many times you hear about led zeppelin as a hard rock band,
but just as many times you also hear about deep purple and led zeppelin and cream,
as the beggining of heavy metal...

i know that the term heavy metal come as some jurnalist described jimi hendrix concert as "like heavy metal falling for the sky"

so what is a diffrence between hard rock and heavy metal.
why can't iron maiden be described as hard rock or dep purple as heavy metal??/

thebanishedone said:

I'd say it's a matter of the blues. I can hear more blues (a more direct link) in Jimi, Zep, Cream and even Deep Purple. As first generation blues-rock bands they have blues or blues-pastiches in their repertoire. Though a band like Iron Maiden plays rock based on blues, it seems to get it more from a 2nd hand from 1st generation blues-rock band instead of an original blues innovator.

i think heavy metal has more to do with an aesthetic and hard rock has more to do with an intensity of the music. like, joan jett is hard rock and dokken is heavy metal. joan is doing traditional rock, but it's "kicked up a notch" (i'm SO sorry for using an emeril phrase), but a group like iron maiden or dio have a whole look that defines the genre in which they perform. does that make sense?

good question....after a search this is what i found...hope it can serve as a guide....and a catalyst for all in search of further (factual) information...
a.
The term "hard rock" is (sometimes) used as an umbrella term for genres such as punk, grunge, industrial rock. in order to distinguish them from softer, more radio friendly pop rock music. Obviously, the double use of "hard rock" has led to confusion.
Hard rock is a form of rock and roll music which finds its closest roots in early 1960s garage rock. Creed, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Queen, Uriah Heep, Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, The Stooges, MC5, AC/DC, Guns N' Roses, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Thin Lizzy, Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Cream, and Scorpions are renowned examples of hard rock bands. Hard rock achieved maximum popularity between 1969 and 1985.
(historically)A "classical" hard rock band is usually a four person lineup:
Singer/Frontperson
Guitar Player
Bass Player
Drummer
Trios exist, with one person doubling on vocals, but they do not have the overall stage presence of a band with a frontperson, so they tended to be less popular.
Many bands had two guitar players, and, optionally, a synthesizer player.
Hard Rock is usually, but not always written with major key song construction, as opposed to heavy metal, which is often minor key oriented. There is a heavy reliance on the pentatonic scale for most elements of song construction, and fifths are often substituted for traditional chords. Chord progressions are commonly associated to 1-4-5 degrees of the scale, as in rock & roll.
It is typified by a bright, trebly overdrive distortion effect on the guitars, lending to its overall sound. Drums can range from 100-150 Beats Per Minute, with 120 BPM being typical. Bass is usually round and warm sounding.
The guitar solo is very important part of a hard rock song, and leads to the credibility of the song just as much as the lyrics and vocal melodies do. Songs are generally hook laden, and consist of:
an intro
verse
chorus
solo
chorus
verse
chorus
an ending
There is much room for variation, and repetition of verses and chorus
Hard rock is often loosely defined, and is primarily of use in describing radio station formats. There is often significant crossover with heavy metal music, but a few distinctions are worth noting: hard rock typically features major key song construction, as opposed to heavy metal, which is often minor key oriented. Though hard rock varies greatly in its complexity and sound, the chords and progressions are generally similar from song to song.

b.
The term "heavy metal"
The origin of the term heavy metal in relation to a form of music is uncertain. The term had been used for centuries in chemistry and metallurgy and is listed as such in the Oxford English Dictionary. An early use of the term in modern popular culture was by counter-culture writer William S. Burroughs. In his 1962 novel The Soft Machine, he introduces the character "Uranian Willy, the Heavy Metal Kid". His next novel in 1964 Nova Express, develops this theme further, heavy metal being a metaphor for addictive drugs.
Heavy metal, sometimes referred to as simply metal, is a form of music characterised by aggressive, driving rhythms and highly amplified distorted guitars. Its origins lie in the hard rock bands who between 1967 and 1974 took blues and rock and created a hybrid with a heavy, guitar-and-drums-centered sound. From the late 1970s on, many bands would fuse this sound with a revival of European classical music. Heavy metal had its peak popularity in the 1980s, during which many of the now existing subgenres first evolved. Although not as commercially successful as it was then.
The earliest music commonly identified as heavy metal came out of Great Britain in the late 1960s as bands such as Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath applied an overtly non-traditional approach to blues standards and new music often based around blues scales and arrangements. These bands were highly influenced by American psychedelic rock musicians including Jimi Hendrix, who had pioneered amplified and processed blues-rock guitar, and Vanilla Fudge, who had slowed down and psychedelicized pop tunes, as well as earlier British hard rockers such as The Who and The Kinks who had paved the way for heavy metal styles by introducing power chords and more aggressive percussion styles to the rock genre. Another key influence was Cream, who exemplified the power trio format which would become a staple of heavy metal
Instrumentation
The most commonly used line-up for metal is a drummer, a bassist, a rhythm guitarist, a lead guitarist (in early metal bands a single guitarist often sufficed — see power trio) and a singer (who is sometimes also one of the instrumentalists). Keyboards are used in some styles of heavy metal and shunned by others. Guitar playing is very important in heavy metal. Distorted amplification of the guitars, with effects and electronic processing, is used to thicken or amplify the sound. The result is simple, although some of the original heavy metallers joked that their simplified sound was more the result of limited ability than of innovation.
Heavy metal often times consist of dark themes and lyrics, aggressive, uptempo rhythms and classical or symphonic styles. However, heavy metal subgenres have their own stylistic variations on the original form that often omit many of these characteristics.
According to Allmusic.com, "Of all rock & roll's myriad forms, heavy metal is the most extreme in terms of volume, machismo, and theatricality. There are numerous stylistic variations on heavy metal's core sound, but they're all tied together by a reliance on loud, distorted guitars (usually playing repeated riffs) and simple, pounding rhythms."
Heavy metal dance
Although most heavy metal fans would disagree with the term "dance," there are certain body movements that are nearly universal in the metal world, including headbanging, moshing, and various hand gestures such as devil horns. Stage diving, air guitar and crowd surfing are also practiced. With the advent of the metalcore genre, hardcore dancing, characterized by swinging of the arms, the "two-step", spinkicks are also seen.

note: while this is merely a synopsis on the subject, there is a miriad of
opinions regarding the question of this post...

former musicologist back on the rise...."thanks to you"
[Edited 3/5/06 3:46am]

so do you find song"bambi" by prince hard rock or heavy metal.
it can be bouth?

Hard Rock is now just a term for people who are too scared to be Metal.

lilgish said:

And who were young in the 80s.

lilgish said:

or people who don't wanna wear spandex.

lilgish said:

Heavy Metal is the Rock without the Roll

Seriously, the best hard rock bands (such as Zeppelin, Aerosmith, ZZ Top, Cream, even the Allmans and of course The Rolling Stones) often had a blues and R&B based groove in their rhytmic approach. Which is why a group like Guns n" Roses are more Hard rock than Heavy Metal

Metal bands in general use a stiffer , more pounding rhythm. They lack the syncopation most HR bands have in their music. The beat is straighter, less varied ,... less "funky" if you will . For example, Metallica or Iron Maiden or Judas Priest

jjhunsecker said:

What about Sabbath, they had groove, they were metal.... Pantera.

That's probably the correct definition you have though,
but Bands seemed to be defined by their era, any band that came in the 80's was Metal, Any band that came out in the 90's was Alternative.

Same thing with all those bands that got labeled New Wave.