Heavy Metal

• Heavy Metal


  British-led phenomenon, loud volume was popular in America
• Most successful Heavy Metal band in the 1970s

  • Grand Funk Railroad
• Reasons for Heavy Metal's success

  1. Ignored by radio and press which gave outsider status

  2. Lacking radio play, Heavy Metal performers focused on live shows

  3. Characterised by noises and the phallic guitar thrust that gained the nickname 'Cock Rock'

  4. No women artists in Heavy Metal
• Heavy Metal


  Associated with the occult
• Alice Cooper


  • A group that wore makeup and engaged in showy animal rituals
• By 1976, the group Alice Cooper had 8 Gold or Platinum Albums
• Alice Cooper's 1973 Album Billion Dollar Babies reached number one in the charts
• Members of Alice Cooper


  • Ex-athletes, the spandex, high-heeled boots and makeup in which they performed challenged traditional gender roles