Funk Metal is one of those late-1980s and early-1990s fusion experiments that never quite caught on – though some bands did actually gain mainstream popularity – either then or eventually, but really only when they moved toward more mainstream-friendly fare. One can think here for example of Living Colour, Primus, Rage Against the Machine, and Red Hot Chilli Peppers.

As a genre it blends together “the distinctive sound of funk” and “conventional riffing [of] 1980s thrash metal.”¹ But the logos hardly reflect the latter. With maybe one exception (Infectious Grooves), no Funk Metal act has a logo that looks anything remotely like one that belongs to a Heavy or Extreme Metal band – in fact, most of the time they have a logo design that seemingly took its inspiration from Rugrats, Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, or Duckman, which is unlikely seeing how they respectively premiered in 1991, 1994, and 1997. (Oh, and when I say most of the time, I’m really just saying … just one out of ten.)

Some Funk Metal bands to check out:

• Infectious Grooves
  • Band information
  • Spotify
• Living Colour
  • Band information
  • Spotify
• Red Hot Chilli Peppers
  • Band information
  • Spotify

Related (sub)genre(s):

Reference(s)

[1] H. Lusty. Heavy Metal Microgenres. In A.H. Stevens, M.C. O’Donnell, ed. The Microgenre: A Quick Look at Small Culture, 167, 2020.

Take me back to the sample overview.