One of the most recognizable characters in modern-day R&B, Beyoncé first rose to fame as the siren-voiced centerpiece of Destiny's Child before embarking on a multi-platinum solo career in 2001. Booming record sales, Grammy awards, movie roles, and a romance with rapper/CEO Jay-Z combined to heighten her profile in the 2000s, making the singer a virtual mainstay in the entertainment world. While some media outlets derisively championed Paris Hilton as "the next Marilyn Monroe," Beyoncé was a much better contender for the role, her glittering pop culture persona only matched by her success onscreen and on record.

Born in Houston in September 1981, Beyoncé Giselle Knowles began performing at age seven, winning upwards of 30 local competitions for her dancing and vocal abilities. She also joined her cousin Kelly Rowland and classmates LaTavia Roberson and LeToya Luckett in forming an adolescent vocal group. Mathew Knowles, Beyoncé's father and Rowland's legal guardian, signed on to be the girls' manager, eventually quitting his full-time job to focus on their efforts. This situation would ultimately lead to the creation of one of the most popular female R&B groups of all time -- Destiny's Child.

Destiny's Child gained momentum throughout the 1990s, appearing on Star Search in 1992 (under the name Girl's Tyme) and weathering several lineup changes before signing to Columbia Records in 1997. Four studio albums later, the group has officially become the best-selling female group of all time, with such smash hits as "Jumpin' Jumpin'," "Bills, Bills, Bills," "Say My Name," and "Survivor" bolstering the girls' momentum despite a continued string of lawsuits from former members Roberson and Luckett (who contested Mathew Knowles' management, claiming he withheld profits and unjustly favored his daughter and niece). In 2001, Beyoncé, Rowland, and replacement member Michelle Williams allowed themselves a break from the group to pursue individual solo careers. Before landing several movie roles, Beyoncé became the first African-American female artist and second woman ever to win the annual ASCAP Pop Songwriter of the Year Award. An appearance in the MTV drama Carmen: A Hip Hopera quickly followed, but it was her role as Foxxy Cleopatra in 2002's Austin Powers in Goldmember that established Beyoncé as a true Hollywood star.

While her inclusion on the movie's soundtrack failed to chart nationally, Beyoncé's full-length solo debut, 2003's Dangerously in Love, reached multi-platinum status. Featuring collaborations with Sean Paul, Missy Elliott, OutKast's Big Boi, and romantic interest Jay-Z, the album spawned a total of four Top Ten singles and garnered the singer five Grammys. Destiny's Child reconvened the following year to release Destiny Fulfilled; upon completing the resulting tour, the group issued one final album, a greatest-hits compilation entitled #1's, and subsequently disbanded. Beyoncé turned her full attention to her burgeoning solo career, releasing the sophomore effort B'day in September 2006 and, three months later, turning in an award-winning performance for the movie musical Dreamgirls. The singer then embarked on the Beyoncé Experience concert tour, releasing a live DVD in November 2007.

The following year proved to be another busy one as Beyoncé Knowles landed the role of Etta James in Cadillac Records, a musical biopic that explored the heyday of Chicago's Chess Records. Shooting commenced in February 2008, with Beyoncé also serving as co-executive producer. One month before the film's December release, the singer released her third studio album, I Am...Sasha Fierce. The double-disc effort emphasized her two distinct personalities, allowing Beyoncé to explore both mainstream sounds and traditional R&B. ~ Andrew Leahey, All Music Guid
source:mtv

Over the years, the term power metal has been used to describe everything from NWOBHM bands to hardcore-tinged thrashers like Pantera. As a movement, though, power metal crystallized during the mid-'90s, mostly as a reaction against the harshness and lack of melody in death and black metal. Though it sometimes incorporated the complexity of progressive metal, or the menace and growling vocals of death metal, power metal was essentially a classicist style, paying unabashed tribute to its influences. Its tight sense of groove was rooted in the NWOBHM and early-'80s Teutonic outfits like Accept; it also drew from the flashy technical chops and pseudo-operatic vocals of NWOBHM mainstays Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. Power metal was primarily (though not exclusively) a continental-European phenomenon, with a handful of '80s veterans reviving their careers, plus a number of newer bands who'd started out playing death metal but wanted to sound more like the music they'd grown up with

Though it's an imperfect designation, symphonic black metal is the most common term for a European-centered style that emerged in the mid- to late '90s. It isn't literally symphonic, of course; that simply refers to the thick-sounding instrumentation and sweeping, dramatic soundscapes. Nor is its connection to black metal always readily audible; although nearly all of its bands started out playing standard-issue black metal, symphonic black metal often bears little surface resemblance to its immediate forebear. The starting point for symphonic black metal was the early-'90s sound of Norwegian black metal, specifically the wing of bands that employed sorrowful, melodic keyboard lines as a counterpoint to their furious assaults. Black metal groups looking to push past the inherent limitations of the form began de-emphasizing the guitar and adding elements of progressive rock (primarily psychedelic space-rock bands like Pink Floyd) and goth metal, with its emphasis on chilling, eerie texture. The resulting sound is usually lush, and much more inviting and accessible than straightforward black metal. After outfits like Tiamat and Samael pioneered the form, a new wave of bands led by the Gathering also began incorporating ethereal female singers, sometimes as the sole vocal focus. The symphonic black metal movement remains somewhat limited, partly because of its epic ambitions and partly because it isn't traditionally metallic, but its fascinating synthesis of influences made it an instantly identifiable alternative in underground metal at the turn of the millennium.

Inspired largely by the lumbering dirges and stoned, paranoid darkness of Black Sabbath, doom metal is one of the very few heavy metal subgenres to prize feel and mood more than flashy technique (though the latter can certainly be present). Even more indebted to Sabbath than most metal, doom metal is extremely slow, sludgy, and creepy, feeling so heavy it can barely move; its deliberate pace and murky guitars are meant to evoke (what else?) a sense of impending doom. The movement began to take shape in the mid-'80s, as underground bands like the SST label's Saint Vitus, the critically acclaimed Trouble, and Sweden's Candlemass attracted cult audiences for their out-of-fashion, Sabbath-dominated sounds. Trouble and Cathedral helped bring doom metal to a wider (though not mainstream) metal audience during the early '90s, and doom's monolithic darkness quickly made it appealing to a variety of tastes. Doom metal was one of the formative influences on the retro-obsessed stoner metal movement of the '90s, and it was not uncommon for bands to find favor in both camps. Another dominant strain of '90s doom metal — pioneered by British bands like Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, and Anathema — fused Sabbath heaviness with the sounds and sensibilities of goth-metal, plus occasional touches of death metal; the results were sorrowful, gloomy epics. The '90s also birthed a unique doom metal scene centered in New Orleans; the sound of bands like Crowbar and Eyehategod was often described as "sludge metal" because of their heavy debt to early Seattle grunge bands like the Melvins and Soundgarden. Several doom metal bands incorporated progressive tendencies, though this approach was much less widespread.

Goth metal fuses the bleak, icy atmospherics of goth rock with the loud guitars and aggression of heavy metal, finding the middle ground between the two styles in a melodramatic sense of theater and lyrical obsessions with religion and horror. Prior to the emergence of goth rock as a post-punk genre, the vaguely medieval, minor-key sounds of metal bands like Rainbow, Dio, and Judas Priest had been described as "gothic," but true goth metal is always directly influenced by goth rock — ethereal synths and spooky textures are just as important as guitar riffs, if not moreso. Thus, goth metal frequently holds appeal for listeners on both sides of the equation. Goth metal first emerged during the early to mid-'80s, centered around Los Angeles' so-called "death-rock" scene headed by Christian Death. Many goth metal bands have since sprung up in both America and Europe, with the tongue-in-cheek Type O Negative breaking out to a wider alternative metal audience in the '90s. During the latter half of that decade, goth metal also proved to be an important influence on black metal bands searching for new ways to darken their sound

Presaged by the proto-black metal, Venom-influenced '80s thrash of Sweden's Bathory, Scandinavian metal became a dominant force in the heavy metal underground during the '90s, with a reputation for producing some of the most extreme death and black metal ever recorded. Although the scene was much more diverse than that, attention centered mainly on Norwegian black metal and Swedish death metal. Sometimes nicknamed Viking metal, the basic Norwegian sound was noisy, chaotic, and often augmented by sorrowful keyboard melodies. Swedish death metal bands, meanwhile, tended to favor thick, grinding, detuned riffs instead of a blur of white noise. In both cases, though, there was an audibly chilly bleakness permeating most of the music, which critics often likened to Scandinavian winters. After the Scandinavian scene first came to international attention during the early '90s, some bands began to expand upon the basic blueprints, often adding progressive levels of instrumental technique to the music's core intensity. A second wave of Norwegian bands followed, and the Swedish scene came to be dominated by the so-called "Gothenburg sound," which essentially married ultra-heavy but memorable riffs and death-style vocals to more traditional song structures and an audible influence from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Several Finnish acts rose to prominence during the '90s as well; they tended to be even more indebted to the NWOBHM. Distributors like the Century Media label continued to discover and license new Scandinavian metal acts for overseas consumption into the new millennium.

Though plenty of heavy metal bands have been regarded through the years as especially compatible with the effects of marijuana, stoner metal was a distinctly '90s phenomenon. Stoner metal bands updated the long, mind-bending jams and ultra-heavy riffs of bands like Black Sabbath, Blue Cheer, Blue Oyster Cult, and Hawkwind by filtering their psychedelia-tinged metal and acid rock through the buzzing sound of early Sub Pop-style grunge. Stoner metal could be campy and self-aware, messily evocative, or unabashedly retro; in any case, bands like Monster Magnet and Kyuss were perfect fits for the eclectic tastes of the early-'90s alternative metal movement. Even after grunge had faded away, and the influence of industrial and hip-hop began to dominate alternative metal, stoner metal maintained a devoted cult following into the new millennium.

Punk metal is a fusion of hardcore punk and thrash metal which came to prominence during the mid-'80s. The marriage seemed natural, since both styles were intense, riff-driven, and often manically uptempo. Punk metal bands generally had more technique than the average hardcore outfit, but their riffs weren't quite as intricate as the average thrashers, and their song structures were often more straightforward. Especially early on, punk metal had a strong affinity with skatepunk, but gradually became more and more the province of metal audiences. As the '90s dawned, many remaining punk metal outfits had begun moving into the territory that became known as alternative metal; Corrosion of Conformity, for example, played a stripped-down, grungy take on the classic Black Sabbath sound, while Suicidal Tendencies experimented with alternative rock and funk metal.

Glitter is the big, dumb, silly side of British glam rock. Glam did produce more than its fair share of art-rockers (David Bowie, Roxy Music, Brian Eno), but glitter drew its inspiration chiefly from the instant catchiness, stomping beat, and outrageous theatrics of T. Rex. Glitter made the hooks even bigger and simpler, the lyrics even dumber fun, and was thus able to last for a time on the British pop charts even when, as a whole, the glam movement's heyday began to fade. Glitter's best-known artists are probably Sweet (during their early years) and Gary Glitter; other bands prominent in the U.K. include Kenny and Showaddywaddy

During the late '60s and early '70s, Detroit was home to not just Motown, but a thriving rock & roll scene that had a major impact on mainstream hard rock of the '70s, and also laid much of the initial groundwork for the punk movement. Detroit rock was simple, hard-driving, and ultra-high-energy; it was also often raw and grimy, prizing attitude far above polish. The roots of Detroit rock actually extended out to two nearby cities: the industrial Flint and the college town of Ann Arbor, though the most important performance venues (including the Grande Ballroom) were in Detroit itself. The earliest Detroit rock included psychedelia-tinged garage bands like the Amboy Dukes and ? and the Mysterians, as well as hard-rocking blue-eyed soul bands like the Rationals and Mitch Ryder's Detroit Wheels, who were primarily influenced by early R&B and rock & roll (Chuck Berry, Little Richard, etc.). The scene really hit its stride, however, with the massively influential proto-punk of the Stooges and the MC5, both of whom released groundbreaking debut albums in 1969 and continued to put out brilliant records in the early '70s. Commercial they were not, but Detroit rock did have a more accessible side. Grand Funk Railroad and former Amboy Duke Ted Nugent both became superstars in the '70s with their brands of populist hard rock, while Cub Koda's Brownsville Station scored a massive one-off hit with the classic "Smokin' in the Boys' Room." Alice Cooper, a Detroit native who'd been playing Arizona and Los Angeles, returned to the city and streamlined his band's sound to become one of hard rock's greatest performers, while former Ann Arbor garage rocker Bob Seger finally broke through to stardom in the mid-'70s after nearly a decade of recording impassioned, traditionalist rock & roll. Still, the first flowerings of what would become punk rock remain Detroit rock's greatest legacy, and the main reason the scene is still revered.

The New Wave of British Heavy Metal re-energized heavy metal in the late '70s and early '80s. By the close of the '70s, heavy metal had stagnated, with its biggest stars (Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath) either breaking away from the genre or sinking in their own indulgence, while many of its midlevel artists were simply undistinguished, churning out bluesy hard-rock riffs. The NWOBHM kicked out all of the blues, sped up the tempo, and toughened up the sound, leaving just a mean, tough, fast, hard metallic core. It didn't make any attempts to win a wide audience — it was pure metal, made for metal fans. Perhaps that's the reason why it's at the foundation of all modern-day metal: true metalheads either listened to this, or to bands like Metallica, which were inspired by bands like Diamond Head.

Rap-Rock was a continuation of rap-metal, a hybrid of hip-hop and heavy metal pioneered by such bands as Anthrax. Rap-metal had big, lurching beats and heavy, heavy riffs -- occasionally, it sounded as if the riffs were merely overdubbed over scratching and beat box beats. Rap-rock was a little more organic, often because it was a rock song where the vocalist rapped instead of sang. Nevertheless, there was certainly elements of hip-hop in the rhythms, too, since there was more funk to rap-rock than normal hard rock. At times, the difference between rap-metal and rap-rock may be minute, since they both favor loud guitars and beats, but the main difference is that organic, integrated sound, best heard on Kid Rock's 1998 rap-rock masterpiece, Devil Without a Cause.

The least metallic variation of heavy metal, pop-metal became the most popular form of hard rock during the '80s. Some pop-metal bands emphasized metal's most important building block — the guitar riff — more than others, but pop-metal's main attraction were the huge, catchy hooks that owed a great deal to the fist-pumping choruses of arena rock. Most of the Los Angeles-based bands (where the scene was heavily concentrated) also drew on the elaborate visual stylings of British glam rock, which resulted in the much-maligned "hair metal" boom of the late '80s. While pop-metal sounded loud and aggressive on the surface, it nearly always had a slick studio sheen that kept it radio-friendly. '70s artists like Aerosmith and Alice Cooper had an undeniable influence on pop-metal, but the band that sparked the true genesis of the style was Kiss. Kiss' music was catchy and utterly simple, and their wildly theatrical visuals were an essential part of their appeal. Next came Van Halen, whose wild party-rock and virtuoso lead guitarist set the style for much of the pop-metal that followed. The first wave of pop-metal — bands like Motley Crue (who would later become superstars), Quiet Riot, Dokken, Ratt, and Twisted Sister — wasn't quite as poppy as it would later become, save for Def Leppard's 1983 landmark Pyromania, perhaps the most melodic metal album up to that point. Bon Jovi's 1986 smash Slippery When Wet ushered in the age of hair metal, where photogenic looks (and, yes, teased-up hair) became just as important in selling a band as the music itself. The following year, Def Leppard's Hysteria set new standards for smoothed-out production as well as blockbuster sales. Not all subsequent pop-metal fell into the slick, image-conscious hair-metal camp; Guns N' Roses, Tesla, and Skid Row often had a grittier edge, and Extreme was unpredictably eclectic, while veteran rockers Kiss, Aerosmith, and Alice Cooper all staged pop-friendly comebacks. But by and large, the hair bands reigned supreme, playing lots of sleazy Aerosmith boogie and big AOR-style power ballads with bits of Van Halen flash; Poison embodied the glammed-up, party-hearty excess of hair metal perhaps better than any. Pop-metal and hair metal (and the excess and formula that had come to be associated with both) were effectively wiped off the musical map by grunge in 1991; some pop-metal bands continued to record for smaller labels and cult audiences, but the music's reputation had suffered too much to restore its former glamour.

Aussie Rock does not refer to all rock & roll bands from Australia. Instead, Aussie rock is a particular style of tough hard rock performed by Australian bands that earned their skills by playing the country's legendarily rough-and-tumble pubs. There's no specific sound, per se, but there is a certain aesthetic that unites bands as diverse as the Saints, the Celibate Rifles, AC/DC, and Midnight Oil.

During the '70s, FM radio stations gradually diluted the freewheeling innovations of pirate radio and early FM stations. Theoretically, the new stations did what the pioneers did — play album tracks instead of singles — but they soon relied on a set group of artists for their playlists. The one thing that tied all these Album Rock artists together was their dedication to the album as the vehicle for their music, plus their reliance on rock as the foundation of their music. That means album rock consisted of everything from heavy metal and Southern blues-rockers to prog-rock and singer/songwriters with supporting rock bands. It was fairly diverse, actually, but they all shared a certain artistic aesthetic and little bit of indulgence, plus their constant exposure on FM radio. These album rock bands ruled the '70s FM airwaves. They persevered into the '80s, but when album rock radio evolved into classic rock radio, fewer and fewer of their new albums hit the airwaves. By the '90s, album rock acts still turned out new albums, but their older material was heard on the radio — and usually in the reunion concerts these bands mounted.

It comes as no surprise that Eddie Van Halen's stunning technical abilities as a guitarist spawned legions of imitators. Like Hendrix, his style was so fresh and so revolutionary that many ambitions axe-slingers strived to copy it. Throughout the early '80s, his fluid, speedy hammer-ons and impeccable phrasing could be heard on metal, rock, and pop recordings of all stripes. Soon, there was a whole subgenre of metal containing nothing but guitar virtuosos, or "shredders." Within these shredders, there was a subset of guitarists who were equally influenced by classical music and Van Halen's guitar style. They applied hammers and sweep-picking to classical pieces, using them as vehicles for their prodigious technical abilities. Yngwie Malmsteen was the head of these Neo-Classical Metal guitarists, yet he often worked within the framework of a fairly traditionalist metal band; his records were split between sung songs and instrumental tracks. By the second half of the decade, more and more neo-metal guitarists chose to work in a strictly instrumental vein. This was true of shredders in general — most notably Joe Satriani and Steve Vai, who broke through to mainstream recognition — but neo-classical metal guitarists particularly benefited from the sans-singers setting, since it gave them ample room to flex their musical muscles. After all, the primary value of these neo-classical metal guitarists was their technical acumen, and fans and other guitarists alike thrilled to the sounds of extended solos, consisting of blinding arpeggios and flurries of precisely picked notes. Of course, there is a limited audience for this kind of music, and by 1992, when alternative rock had replaced metal in the hearts of many hard rockers, neo-classical metal suffered accordingly. Soon, there weren't as many classical shredders, but a few of the prog-metal bands, such as Dream Theater, carried the flame by incorporating elements of classical and neo-classical metal into their dense music.

Progressive Metal blends the attack, volume, and aggression of metal with the grandiose, pseudo-classical ambitions of prog-rock. Of course, certain bands emphasize one influence over the other — Dream Theater, for instance, leaned toward prog more than some of their peers — but they all shared this one basic ambition. Progressive metal first surfaced in the late '80s, led by such bands as the Pink Floydian Queensryche. At the time, prog-metal was fairly underground (although such Metallica albums as And Justice for All were as dense and layered as prog albums), and it remained that way throughout the '90s. However, it was popular enough to produce a handful of crossover hits, most notably Queensryche's "Silent Lucidity." But even though it never became a huge seller in the '90s, progressive metal always had a dedicated following, and bands like Queensryche and Dream Theater stayed on major labels throughout the decade. By the end of the '90s, however, it was firmly the province of hardcore fans

The talented, flamboyant lead guitarist was always one of rock's most cherished roles, but it wasn't until the late '80s that the Guitar Virtuoso reigned supreme in mainstream rock. During the '60s such guitarists as Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, and Jimi Hendrix had engendered serious hero worship because of their immense instrumental gifts. All four players laid the groundwork for the age of the guitar virtuoso, which began in the late '70s with Eddie Van Halen. A fanatical devotee of Clapton, Van Halen relentlessly practiced his instrument, developing a lightning-fast, technically accomplished style that was almost entirely devoid of the blues. There had been a few guitarists immediately before him, including Steve Howe and Allan Holdsworth, that had similar styles, but were less rock-oriented. Eddie Van Halen, however, was a heavy rocker and he immediately spawned legions of imitators — and these imitators weren't only in metal, but also in mainstream pop. Throughout the '80s, these flashy guitarists dominated mainstream rock and pop, and soon there was an entire subgenre of hard rock that was dedicated to showcase the instrumental acumen of these guitarists. Of course, each metal or hard rock band, from Metallica to Whitesnake, each had a phenomenal guitarist, but soon solo guitar albums became popular. These guitar virtuosos — often dubbed "shredders" by the guitar magazines — became cult favorites and, in the case of Joe Satriani, they also crossed into the mainstream. By the end of the '80s, the guitar virtuosos had ruled mainstream rock & roll for over a decade, so it wasn't a surprise that they were unseated almost overnight when Nirvana brought primitive punk rock into the Top Ten in 1991. The guitar virtuosos didn't disappear, but they did fade away. They kept recording throughout the '90s, but at a considerably diminished profile.

Rap-Metal seeks to fuse the most aggressive elements of hardcore rap and heavy metal, and became an extremely popular variation of alternative metal during the late '90s. With few exceptions, rap-metal is far and away the domain of white musicians coming to the form from the metal side of the equation. Prior to the initial emergence of rap-metal, there had been several successful fusions of rap with hard rock guitar — Run-D.M.C.'s collaboration with Aerosmith on a remake of the latter's "Walk This Way," the Beastie Boys' Licensed to Ill — but the true birth of rap-metal was Anthrax's comic 1987 single "I'm the Man," which combined a heavy guitar riff (actually the melody of "Hava Nagila") with full-fledged, surprisingly competent rapping. Funk-metal outfits like the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Faith No More dabbled in the style, but the intense hardcore tone commonly associated with '90s rap-metal was established by another Anthrax record, a 1991 remake of Public Enemy's "Bring the Noise" that featured members of PE itself. Some metal bands had come to associate hardcore rap with the street-tough urban attitude they wanted to project, and after "Bring the Noise," they suddenly found it possible to experiment with fusing the two. Many of these efforts focused not on the linguistic and rhythmic complexity of rap, but on the cathartic intensity that could be achieved by sort of shout-rapping the lyrics instead of singing them. In spite of projects like 1993's much-hyped Judgment Night soundtrack — which featured all-star teamings of artists from the rap and rock worlds — crossover collaborations faded as the '90s wore on. At the same time, rap-metal began to draw influences from alternative metal — specifically, bands like Helmet, White Zombie, and Tool, who relied on crushingly heavy sonic textures more than catchy songwriting or immediately memorable riffs. The thick sound and the lack of melodic emphasis fit rap-metal's concerns perfectly. With the exception of Rage Against the Machine's angry left-wing politics, most rap-metal bands during the mid- to late '90s blended an ultra-aggressive, testosterone-heavy theatricality with either juvenile humor or an introspective angst learned through alternative metal; the vocalists drew from hip-hop MC traditions in varying degrees. Some alt-metal bands, spearheaded by Korn, incorporated hip-hop beats into their music, but full-fledged rap-metal always featured a rapper as frontman. Limp Bizkit became rap-metal's most popular band during the late '90s.

While pure industrial takes its primary cues from experimental music and electronic dance, Industrial Metal makes the distorted noise of electric guitars a crucial part of the music. Some industrial metal bands base their songs around metal-style guitar riffs, while others use the instrument more for the harsh, abrasive textures it can create. Either way, industrial metal generally possesses greater aggressive force than straight-ahead industrial, which helped the style cross over to metal and alternative audiences accustomed to guitar-driven music. Industrial metal lyrics also mirror the darkness and aggression of standard heavy metal, although the sensibility is filtered through the personal alienation of punk and alternative rock. Whether its rage is turned inward at the self or outward at society, industrial metal is unremittingly bleak and angst-ridden, using its pounding walls of noise as expressions of near-hopeless alienation from the rest of the world. Ministry was the first band to popularize industrial metal in the late '80s, basing their signature grind on countless repetitions of jackhammer guitar riffs, as well as electronics, samples, and distorted vocals; however, it was Nine Inch Nails that really brought the sound to the mainstream during the early '90s, thanks to Trent Reznor's flair for melodic songwriting and multi-layered production. In the wake of NIN's success, a number of similar-sounding bands popped up on alternative radio, and toward the end of the decade, a number of popular alternative metal bands appropriated industrial metal's electronic production touches into their hybrid of aggressive music styles.