Is there a difference between hard rock and heavy metal?
Yes but I suspect that each of us would draw the dividing line somewhere different.
Wikipedia defines hard rock as:
“Hard rock (or heavy rock) is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock. It is typified by a heavy use of aggressive vocals, distorted electric guitars, bass guitar, drums, and often accompanied with pianos and keyboards.”
Wikipedia defines heavy metal as:
“Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and the United States. With roots in blues rock and psychedelic rock, the bands that created heavy metal developed a thick, massive sound, characterized by highly amplified distortion, extended guitar solos, emphatic beats, and overall loudness. Heavy metal lyrics and performance styles are often associated with masculinity, aggression, and machismo.”
As far as I’m concerned this category ranges from excellent to unbearable with plenty of ordinary rock and metal that’s acceptable but not special. It can be too heavy and too loud and the category includes bands that I think are disgusting. Mind you, I like blues rock and even singer songwriters so what do I know?
Heavy Metal And Hard Rock Live Albums Recorded In The 1970s
AC/DC Live From The Atlantic Studios 1977
AC/DC San Francisco ’77
AC/DC If You Want Blood You’ve Got It 1978
AC/DC Paradise Theatre Boston 1978 (Zip City)
AC/DC Problem Child Live 1978
AC/DC Let There Be Rock The Movie – Live in Paris 1979
Aerosmith Up In Smoke 1973 1978
Aerosmith Live Bootleg 1978
Aerosmith Baying At The Moon 1978
Aerosmith Classics Live
Bad Company Live in Albuquerque 1976
The Baker Gurvitz Army Live In Derby 75
Baker Gurvitz Army Live In London 75
Baker Gurvitz Army Live In Milan 1976
Baker Gurvitz Army Live Live Live
Beck Bogert & Appice Live 1973
Black Sabbath Past Lives 1970 1973 1975
Black Sabbath Live At Last 1973
Blue Oyster Cult On Your Feet Or On Your Knees 1974
Blue Oyster Cult Some Enchanted Evening 1978
Budgie The BBC Recordings 1972 to 1982
Budgie Radio Sessions 1974 & 1978
Budgie Heavier Than Air 1972 to 1981
Cactus Ot N Sweaty 1972
The David Johansen Group The David Johansen Group Live 1978
Deep Purple BBC Sessions 1968–1970
Deep Purple Live In Stockholm 1970
Deep Purple Scandinavian Nights Live in Stockholm 1970
Deep Purple Long Beach 1971
Deep Purple Live In Denmark 1972
Deep Purple Made In Japan 1972
Deep Purple Live In Japan 1972
Deep Purple California Jamming 1974
Deep Purple Live In London 1974
Deep Purple Made In Europe 1975
Deep Purple Live In Paris 1975
Deep Purple This Time Around 1975
Deep Purple On The Wings Of A Russian Foxbat 1976
Rory Gallagher Stage Struck 1979
Gillan Live At The BBC 1979 1980
Grand Funk Railroad Live Album 1970
Grand Funk Railroad Live The 1971 Tour
Grand Funk Railroad Caught In The Act 1975
Sammy Hagar All Night Long Loud & Clear 1978
Hawkwind Space Ritual Alive 1972
Hawkwind Greasy Truckers Party 1972
Hawkwind BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert 1972
Hawkwind At The BBC 1972
Iggy And The Stooges Live at The Whiskey A Go-Go 1973
Iggy And The Stooges Open Up and Bleed 1973
Iggy And The Stooges Metallic KO / Metallic 2X KO 1973 1974
Iggy Pop TV Eye Live 1977
Iggy Pop Roadkill Rising The Bootleg Collection 1977–2009
James Gang Live In Concert 1971
Judas Priest Unleashed In The East 1979
Kiss Alive 1975
Kiss Alive 2 1977
Led Zeppelin BBC Sessions 1969 & 1971
Led Zeppelin How The West Was Won 1972
Led Zeppelin The Song Remains The Same 1973
Motorhead What’s Words Worth? 1978
Motorhead BBC Live & In-Session 1978 to 1986
Mott The Hoople Fairfield Hall Live 1970
Mott The Hoople Original Mixed Up Kids 1970 1971
Mott The Hoople Live 1973 & 1974
Mountain Live The Road Goes Ever On 1969 1972
Nazareth BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert 1973
Nazareth Malice In Wonderland 1979
Ted Nugent Double Live Gonzo 1976 & 1977
Ted Nugent Live at Hammersmith ’79
Rainbow On Stage 1976
Rainbow Live In Germany 1976
Rainbow Live In Dusseldorf 1976
Rainbow Live In Nurnberg 1976
Rainbow Live In Cologne 1977
Rainbow Live In Munich 1977
Rainbow Denver 1979
Lou Reed Rock N Roll Animal 1973
Rush ABC 1974
Rush All The World’s A Stage 1976
Rush Different Stages 1978 & 1997
Scorpions Tokyo Tapes 1978
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band Live At The BBC 1972 1973
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band Live 1975
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band British Tour 76
Slade Alive! 1971
Slade Alive Volume 2 1976 & 1977
Steppenwolf Steppenwolf Live 1970
The Stooges Have Some Fun: Live at Ungano’s 1970
The Stooges You Don’t Want My Name You Want My Action 1971
Streetwalkers Live 1977
Thin Lizzy Live At The BBC 1971 to 1983
Thin Lizzy Live At The BBC (Super Deluxe) 1971 to 1983
Thin Lizzy The Peel Sessions
Thin Lizzy UK Tour 75
Thin Lizzy Live And Dangerous 1977
Thin Lizzy Still Dangerous 1977
Thin Lizzy The Boys Are Back in Town Live in Australia 1978
Toe Fat BBC Sessions 1969 1970
Trapeze Live Way Back To The Bone 1972
Trapeze Live At The Boat Club 1975
Pat Travers Band Live Go For What You Know 1979
Twisted Sister Club Daze Volume II: Live in the Bars 1979
UFO Live 1971
UFO On Air At The BBC 1974 – 1985
UFO The Official Bootleg Box Set 1975 to 1985
UFO Live Throughout the Years 1976 1982 1998
UFO On With The Action 1976
UFO Strangers In The Night 1978
UFO Live In Texas 1979
Uriah Heep Live 1973
The Who Live At Leeds 1970
The Who Live At Hull 1970
The Who Live At The Isle Of Wight Festival 1970
Frank Zappa Shut Up ‘n Play Yer Guitar 1972 to 1980
You can get these albums from Amazon.com – Amazon.co.uk
The All Time Best Hard Rock And Heavy Metal Live Albums
I don’t have a readers poll to find the best hard, heavy rock albums from this decade but I do have a poll to find the all time best live albums that is a great guide.
Please vote in the poll to find the best hard rock and heavy metal live albums.
Loading ...Because there are so many great hard rock and heavy metal live albums I have split the poll into two and you may find some of your favourites in the second division. Albums will be promoted when they get enough votes.
Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.You can get these albums from Amazon.com – Amazon.co.uk
The Live Hard Rock & Heavy Metal Albums By Decade – 1960s – 1970s – 1980s – 1990s – 2000s – 2010s
The Peel Sessions is a collection of live in the studio recordings of Thin Lizzy made by the BBC between November 1972 and August 1977.
Track 1 was recorded on 14/11/72
Tracks 2 & 3 were recorded on 29/5/75
Tracks 4 to 6 were recorded on 12/2/76
Track 7 was recorded on 23/9/76
Tracks 8 & 9 were recorded on 4/4/74
Tracks 10 & 11 were recorded on 31/7/73
Tracks 12 to 15 were recorded 1/8/77
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The BBC Session is a compilation of live in the studio recordings by Samson.
The sources are:
Tracks 1 to 4 were recorded on October 17th 1979.
Tracks 5 to 8 were recorded on February 24th 1984.
Tracks 9 to 12 were recorded on May 9th 1986.
Tracks 13 to 16 were recorded on July 14th 1989.
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BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert is a live album by Nazareth.
It was recorded at the Paris Theatre in London on 8 June 1972 and 17 May 1973.
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BBC Sessions is a live compilation album of live in the studio recordings of early progressive hard rock band, Toe Fat.
Discogs gives the following dates for the recordings:
Tracks 1-4 recorded on 23rd July 1969
Tracks 5-8 recorded on 19th February 1970
Tracks 9-10 recorded on 14th April 1970
Tracks 11-13 recorded on 6th October 1970
Tracks 14-17 recorded live in Port Chester, NY on 5th December 1970.
Toe Fat are best known for being an early band in the career of Ken Hensley, best known for his time with Uriah Heep.
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The Lady Gone Electric is a live album by Rush.
It was recorded at the Electric Ladyland Studios in New York City, in December 1974 in front of about 12 people.
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Graz 1975 is a live album by Deep Purple.
It was recorded at the Liebenauer ice rink, on the outskirts of Graz on April 3, 1975 and is the third from last concert before Ritchie Blackmore left the band.
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Live Fillmore West San Francisco is a live album by Mott The Hoople.
It collects its tracks from two sets of concerts in June 1970 and June 1971 Mott did at the Fillmore West.
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Hot As Hell The Very Best of the Bon Scott era Broadcasting Live is a collection of live recordings by AC/DC from 1977 to 1979.
It has been released on the Anglo Atlantic label.
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Paradise Theatre Boston 1978 is a recording of AC/DC performing live in concert.
It was recorded in Boston on 21 August 1978 and was broadcast on the WBCN radio station. It has been released on the Zip City label. The same concert has also been issued on the Doxy label.
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The David Johansen Group Live is a live album by the former lead singer of The New York Dolls.
According to Wikipedia it was recorded at The Bottom Line in New York on 21 of July 1978 but Amazon refer to the album as Live 1977.
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