HEAVY METAL (or simply METAL) is a genre of rock music that arose in the late 1960s and early 1970s mostly throughout the United Kingdom and United States . It's roots lay within blues, classical music and rock and it is generally characterized by a massive sound of distortion, extended guitar solos, driving drum beats, vigorous vocals and an emphasis on loudness. Heavy metal itself has spawned numerous subgenres which generally can be identified through changing, or omitting one of the these attributes.