 Eventually they reached a point where they were completely pioneering a new plain of music that had previously gone undiscovered. Though some say that Black Sabbath lost their thunder after Ozzy Osbourne went solo,‭ ‬they are still among the forefathers of heavy metal and can still be considered the pioneers of the genre. ‭(‬Berelian‭ ‬35-38,‭ ‬Sharpe‭ ‬245‭)‬

	Another metal pioneer was London-based Motörhead,‎ ‏led by frontman and bassist Lemmy Kilmister. They got together in‭ ‬1975,‭ ‬and took Lemmy’s love of blues and twisted it so that they could get an entirely new sound out of it. They are considered to be the founders of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal‭ (‬NWOBHM for short‭)‬. They are also a heavy influence to the thrash metal genre,‭ ‬with tracks such as‭ “‬Overkill‭” ‬and‭ “‬Bomber.‭” ‬Motörhead found their sound by taking what was already on the table and changing it up until they had discovered something entirely different,‭ ‬and that is why they are known as a group that really helped start the metal movement. ‭(‬Berelian‭ ‬239-242‭)‬

	After seeing the effect that the first generation had on the world,‎ ‏another wave of artists decided to follow suit and gravitated towards the metal movement. Artists such as Slayer and Metallica became what can now be referred to as the second generation of heavy metal. After seeing the tremendous success heavy metal was having in the UK,‭ ‬American bands decided to try and feed off the popularity and changed their styles up in order to give them a more metal sound. Also in this generation,‭ ‬we see bands that started off with metal,‭ ‬using that as their way into the music world rather than taking another genre,‭ ‬like blues,‭ ‬and‭ “‬heavy-ing‭” ‬it up.

The name‭ “‬Slayer‭” ‬has become a name synonymous with thrash metal,‭ ‬because even from their first album,‭ ‬they were fast,‭ ‬crude,‭ ‬and heavy. They were often criticized for the content of their songs‭; ‬some of them had to do with Nazism,‭ ‬and they didn’t stop putting them out just because of their critics,‭ ‬which caused a new slew of remarks. Of course,‭ ‬it didn’t help that their fan club’s name is‭ “‬Slaytanic Wehrmacht,‭” ‬and that their logo was emblazoned on an iron eagle,‭ ‬but they rose above criticism and let their music speak for itself. Slayer wasn’t afraid to venture towards the dark side,‭ ‬and they didn’t mind disapproval. ‭(‬Berelian‭ ‬331-334‭)‬

	Metallica,‎ ‏the San Franciscan metal empire,‭ ‬didn’t receive as much criticism concerning to their work. They were determined to get people to‭ “‬bang that head that doesn’t bang‭” (‬Hetflield‭)‬. They wanted to make metal appeal to a wider variety of people,‭ ‬and although they had some of the heaviest songs produced by one of the original metal bands,‭ ‬they still had mainstream-rock-sounding songs.