Your way in
Proto-metal 1968
The heavy bands from before the term existed: over-amplified acid rock, already built around the riff.
- Heaviness
- 6
- Speed
- 5
- Melody
- 7
- Where from
- USA / United Kingdom
- Tempo
- 90-140 bpm
- Song length
- 3-7 min
- Written about
- Drugs, Doom and apocalypse, Bikers and the road, The occult, newly fashionable
- Vocals
- Sung
Why this one
| You said | Proto-metal | Match | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| No words at all When someone is singing, what should come out? | clean | 80% | ×3 |
| Heavy. I want to feel it. How much weight do you want behind it? | 6 out of 10 | 80% | ×2 |
| A steady walk What pace? | 5 out of 10 | 100% | ×2 |
| The beginnings Does it matter when it was made? | 1968 | 100% | ×1 |
| Anger at something real What should the words be about? | Drugs, Doom and apocalypse, Bikers and the road, The occult, newly fashionable | 0% | ×1 |
| Normal How long should a song be? | up to 7 min | 79% | ×1 |
| Weighted mean | 78% | ||
Ranked over all 150 genres in the encyclopedia, on the 6 answers you gave, weighted vocals 3, heaviness 2, pace 2, era 1, about 1, length 1 out of 10. Proto-metal ties with the next, and won on being the broader of the two. Where two genres score the same the broader one wins, because a genre with subgenres under it is somewhere to carry on from and a leaf is a full stop.
Five records, in this order
- 1The one to put on first
Budgie, Budgie 1971
Budgie - Breadfan. Metallica covered it, but the original is stranger.
- 2Then
- 3Then
- 4Then
- 5Then
The first is Proto-metal's own entry point. After it come Proto-metal's essential records in the order the encyclopedia lists them. Every one of these has a page here with links out to somewhere it can be played.
If that is not it
-
Arena rock / AOR 78%
Hard rock polished for stadiums and FM radio: huge choruses, keyboards and glossy production.
On the other branch of the tree entirely, and 6 steps from Proto-metal.
The way into Arena rock / AOR -
Rap rock 76%
Rapped vocals over rock riffs. The Run-DMC and Aerosmith collaboration opened the door; Rage turned it into a political weapon.
On the other branch of the tree entirely, and 6 steps from Proto-metal.
The way into Rap rock
Not simply the second and third of the ranking: those are almost always near neighbours of the first, which is three names for one suggestion. An alternate has to sit at least 4 steps through the tree from the headline and from the other alternate, which is the same floor the "sounds like this, but isn't" panel uses.
What your answers ruled out
- No words at all put 33 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Black metal, Death metal, Grindcore. Worth 3 of 10.
- The beginnings put 67 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Folk metal, Metalcore, Nu metal. Worth 1 of 10.
- Anger at something real put 108 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Alternative rock, Black metal, Blues rock. Worth 1 of 10.
- Normal put 13 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Progressive rock, Krautrock, Acid rock. Worth 1 of 10.
Counted as genres scoring 20% or less on that answer alone. A recommendation that only shows what it chose is hiding half of what it did.