Hard rock and heavy metal

A second wave of British and American rock bands became popular during the early 1970s, with groups that were less influenced by folk and blues music than their predecessors. Bands such as Grand Funk Railroad, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Queen, Alice Cooper, Judas Priest, Status Quo, Aerosmith,Black Sabbath, and Uriah Heep played highly amplified, guitar-driven hard rock that would come to be known as heavy metal. Hard Rock languished into obscurity in the late 1970s. A few bands including Kiss, Black Sabbath, Queen, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith and Rush maintained large followings and there were occasional mainstream hits such as Blue Öyster Cult's "(Don't Fear) the Reaper". Music critics overwhelmingly disliked the genre. This began to change in 1978 following the release of Van Halen's self-titled debut album. The album helped to usher in an era of more commercialized rock and roll, based out of Los Angeles, California.