Heavy Metal, or just "Metal" is an umbrella genre for a myriad of sub-genres each with a unique sound. The heavy metal movement began in the late 60's and early 70's with bands such as Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin. The sound at the time was quite different from the metal we know today, and as such, the aforementioned bands would likely be categorized as rock rather than metal in present terms. Regardless, these bands paved the way by supplying the guitar and drum driven sound that is characteristic of the genre today.

The 70's and 80's saw the emergence of less blues inspired bands such as Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, as well as glam metal bands such as Poison and Quiet Riot.

Meanwhile, the underground metal scene spawned numerous extreme metal sub-genres such as thrash metal, death metal, and black metal. In recent years the genre of nu-metal has appeared which often combines hip hop elements with metal and is seldom well received by crtics. For more details see the individual metal sub-genres.