Already a member?
LOGIN
Search:
Browse: Subjects A to Z The Index
Content Related to
this Topic
Main Article
Images3
Related Articles7
Shopping
 
 
Price: USD $1495
Revised, updated, and still unrivaled.
 
 
 
Price: USD $15.95
The Scrabble player's bible on sale! Save 30%.
 
 
 
Price: USD $19.95
Save big on America's best-selling dictionary. Discounted 38%!
 
 

heavy metal

Encyclopædia Britannica Article
Print PagePrint ArticleE-mail ArticleCite Article

Photograph:Black Sabbath, 1978.
Black Sabbath, 1978.
© Andrew Kent/Retna Ltd.

genre of rock music that includes a group of related styles that are intense, virtuosic, and powerful. Driven by the aggressive sounds of the distorted electric guitar, heavy metal is arguably the most commercially successful genre of rock music.

Although the origin of the term heavy metal is widely attributed to novelist William Burroughs, its use actually dates…

To cite this page:

MLA style:
"heavy metal." Encyclopædia Britannica. . Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service.    <http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9117506>.

APA style:
heavy metal. (). Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved  , , from Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service  http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9117506

Britannica style:
"heavy metal." Encyclopædia Britannica from Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service. <http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9117506> [Accessed  , ].