Official WF Awards 2007!

The following essay you are about to read is based off the facts and opinions of Kevin Dugan Jr.

There are so many types of Rock, Hard Rock, Southern Rock, Classic Rock, Punk Rock and so many others. But one subgenre stands out. Metal. There are tons of little genres of Metal, Speed Metal, Thrash Metal, Death Metal, Power Metal; Doom Metal, Nu-Metal, god there is a lot of versions of Metal. But would you think that the sound of Rock would go from Elvis Presley who sang about Blue Suede Shoes to a band from Norway singing about Satan and death? Well here is how it came to this.

Back in the late 40’s and early 50’s a type of music called Rock N Roll came along. I am pretty sure Jazz influenced the Rock N Roll movement. I mean the drummers of today’s Rock are fast just like the Jazz drummers. I think the most well known Rock artist of the 40’s and early Rock is Elvis. Later on The Beatles, The Monkee’s, and other early Rock bands came along. The whole early Rock was getting plain and boring, and then BAM, the British took over. The Who, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and The Rolling Stones came along. Led Zeppelin has influenced many bands. Each member is one of a kind. Jimmy Paige is a god of the Guitar. John Bonham, was an excellent drummer. Robert Plant, one of a kind singer, and in my mind the most talented man on earth: John Paul Jones, who can play different kinds of Guitars, a key board, a cello and pretty much everything else. Many people say Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin were the first Metal bands.
Eventually people were sick and tired of 7 minute guitar solo’s and 10 minute songs. Punk Rock came along and almost killed the Rock N Roll world. The Clash, The Ramones and The Sex Pistols helped make Punk music famous. Today their music can be heard by the likes of Green Day. Tons of people switched to Punk and abandoned Rock. You “Metal heads” can thank Punk for creating the Mosh Pit. While Punk was taking over the world of music, Kurt Cobain of Nirvana and Layne Staley of Alice In Chains brought the Metal back. In the late 80’s and early 90’s the Grunge movement came. Nirvana had hit songs like: Smells like Teen Spirit, Come As You Are, and Lithium. While Alice In Chain’s songs were much darker and heavier. Man In The Box, Rooster, and No Excuses brought them to fame. Grunge was a type of music that originated from Washington. Most bands at that time were looking like girls, the bands of Grunge were wearing Plaid shirts, and wearing jeans. People say grunge died when the unfortunate death, well suicide of Kurt Cobain, not long after Layne Staley died.
I don’t know where to put this so I will put this here. Metallica, Pantera, and many other Thrash/Speed Metal bands encouraged some of today’s Rock. But on December 8th we witnessed a death. “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott was shot and killed on stage. He was well known for playing with Pantera, but Pantera was on a break so he formed Damage Plan. Sadly he was shot to death on stage.
In 1991 the Thrash Metal band Anthrax teamed up with Rap group Public Enemy to do the song: “Bring The Noise.” I think this sparked the early beginning of Nu-Metal. If you don’t know what Nu-Metal is, it is a genre of Metal that talks about Politics, struggles of life like bullying, abuse and many other things. One of my favorite bands Slipknot is Nu-Metal; they are a 9 piece Metal band from Des Moines Iowa. Some Nu-Metal bands have turntables, Slipknot and Linkin Park are good examples. I do not know how Death Metal formed or why. I guess because some guy was never picked first in Gym Class so he hated life. But I do not think Slipknot is Nu-Metal, even though they have a guy who plays the turntables, a lead singer who does a mixture of screaming/rapping/singing. They have 3 drummers: lead drummer: Joey Jordison, he is one of the best and the fastest drummers around. Plus Clown and Chris Fehn the custom percussions. Mick Thomson, and Jim Root the guitarist plus their bass player Paul Grey tune their guitars to near Death Metal tone. Plus Craig “133” Jones the media sampler. Slipknot made it big at Ozzfest 99. Slipknot calls their fans Maggots. Because we feed off the music like maggots feed off a decaying body. I am a maggot in two ways: First: I am a fan of Slipknot, and second I grew up in a Military family. So far all the stuff you have read is only like 1% of the History of Rock. I still have a lot more of studying to do.