First of all, let's get one thing straight. Blue Cheer invented heavy metal. Period. End of discussion.
Before there was Led Zeppelin, before there was Black Sabbath, or even the mighty Spinal Tap, Blue Cheer had their amps cranked to eleven as far back as 1967.
Long before Deep Purple were declared the loudest band in the world by the Guinness Book Of World Records, Blue Cheer earned that same distinction way back in the sixties. Hell, to this day, I can remember the first time I saw these three guys in Hawaii. It was nuts. There were so many freaking amps, I couldn't even see the guitarist.
And it was also really, really loud.
Steppenwolf may have coined the term "heavy metal" in that lyric from "Born To Be Wild," and Lester Bangs may have brought it into the modern vernacular of rock criticism in his articles for Creem Magazine.
But every heavy metal band that has come since—from Metallica to Pantera and beyond—knows in their blackest of hearts who really is responsible for first introducing the world to the really big noise that was actually—amazingly—briefly heard back in 1967 on Top Forty radio in the form of Blue Cheer's cover of "Summertime Blues."
And as evidenced here by Seattle grunge producer Jack Endino's liner notes, many of them will also readily admit it.
Blue Cheer is absolutely, without question, the band that first pioneered the concept of cranking the shit up as high as it could possibly go, letting the rest sort itself out later, and understanding the concept of feedback as a friend rather than an enemy.
But don't take my word for it, just ask Mudhoney, Monster Magnet, or any of the other dozens of bands who have long since co-opted the style Blue Cheer first put to vinyl on the classic album Vincebus Eruptum way back in 1967.
On that album—with it's total of, like, six cuts, including their fuzzed-out assault on Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues"—Blue Cheer immortalized themselves as the loudest, most fuzzed-out band of all time. Remember that overly fuzzed-out bass on Grand Funk's Live Album? Look no further than Blue Cheer's Dickie Peterson to see just where that came from.
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