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Harmonic Resources in 1980s Hard Rock and Heavy Metal Music

Vaughn, Erin M.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1449012267

Abstract Details

2015, MA, Kent State University, College of the Arts / School of Music, Hugh A. Glauser.
VAUGHN, ERIN, M.A., DECEMBER, 2015 MUSIC HARMONIC RESOURCES IN 1980S HARD ROCK AND HEAVY METAL MUSIC (74PP.) Director of Thesis: Richard O. Devore The first objective of this work was to review the existing literature relating to popular music analysis to determine if standards of harmonic practice within hard rock and heavy metal music have been considered and established. This led to the review of the analytical methods of Guy Capuzzo, Christopher Doll, Walter Everett, Allen Moore, and Ken Stephenson. For the needs of this study, Everett’s work (and to a lesser degree, Stephenson’s work) is primary as it best summarizes the harmonic schemes used in the pieces analyzed. Three songs were selected within different subgenres of hard rock and heavy metal: thrash metal (Metallica, “Master of Puppets”), neo-classical metal (Yngwie Malmsteen, “Far Beyond the Sun”), and commercial hard rock (Guns-N-Roses, “Welcome to the Jungle”). These pieces were analyzed extensively to understand the primary harmonic resources that are at work in each. Additionally, the three pieces were compared with regard to their formal elements, melodic materials, texture, and dynamics to draw conclusions about what similarities they share and also how they differ. Depending on the piece and the section under consideration, these three examples exhibited a reliance on modal structures, blues-based materials, and common-practice influences.
Richard Devore, Dr. (Advisor)
74 p.
Music
Music theory; harmony; hard rock; heavy metal; Metallica; Yngwie Malmsteen; Guns-n-Roses; Master of Puppets; Far Beyond the Sun; Welcome to the Jungle; modal; blues; form

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Vaughn, E. M. (2015). Harmonic Resources in 1980s Hard Rock and Heavy Metal Music [Master's thesis, Kent State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1449012267

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Vaughn, Erin. Harmonic Resources in 1980s Hard Rock and Heavy Metal Music. 2015. Kent State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1449012267.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Vaughn, Erin. "Harmonic Resources in 1980s Hard Rock and Heavy Metal Music." Master's thesis, Kent State University, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1449012267

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

kent1449012267
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This open access ETD is published by Kent State University and OhioLINK.