Stoner Metal and Sludge Metal are often used interchangeably, but some fans make distinctions: Sludge metal has more similarities with grindcore and hardcore punk. There also are similarities to doom metal, but most aficionados consider the two genres distinct.

The moniker 'Stoner' is obviously derived from the notion that the artists and audience for this kind of music are stoners, users of cannabis.

Other terms, which also indicate slightly different, but frequently overlapping genres are 'stoner rock', 'desert rock' and the very abstract 'desert music', which usually has only very little 'metal' content as such.

Stoner metal bands play a mix of jam-heavy psychedelic rock laced with some doom metal like riffs and are generally more closely linked to the heavy psychedelic bands of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Monster Magnet and Kyuss were among the most popular practitioners. Others include:

• Acid King
• The Atomic Bitchwax
• Black Sabbath
• Bongzilla
• Down
• Electric Wizard
• Eyehategod
• Fatso Jetson
• Fu Manchu
• Isis
• Kyuss
• Mannhai
• Masters of Reality
• Mastodon
• The Melvins
• The Miracle Workers
• Monster Magnet
• Morris
• Natas
• Nebula
• Orange Goblin
• Pawnshop
• Pink as a Panther
• Queens of the Stone Age
• Roadsaw
• Sixty Watt Shaman
• Sleep
• Slo Burn
• Spirit Caravan
• Spiritual Beggars
• Unida