations, both in sound, technique and image. Many bands including Iron Maiden, Metallica, Megadeth, Manowar, Mercyful Fate, Venom, Slayer, Dokken, Helloween, Stratovarius, Iced Earth, Poison, Napalm Death, Dream Theater and Pantera cite Judas Priest as an influence.
History
Pantera
K.K. (Kenneth) Downing and Ian Hill knew each other almost since birth, as they lived nearby, attended the same nursery and school. Their friendship drew closer in their early teens as they shared similar musical interests (Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Yardbirds) and both started to learn playing an instrument.
In 1970 a fairly well known local ensemble named Judas Priest (after Bob Dylan's song "The Ballad Of Frankie Lee And Judas Priest") broke up and the band's singer, Alan Atkins, approached Downing and Hill who accepted him as their singer and adopted his former band's name.
With Downing in control, the band moved swiftly from their original bluesy tunes towards what later would be defined as heavy metal. This trio, with various drummers, continued extensive touring of Birmingham and the surrounding areas, sometimes supporting Budgie, Thin Lizzy and Trapeze, until 1974. Financical difficulties and problems with their management, Tony Iommi's company, IMA, lead to Alan Atkins' and drummer Alan Moore's departures.
At the time, Ian Hill was dating a girl who suggested her brother, Robert Halford as singer. Halford was admitted in the band, and brought with him drummer John Hinch from his previous band Hiroshima. This line-up toured heavily in the UK, often supporting Budgie, and even headlining some shows in Norway and Germany.
Before the band entered the studio to record their first album, the record company suggested another musician should join them. Reluctant to add an organ or trumpet player, Downing settled on another guitarist - Flying Hat Band's Glenn Tipton. According to the band, there were some technical problems during recording, but the record company refused to address them, and their debut album Rocka Rollasuffered of "horrible" sound quality. Management problems also prevailed; according to the band, producer Rodger Bain, (who was an established professional, having produced numerous albums for famous groups such as Black Sabbath) had too big a say in the production of the album: he left out stage classics "Tyrant", "Genocide", "The Ripper" and "Caviar And Meths" - the latter being cut from an 8 minute song to a 2 minute instrumental.
With their next album the band had gained some more experience and confidence, fully participating in the production, as well as choosing the producers. The result was Sad Wings of Destiny (1976), considered a cornerstone of heavy metal. This album featured mostly old material, including the aforementioned stage favorites and an epic "Victim Of Changes" - a song combining "Whiskey Woman", a stage classic since the era of the first Judas Priest (Al Atkins' band) and "Red Light Lady" brought by Halford from his previous group Hiroshima. All these songs are now considered to epitomize the very essence of heavy metal.
Three subsequent albums, Sin After Sin (1977), Stained Class and Killing Machine (aka Hell Bent For Leather) (both 1978) further explored the possibilities of heavy metal genre, employing such talented drummers as session player extraordinaire Simon Phillips and Les (James Leslie) Binks. Killing Machine marked a new turn in the creative direction Judas Priest were taking: the songs were shorter and had commercial appeal, yet were performed with a lot of metal punch. This emphasis on simple, albeit relentless and powerful beats that needed to be performed live with equal power led to Les Binks, a jazzy type of drummer, leaving, and Dave Holland (ex-Trapeze) becoming their new drummer.
British Steel was a breakthrough album, with its revolutionary dark, heavy yet hook-laden approach. It showcased the newcomer's excellent timekeeping and power.
With this line-up, Judas Priest recorded twelve studio and two concert albums to different degrees of critical and financial success. Overall, the band has sold in excess of 35 million albums globally.
Hard times
After the end of their highly acclaimed and successful Painkiller tour in 1991, Halford left Judas Priest due to several years of internal tensions in the band. Rumors started to circulate as early as September of 1991, although Halford collaborated with the band in the release of a compilation album entitled Metal Works: '73-'93 to commemorate their 20th anniversary. He also appeared in a video by the same title, documenting their history. His departure from the band was officially announced later that year.
Tim "The Ripper" Owens, who had previously sung in a Judas Priest tribute band British Steel, was hired as Judas Priest's singer. Owens' story of turning from fan to frontman was the inspiration for the film Rock Star, although Owens did not actually participate in the production of the movie. Because the film's content bore only a tangential resemblance to Owens's actual history with the band, Judas Priest later moved to disassociate themselves with the film; perhaps not entirely coincidentally, the film (starring Mark Wahlberg) was a critical and commercial flop.
This line up released two albums, Jugulator and
Demolition.
Reunion
After almost twelve years apart, Judas Priest and original lead vocalist Rob Halford announced their reunion in July 2003. They immediately embarked on a live concert tour in 2004, and co-headlined the 2004 Ozzfest, being named as the "premier act" by almost all U.S. media coverage of the event. Both tours were extremely successful. A new studio album, Angel of Retribution, was released on 1 March, 2005 (U.S.) on Sony Music/Epic Records to critical and commercial success. A global tour in support of the album is currently underway. Judas Priest and 'Ripper' Owens parted amicably, and Owens is now the singer of Iced Earth.
Subliminal message trial
In 1990, the band was involved in a civil action that alleged they were responsible for the suicide attempts in 1985 of two Nevada boys, James Vance and Ray Belknap. (Belknap died instantly by shooting himself in the face with a sawed off shotgun; Vance also shot at himself, only severely disfiguring his face in the attempt, and died three years after the incident.) The plaintiffs alleged a subliminal message of "do it" had been included in the song "Better by You Better Than Me" (from the Stained Class album) which triggered the suicide attempt. The suit was eventually dismissed on its merits, as the band had pointed out that if you were to play any song backwards and tell someone there was a message, it'll sound as though there actually is. In a television interview, Judas Priest members commented that if they wanted to insert subliminal commands in their music, killing their fans would be counterproductive, and they would prefer to insert the command "Buy more of our records."
Miscellaneous
In 1998, Halford revealed his homosexuality in an interview on MTV. His sexuality was known to the rest of the band and came as little surprise to fans. The response from the heavy metal community has been widely accepting.
On August 15 2002 PETA sent the band's management a request to stop wearing leather onstage, as the production of leatherwear involves cruelty to animals. Judas Priest responded that they wear artificial leather, but PETA still protested that this could encourage listeners to wear real leather.
Statistics
- Genres: Heavy metal, Hard rock, Classic metal
- Origin: Birmingham, United Kingdom
- Status: Active
- Time: 1969 till present
- Label: Sony Music
Members
Current band members
- Rob Halford - vocals (1973-1993, 2003-present)
- Glenn Tipton - guitars (1974 - present)
- K. K. Downing - guitars (1969 - present)
- Ian Hill - bass guitars (1969 - present)
- Scott Travis - drums (1988 - present)
Former band members
- Tim 'Ripper' Owens - vocals (1996 - 2003)
- Alan Atkins - vocals (1967-1973) - note that the band Judas Priest in which Atkins sang between '67 and '69 was a different band.
- Dave Holland - drums (1979-1989)
- Les Binks - drums (1977-1979)
- Simon Phillips - drums (1977)
- John Hinch - drums (1973-1975)
- Chris 'Congo' Campbell - drums (1972-1973)
- Alan 'Skip' Moore - drums (1971-1973, 1975-1977)
- John Ellis - drums (1969-1971)
Discography
- Rocka Rolla - 1974
- Sad Wings of Destiny - 1976
- Sin After Sin - 1977
- Stained Class - 1978
- Killing Machine - 1978 (released as Hell Bent for Leather in the USA 1979)
- Unleashed in the East - 1979 (Live in Japan)
- British Steel - 1980
- Point of Entry - 1981
- Screaming for Vengeance - 1982
- Defenders of the Faith - 1984
- Turbo - 1986
- Priest...Live! - 1987 (Live 1986)
- Ram It Down - 1988
- Painkiller - 1990
- Metal Works '73-'93 - 1993
- Jugulator - 1997
- Live Meltdown - 1998 (Live 1998)
- The Best of Judas Priest: Living After Midnight - 1998 (Compilation. Not endorsed by band.)
- Demolition - 2001
- Live in London - 2002 (Live album and DVD)
- Electric Eye - 2003 (Live DVD)
- Metalogy - 2004 (Box Set)
- Angel of Retribution - 2005
- Rising In the East - 2005 (Live DVD)
Collaborations with other musicians
- Ken Downing and Ian Hill did not record or perform outside Judas Priest.
- Glenn Tipton:
- Was in the Flying Hat Band before joining Judas Priest. They recorded one album which the record company refused to release. The other musicians in the band were Peter "Mars" Cowling (bass) and Steve Palmer (drums).
- Played a guitar solo on Samantha Fox's song "Spirit Of America" from her 1988 album "Just One Night".
- Released a solo album entitled Baptizm Of Fire in 1996, in collaboration with musicians Cozy Powell, Robert Trujillo, Brooks Wackerman, Don Airey, and Billy Sheehan among others.
- Rob Halford:
- Recorded backing vocals on Krokus' "Russian Winter" from the 1983 album Headhunter.
- Appeared at a concert with Skid Row and performed Judas Priest's "Delivering The Goods" in 1991.
- Recorded backing vocals on Ugly Kid Joe's "Goddamn' Devil" on their 1991 album America's Least Wanted.
- Took over as singer for Black Sabbath on November 14 and 15, 1992 after Ronnie James Dio left and reformed Dio. Also sang for Black Sabbath on August 26 2004, after Ozzy Osbourne fell ill due to bronchitis.
- Formed the group "Fight" , released two albums, War Of Words (22 March 1993) and Small Deadly Space (22 March 1995). An EP was released based upon the War of Words disc, entitled Mutations (22 March 1994).
- Formed the group "Two", released a single album with this project.
- Formed "Halford" in 1999 and released two studio albums Resurrection and Crucible, and a live album Live Insurrection.
- Performed with Sum 41 and Tommy Lee at MTV's 20th birthday party.
- In 1989 Judas Priest experimented with famous pop producers Stock Aitken and Waterman, and recorded three tracks. Some fans were furious, as they believed Judas Priest wanted to release pop albums. The tracks were never released, and are believed to be in Judas Priest's possession.
See also
- Best selling music artists — World's top-selling music artists chart.
External links
- [http://www.judaspriest.com/home/default.asp Official Site]
- [http://www.rockdetector.com/artist,4765,rdbio.sm Rock Detector]
- [http://members.firstinter.net/markster/ Judas Priest Info Pages] (incredible amount of Priest info)
- [http://www.csicop.org/si/9611/judas_priest.html Write up of the "Subliminal Message" trial]
- [http://www.highpriesthood.com/ The High Priesthood Message Boards]
- [http://www.hotlyricz.com/J/judaspriest/judaspriestindex.html Judas Priest Lyrics index Page]
Category:Judas Priest
Category:Rock music groups
Category:Heavy_metal_musical_groups
Category:British heavy metal musical groups
Category:Classic metal groups
Category:Music from Birmingham, England
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simple:Judas Priest
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal, often referred to as simply metal, is a form of music characterised by aggressive, driving rhythms and highly amplified distorted guitars, generally with grandiose lyrics and virtuosic instrumentation.
Heavy metal is a development of blues, blues rock, rock and prog rock. Its origins lie in the hard rock bands who between 1967 and 1974 took blues and rock and created a hybrid with a heavy, guitar-and-drums-centered sound. From the late 1970s on, many bands would fuse this sound with a revival of European classical music. Heavy metal had its peak popularity in the 1980s, during which many of the now existing subgenres first evolved. Although not as commercially successful as it was then, heavy metal still has a large world-wide following of fans known by terms like metalheads and headbangers.
Characteristics
Heavy metal is characterised by virtuosic instrumentation, especially a guitar, dark themes and lyrics, aggressive, uptempo rhythms and classical or symphonic styles.
Of all rock & roll's myriad forms, heavy metal is the most extreme in terms of volume, machismo, and theatricality. There are numerous stylistic variations on heavy metal's core sound, but they're all tied together by a reliance on loud, distorted guitars (usually playing repeated riffs) and simple, pounding rhythms.
Instrumentation
The most commonly used line-up for metal is a drummer, bass guitarist, rhythm guitarist, lead guitarist (in early metal bands a single guitarist often sufficed — see power trio), singer (who is sometimes also one of the instrumentalists), and occasionally a keyboard player. Guitar playing is very important in heavy metal. Distorted amplification of the guitars, with effects and electronic processing, is used to thicken the sound. The result is simple and powerful, although some of the original heavy metallers joked that their simplified sound was more the result of limited ability than of innovation.
Heavy metal singers have wide variety in sounds among them, from mid-range clean vocals, to high-pitched wails, to deep growls. The black and death metal scene tends to use distorted and guttural death grunts (exemplified by the band Possessed). Generally, it is hard to understand what the singer is "singing". Often, the text is considered to be too crude to be sung clearly (such as in Cannibal Corpse), but there are some bands (such as Eudoxis and Bolt Thrower) that will have more traditional lyrics obscured by the style of the singing.
Intricate solos and riffs are a big part of heavy metal music. Guitarists use sweep-picking, tapping and similar techniques for rapid playing. Heavy metal is not limited, however, to the standard outfit of guitars and drums. The Finnish cello trio Apocalyptica has created its own version of heavy metal, difficult to categorise but leaning towards the darker side.
The American band Grand Funk Railroad was one of the early proto-heavy metal bands (along with The Who, for example) that set new benchmarks for sound volume during shows. The volume of the music was seen as a factor equal in importance to its other qualities. Though this influence is often denigrated as pointless extravagance, it has proven enormously influential, and still dominates many people's perceptions of the genre. Motörhead and Manowar are more recent examples of bands that pride themselves on keeping the volume very high (see Manowar's 1984 song "All Men Play On Ten"). This behavior was mocked in the rockumentary spoof This Is Sp%C4%B1n%CC%88al Tap by guitarist "Nigel Tufnel", who revealed that his Marshall amplifiers had been modified to "go to eleven."
Themes
Heavy metal, as an art form, is more than just music; it is as much visual as it is audible. Album covers and stage shows are almost as important to the presentation of the material as the music itself. Thus, through heavy metal, many artists collaborate to produce a menu of experiences in each piece, offering a wider range of experiences to the audience. In this respect, heavy metal becomes perhaps more of a diverse art form than any single form dominated by one method of expression. Whereas a painting is experienced visually, a symphony experienced audibly, a heavy metal band's "image" and the common theme that binds all their music is expressed in the artwork on the album, the set of the stage, the tone of the lyrics, in addition to the sound of the music.
Marshall amplifiers]]Rock historians tend to find that the influence of Western pop music gives heavy metal its escape-from-reality fantasy side, as an escape from reality through outlandish and fantastic lyrics, while African-American blues gives heavy metal its naked reality side, focusing on loss, depression and loneliness.
If the audio, and thematic components of heavy metal are predominantly blues-influenced reality, then the visual component is predominantly pop-influenced fantasy. The themes of darkness, evil, power, and apocalypse are fantastic language components for addressing the reality of life's problems. Further, in reaction to the "peace and love" hippie culture of the 1960s, heavy metal developed as a counterculture, where light is supplanted by darkness, and the happy ending of pop is replaced by the naked reality that things do not always work out in this world. Whilst fans claim that the medium of darkness is not the message, critics have accused the genre of glorifying the negative aspects of reality.
countercultureHeavy metal themes are typically more grave than the generally airy pop from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, focusing on war, nuclear annihilation, environmental issues, political and religious propaganda. Black Sabbath's "War Pigs", Ozzy Osbourne's "Killer of Giants" and Metallica's "...And Justice for All" are examples of serious contributions to the discussion of the state of affairs. The commentary on reality sometimes tends to become over-simplified because the fantastic poetic vocabulary of heavy metal deals primarily with very clear dichotomies of light and dark, hope and despair, good and evil, which do not make much room for complex shades of grey.
Some might differentiate by observing that pure heavy metal does not generally sing about love, while many hair metal songs are focused on love. In some respects, one might argue that the hair metal scene of the 1980s was the logical endpoint of the glitter or glam rock movement of the 1970s; the visual similarities between the two, with the make-up and fanciful costumes, makes the argument more compelling. Glitter rock, however, was lyrically focused on sexual ambiguity, free expression and individuality, while hair metal was unambiguously macho and heterosexual, with little room for diversity of political or social opinions. Ultimately, "pure" heavy metal would position itself at the periphery of pop culture, never quite at centre, and metal denizens contend that the move towards the centre was a commercialism that compromised both the artistic integrity of the form and the opportunity for messages to be taken seriously.
Classical influence
MetallicaThe appropriation of classical music by heavy metal typically includes the influence of Bach and Paganini rather than Mozart or Franz Liszt. Though Deep Purple/Rainbow guitarist Ritchie Blackmore had been experimenting with musical figurations borrowed from classical music since the early 1970s, Edward Van Halen's solo cadenza "Eruption" (released on Van Halen's first album in 1978) marks an important moment in the development of virtuosity in metal. Following Van Halen, the "classical" influence in metal guitar during the 1980s actually looked to the early eigtheenth century for its model of speed and technique. Indeed, the late Baroque era of western art music was also frequently interpreted through a gothic lens. For example, "Mr. Crowley," (1981) by Ozzy Osbourne and guitarist Randy Rhoads, uses both a pipe organ and Baroque-inspired guitar solos to create a particular mood for Osbourne's lyrics on the legendary occultist Aleister Crowley. Like many other metal guitarists in the 1980s, Rhoads quite earnestly took up the "learned" study of musical theory and helped to solidify the minor industry of guitar pedagogy magazines (such as Guitar for the Practicing Musician) that grew up during the decade. In most instances, however, metal musicians who borrowed the technique and rhetoric of art music were not attempting to be classical musicians. (An exception can arguably be found in Yngwie Malmsteen, though many argue that his music relies more on virtuosity and the use of classical-sounding elements such as the harmonic minor scale to appear classical without actually being classical).
Yngwie Malmsteen The Encarta encyclopedia claims that "when a text was associated with the music, Bach could write musical equivalents of verbal ideas". Progressive rock bands such as Emerson, Lake, and Palmer and Yes had already explored this relationship before heavy metal evolved. As heavy metal uses apocalyptic themes and images of power and darkness, the ability to translate verbal ideas into musical ideas that successfully convey the ideas of the words is critical to heavy metal authenticity and credibility. An excellent example of this is the theme album Powerslave, by Iron Maiden. The cover is of a dramatic Egyptian pyramid scene, and many of the songs on the album have subject matter that requires a sound suggestive of life and death, including a song entitled "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", based on the poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. However, the 1977 Rush album A Farewell to Kings features the twelve-minute "Xanadu," also inspired by Coleridge and predating the Iron Maiden composition by several years. Bassist Steve Harris (musician) has also cited progressive rock bands such as Rush and Yes as influences on his own considerable talents.
History
The term "heavy metal"
Yes The origin of the term heavy metal is uncertain. An early use of the term was by counter-culture writer William S. Burroughs. In his 1962 novel The Soft Machine, he introduces the character "Uranian Willy, the Heavy Metal Kid". His next novel in 1964 Nova Express, develops this theme further, heavy metal being a metaphor for addictive drugs.
"With their diseases and orgasm drugs and their sexless parasite life forms - Heavy Metal People of Uranus wrapped in cool blue mist of vaporized bank notes - And the Insect People of Minraud with metal music"
:Burroughs, William S, (1964). Nova Express. New York: Grove Press. p. 112
Given the publication dates of these works it is unlikely that Burroughs had any intent to relate the term to rock music; however Burroughs' writing may have influenced later usage of the term.
The first use of the term "heavy metal" in a song lyric is the words "heavy metal thunder" in the 1968 Steppenwolf song "Born to be Wild" (Walser 1993, p. 8):
"I like smoke and lightning
Heavy metal thunder
Racin' with the wind
And the feelin' that I'm under"
The word "heavy" (meaning serious or profound) had entered beatnik/counterculture slang some time earlier, and references to "heavy music"—typically slower, more amplified variations of standard pop fare—were already common; indeed, Iron Butterfly first started playing Los Angeles in 1967, their name explained on an album cover, "Iron- symbolic of something heavy as in sound, Butterfly- light, appealing and versatile...an object that can be used freely in the imagination" Iron Butterfly's 1968 debut album was entitled Heavy. The fact that Led Zeppelin (whose moniker came partly in reference to Keith Moon's jest that they would "go down like a lead balloon") incorporated a heavy metal into its name may have sealed the usage of the term.
In the late 1960s, Birmingham, England was still a centre of industry and (given the many rock bands that evolved in and around the city, such as Led Zeppelin, The Move, and Black Sabbath) some people suggest that the term Heavy Metal may have some relation to such activity. Biographies of The Move have claimed that the sound came from their 'heavy' guitar riffs that were popular amongst the 'metal midlands'.
Sandy Pearlman, original producer, manager and songwriter for Blue Öyster Cult, claims to have been the first person to apply the term "heavy metal" to rock music in 1970.
A widespread but disputed hypothesis about the origin of the genre was brought forth by "Chas" Chandler, who was a manager of the Jimi Hendrix Experience in 1969, in an interview on the PBS TV programme "Rock and Roll" in 1995. He states that "...it [heavy metal] was a term originated in a New York Times article reviewing a Jimi Hendrix performance", and claims the author described the Jimi Hendrix Experience "...like listening to heavy metal falling from the sky". The precise source of this claim, however, has not been found and its accuracy is disputed.
The first well-documented usage of the term "heavy metal" referring to a style of music, appears to be the May 1971 issue of Creem, in a review of Sir Lord Baltimore's Kingdom Come. In this review we are told that "Sir Lord Baltimore seems to have down pat most all the best heavy metal tricks in the book".
Regardless of its origin, heavy metal may have been used as a jibe initially but was quickly adopted by its adherents. Other, already-established bands, such as Deep Purple, who had origins in pop or progressive rock, immediately took on the heavy metal mantle, adding distortion and additional amplification in a more aggressive approach.
Origins (1960s and early 1970s)
American blues music was highly popular and influential among the early British rockers; bands like the Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds had recorded covers of many classic blues songs, sometimes speeding up the tempo and using electric guitar where the original used acoustic. (Similar adaptations of blues and other race music had formed the basis of the earliest rock and roll, notably that of Elvis Presley).
Such powered-up blues music was encouraged by the intellectual and artistic experimentation that arose when musicians started to exploit the opportunities of the electrically amplified guitar to produce a louder, more discordant sound. Where blues-rock drumming styles had been largely simple shuffle beats on small drum kits, drummers began using a more muscular, complex, and amplified approach to match and be heard with the increasingly loud guitar sounds; similarly vocalists modified their technique and increased their reliance on amplification, often becoming more stylised and dramatic in the process. Simultaneous advances in amplification and recording technology made it possible to successfully capture the power of this heavier approach on record.
shuffle beat The earliest music commonly identified as heavy metal came out of the Birmingham area of the United Kingdom in the late 1960s when bands such as Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath applied an overtly non-traditional approach to blues standards and created new music often based on blues scales and arrangements. These bands were highly influenced by American psychedelic rock musicians including Jimi Hendrix, who had pioneered amplified and processed blues-rock guitar and acted as a bridge between black American music and white European rockers.
Other oft-cited influences include Vanilla Fudge, who had slowed down and psychedelicised pop tunes, as well as earlier British rockers such as The Who and The Kinks, who had paved the way for heavy metal styles by introducing power chords and more aggressive percussion to the rock genre. Another key influence was Cream, who exemplified the power trio format that would become a staple of heavy metal. Some also cite The Beatles as a key influence; they had increasingly used distortion and heavier arrangements as early as 1967's Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Perhaps the earliest song that is clearly identifiable as prototype heavy metal is "You Really Got Me" by The Kinks (1965). By late 1968 heavy blues sounds were becoming common: many fans and scholars point to Blue Cheer's 1968 cover of Eddie Cochran's hit "Summertime Blues" as the first true heavy-metal song; Beatles scholars cite in particular the song "Helter Skelter" from The White Album (1968), which set new standards for distortion and aggressive sound on a pop album. Dave Edmunds' band Love Sculpture released an aggressive heavy guitar version of Khachaturian's Sabre Dance in November 1968. The Jeff Beck Group's album Truth (late 1968) was an important and influential rock album released just before Led Zeppelin's first album, leading some (especially British blues fans) to argue that Truth was the first heavy metal album. The Yardbirds' 1968 single "Think About It" should also be mentioned, as that employed a similar sound to that which Jimmy Page would employ with Led Zeppelin. Also, progressive rock band King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man" from their debut album, In The Court Of The Crimson King, featured most of the thematic, compositional and musical characteristics of heavy metal: a very heavily distorted guitar tone and discordant soloing by Robert Fripp, lyrics that focused on what is wrong about what the 21st century human would be, a dark mood and even Greg Lake's vocals were passed through a distortion box. However, it was the release of Led Zeppelin in 1969 that brought worldwide notice of the formation of a new genre.
The early heavy metal bands, like Led Zeppelin, Uriah Heep, UFO and Black Sabbath are often called hard rock bands rather than heavy metal, especially those bands whose sound was more similar to traditional rock music. In general, the terms heavy metal and hard rock are often used interchangeably, in particular when discussing the 1970s. Indeed, many such bands are not categorised as "heavy metal bands" per se, but rather as having contributed individual songs or works that contributed to the genre; few would consider Jethro Tull a heavy metal band in any real sense, for example, but few would dispute that their song Aqualung was a quintessential early Heavy Metal song.
The New Wave of British Heavy Metal (Late 1970s and early 1980s)
Aqualung The 1970s history of heavy metal music is highly debated among music historians. Some would call the period an era of "selling-out", in which bands like Blue Öyster Cult achieved moderate mainstream success and the Los Angeles hair metal scene began finding pop audiences, especially in the 1980s. Others ignore or downplay the importance of these bands, instead focusing on the arrival of classical influences, which can be heard in the work of Eddie Van Halen and Randy Rhoads and such like. Others still highlight the late-70s cross-fertilization of heavy metal with fast-paced, youthful punk rock (e.g. Sex Pistols), culminating in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal around the year 1980, led by bands like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden.
Many people, including Heavy Metal musicians of prominent groups, believe that the foundations of the definite style and sound of pure heavy metal were laid down by Judas Priest (another Birmingham band) with three of their early albums: "Sad Wings Of Destiny" (1976), "Sin After Sin" (1977) and "Stained Class" (1978).
(Although Rainbow are also sometimes cited as pioneering the pure heavy metal genre, although one could also make this claim about the later albums of Deep Purple such as Burn and Stormbringer, these bands are generally considered to be hard rock bands).
The explosion of guitar virtuosity (pioneered by Jimi Hendrix a musical generation earlier) was brought to the fore by Eddie Van Halen, and many consider his 1978 solo "Eruption" (Van Halen, 1978) a milestone. Ritchie Blackmore (formerly of Deep Purple), Randy Rhoads (with pioneers Ozzy Osbourne and Quiet Riot) and Yngwie Malmsteen went on to solidify this explosion of virtuoso guitar work, and in some cases, classical guitars and nylon-stringed guitars were played at heavy metal concerts. Classical icons such as Liona Boyd also became associated with the heavy metal stars as peers in a newly diverse guitar fraternity where conservative and aggressive guitarists could come together to "trade licks".
This explosion would cool down in the music of Ronnie James Dio (who himself had a tenure at lead vocals with the legendary Black Sabbath) and continue to settle towards Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, who may be the final and complete consummation of "pure" heavy metal in the lineage of the "grandfathers" - Hendrix, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple.
Metal Goes Mainstream (1980s)
Iron Maiden In a related development, taking place mostly in the U.S., heavy metal would return full circle through the pop vanity of the L.A. scene, led by Mötley Crüe. In the beginning, this form was led by legends like Judas Priest, Dio, Dokken and Twisted Sister. During the 1980s, a pop-based form of hard rock, with a party-hearty spirit and a glam-influenced visual aesthetic (sometimes referred to as "hair metal" due to the long and painstakingly-styled hair of band members) dominated the music charts in some parts of the world, and superstars like Def Leppard, Poison, Bon Jovi, Mötley Crüe, and Ratt helped lead the way. While their music has endured as representative of a particular view, time and place, this form is not always seen by metal purists as a particularly pure or well-executed form of metal. The 1987 debut of Guns N' Roses, a hard rock band with its Aerosmith influences worn prominently on its sleeve, and whose image reflected the grittier underbelly of the Sunset Strip, was at least in part a reaction against the overly-polished image of hair metal, but that band's wild success was in many ways the last gasp of the L.A. hard-rock and metal scene.
Underground Metal (1980s, 1990s, and 2000s)
Guns N' Roses By the mid-1980s, as the term "heavy metal" became the subject of much contestation, heavy metal had branched out in so many different directions that new sub-classifications were created by fans, record companies, and fanzines, although sometimes the differences between various sub-genres were unclear, even to the artists purportedly belonging to a given style (see List of heavy metal genres).
Notable early 80s sub-genres include the faster thrash metal, pioneered by the 'Big Four Of Thrash' (including Anthrax, Megadeth, Metallica and Slayer, with San Francisco quintet Testament sometimes being included in this group). Following the emergence of these bands, metal continued to push the limits of aggressive loudness in other sub-genres such as speed metal, black metal, death metal, doom metal, and stoner metal. These sub-genres, still active today, generally have little or no appeal to mainstream audiences, although Metallica did go on to win over legions of new fans with a more mainstream sound, a move that greatly upset some of their original fan base.
Another sub-genre that emerged at this time was grindcore. Grindcore is an extreme form of hardcore punk and heavy metal, related to death metal, but historically formed by combining elements of Hardcore Punk and early thrash metal (which predated the advent of death metal). The genre was pioneered during the early 1980s in the United Kingdom and Netherlands by bands such as Sore Throat, Napalm Death and Larm; and in the United States by proto-grindcore and hardcore punk bands such as Siege, DRI, Deep Wound and Repulsion.
Alternative Metal and Nu Metal (1990s and 2000s)
The era of mainstream metal, or "Hair Metal," came to an end with the emergence of Nirvana and other bands that were labeled "grunge" by the record industry. These later styles of heavy rock music in the 1990s show influences of heavy metal but are typically not labelled sub-genres of heavy metal, as opposed to thrash metal and hair metal. The general absence of virtuosic guitar solos is perhaps one reason grunge bands have not been considered heavy metal bands.
Nirvana After the death of Kurt Cobain in 1994, a distinctly metal sound began to re-emerge in mainstream rock through bands such as Marilyn Manson and White Zombie, who were clearly influenced by heavy metal of the past. This music is sometimes referred to as alternative metal."
The first decade of the 21st century saw the emergence of so-called "Nu Metal" (occasionally called "nü-metal," using the traditional heavy metal umlaut). Nu metal (or aggro metal) fuses heavy metal music, hip hop and alternative rock. It sometimes bears some influence to hip-hop, because rhythmic innovation and syncopation are primary. Nu metal bands also feature aggressive vocals (either rapped, shouted, or sung), drop-tuned guitars that are clean or distorted, (with riffing similiar to the Seattle scene of the early 1990's) a funk-based rhythm section, and occassional DJ techniques such as turntables and sampling. Generally speaking, the emphasis is on either communicating feelings of angst and hostility, or motivating a crowd to move with the beat -- ideally, both at once. The popularity of such music in the late 1990s led to widespread negative associations with the phrase "nu metal", particularly due to commercialisation, and many nu-metal fans and artists reject the term, which has become almost an all-purpose musical insult. A related term, mallcore, is used similarly to dismiss aggressive music that is seemingly calculated to appeal to angst-filled young teenagers.
Some heavy metal fans do not consider nu metal a form of heavy metal music at all, arguing the genre is too diluted from what they consider "true" heavy metal. Nu metal guitarists, for example, typically forgo traditional metal guitar technique, such as soloing and often use riffs quite different from those most commonly associated with traditional metal. It is also not liked because of the lyrics that usually deal with what teenagers face and many metal fans feel that metal is about strength, not weakness. Other heavy metal fans, however, reject these arguments, citing rock music's long history of incorporating disparate elements--including jazz, experimental music and world music--out of curiosity or genuine appreciation for other musical genres.
While Deftones and Korn are typically cited as the genre's instigators, diverse alternative metal bands like Fishbone, Body Count, Urban Dance Squad, Faith No More, Suicidal Tendencies, Jane's Addiction, Helmet, Soundgarden, Rage Against The Machine, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tool and others are also proclaimed as progenitors. However, some Metalheads who despise the genre accuse Helmet for creating Nu Metal.
Cultural impact
The loud, confrontational aspects of heavy metal have led to friction between fans and mainstream society in many countries. Due to the hedonistic nature promoted by the music and its occasional anti-religious sentiments heavy metal as a sub-culture has come under attack in many Islamic countries where even wearing a black T-shirt can be an arrestable offence. In Europe and America, the fan base for heavy metal consists primarily of white males in their teens and 20's, many of whom are attracted to heavy metal's overtly anti-social yet fantastical lyrics and extreme volume and tempos. Hence, the stereotype of the spotty-faced, adolescent headbanger venting his rebellious urges by listening to presposterously loud, morbid music. This image has been highlighted in popular culture with such television shows and movies as "Beavis and Butt-head"" and "Airheads". Heavy metal's bombastic excesses, exemplified by hair metal, have often been parodied, most famously in the film This Is Spinal Tap (see also the phenomenon of the heavy metal umlaut). Douglas Adams neatly satirised the propensity for excessive volume in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy with the fictional rock band Disaster Area — creators of the loudest sound in the known universe. It should be noted, however, that Adams was satirising Pink Floyd stage shows specifically, rather than heavy metal in general.
Many heavy metal stylings have made their way into everyday (albeit ironic) use; for instance, the "devil horns" hand sign first popularised by Ronnie James Dio has become a common sight at many rock concerts. During the 1970s and 1980s, flirtation with occult themes by artists such as Ozzy Osbourne, W.A.S.P. and Iron Maiden led to accusations of "Satanic" influences in heavy metal by fundamentalist Christians. One popular contention during that period was that heavy metal albums featured hidden messages urging listeners to worship the Devil or to commit suicide (see Judas Priest and backward message and Allegations of Satanism in popular culture).
Subgenres and related styles
Main article: List of heavy metal genres
Heavy Metal has proven somewhat difficult to categorise. Some fans and musicians have a firm concept of genre and subgenre, but others reject such categorisation as limiting or useless.
Heavy metal is the progenitor of the "metal-family" of genres including black metal, death metal, thrash metal, hair metal and others. Most metal derives directly from blues and rock, while some sub-genres include an evident influence of Western classical music. Thus, even if classical heavy metal and avant-garde black metal belong to the same family, there are important differences between them. Pure heavy metal is mainly blues-based, with pentatonic scales and a blues-like song structure; black metal and related forms often draw on classical music, even if at a first glance it seems to be only distorted guitars playing a very fast repeating melody.
pentatonic scales Glam rock, a short-lived era in the mid-1970s, is the extreme exploration of the fantasy-side of the reality-fantasy parents of heavy metal. T. Rex, David Bowie and Alice Cooper are among the more popular standard examples of this sub-genre.
Hard rock, mentioned earlier, is also closely related to heavy metal, but does not consistently match the description of what purists consider the definition heavy metal. While still guitar-driven in nature and sometimes deriving off of riffs, its themes and execution differ from that of the major heavy metal bands listed earlier in the article. This is perhaps best examplified by The Who in the late-1960s and early-1970s, as well as other 1970s and 1980s bands like KISS, Queen, Aerosmith, Thin Lizzy, AC/DC and Scorpions.
In the early 1980s the New Wave of British Heavy Metal made metal music very popular (especially in Europe) with bands like Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, and Saxon.
However, the purest form of Heavy Metal was evident in the early 1980s, in the form of Classic metal, which included of such true metal artistes as Judas Priest, Dio, Dokken, Iron Maiden, W.A.S.P., Scorpions and Motörhead (although Motörhead often straddled the hard rock category due to having more of a blues influence than the other bands cited here). These bands played traditional metal, but there was a youthful vibe and an air punching dynamo confluenced intricately with melody. This genre was characterised by thumping fast basslines, extended lead guitar solos, high pitched vocals and pounding drums. Classic metal should not be confused with the Traditional metal or the Roots Of Metal genre which was evident in the 1970s with pioneering artistes like Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and Alice Cooper.
A good deal of cross-influence has occured between punk rock and heavy metal. Motörhead, for example, was an influence on many punk bands. Some hardcore punk bands such as DRI and Suicidal Tendencies began playing more metal-like music as they progressed. Punk has also had a large influence on metal, particularly with relation to grindcore. Thrashcore, crust punk and grindcore all have notable influence from both punk and metal. Also, Grunge is frequently described as Heavy Metal fused with punk's DIY ethic.
As for metal's relationship with art rock, heavy metal and progressive rock developed in and around the same scenes, particularly in Great Britain, and as a result many metal bands worked progressive elements into their sound throughout the genre. After the punk boom of the late 1970s, heavy metal and art rock again intersected, as a few post-punk bands, most notably Bauhaus and Joy Division incorporated metal's (more specifically Black Sabbath's) minor key melodies, emphasis on low end tones, and darker lyrical content into their arty approach to punk rock.
Heavy metal (along with progressive rock) has also been cited as (ironically) an influence on the "easy-listening" Adult Oriented Rock genre of the 1980s. Toto guitarist Steve Lukather has cited early hard rock and heavy metal music as a profound influence on his playing, and is notably evident on the track "Hold The Line" which shares some common traits with traditional metal. Other AOR bands such as Journey and supergroup Asia often incorporated power chord riffs into their music. Ironically, some metal bands such as Def Leppard, Scorpions, Europe and Van Halen started moving into a "softer" and more commercial musical direction in the late 1980s, which resulted in the term "Soft Metal" being used during that period.
Metal's profound influence on contemporary popular music is again seen in its effect on several bands in the garage rock revival set of the early 21st century. The White Stripes, one of the most popular of these bands, often draw on the nascent metal of Cream, Led Zeppelin, and Black Sabbath.
Heavy metal dance
Although most heavy metal fans would disagree with the term "dance," there are certain body movements that are nearly universal in the metal world, including headbanging, moshing, and various hand gestures such as devil horns. Stage diving, air guitar and crowd surfing are also practiced.
Sources
- Christe, Ian (2003). Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal. HarperCollins. ISBN 0380811278.
- Walser, Robert (1993). Running with the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal Music. Wesleyan University Press. ISBN 0819562602.
- Weinstein, Deena (1991). Heavy Metal: A Cultural Sociology. Lexington. ISBN 0669218375. Revised edition: (2000) Heavy Metal: The Music and its Culture. DaCapo. ISBN 0306809702.
External links
- [http://www.metal-archives.com Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives] Encyclopedia of metal bands from all around the world
- [http://www.metal-rules.com/ Metal-Rules!] Heavy metal webzine
- [http://www.metalsludge.tv/ Metal Sludge] Politically incorrect news and views from the world of hard rock and heavy metal
- [http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/ Blabbermouth] Heavy metal news
- [http://www.metalstorm.ee/ Metal Storm] International webzine dedicated to all things metal
- [http://www.darklyrics.com/ Dark Lyrics] The internet's largest archive for heavy metal song lyrics
- [http://www.bnrmetal.com/ BNR Metal] Fairly comprehensive index of metal bands and styles, focusing especially on European metal
Category:Heavy metal
Category:Musical movements
Category:Musical genres
als:Heavy Metal
ja:ヘヴィメタル
Birmingham:This article is about the city in England. For other uses, please see Birmingham, Alabama or other places named Birmingham.
other places named Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the English West Midlands. It is commonly considered to be England's "second city" and is the largest of England's core cities.
The City of Birmingham has a population of 992,400 (2004 estimate). Birmingham forms the largest part of a large conurbation; the West Midlands conurbation, which has a population of 2,284,093 (2001 census) and includes several neighbouring towns and cities, such as Wolverhampton, Solihull, the towns of the Black Country, and small parts of surrounding counties.
The people of Birmingham are known as Brummies, a term derived from the city's nickname of Brum. This comes in turn from the city's dialect name, Brummagem. There is a distinctive Brummie dialect and accent.
Birmingham is an ethnically and culturally diverse city. Around 30% of Birmingham's population is of non-white ethnicity; at the time of the 2001 census, 70.4% of the population was White (including 3.2% Irish), 19.5% Asian or Asian British, 6.1% Black or Black British, 0.5% Chinese, and 3.5% of mixed or other ethnic heritage.
History
:The main article is at History of Birmingham; the following is a summary.
Birmingham has a recorded history going back 1000 years. In this time, it has grown from a tiny Anglo-Saxon farming village into a major industrial and commercial city.
The Birmingham area was occupied in Roman times, with several military roads and a large fort. Birmingham started life as a small Anglo-Saxon hamlet in the Early Middle Ages. It was first recorded in written documents by the Domesday Book of 1086 as a small village, worth only 20 shillings.
In the 12th century, Birmingham was granted a charter to hold a market, which in time became known as the Bull Ring. As a convenient location for trade, Birmingham soon developed into a small but thriving market town.
By the 16th century, Birmingham's access to supplies of iron ore and coal meant that metalworking industries became established. In the 17th century, Birmingham became an important manufacturing town with a reputation for producing small arms. Birmingham manufacturers supplied Oliver Cromwell's forces with much of their weaponry during the English Civil War. Arms manufacture in Birmingham became a staple trade and was concentrated in the area known as the Gun Quarter.
During the Industrial Revolution (from the mid 18th century onwards), Birmingham grew rapidly into a major industrial centre. Unlike many other English industrial cities such as Manchester, industry in Birmingham was based upon small workshops rather than large factories or mills.
mill (left) and Brindleyplace (right) in central Birmingham.]] From the 1760s onwards, a large network of canals were built across Birmingham and the Black Country, to transport raw materials and finished goods. By the 1820s an extensive canal system had been constructed; Birmingham is often described as having more miles of canals than Venice.
Railways arrived in Birmingham in 1837, with the opening of the Grand Junction Railway and later the London and Birmingham Railway the railways soon linked Birmingham to every corner of Britain. New Street Station was opened as a joint station in 1854. And this was soon followed by the Great Western Railway's Snow Hill station.
During the Victorian era, the population of Birmingham grew rapidly to well over half a million and Birmingham became the second largest population centre in Britain. It became known as the "City of a thousand trades" due to the wide array of industries located there. Birmingham's importance led to it being granted city status by Queen Victoria in 1889.
Birmingham was originally part of Warwickshire, however the city expanded in the late 19th and early 20th century, absorbing parts of Worcestershire to the south and Staffordshire to the west. The city absorbed Sutton Coldfield in 1974, and at the same time became part of the new West Midlands county.
Birmingham suffered heavy bomb damage during World War II, and partly as a result of this the city centre was extensively re-developed during the 1950s and 1960s, with many concrete office buildings, ring-roads, and now much-derided pedestrian subways. As a result, Birmingham gained a reputation for ugliness and was frequently described as a "concrete jungle".
In recent years however, Birmingham has been transformed, the city centre has been extensively renovated and restored with the construction of new squares, the restoration of old streets, buildings and canals, the removal of the pedestrian subways, and the demolition and subsequent redevelopment of the Bull Ring shopping centre, which now includes the architecturally unique Selfridges building.
In the decades following World War II, the face of Birmingham changed dramatically, with large scale immigration from the British Commonwealth and beyond.
Birmingham's transition from an industrial centre to a tourism and services economy is best illustrated by the hosting of the first official summit of the G8 at the International Convention Centre (May 15 to May 17, 1998).
Geography
The city of Birmingham is situated on an area of high ground, around 150-200 metres above sea level. The main north-south watershed of Britain actually passes through Birmingham.
To the south west of the city lie the Clent Hills and Walton Hill, which reach 315 m and have good views over the city.
Economy
Walton Hill
:Main articles: Economy of Birmingham, Birmingham transport history
Birmingham is an important manufacturing and engineering centre, employing over 100,000 people in industry and contributing billions of pounds to the national economy. Over a quarter of the UK's exports originate in the greater Birmingham area.
Birmingham's industrial heritage predates the Industrial Revolution, and up until the 20th Century the city maintained a tradition of individual craftsmen, sometimes working independently in their own back yards or on piecework rates in rented workshops, alongside larger factories. During the Industrial Revolution many factories, foundries and businesses prospered in the city, including the areas known as the Gun Quarter and the Jewellery Quarter. The Jewellery Quarter is still the largest concentration of dedicated jewellers in Europe, and one third of the jewellery manufactured in the UK is made within one mile of Birmingham city centre. Until 2003, coins for circulation were manufactured in the Jewellery Quarter at the Birmingham Mint, the oldest independent mint in the world, which continues to produce commemorative coins and medals.
James Watt improved the Steam Engine while working in the city, and historically the largest manufacturers in the city have been associated with the steam, electric and petrol transport and power industries. The city's workers designed and constructed railway carriages, steam engines, bicycles, automobiles and even – unusually for somewhere so far from the sea – ships, which were made as pre-fabricated sections, then assembled at the coast. Birmingham was home to two major car factories: MG Rover in Longbridge and Jaguar in Castle Bromwich. However, the future for the former looks bleak, as MG Rover went into administration in 2005, resulting in the plant being mothballed and the loss of 6,000 jobs at the site, plus more in the supply chain.
The city's present day products include motor vehicles, vehicle components and accessories, weapons, electrical equipment, plastics, machine tools, chemicals, food, jewellery and glass. Scientific research (including research into nanotechnology at the University of Birmingham) is expanding in the city. Other famous brands from the city include Bakelite, Bird's Custard, Brylcreem, BSA, Cadbury's chocolate, Chad Valley toys, Halfords, HP Sauce, Typhoo Tea and Valor.
Birmingham has over 500 law firms, and is Europe's second largest insurance market. The city attracts over 40% of the UK's total conference trade. Two of Britain's "big four" banks were founded there. Lloyds Bank (now Lloyds TSB) began in 1765 and the Midland Bank (now part of HSBC) opened in Union Street in August 1836.
In recent years Birmingham's economy has diversified into service industries, retailing, tourism and conference hosting, which are now the main employers in the city. Millions of people visit Birmingham every year, and in 2004 the city was named the second best place to shop in England after the West End of London [http://www.guardian.co.uk/northsouth/article/0,2763,1160740,00.html]. Attractions for visitors include Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, Millennium Point, Bull Ring, Selfridges Building, Cadbury World, Tolkien Trail [http://www.virtualbrum.co.uk/tolkien.htm], Birmingham Royal Ballet, and the National Sea Life Centre.
Architecture
:Main article: Architecture of Birmingham
Architecture of Birmingham
Although Birmingham has existed as a settlement for over a thousand years, today's city is overwhelmingly a product of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, as the real growth of the city began with the Industrial Revolution. Consequently, relatively few buildings survive from its earlier history.
Traces of medieval Birmingham can be seen in the oldest churches, notably the original parish church, St Martin's in the Bullring, where a church has stood since at least the 12th century. The current church (begun around 1290) was extensively re-built in the 1870s, retaining some original walls and foundations. A few other buildings from the medieval and Tudor periods survive, among them The Old Crown public house in Digbeth, the 15th century Saracen's Head public house and Old Grammar School in Kings Norton and Blakesley Hall in Yardley.
The city grew rapidly from Georgian times and a number of buildings survive from this period. Among them are St Philip's Cathedral, originally built as a parish church, St Paul's Church in the largely Georgian St Paul's Square, Soho House in Handsworth, the home of Matthew Boulton, and Perrott's Folly in Ladywood (which is said to have later inspired J. R. R. Tolkien).
The Victorian era saw extensive building across the city. Major public buildings such as the Town Hall, the Law Courts, the Council House (see picture) and the Museum & Art Gallery were constructed, many under the auspices of Joseph Chamberlain's reforming mayoralty. Saint Chad's Cathedral, built in 1839 by Augustus Pugin, was the first Roman Catholic Cathederal to be built in the UK since the Reformation. The characteristic materials of Victorian Birmingham are red brick and terracotta, and many fine Victorian buildings have been retained on New Street and Corporation Street in the city centre. Across the city, the need to house the industrial workers gave rise to miles of redbrick streets and terraces, many of back-to-back houses, some of which were later to become inner-city slums.
slum
Continued population growth in the interwar period, saw vast estates of semi-detached houses being built on greenfield land in outlying parts of the city such as Kingstanding and Weoley Castle, but the coming of World War II and the Blitz claimed many lives and many beautiful buildings too. However, the destruction that took place in post-war Birmingham was also extensive: dozens of fine Victorian buildings like the intricate glass-roofed Birmingham New Street Station, and the old Central Library, were razed in the 1950s and 1960s and replaced with modernist concrete buildings. In inner-city areas too, much Victorian housing was redeveloped and existing communities were relocated to tower block estates like Castle Vale.
The planning decisions of the post-war years were to have a profound effect on the image of Birmingham in subsequent decades, with the mix of ring roads, shopping malls and tower blocks often referred to as a 'concrete jungle'. In more recent years, Birmingham has learnt from what many see as the mistakes of the 1960s and instituted the largest tower block demolition and renovation programmes anywhere in Europe. There has been a lot of new building in the city centre in recent years, including the award-winning Future Systems' Selfridges building, an irregularly-shaped structure covered in thousands of reflective discs (see picture), the Brindleyplace development and the Millennium Point science and technology centre.
Politics
:Main article Government of Birmingham
Birmingham City Council is the largest local authority in the UK with, following a reorganisation of boundaries in June 2004, 120 councillors representing just under one million people, in 40 wards.
After the election of 10 June 2004, there is no overall control, with the 120 seats being divided between the Labour, (53 councillors), Conservative (39) and Liberal Democrat ("Lib-Dem", 28) parties.
There is a Conservative/Lib-Dem coalition, with Conservative group leader Mike Whitby as Leader of the council and Lib-Dem group leader Paul Tilsley as Deputy Leader.
Birmingham's eleven constituencies are represented in the House of Commons by one Conservative, one Liberal Democrat, and 9 Labour MPs.
Birmingham is also the seat of the Government Office for the West Midlands region.
Places of interest
West Midlands region]
- Aston Hall
- The Back to Back houses
- Barber Institute of Fine Arts
- Birmingham Botanical Gardens
- Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery
- Birmingham Thinktank - Science Museum
- Blakesley Hall
- Brindleyplace - Canalside development
- Cannon Hill Park
- Centenary Square
- Central Mosque
- Chamberlain Square featuring a BBC Big Screen
- Convention Quarter
- Gun Quarter - Once the foremost gun manufacturing community in the UK
- Jewellery Quarter - The largest concentration of dedicated jewellers in Europe
- mac
- National Sealife Centre
- Sarehole Mill
- St Philip's Cathedral
- Sutton Park
- Victoria Square
See also Places of interest in Birmingham
Famous residents
Neville Chamberlain, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Ozzy Osbourne are a few of the many famous names associated with Birmingham.
For a larger list see List of famous residents of Birmingham
Transport
List of famous residents of Birmingham
:See main article: Transport in Birmingham
Due in part to its central location in England, Birmingham is a major transport hub on the motorway, rail, and canal networks.
It is served by a number of major roads, including the M5, M6, M6 Toll, M40, and M42 motorways.
Local public transport is by bus, local train and tram (the Midland Metro light railway system between the city centre and Wolverhampton). The number 11A and 11C outer circle bus routes are the longest urban bus routes in Europe. The city's main station, Birmingham New Street, is at the centre of the national rail network, whilst Birmingham International railway station serves Birmingham International Airport which has flights to cities across Europe and several Asian and North American destinations.
Birmingham is also notable for its canal system; formerly the lifeblood of the city's industries, their use is now mainly for pleasure. There are 35 miles (60 km) of canals in the city, most remaining navigable. The abundance of canals has led to the frequently made claim that "Birmingham has more canals than Venice". Although this is in some sense correct (Venice has 26 miles), Birmingham is far larger [http://jquarter.members.beeb.net/walk6x.htm], and the types of waterway are very different. Birmingham's canals are comparatively shallow artificial channels, while those in Venice are primarily reinforced natural channels between islands of the lagoon on which the city stands.
Education
:Main article: Education in Birmingham
Birmingham has three universities: the University of Birmingham, Aston University and the University of Central England (UCE). It also has two other higher education colleges (Newman College and the Birmingham College of Food, Tourism and Creative Studies). The Birmingham Conservatoire and Birmingham School of Acting, both now part of UCE, offer higher education in the arts.
The city council is England's largest local education authority, directly or indirectly responsible for 25 nursery schools, 328 primary schools, 77 secondary schools [http://www.bgfl.org/services/nqt/primsec.htm] and 29 special schools [http://www.bgfl.org/services/nqt/sen.htm]. It also runs the library service, with 4 million visitors annually [http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/GenerateContent?CONTENT_ITEM_ID=1787&CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE=0&MENU_ID=5255], and provides around 4000 adult education courses throughout the year [http://www.bgfl.org/services/baes/default.htm].
A minority of the city's children receive private education. King Edward's School is perhaps the most prestigious independent school in the city.
Sport
:Main article: Sport in Birmingham
A cricket club was in existence in Birmingham as early as 1745, and today the city is home to Warwickshire County Cricket Club whose ground at Edgbaston is also a venue for international test matches. International athletics meetings take place at the open-air Alexander Stadium in Perry Barr, the home of Birchfield Harriers athletic club, which numbers many Olympic medallists among its past and present members. The National Indoor Arena (NIA) meanwhile is a major indoor athletics stadium and in 2003 hosted the 9th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics. The NIA also hosts events in many other sports, such as the World Indoor Badminton Championships.
The first ever game of lawn tennis was played in Edgbaston in 1859; international tennis is still played at Edgbaston's Priory Club.
The city is home to two of the UK's oldest professional football teams: Aston Villa (1874) and Birmingham City (1875), both of whom currently play in the Premier League. The world's first professional football league was founded at a meeting in Aston on March 22 1885 under the auspices of William McGregor, a director of Aston Villa.
Birmingham also has a professional Rugby Union side, Moseley RFC, and there is professional basketball, boxing, hockey, skateboarding, and greyhound racing in the city.
Birmingham has been awarded the title National City of Sport by the Sports Council.
Food & drink
:Main article: Food & drink in Birmingham
Birmingham based Breweries included Ansells, Davenports and Mitchells & Butlers. Aston Manor Brewery is currently the only brewery of any significant size.
Many fine Victorian pubs and bars can still be found across the city. The oldest inn in Birmingham is the Old Crown in Deritend (circa 1450). The Anchor Inn (1797), is also nearby in Digbeth.
Famous food brands from Birmingham include Typhoo tea, Birds custard, Blue Bird Toffee, Bournville cocoa, Cadbury chocolate, and HP Sauce.
Alum Rock Road, Alum Rock, contains the largest concentration of take-away businesses in Birmingham.
Ladypool Road, Sparkhill contains the largest concentration of restaurants in Birmingham and possibly the UK.
The Wing Yip food empire first began in the city and now has its headquarters in the Chinese Quarter.
In 1945, Abdul Aziz opened a cafe shop selling curry and rice in Steelhouse Lane. This later became The Darjeeling, the first Indian restaurant in Birmingham. The Balti was invented in the city and has since received much gastronomic acclaim for the 'Balti Belt' of restaurants in the Sparkbrook, Balsall Heath and |
