heavy metal

Meaning

Noun

• Any metal that has a specific gravity greater than about 5, especially one, such as lead, that is poisonous and may be a hazard in the environment.
• A genre descended from rock music, characterized by massive sound, highly amplified distortion, and overall loudness, often with extended guitar solos, and lyrics that involve violent or fantastic imagery.
• Guns or shot of large size.
• Great influence or power.

Origin

• The origin of the music genre sense is often disputed; it was used by William S. Burroughs in Soft Machine and Nova Express and various music critics claim to have coined it: Sandy Pearlman,{{cite-magazine
• |work=Crawdaddy
• |author=Sandy Pearlman
• |authorlink=Sandy Pearlman
• |title=Review of the Byrds song “Artificial Energy”
• |year=1968
• Lester Bangs and Mike Saunders.{{cite-magazine
• |author=Mike Saunders
• |authorlink=Mike Saunders
• |work=Rolling Stone
• |title=Review of Humble Pie's As Safe As Yesterday Is
• |date=November 12, 1970
• {{cite-book
• |title=Encyclopedia of Heavy Metal Music
• |author=William Phillips
• |author2=Brian Cogan
• |isbn=0313348014
• |publisher=ABC-CLIO
• |year=2009
• |page=3
• |pageurl=https://books.google.de/books?id=52hFCQAAQBAJ&lpg=PA4&pg=PA3#v=onepage&f=false