“That’s heavy.” We all know what that means. The thing in discussion carries weight, either emotionally, philosophically, or physically. But what about in regards to music? Two terms often used to discuss music are heavy and hard. Some may think that the two can be used interchangeably, but this is not the case. They are adjectives that describe two related but separate concepts. Since I write about music and use the terms often, I think it’s worthwhile to define them.

 Let’s start with hard. The term came into use in the late 1960s to describe the new wave of rock music being produced by artists such as Cream, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, and Deep Purple. Originally, it is blues-derived music that is built around distorted guitar and overdriven solos. The riff-based songwriting created a forward momentum in the music that inspires bodily movement – dancing, fist pumping, headbanging. Over time, the term has come to be used to describe any music that is aggressive or fast paced. This is what I have in mind when I label music hard: it is fast and/or aggressive, but not overly extreme.

What about heavy? That one is colloquially said to have been coined by Steppenwolf in their counterculture anthem “Born to Be Wild.” Although Steppenwolf’s music isn’t very heavy in today’s terms, their lyric gave us its most ubiquitous association: heavy metal. Metal as we know it was born in 1970 when Black Sabbath released their first album. Pretty much every touchstone of the entire genre was solidified on their first 6 albums: dark lyrical content, slower playing, more bass heavy. But we can ascribe the heavy label to music outside of metal as well: there are many hip-hop, electronic, or even acoustic songs that display these qualities. Heavy music, as the name implies, carries a weight that you can feel in your chest. 

There is some overlap between the two, and it’s not an exact science. There’s lots of heavy music that is fast; it doesn’t always have to lumber along. Likewise, hard music often deals with weighter subject matter or can get pretty dirty musically. And, of course, our cultural idea of music has evolved over time — what seemed very heavy decades ago (say, Deep Purple or Led Zeppelin) is not seen as such today. However, those groups still have an undeniable hard edge. Some modern groups that walk this line are Run the Jewels or Death Grips. 

In my recent ranking of Weezer’s discography, I labeled Maladroit their hardest album, as it’s filled with strong, strutting riffs and stretched out rock playing. But Pinkerton is their heaviest record, due to its noisy production, thudding rhythms, and tortured lyrical content. At the end of the day, a lot has to do with attitude. Music that is hard has a swagger that is fun. Music that is heavy feels a little more dangerous or out there. For example, I’d put Queens of the Stone Age firmly in the “hard rock” category, while their preceding incarnation Kyuss was definitely heavier.

Ultimately art is subjective and labels are limiting, yet in this case I can always feel when one descriptor fits over the other. As a music writer, I felt it was important to define my terms. Maybe you feel differently and think this discussion is arbitrary. But hey, I’m a music nerd, this is what we do.