h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

.Speaking as someone who was around when all there was was 'Heavy Metal' it certainly seems to have become confusing.

The charts have become clogged with Girls Aloud plasticty, so I recently delved back into the music scene and discoverd bands like Staind, Linkin Park, etc, and am pleased to see that guitar music is still alive, and doesnt come out of a computer, well not yet,lol.

Not sure what clasification Linkin/Staind come into, if any, or if they count as underground, due to their relative fame.

those two bands would be under the catagory of Nu-metal. And no, they are definitely not underground bands. If you can perform on the MTV awards your not underground. I am glad guitar music is coming back as well, though i wish there was a bit more focus on technique in the mainstream acts.

....Its interesting what is classed as 'underground', a long time ago when i listend to heavy rock the bands very rarely had single records produced and mainly stuck to vinyle L.Ps....the equivalent of todays C.Ds. So heavy rock remained mainly underground, with the exception of some bands like Deep Purple, which had more commercial success. These days it seems easier to get a record out, and a lot of bands produce C.D singles, so hence more radio airplay for what once would have been underground music.

All those years ago, I used to sell some photos of bands to music papers like New Musical Express,Sounds,Record Mirror. I bought Metallica's St.Anger yesterday which had a good review in M.M E, they said they had returned to their old days of Metal, apparantly, according to N.M.E they had got a little lost in a weaker area of music in recent years, although having been out of the music scene for a long time, I can not say. It seemed to be a little in the area of what I call thrash metal, but without the distorted vocals of some other bands.

What I thought was fantastic though was the inclusion of the DVD recording of the whole C.D during rehearsals,at a guess it was recorded before the C.D was recorded,as included with C.D. Its an interesting insight into off stage band life, the D.V.D has the feel of a small club recording, with posters all over the walls....the music seems very good too.

Great article. Always wondered about all the classifications, and what was death or speed.
By the way- that Metallica DVD was recorded when they were practising for the tour- if you check on the liner notes on the album, Rob wasn't in the band yet when it was recorded. Bob Rock (the engineer) played bass on it.

Thanks for help on D.V.D, as you said he wrote a very good and helpful article on Metal.

I am in a strange position on music at moment, going back to music from my past, and buying totally new music to me. I bought 'This Is The Modern World' when it first came out on vinyl and thought I would buy The Jam record on C.D, purely from nostalgia....but I had forgotten just how good The Jam were.... they leave those poor copiests, Oasis, far back in the shade!!

thans for the kind words on my article. Its been through alot of rewrites and its nice to have someone not criticize it for a change.

also, just a note, if metallica is back to their old style, THE WHERE THE HELL ARE THE DAMN SOLOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!..........im done venting now.