They just sound so similiar, i cant really tell a difference
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Rock came from an evolution of blues and a few others in the United States. Metal came from the distinct sound of bands of people trying to escape England’s metal factories.
Metal uses similar band composition to rock (singer, bass, drums, probably two guitars). Rock is usually more beholden to blues inspiration, metal is more open.
There’s a lot of overlap, but the two aren’t always interchangable. For example with some famous names, you’d probably call the Eagles rock, Judas Priest would be metal, Led Zeppelin could be either.
But it’s not all about how “hard” something sounds. A Judas Priest balad or power balad would still be metal.
I also don’t want to bicker about subgenres because a lot of that comes from teenagers who want to sound tough for listening to DEATH METAAALLL or whatever the term of the day is.
Metal isn’t necessarily brutal. Listen to symphonic metal or even heavy. There’s a long way to death/black.
youd have to give examples of what you listen to.
most of the nu metal trash on the radio is just glorified hard rock and doesnt sound much different.
i listen to thrash metal death metal and melodic death and thrash. and you never hear this on the radio.
a lot of the harder metal is made up of prescision timings and tempo changes mixed with sweeping melodic solos and guitar work.
regular rock is 3 chords and a 5 note solo
Rock music is a really big genre of music, like an umbrella term. It can range from almost pop-like on the soft rock side, to louder grittier rougher heavy metal. Metal is a kind of rock.
This can be either really easy or really complicated.
The easy way is there is queen and there is black sabbath.
But what about now?
Well, there is stuff like shinedown/nickleback/volbeat which I’ll argue all fall under the umbrella of ‘rock’ where metal got a ‘brutal’ in terms of sound and lyrical content.
You can best understand this by listening to two different songs:
[Exhibit A: Die to Live by volbeat.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBZi7JIdSps)
[Exhibit B: Hammer smashed face by Cannibal Corpse](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGe6-xzbISw)
Now, both of these songs utilize a lead guitar, bass guitar, drums and lead singer. The presentation is where you get the difference.
Metal (of which cannibal corpse is pretty metal for metal) is the not mainstream rock and roll. It’s stuff like above. Mosh pits and black on black on black and tattoos.
Then there are variations of all of the above. There’s a lot of cross over. There is also the ‘core’ stuff (metalcore, deathcore, hardcore, post hardcore) the genres are over specific and not really conducive to anything except for meticulously categorizing things on a computer at this point.
**tl;dr to summarize metal is grungy and angry sounding but also that’s followed by the aesthetic that the scene follows. rock and roll is what divorced dads listen to when they “fire up their hog” with their bandanna on to feel like a badass.**
All of music really fits on a big sliding scale, and ultimately there are no official rules, just personal opinions and some general concensus.
Looking at the genre of rock, at one end you have something like blues music, which starts to get progressively louder and more distorted until you reach what we consider as rock music, and if you keep going further with heavier distortion, louder feeling music with more screaming and shouting you end up in the world of metal.
To get a rough idea, compare a rock band like the Who or Led Zeppelin with a metal band like Machinehead or Slayer and you should hear a difference – though it is worth mentioning that this is something hugely obvious to someone used to those genres, but perhaps not as clear if you have never really listened to louder guitar music much.
The thing is that there are no rules, and endless ways you can play music – slot of metal has loud, shouted vocals, but not all of it. Some of it is sung in a very operatic/classical fashion. Some metal can be very technical and guitar based, others much simpler. Or there are bands combining influences from completely different genres like jazz, electronic or country music to create hybrid sounds with elements from genres that are nothing alike.
I think the most important thing with music is to listen to absolutely everything you can, and try and be open to new experiences and sounds. There are no rules regarding what music is good or bad, or where exactly the line is drawn between rock, metal or punk. Give everything a shot, and enjoy listening to what appeals to you, whatever anyone else says.
the answer is incredibly subjective and you’re going to get many answers that are all different but pretty valid.
for me, it’s the riff structure, the level of aggression, and the amount of distortion, as well as the drumming style.
rock tends to have more blues cliches, and if you hear double bass drums or blast beats, it’s probably on the metal or punk family tree.
rock music mostly has clean vocals. it’s a toss up for metal or punk.
i can’t imagine most rock bands using an hm-2.
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