Where does Heavy Metal music come from?
It doesn’t really help to ask metal fans. They’re either too dumb or too messed up on the next line of six-packs to know. If you ask them, the ones with half a clue will tell you Black Sabbath, the band led by Ozzy Osborne. They’re right in one respect: Black Sabbath defined the darkness off the genre, with their satanic lyrics and the macho teen despair of their message.
Others will say, Judas Priest. It’s true in one respect: vocalist Rob Halford started the leather and chains look. He also happened to be gay.
Others will tell you it was Led Zeppelin. Certainly they were one of the early precursors, a band who rocked so hard that other bands were inspired to get that heavy. Many untalented groups joined the metal army after hearing Led Zep. Zep's John Bonham set the template for metal drummers, and Robert Plant’s high keening tenor yelp set the gold standard for metal’s vocalists.
Still others will tell you the inventors were Deep Purple, and here they are actually on to something. Deep Purple was the first successful band to consistently put out a heavy metal vibe, years before Black Sabbath existed. They were also a smart band, unlike most of their dumb acolytes: like Yes, they flirted with the idea of combining classical music with rock.
But they didn’t invent the music though.…
Article comments
— go to most recent comments26 - Duane
Baronius is right about the fine guitar work in some 80s hair metal bands.
He is a little bit wrong about lumping van Halen in with hair metal, however. The music of hair metalists, for the most part, lacked real balls. It was fast and loud (not counting the insipid rock ballads), but it was gutless. It didn't make you grit your teeth the way early van Halen did. Sure, Roth was kind of a goofball, but it was clearly so much in the spirit of fun, that it's hard to fault.
Any value that was once placed on guitar virtuosity was almost completely displaced by the grunge movement. It is unfortunate that this is currently viewed as a positive development. People's notions of hot guitar playing somehow got mixed up in their opinions of hair metal. It's not the guitar work that was so bad, it was the songwriting, the high-pitched shrieking vocals, the partytime lyrics, the hairspray, the costumes, the flashpots, and the goofy stage antics. That could be compared with Eddie van Halen's smiling face and his loose and fluid style of playing.
One of the "rules" of grunge music (with some exceptions, sure) is "no guitar solos." George Lynch (who was two years ahead of me ay my high school) is an exceptional guitarist. I saw a TV show in which he contributed his opinions on the rise and fall of hair metal. When he joined Dokken, he had to play along and spray his head with AquaNet. Grunge came along, and he was left out in the cold. Just to back up your comments, Baronius.
Off topic? So what?
27 - Victor Plenty
JS Bach. No metal heavier than a cathedral pipe organ, dudes. Get your pays on a copy of the Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, make sure your equalizer is feeding plenty of juice to the subwoofer, and crank that puppy up to 11. That'll learn ya who invented heavy metal.
28 - Marty Dodge
V.P.: Listen to Wagner's 'Ride of the Valkyries' if you want some metal. Opera has been heavily influential on metal vocalists whether male or female. These days progressive/melodic metal bands tend to compose rather than write their music. It is rather interesting that went went back to "the basics" with Sabbath et al and then since advent of Iron Maiden et al have been returning to complicated time and cord changes. As someone said Genesis, Blue Cheer and ELP had more of an influence on Maiden than Sabbath.
Hair metal is a fake term anyway. "Hair Metal" is in fact heavy-blues hard rock. Metal is rather different to the stuff peddled by Poison, Warrant and their ilk. (In fact much of the 80s LA sound was influenced by country music ('Every Rose has its Thorn'?) that is why people like Brett Michaels and Ron Keel buggered off to Nashville after Grunge hit.)
NB: The reason Steve Harris has such a distinct sound on his bass is that he was self-taught. He developed his own sound rather than apeing anyone else.
29 - Shark
re: Herr Vogner and Bach --
Finally! Someone more pretentious than me!
========
Saleski: "...'You Really Got Me' certainly has the loud, crunchy and distorted guitar chords...but's it's not metal."
Once again, Saleski is correct:
"You Really Got Me" is only a *Mersey Beat with some distortion.
*for the historically challenged... the Mersey beat was... oh, never mind...
====
"Someone please answer that ringing in my ears..." --Leigh Stephens, Blue Cheer
30 - Michael J. West
Since we're on the subject, I might suggest "My Generation" by the Who. It's loud and raucous and the feedback chaos at the end is pretty much as heavy and as metal as it gets.
31 - uao
Don't forget Link Wray
If I were to pick a lineage for metal, I'd suggest:
(amplified blues)
Chicago Blues
Detroit Blues
(power chord invented)
Link Wray
(power-chord laced white r&b from UK)
The Kinks/Yardbirds/Who
(psychedelic blues)
Cream
(acid rock)
Vanilla Fudge/Blue Cheer/Black Pearl/Iron Butterfly
(birth of "heavy metal")
Led Zeppelin/Jeff Beck Group's debut/Black Sabbath/Deep Purple/Uriah Heep (UK)
Grand Funk Railroad/Alice Cooper (US)
32 - JR
I find Bach's Passacaglia and fugue a bit "heavier" than the Tocatta and fugue. It has that lumbering tempo and low, repeating "riff".
For Wagner, the forging music Siegfried bears a passing resemblance to Black Sabbath's "Under the Sun". Go for the Solti recording - there is no substitute.
Serious headbanger's might want to dig up a copy of Alexander Mossolov's "The Iron Foundry". You'll love it.
BTW, I vote for Blue Cheer.
33 - adam
uao has laid it on the line, I reckon. Fine historiography, dude.
34 - janine
Manowar! Okay, yes I'm trolling...
35 - Vern Halen
"what's tough here is that we're pitting the genre of metal vs. sounds that are sort of like metal."
That's it in a nutshell.
However, my thought is this: heavy metal is basic rock taken to its extreme. If loud is good, then loudest is best. If fast guitars are cool, then the fastest guitar player is the coolest. If a long song is somehow artistic, then the longest song is the most artistic. And the guy with the longest hair & the most leather is the baddest mofo around. In essence, it's a caricature of rock and roll. And there's nothing wrong with a good caricature.
I figure heavy metal was invented when intead of playing music, someone invented a band to focus on these sorts of extreme elements, thereby defining the genre. For my money, it was Ronnie James Dio. Backmore's Rainbow, Sabbath, Dio - they all have the same sound to them, and the worst of metal sounds like that too. But old Deep Purple, original Sabbath, Zeppelin, etc. all sound like something else entirely - that's why they're proto-metal but not necessarily metal as it has come to be defined.
36 - Taloran
I have long been under the impression that Truth by the Jeff Beck Group is considered the first metal album.
37 - Baronius
Duane, nice observations on metal vs. grunge. Unfortunately, you reminded me of the "insipid rock ballads", and that can't be forgiven. Songs that were written for one reason: so that the metal dude can convince his girlfriend to come to the concert.
"I hate that band."
"C'mon. You like 'Sweet Girl', and that's from their new album 'Slaughter Bones'."
38 - BRICKLAYER
*scrolling through site looking for erotic fiction posts*..."What the...is this thread still alive?"...*shakes head, reaches for iPOD to fast forward past the Interpol track to get to the Jungle Rot*
39 - Mark Saleski
brick, the erotic fiction is here.
40 - Shark
uao: "...(acid rock) ...Vanilla Fudge/Blue Cheer/Black Pearl/Iron Butterfly"
Nice attempt.
But, um... re. acid rock
Piper at the Gates of Dawn - by Pink Floyd -- back before they became boring, commercial, and pedestrian -- dosesn't that album pre-date all of the above?
And then came 'Saucerful of Secrets'...
====
uao: "...(birth of "heavy metal") -Led Zeppelin/Jeff Beck Group's debut/Black Sabbath/Deep Purple/Uriah Heep (UK)
Grand Funk Railroad/Alice Cooper (US)"
Um, doesn't Blue Cheer's WALL OF MARSHALLS pre-date all of the above?
Jeezus.
Yes it does, Shark. You're right! Saleski is right! JR is right!
~NEXT!
41 - Mark Saleski
can we talk about Mariah Carey again?
;-)
42 - eriqo
Yes that would be nice
43 - adam
Do you fantasize about Mariah? If you do, in which position would you most like to bonk her? Just asking.
44 - Shark
Doggie style on a wall of marshalls...
45 - Mark Saleski
my only fantasy about Mariah involves Mr. Barger being forced to listen to her sing.
of course, that's really just an amusing situation. not really a fantasy.
46 - eriqo
God!! Mariah is so 5 years ago. Not that she's not hot but there are others out there, of our time (mine at least; i don't know about you). I was talking about her music.
Oh, and about your question...just about any position.
47 - Marty Dodge
"I hate that band."
"C'mon. You like 'Sweet Girl', and that's from their new album 'Slaughter Bones'."
I thought rock & roll was all about getting laid. At least that is what its opponents claim.
There is a very simple reason rockers write ballads. You have a popular ballad you double your audience and CD sales. And the problem with that is?
48 - wastedwonder
First Heavy Metal #1 on the Pop Charts was: July 30, 1966 "Wild Thing" by the Troggs! The Stones Last Time and Satisfaction were forerunner but had an upbeat sound (like Day Tripper) which disqualifies them all. Jimi Hendrix certainly had no problem doing this Trogg sound almost indentically. Hope this stirs up more fraternal concord. Peace.
49 - Marcia L. Neil
Because all music originates as brainwave activity, heavy-metal music originated as the emanations of those implanted with dental amalgums. This is a very little-known fact.
50 - uao
shark:
Piper At The Gates of Dawn is indeed acid rock, but its English acid rock. That means whimsy, Syd Barrett style. There is nothing heavy metal about it.
Blue Chher's Vincebus Eruptum predates all the early metal bands I listed, but I incleded them on my list as a pre-metal influence; most consider them acid rock, not true metal.
My biggest error was forgetting to include Jimi Hendrix next to Cream in the "Psychedelic blues" heading, although the heading is wrong too, because Hendrix wasn't very blues. More like "Psychedelic power trios"
I stand by the rest though.
Except for Jeezus; he wasn't very metal at all.
51 - Stacie Oneal
this page was way too long and boring for any one to have to read [edited]
52 - Stefan
The Who, man... they totally invented it
53 - Don
So, Mr Ash, I do hope you observe that a man can lose his relevant and highly-arguable point in his own ego: Now go read Lester Bangs as penance.
54 - BM1989
I don't think ONE person invented it. Sure the first true metal bands were Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and Deep Purple. But, ya gotta remember, metal came from Rock N Roll. And Rock N Roll came from Blues. Blues from baroque, etc. If ya think about it, it's always been here. Probably not exactly as itself, but from segments of other music. Weird ta think about it, but it's most likely true.
55 - Luke
I don't really care who invented heavy metal, because I don't listen to it, and by that I mean I don't listen to metal that carries the 'heavy' precursor, if asked I'll pretty much just say I listen to metal, but I'm not really interested in anything made during the 80's or before that, I guess the only exception would be iced earth, but they suck now so who cares anyway, they used to be good though, 'something wicked this way comes' is one of the best heavy metal, and one of the best metal albums ever made. Having said that, I mostly like any metal that's progressive or experimental in some way, with an 'extreme' edge, and must not have high pitched ball squeezing vocals.
56 - mmfs
There's a lot of interesting stuff here. I'm not a fan of metal, but I know enough about music to know that Van Halen is NOT. I wouldn't call Zeppelin metal, but maybe they had some songs that were (I don't know. Maybe 'Out On The Tiles' or 'Communication Breakdown'? You tell me), and were influential on ... well, on a hell of a lot of bands, metal and otherwise.
The problem is, it's real hard to agree on where something came from until you define exactly what that something is. I think you have to pin down what exactly pure metal is, then you can trace where it comes from. Some folks above have done some of this. Please give me more. What is metal - not the clothes or the attitude or lifestyle, but the music. I don't think it matters who the 1st BAND was to be totally metal, as much as where did the music come from. Did the Kinks create a prototype for the sound that was then taken up full time by other bands, or did they just put together some precursor elements?
and when did people start CALLING it heavy metal? Was is really not until the 80s?
57 - mmfs
Oh, and by the way, BM1989: "metal came from Rock N Roll"(fine). "And Rock N Roll came from Blues"(right on). "Blues from baroque." (what the hell are you on mf?)
58 - bobm
Saying that any one person or band 'invented' Heavy Metal is a ridiculous statement. Further stating that The Kinks 'invented' Heavy Metal is truly idiotic.
Who 'invented' country music? Who 'invented' Jazz?
HM evolved from the British Blues Boom on the mid-late 1960's. Bands like The Yardbirds, Fleetwood Mac, and Cream were appropriating the blues, many as purists (Clapton, Mayall). Add to this the rapidly developing amp technology of the era, and the music began evolving into something of an 'extreme' white-boy Blues/Rock hybrid. While the music developed in the U.K., The Yardbirds morphed into Zeppelin, and Jimi Hendrix 'happened'. In the States, Blue Cheer were pushing this new hybrid to newer/louder extremes, and soon after, Sabbath (1st a Blues/Jazz combo called Earth) upped the ante by adding the doom element and a sharper focus on the riff.
By 1970, Zep, Purple, Sabbath, as well as others, had firmly established this offshoot as a legitimate genre; a genre that, like all musical genres, has continued to evolve.
This is evolution, through the input of many and over a period of time, not invention by one band or one person.
You [Deleted. I'm disappointed now, bobm, you were doing great, brilliant answer, then you had to blow it with a personal attack. The rule here is fight the argument, not the author, OKAY? Comments Editor]
59 - bobm
to mmfs/re: #56:
From Wikipedia:
The first well-documented usage of the term "heavy metal" referring to a style of music appears to be the May 1971 issue of Creem in a review of Sir Lord Baltimore's Kingdom Come. In this review we are told that "Sir Lord Baltimore seems to have down pat most all the best heavy metal tricks in the book".
60 - Alienboy
Knowing how stoned evreyone was back then, he probably meant to write "the best heavy, metal tricks" and the mis-reading somehow then caught on, lol.
61 - bobm
um...
what kind of sense does "the best heavy, metal tricks" make in that sentence?
62 - bobm
...and what makes you think more people in the 70's were stoned then are stoned nowadays?
63 - bobm
[...The rule here is fight the argument, not the author, OKAY? Comments Editor]
[I hope this gives all you dumb-fuck metal fans a clue as to where your favorite dumb-fuck music actually comes from. --from the original post by Adam Ash]
as a metal fan, I didn't think that part of my response was inappropriate, all things considered.
64 - alienboy
bobm: 'pologies if my lame little joke bugged you but the sentence does make sense.
Don't know what you originally wrote in your #63 as I was ill yesterday, but whatever it was seems a little ott. wassup, can't score? (another joke, btw.)
65 - bobm
"Sir Lord Baltimore seems to have down pat most all the best heavy, metal tricks in the book".
Sorry, but you'd have to explain to me how this sentence makes any sense. The comma just plain doesn't make sense there.
But whatever! This ain't about grammar, it's about metal. No one band 'invented' it, and it's fans aren't all dumb-f*cks.
The End
66 - anita
Although this guy claims that all heavy metal fans are "idiots", it should be pointed out that, in another one of his reviews, this very same individual has made the utterly embarrassing suggestion that Bob Dylan is as great as Mozart and Shakespeare. Now who is real idiot here? Let's face it, Bob Dylan is to Beethoven as Celine Dion is to Beethoven! I see no real justification for demanding that the heavy metal genre of popular music is inherently inferior to any of the others. After all, they all fall pretty short when you compare them to Mozart.
By the way, my own personal favorite heavy metal band was always Queen!
67 - ryan
Yeah, metal was invented by the Kinks. Genius.
68 - uao
re #56 & #59
The term 'heavy metal' is often credited to the late critic Lester Bangs, who used it in a 1969 essay.
He probably took it from the line in "Born To Be Wild" (1968) by Steppenwolf that begins "heavy metal thunder..."
re #67
Nobody said "The Kinks invented heavy metal", but if you ask how the essential sound of metal came along, the Kinks' power chords of 1964 are an acknowledged part of the lineage (which is why Van Halen cove3red them). And Link Wray gets credit for having the first hit based on a pwer chord.
69 - godoggo
I remember back in the '80s Musician magazine asked a bunch of major heavy rock bands whether or not they were metal. Priest was the only one that would own up to it.
BTW the other day I was listening to K-Mozart and there was an announcement that Toccata and Fugue Indy Miner (or whatever) was probably not actually written by Bach.
Jonathan! Johnathan!
70 - MetalRepublican
The metal lineage that we know today was inspired by many "hard rock" bands of the 60's and 70's. Metal is defined by fashion as well as musical style. If Led Zepplin were to have worn more black and leather then they may have been the one who gets credit for creating the Metal Genre. As a music director for years, I was there when Black Sabbath was struggling for air time. Led Zepplin, Cream, The Who, were all bands who had airtime and who were "hard rock" bands. It took Black Sabbath, Hell, the name alone screams Metal, to give metal a poster band. Metal can't be something that is just hard rock. It is felt in the lyrics and the stage antics of those who took rock and added thier style. Motorhead, Judas Priest, Iron Madien, Black Sabbath, Dio are great examples of "hard rock" bands that created the metal lineage.
What if Pink Floyd would have written about the dark side? What about RUSH? If Neal Peart would have had a dark slant to his lyrical talents, who knows what educated metal lyrics he would have produced.
Metal is defined by attitude, fashion, and a thirst for everything dark.
Within metal we have goth, nu-metal, speed, death etc. They each can be defined by a trait that they each share and by a trait that is uniquely theirs.
71 - METAL HATER
This part is brilliant and the most accurate part of your article:
"Heavy metal has always been the dumb-fuck underbelly of rock 'n roll."
and also this part was also good and very accurate:
"the stupefying cliché-diarrhea of the form."
"However, it has produced some great guitarists"
true,but rock produced lots of good guitarists,singers,keyboard players,bassists,drummers,acoustic guitarists,piano players,songwriters and much more in terms of decent "musicians" playing a wide variety of instruments - plus rock had much better lyrics and singers whereas metal has shitty lyrics and "vocalists" (not real singers)...
I think you might have forgotten to mention KISS's influence on the whole "stupefying cliché-diarrhea of the form."
It was partly the influence of the harder rocking "psychedelic" latter half of the 60's,partly the rowdiness of The Doors,partly The Kinks,a large part Deep Purple,a HUGE part Black Sabbath's doom and gloom and darkness plus early "Glam Rock" which lead to KISS and the whole look,and Judas Priest and their whole look.The end result was a sad excuse for music or a "stupefying cliché-diarrhea form" that looked and sounded hideous which was then "copied" ad nauseum by every poser and pretender around who "cookie cutter mass-produced" the same "formulaic","stupefying cliché-diarrhea form" and "look" over and over again and again repetatively,shamelessly and disgustingly.
I wish the focus was more on making "good music" instead of on making "good controversy" and ugly dumbfuckery.
That's why I far prefer instrumental guitarists and instrumental music in general to most heavy metal.
The worst thing of all about heavy metal though (besides the obvious disgusting Satanic bullshit) is how any rock bands that come along and actually have halfway decent singing (for a change these days) get ridiculed by all of the mindless metal fucks who immediately tag anything un-metal as "pop" music.Boy that pisses me off! It makes me want to kill these fuckers en masse!!
LET THERE BE ROCK you metal dumbfucks!!!!
And learn how to sing you grunting turd-rapers!!!
And stop that squealing hair-metal thing you all do with that high-pitched throaty vocals.It's just fucking gay!!!
haha,post that!
72 - the return of metal hater
"Heavy metal has always been the dumb-fuck underbelly of rock 'n roll."
It was developing slowly in the underbelly of hard rock from the psychedlia of the latter half of the 60's(Beatles,Hendrix,Cream),got a shot in the arm from The Kinks,but really developed from the influences of Deep Purple,Black Sabbath,(Led Zeppelin),Kiss and Judas Priest.I wouldnt consider Zeppelin heavy metal so much as consider them an influence on heavy metal.But Deep Purple,Black Sabbath,Kiss and Judas Priest are pretty much the first heavy metal bands which span a good deal of time which shows that metal was slow to catch on at first.You could also consider DP and Sabbath as merely rock bands (especially DP),and you consider KISS glam rock and party rock ( a big influence on 80's hair metal for sure, as was Zeppelin even if you couldn't tell by how awful those 80's hair metal bands sounded).Judas Priest and Black Sabbath are probably the truest early "metal" bands though.They both embraced the darkness in their names and attitudes and dress.Although Kiss kind of did too to some extent..it's hard to pin it all down.
Considering the "evil" influence you probably have to give a nod of recognition to the Rolling Stones and AC/DC.
AC/DC's "Back In Black" also influenced hair metal.AC/DC's and Led Zeppelin's influence on hair metal is there but not always audibly as their hair metal imitators weren't very good imitators at all,otherwise we might be looking back on hair metal fondly instead of snickering at it for the ridiculous joke that it was.
It's hard to pin down the very first "metal" band but it's easy to see it slowly rising from the underbelly of the psychedelic and hard rock of the late 60's and 70's whether in the form of darkness and evil or a distinct sound that slowly emerged.And the dark look that was part Hell's Angels and part Glam Rock(the KISS influence) and part gay-bar/leather/bondage/s&m,etc.
Sabbath was called "doom rock" originally I think.
I think the first band I remember growing up that people pointed to and said in a clear-cut manner, "that's HEAVY METAL" ,was probably Judas Priest.Sabbath was either called "doom rock" or simply "satanic!" - KISS was called hard rock or party rock and glam rock and you either hated them completely and thought they were a complete joke,or you loved them.I think the people who loved them are the same types who swear by metal and have ever since.
Myself I always preffered something more progressive and less evil that focused more on good singing and songwriting and playing of instruments and less on looking like a perpetual trick-or-treater and sounding even worse!
I hate heavvy metal.
LONG LIVE ROCK!!!!!!
73 - mel
You're an idiot! To insult heavy metal like you do. You must be a hippie in your 60's. Many metal musicians can rival that of the greats in jazz. These guys know their instruments! Zep is hard rock! Hendrix is hard rock! And the Doors and Cream and all of those old hippie guys. The Kinks? That is hard rock! And I would be willing to bet some serious money that Ray Davies could never pull of an Yngwie solo in his dreams. Metal players are real musicians. All the best everuthing come from metal bands. Guitar, bass and especially drums. Bonham was a sloppy drunk drummer. He sucked! Check out Charlie Benante or Bobby Jarzombek or Mark Zonder or I could go on and on. Metal is legit, it is music and it is art.
punk ass
74 - zingzing
it's also the aural equivilant of watching a ugly man with greasy hair masturbating. dull! wankery!
ok, i like some of it. but yngwie bites.
75 - Fredrik Bendz
I'de like to quote Forrest Gump regarding the accusation that Heavy Metal fans (such as me) are "dumb-fucks":
"My mama always said: Stupid is as stupid does".