History Main / NewWaveOfBritishHeavyMetal

* UFO

* EndOfAnEra: In a way, the movement served as the last time that the UsefulNotes/UnitedKingdom would serve as the main player in RockMusic and HeavyMetal, a position it held since UsefulNotes/TheBritishInvasion. While the UK would later go on to host the main scenes of Oi![=/=]StreetPunk, D-Beat[=/=]Crust Punk, {{Grindcore}} (at least for a little while), and {{Britpop}}, it would never again be so central to Rock as a whole as it was in TheSixties/[[TheSeventies Seventies]]. (One could make an argument that British bands have had a disproportionate influence on IndieRock, but that's sort of its own thing.)

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: Ranged anywhere from a 4 (Music/DefLeppard's [[GlamMetal Glam]] material, many bands' power ballads) to a low 9 (Music/{{Motorhead}} and Music/{{Venom}}'s heaviest output), with most bands being a 6 or a 7.

** PowerMetal: A lot of bands (Saxon, Music/IronMaiden, etc.) could be considered UrExamples of the genre.

** SpeedMetal: Music/JudasPriest (one of the genre's UrExamples), Music/{{Motorhead}} (the genre's arguable TropeMaker), Music/{{Venom}}, and Raven were all part of the movement. The movement as a whole could arguably be considered the genre's TropeMaker and/or TropeCodifier.
** ThrashMetal: Music/{{Motorhead}}, Music/{{Venom}}, and Diamond Head could all be considered UrExamples.

* MetalScream: Rob Halford of Music/JudasPriest and Music/BruceDickinson of Music/IronMaiden are masters of the sudden, cathartic scream, and Lemmy Kilmister of Music/{{Motorhead}} and Cronos of Music/{{Venom}} being the UrExamples for singers who consistently used harsh vocals as their primary singing technique.

All things must end, and so did the NWOBHM in the early 80's due to a combination of factors. One reason was that the movement, [[NotSoDifferent like the bands of the 70's]], eventually became bloated and stagnant, with [[FollowTheLeader derivative ripoffs]] forming left and right and contributing virtually nothing new to the movement. Also, the movement began to face competition from other genres from other countries such as Canadian SpeedMetal, American ThrashMetal, and European First-Wave BlackMetal. These movements, which took inspiration from the NWOBHM, took the hard, fast, and loud aesthetics of the movement [[DarkerAndEdgier and made them harder, faster and louder still]]. Faced with competition that was more extreme than them in every way, shape, and form, the movement petered out. However, though the movement is dead, its legacy remains in the sound, fashions, and culture of an entire genre of music.

** ''Music/BritishSteel'' (1980)

** ''Music/AceOfSpades'' (1980)

By the end of the decade, the movement was in full swing with a diversity of styles. Most bands, like Music/IronMaiden, Saxon, and Angel Witch, combined heavy riffing (typically featuring two lead guitarists, following the example of ThinLizzy) with soaring, pseudo-operatic vocals, wailing guitar solos, and lyrics concerning fantasy, rebellion, and the Heavy Metal lifestyle. Others, such as Music/DefLeppard, gravitated towards a more mainstream sound informed by GlamRock. Others still, like Music/{{Venom}}, chose to emulate [=Motorhead=]'s aggressive style and turn it UpToEleven, paving the way for ThrashMetal, BlackMetal, and DeathMetal. What united these bands was a shared sense of fashion (mostly consisting of denim jeans, [[HellBentForLeather leather jackets]], studded metal belts and wrist bands, and band t-shirts/patches), a Punk-like aversion to the mainstream (Def Leppard being a major exception), and enthusiasm toward the music and its attending subculture.

* Music/{{Motorhead}} (1975, TropeMaker alongside Music/JudasPriest)

Music/JudasPriest, a band from Birmingham, the same city that produced Music/BlackSabbath and later Music/NapalmDeath, was that band. In 1978, after several high quality but Sabbath-derived albums, they released their album ''Stained Class''. The album was dissimilar to pretty much any metal album that came before it, possessing high-speed tempoes, air-tight double-bass drumming patterns, and a level of aggression not seen outside PunkRock. A second band at around the same time, Music/{{Motorhead}}, combined an approach similar to that of Judas Priest and wed it to a brutal, distortion-heavy sound that was overtly punk-influenced on their albums ''Motörhead'' in 1977, and ''Bomber'' and ''Overkill'' in 1979. With the approaches of these bands in place, other bands began to copy them.

* ThinLizzy

* HeavyMetal: [[CaptainObvious But of course]].

By the end of the decade, the movement was in full swing with a diversity of styles. Most bands, like Music/IronMaiden, Saxon, and Angel Witch, combined heavy riffing (typically featuring two lead guitarists, following the example of ThinLizzy) with soaring, pseudo-operatic vocals, wailing guitar solos, and lyrics concerning fantasy, rebellion, and the Heavy Metal lifestyle. Others, such as Music/DefLeppard, gravitated towards a more mainstream sound informed by GlamRock. Others still, like Music/{{Venom}}, chose to emulate [=Motorhead=]'s aggressive style and turn it UpToEleven, paving the way for ThrashMetal, BlackMetal, and DeathMetal. What united these bands was a shared sense of fashion (mostly consisting of denim jeans, [[HellBentForLeather leather jackets]], studded metal belts and wrist bands, and band t-shirts/patches), a Punk-like aversion to the mainstream (Def Leppard being a major exception), and and enthusiasm toward the music and its attending subculture.

By the end of the decade, the movement was in full swing with a diversity of styles. Most bands, like Music/IronMaiden, Saxon, and Angel Witch, combined heavy riffing with soaring, pseudo-operatic vocals, wailing guitar solos, and lyrics concerning fantasy, rebellion, and the Heavy Metal lifestyle. Others, such as Music/DefLeppard, gravitated towards a more mainstream sound informed by GlamRock. Others still, like Music/{{Venom}}, chose to emulate [=Motorhead=]'s aggressive style and turn it UpToEleven, paving the way for ThrashMetal, BlackMetal, and DeathMetal. What united these bands was a shared sense of fashion (mostly consisting of denim jeans, [[HellBentForLeather leather jackets]], studded metal belts and wrist bands, and band t-shirts/patches), a Punk-like aversion to the mainstream (Def Leppard being a major exception), and and enthusiasm toward the music and its attending subculture.

* EndOfAnEra: In a way, the movement served as the last time that the UnitedKingdom would serve as the main player in RockMusic and HeavyMetal, a position it held since UsefulNotes/TheBritishInvasion. While the UK would later go on to host the main scenes of Oi![=/=]StreetPunk, D-Beat[=/=]Crust Punk, {{Grindcore}} (at least for a little while), and {{Britpop}}, it would never again be so central to Rock as a whole as it was in TheSixties/[[TheSeventies Seventies]]. (One could make an argument that British bands have had a disproportionate influence on IndieRock, but that's sort of its own thing.)

* Music/JudasPriest (1969, UrExample and {{Trope Maker}} alongside Music/{{Motorhead}})

* EndOfAnEra: In a way, the movement served as the last time that the UnitedKingdom would serve as the main player in RockMusic and HeavyMetal, a position it held since the BritishInvasion. While the UK would later go on to host the main scenes of Oi![=/=]StreetPunk, D-Beat[=/=]Crust Punk, {{Grindcore}} (at least for a little while), and {{Britpop}}, it would never again be so central to Rock as a whole as it was in TheSixties/[[TheSeventies Seventies]]. (One could make an argument that British bands have had a disproportionate influence on IndieRock, but that's sort of its own thing.)

* Music/ThinLizzy

* UrExample: Music/ThinLizzy and Budgie were two of the first bands to play fast HeavyMetal, thus serving as templates for the movement. Thin Lizzy, along with Wishbone Ash, also helped popularize the twin harmonized guitar sound popular with NWOBHM bands. There's also the Music/{{Queen}} song "Stone Cold Crazy" and the Music/DeepPurple song "Highway Star," which served as the predecessors of SpeedMetal.

Backstory: By the mid 70's, the genre of HeavyMetal seemed dead in the water. Music/BlackSabbath was in tatters from heavy drug use, and the [[SturgeonsLaw genre had become bloated with many unoriginal and derivative acts]] that [[FollowTheLeader merely tried to repeat the success of the bigger bands of the genre]]. Most of these bands have arisen debate as to whether they even deserve to be called metal as they seem to be more rooted in earlier rock bands with a slight increase in volume, with little connection to later metal bands otherwise. Also, a new genre, PunkRock, had appeared on the music scene. In addition to possessing metal's hardness and aggression, it was also faster and, unlike HeavyMetal, was critically well-respected. For metal, things looked grim indeed.

* UrExample: Music/ThinLizzy and Budgie were two of the first bands to play fast HeavyMetal, thus serving as templates for the movement. ThinLizzy, along with Wishbone Ash, also helped popularize the twin harmonized guitar sound popular with NWOBHM bands. There's also the Music/{{Queen}} song "Stone Cold Crazy" and the Music/DeepPurple song "Highway Star," which served as the predecessors of SpeedMetal.

Backstory: By the mid 70's, the genre of HeavyMetal seemed dead in the water. Music/DeepPurple had dissolved due to internal tensions, Music/BlackSabbath was in tatters from heavy drug use, and the [[SturgeonsLaw genre had become bloated with many unoriginal and derivative acts]] that [[FollowTheLeader merely tried to repeat the success of the bigger bands of the genre]]. Most of these bands have arisen debate as to whether they even deserve to be called metal as they seem to be more rooted in earlier rock bands with a slight increase in volume, with little connection to later metal bands otherwise. Also, a new genre, PunkRock, had appeared on the music scene. In addition to possessing metal's hardness and aggression, it was also faster and, unlike HeavyMetal, was critically well-respected. For metal, things looked grim indeed.

* Music/{{ACDC}}

* Music/DeepPurple
* Music/LedZeppelin
* Music/{{Queen}}

* Music/{{Rush}}

** ''Music/AceOfSpades'' (1982)

* Music/{{AC/DC}}