Helmet
1989–present·New York, NY
Page Hamilton's drop-D riff machine. Strap It On on AmRep in 1990, then Meantime in '92 on Interscope that effectively invented the mid-90s heavy rock tone — jazz-school guitar voicings, John Stanier's unfairly tight drumming, zero fat. Sample-raided by hip-hop, imitated by every nu-metal band of the decade. Still touring. Still heavy.
People
Page Hamilton
guitarvocals
Helmet's frontman, guitarist, and in-house riff architect. Jazz-trained, drop-D obsessed, responsible for exactly the guitar tone that got sampled into hip-hop and stolen by nu-metal half a decade later. Meantime is the blueprint.