Bands and song titles [Archive] - Absolute Write Water Cooler

JerseyGirl1962

08-17-2005, 08:23 PM

One of my characters in my WIP is into heavy metal music. The problem is, I have no clue as to what bands are currently out there, as heavy metal is not what I'm into.

I tried to find something on billboard.com, but they don't have a heavy metal genre listed. I'm specifically looking for the names of bands, song titles, album titles. Any websites anyone cares to recommend?

Taking into account Aconite's answer below, I've decided to come up with band names, etc., on my own. I still would like to go on some sites with all that stuff I asked for above just so the ideas I come up with don't sound silly.

Thanks. :)

~Nancy

Aconite

08-17-2005, 08:29 PM

JerseyGirl1962

08-17-2005, 08:40 PM

Is it necessary that your WIP feature real bands and real songs? Inventing your own has the advantages of never sounding dated and of avoiding accidentally using something that ruins the effect you're going for, for those people who know the subject.

Aconite,

Good point; I wouldn't want to date the story.

Maybe I can just get some ideas by perusing such sites. I'll change my original post.

Thanks.
~Nancy

britwrit

08-17-2005, 08:44 PM

Right now, there seems to be a new wave of punk-sounding rock bands coming out of New Jersey... Senses Fail. My Chemical Romance. Saves the Day. Armor for Sleep. Thursday.

If you're looking for something circa late 1980s/early 1990s - Cinderella, Skid Row, Trixter. They're straight up pop metal and they pretty much sound the best if you're seventeen.

britwrit

08-17-2005, 08:47 PM

JerseyGirl1962

08-17-2005, 08:50 PM

Thanks, britwit.

Are there any websites you can recommend that list bands like Senses Fail? Lol, they're in NJ - and they're probably doing well because they have so much to chew on (mostly corruption) in this state.

Anyway, I was looking more along the lines of Poison, et al. Any sites that list these types of bands?

~Nancy

JerseyGirl1962

08-17-2005, 08:53 PM

Sorry. I must've posted while you were editing.... And just to get it out of my system, the "cool" alternate Garden State bands from the 80s were bands like the Feelies, the Smitereens and Yo La Tango.

No prob. I love the Smithereens! :Thumbs: Hubby and I have all of their albums (I think), and they come from my neck of the woods (Union County).

~Nancy

PattiTheWicked

08-17-2005, 09:11 PM

Anyway, I was looking more along the lines of Poison, et al. Any sites that list these types of bands?

Poison is not heavy metal. They were Pop Metal. If your story takes place in the late eighties, heavy metal consists of Slayer, Metallica, Megadeth, Dokken, Ozzy Osbourne, Motorhead, Corrosion of Conformity and Iron Maiden. Pop Metal is Poison, Cinderella, Winger, Skid Row and Bon Jovi.

If your story takes place today, heavy metal bands that would be good to use are Metallica, Godsmack, System of a Down, Papa Roach, Staind, and the Disturbed. Also bear in mind that a lot of the new punk is a blend of pop metal and punk with some Emo thrown in, like My Chemical Romance, Fallout Boy, The Killers, the Used, and Avenged Sevenfold.

JerseyGirl1962

08-17-2005, 10:59 PM

Patti,

Aha...now I get it. Thanks for giving me some names - they've given me a good idea!

~Nancy

gp101

08-17-2005, 11:18 PM

If your story takes place today, heavy metal bands that would be good to use are Metallica, Godsmack, System of a Down, Papa Roach, Staind, and the Disturbed. .

Patti pretty much covered the big ones. Throw in Marilyn Manson and Tool too.

And if you go to damn near any strip club, you'll hear the most popular metal and hip-hop. Seems those girls really like angry music.

rowriter

08-18-2005, 04:35 AM

Please do not forget
Nine Inch Nails.
or Pantera.

(though I certainly wouldn't class NIN as heavy metal now...it's more like background music...and Metallica isn't really heavy anymore either...but both of these bands were!)

and System of a Down is the best-selling metal band out there at the moment. It really depends on the time period.

Don't know if this helps, but I couldn't resist replying. If you need further help, my husband is a metal junkie...he could supply lists of heavy metal bands if I put a keyboard under his fingers. :)

(and I'm sorry, I can't help it...has anyone else seen Jani, from Warrant, on the Celebrity Fit Club? Gotta love the hair bands)...

PattiTheWicked

08-18-2005, 04:57 AM

and Metallica isn't really heavy anymore either...but both of these bands were!)

Metallica hasn't put out anything heavy since James Hetfield sobered up. They did kick *** in concert last September, though, when I saw them on tour with Godsmack. I watched Some Kind Of Monster and to see Lars and Hetfield sitting there talking about their feelings and how they needed to validate things and be all understanding and caring was just too freakin' weird. I thought, where the heck are the guys that sang Creeping Death? Or Disposable Heroes? Who are these Dr. Phil/Oprah watching people, and what have they done with the real Lars??

(and I'm sorry, I can't help it...has anyone else seen Jani, from Warrant, on the Celebrity Fit Club? Gotta love the hair bands)...

Oh, man, he looks AWFUL. I guess twenty years of being intoxicated will do that to you. Yuck. Even if he does lose the weight -- which he doesn't really have much to lose -- he'll still need some serious help.

Speaking of badly aging metal gods, am I the only one who thinks Vince Neil has started to look like Jon Lovitz?

rowriter

08-18-2005, 05:05 AM

Speaking of badly aging metal gods, am I the only one who thinks Vince Neil has started to look like Jon Lovitz?

:ROFL: OMG, the whole neighborhood heard me laughing on that one!! and you're right....this is scarey.

Alice Cooper is right up there for me. He looks so refined in his plaid golf pants. He's damn good at golf, though! Sure looks like Mr. Nice Guy to me, lol.

Now...Sebastian Bach still looks pretty hot if I may say so myself, but he's still pretty young.

PattiTheWicked

08-18-2005, 05:07 AM

Now...Sebastian Bach still looks pretty hot if I may say so myself, but he's still pretty young.

He came to town a couple of years ago in a production of Jesus Christ Superstar. He was just awful. Apparently no one told him it wasn't a Skid Row concert. I remember the lady next to me saying, "Is Jesus supposed to be sticking his groin out at us like that?"

I rather suspected he shouldn't have been.

poetinahat

08-18-2005, 05:12 AM

Sorry. I must've posted while you were editing.... And just to get it out of my system, the "cool" alternate Garden State bands from the 80s were bands like the Feelies, the Smitereens and Yo La Tango.

You've just named my best friend's three favorite bands. You don't write for the Simpsons, do you?

rowriter

08-18-2005, 05:22 AM

Metallica hasn't put out anything heavy since James Hetfield sobered up. They did kick *** in concert last September, though, when I saw them on tour with Godsmack. I watched Some Kind Of Monster and to see Lars and Hetfield sitting there talking about their feelings and how they needed to validate things and be all understanding and caring was just too freakin' weird. I thought, where the heck are the guys that sang Creeping Death? Or Disposable Heroes? Who are these Dr. Phil/Oprah watching people, and what have they done with the real Lars??

Exactly. I couldn't believe watching that junk. They do put on a good show though, you're right about that!

Marcusthefish

08-18-2005, 07:21 PM

Allmusic.com is a great reference for (you guessed it) all things commercial music--bands, genres, labels, etc.

MTF

JerseyGirl1962

08-18-2005, 08:07 PM

Thanks everyone for your replies! (For the humor, too.) :)

Marcus, I just checked out that site, and it looks like something I can definitely use - thanks!

~Nancy

pconsidine

08-18-2005, 09:37 PM

I should send this to my wife. She was in junior high in New Jersey in the late 80s. She could probably reel off more bubblegum metal bands in one breath than most people could name states of the union. In fact, we just had a warm fuzzy moment this morning when I (a guy raised on jazz and classical music) admitted to her that I could identify "Dr. Feelgood" by Motley Crüe (please note the proper use of the umlaut) in three notes.

Of course, I will never tell my parents about that. It would just about kill them.

JerseyGirl1962

08-18-2005, 10:15 PM

Didn't think this thread would be so popular, heh heh.

And it's interesting that people picked up on the New Jersey thing. Seems like everyone's lived here at one point in their lives. ;)

~Nancy

PattiTheWicked

08-18-2005, 10:59 PM

Didn't think this thread would be so popular, heh heh.

And it's interesting that people picked up on the New Jersey thing. Seems like everyone's lived here at one point in their lives. ;)

~Nancy

I spent my childhood in Ringwood, NJ.

Random Fact: We moved to Ohio when I was 12, and I got to fly back that summer for a week to visit with my best friend. On the plane from Cleveland to Newark I sat across the aisle from a young musician who was just starting to become popular and had even booked a separate seat for his guitar. His name was Bruce Springsteen, and being from Jersey I knew EXACTLY who he was. Not only was the Boss across the aisle, but I sat right next to Miami Steve VanZandt.

Tres cool, indeed.

JerseyGirl1962

08-18-2005, 11:13 PM

Wow, Patti, that is cool about Bruce and Stevie! :Thumbs:

~Nancy

pconsidine

08-18-2005, 11:42 PM

Sadly, I grew up in New York, where our favorite past time was making fun of just the kind of people from Jersey we're talking about. Then I went and married one.

Mea culpa.

sassandgroove

08-19-2005, 01:09 AM

I enjoyed this book, Bang your Head: The Rise and Fall of Heavy Metal, by David Konow. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0609807323/qid=1124393418/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/103-5939118-1132601

It covers every nuance from hardcore metal to the bubliest bubble gum metal and everything in between. I read it just for fun, but it is a good reference for ideas, you can see how bands rose to fame and how they are structured and even how they die out. I personally don't think Heavy Metal fell, so much as it is on a low swing on the pendulum, just like every genre. A lot of exciting things are happening now and happened through the 90's and he writes under the premise that Nirvana killed metal. :Shrug: I carried my torch for metal long after NIrvana faded away.

May I say, too...I have to take up for my fave here, Def Leppard laid the groundwork for the metal scene with Pyromania, and don't get credit for it. I don't get why they get ignored. Okay, I'll shut up now.

ChunkyC

08-19-2005, 06:12 AM

Speaking of Motley Crüe, anybody else laugh themselves silly watching the premiere of "Tommy Goes to College" this week?

Funniest thing I've seen on TV in years.

PattiTheWicked

08-19-2005, 06:17 AM

Speaking of Motley Crüe, anybody else laugh themselves silly watching the premiere of "Tommy Goes to College" this week?

Funniest thing I've seen on TV in years.

What makes me laugh even harder is that women find him attractive. There's something about him that just screams "hygienically challenged" to me. I don't care if he's hung like a moose, he's just ICKY.

britwrit

08-19-2005, 03:13 PM

A.REX

08-19-2005, 07:44 PM

Some heavies that I like: Sevendust, Corn, 311, Ministry, Limp Bizkit, Rammstein, Alter-bridge, Green Day, just to name a few.

sassandgroove

08-19-2005, 09:04 PM

Speaking of Motley Crüe, anybody else laugh themselves silly watching the premiere of "Tommy Goes to College" this week?

Funniest thing I've seen on TV in years.

MAN!!!! I missed it! :Smack: I laughed at the commerical though. And Patti is right...does anyone else think that Pam's move from Tommy to Kidrock was a leteral move at best? Not that being with Pam would be a great idea either...

aspiringwriter

08-19-2005, 09:06 PM

The show is actually pretty decent... As far as music...welll I like Led Zeppelin, Metallica...ect.

PattiTheWicked

08-20-2005, 01:42 AM

Jersey Girl,

Hi, here's a link that might be useful. If it goes out of date, it's from the August 14th edition of the New York Times... I think.

Finding Emo (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/14/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/14njCOVER.html)

Neat article. I like a lot of the emo bands, which I think stems from the fact that I'm 36 and when my friends were buying Wham and Duran Duran albums, I was part of the early punk movement, which I still really like listening to. A lot of these groups are the direct musical descendants of the Clash, the Ramones, the Sex Pistols.

It's almost as if punk and metal had mated, and then felt mournful about it. Sure, a lot of the emo groups are flashes in the pan, one-hit wonders, but I like them anyway. We saw My Chemical Romance when they opened for Green Day (my favorite band EVER, I'd sell my soul for Billie Joe Armstrong even though he looks like he hasn't seen the sun since 1993). I like Blink 182 and Bowling for Soup and Simple Plan too.

What's weird is that my 13 year old and I fight over who gets which CD and who gets stuck with the burned copy.

WriterInChains

08-20-2005, 11:57 PM

Hi JerseyGirl,

If you want to come up with some of your own names for bands/songs, you may want to check out the OzzFest web site [www.ozzfest.com] (http://www.ozzfest.com]/). All but one of the bands on the Second Stage are up-and-comers with interesting names & they all have links to their band web pages &/or their record company pages. The 2nd stage acts, with the exception of Killswitch Engage & Zombie, are the screachy-type bands [yes, I saw them all on 8/11! http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/smile.gif ] but you can get an idea of what kind of names are popular.

I'd suggest creating your own, unless you're using the music/bands to orient the reader in a specific time period. It'll definitely be fun to come up with your own "bands", & you can use their "concert posters" &/or "CDs" as marketing tools/giveaways at readings & etc.

Have a great day!
Caren