Is there a distinction between hard rock and heavy rock?

Are 'hard' and 'heavy' two words that signify the same thing? I think there is a difference between the two. Can a song be hard but not heavy? I feel like 'heavy' signifies a distinctive sound that is separate from 'hard.' For example, I would argue that 'I Can See For Miles' is a hard rocking song but not a heavy one. Agree? Any other examples or thoughts?

What's the difference between 'hard' and 'heavy'?

 

Questions like these are the reason why I never used the genre tag when ripping my CDs ...

 

Well, in the 1980s, hard rock musicians used hairspray.
Heavy rockers kept it natural and feathered.

 

It is the same difference between "soft rock" and "light rock".

 

In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida is a perfect example of heavy rock that isn't hard rock.

 

Heavy rock goes to 11.

 

Not sure if it is, but I'll go along with that.

 

Zeppelin...Heavy Rock
Bad Company...Hard Rock

 

Wikipedia is your friend:

Heavy rock

Heavy rock may refer to:

• Hard rock music
• Heavy metal music

 

Density and Weight

 

You add a spoon of Spinal Tap and mix it into heavy rock, and you get hard rock.

 

No

 

Not really music wise. The term heavy rock was used more in the 60s. The hard rock term pertains more to the 70s era. Then it turns to metal in the 80s. I tend to lump heavy rock and hard rock in the same category.

 

I Want You She's So Heavy = Heavy rock
Fool For The City = Hard rock

 

When I rip my CDs, I just use "rock" to cover it.

 

Heavy music is something I would describe as coming out of the louder bands in the late 1960s or early 1970s. That particular style mostly went away after that. A loud band, maybe featuring the organ prominently, a "fat" sound, slower tempo than what came later, more bass than what came later but not funky. To me, The Move's Looking On is a very heavy album.

 

Easy: Hard is the opposite of Soft - Heavy is the opposite of Light. All clear now?

 

If you turn it up loud enough...no.

 

Heavy rock is a catch all phrase for hard rock and heavy metal. Basically it's used by people who don't dig genre classifications/nazis.

 

I grew up in the seventies and all the record stores back then had bins with records in that were identified as heavy rock.
Heavy rock is not quite heavy metal but has similarities that are obvious.
Early aerosmith was hard rock. The first two queen lps were hard rock.
Led Zeppelin played a lot of hard rock, NOT heavy rock.

I Want You She's So Heavy = Heavy rock. WHAT! That isn't even hard rock.

Heavy metal
Heavy rock
Hard rock

Hard rock is lighter than Heavy rock.

 

A good majority of those musicians who used hairspray were also referred to as heavy metal.

Heavy metal is a sub-genre of hard rock (which is a sub-genre of rock.) Heavy metal is always hard rock but not all hard rock is heavy metal.

 

Technically speaking here, what arrangement/tuning of the instruments is required to produce a 'heavy' sound?

 

Hard rock is not lighter than heavy rock, not most of the time anyway.

Heavy rock many times isn't fast, but most of the time hard rock is fast, that's one of the main reasons it's called hard, because the band is really going for it.

Congresstart, you're absolutely right, I Want You She's So Heavy isn't hard rock, like I posted it's heavy rock.

 

I don't know, I think there are some types of metal that don't have much to do with rock at all.

 

Guitars that weigh a lot and use heavy gauge strings.