Helmet Tickets - Hard Hats Necessary

When alternative metal came out into the forefront, it seemed destined to believe that classic hard rock/heavy metal was dying. The leader of that alt metal revolution, of course, was a band born out of unusual circumstances: they were called Helmet. Founded in 1989, this was the answer to the then popular melodious straight hard rock band Soundgarden. WIth Oregon-born guitarist Page Hamilton working to start the band, he found bass guitarist Henry Bogdan, Australian guitarist Peter Mengede, and Florida drummer John Stanier. They became the band Helmet in a big way as they landed a deal with Interscope Records.

Helmet Tickets - The Music of Helmet

Meantime was their breakthrough CD back in 1992, and three singles stood out pretty prominently in the music atmosphere: 'Give It,' 'In the Meantime,' and 'Unsung.' A demand for their kind of music really did hit a high note, such singles coming out with collaborations, like a dual project with rap group House of Pain's 'Just Another Victim' appearing in the 1993 film 'Judgment Night.' Helmet went further to work with several other artists in the rap genre -- like Ice-T, Sir Mix-a-Lot, and even a couple other alt metal bands like Slayer and Mudhoney. The band kept moving on in the seriously heavy alt metal phenomenon in a good way.

Helmet Tickets - The Sound of Helmet

They began the rap-metal genre, essentially. Where Limp Bizkit came, Helmet began. Mixing true elements of rap and a lot of the beat style of music along with the guitar riffs and super-charged drum rolls was the major element of Helmet, and it still to this day can be the defining characteristic of what alternative metal truly is.