Now this is going to be a controversial one, but hey it's just my opinion, and everyone is entitled to their opinions!
We all know who the inventors of Heavy Metal are....BLACK SABBATH, which I actually do agree on very much but I also feel that Deep Purple also along with Sabbath were the TRUE pioneers of Metal as well. I mean just listen to In Rock, which is as Metal as Sabbath's first three albums. Songs like Speed King, Flight of the Rat and Hard Loving Man are probably the heaviest, most Metal songs on that album. I do know for a fact that unlike Sabbath, Purple is a Hard Rock band because they usually liked experimenting with many genres, so they weren't always just sticking to one or two labels and what not but they also had a Metal side to them, even more than Led Zeppelin. I know you are probably going to bring up Blue Cheer, Cream, or Led Zeppelin but on all honestly.....those were Hard Rock bands, and in my opinion, none of them truly pioneered Metal music (but I won't deny that they were an early influence on Metal). They might have had a "heavy" sound for their time but the elements in their music were always more bluesier than Metal. I know for a fact that Black Sabbath in their early years had a Blues influence in their music but that doesn't necessarily mean it made them Hard Rock or Blues Rock because even if Sabbath did have a Blues influence in their music, the elements of Metal were always more evident in their music than Blues elements. The bands that truly reinvented the sound of Heavy Metal were not only Judas Priest but also Rainbow, Scorpions and Motorhead in my opinion. People usually look up to Priest when it comes to who reinvented the sound but I feel that Rainbow, Scorpions and Motorhead also had a part in reinventing the sound.
I know I could have done a longer/stronger paragraph to this but I am pretty busy right now so I'll just leave it at that. I\ll explain more later when I have time.
If you want to share your opinions on this, feel free to, I am looking forward to seeing your opinions later!
slayerslayer on
as far as the term goes - steppenwolf, born to be wild , in 1968 or 69
"heavy metal thunder" .
nothing made this direct connection prior to then.
Metalheadgamer1970 on
Yeah, the term Heavy Metal did come from Born To Be Wild.
JackieChanFan on
The Rugbys - You, I (1968)
The Beatles - I Want You (She's So Heavy) (1969)
Metalheadgamer1970 on
Those were Hard Rock songs, but I Want You could be considered "Doom Rock" that's for sure.
Claudandus on
I think to answer this question one must first pinpoint what heavy metal is in a nutshell, and what are the lowest common denominators that bands must share to fit under that umbrella. As far as I'm concerned this is a question that's entirely subjective and can be stretched to infinity. Heavy metal to me isn't the invention of a single band or artist, but rather something that grew overtime and was cultivated through different bands and influences until it sprouted as something that was unmistakably "metal".
Inferno on
I remember reading that a music reviewer described a Jimi Hendrix concert in '66 or early '67, prior to "Born To Be Wild," as sounding like "crashing heavy metal" and some believe that was the first use of the term "heavy metal."
RavenEffect on
With the risk of sound rude, I believe this conversation is kind of saturated and overdebated. Heavy Metal wasnt born on a certain song or riff. Its a progression that came all the way since the Classical years.
Nater90 on
I agree to an extent, Some Classical music can be heavy and dark.
But lots of bands heard different things got different influences and it all progressed as you said.
No matter the genre you will always have an offspring into something else because that's what we do as a race to evolve.
StainedMetal on
yah based on what's gone before I'm more a funk metal/hard rock type though a lot a what Sabbath does comes out of free jazz pioneered by Coltrane, Ornette and electric Miles
Cosmoblaze on
The video below has caused many debates on whether it was the true inventor of heavy metal. While Black Sabbath remains takes the credit for being the first bona-fide heavy metal, Sir Lord Baltimore have been in the list too. The bands are not metal but were proto-metal and most of the time they either split after their first/second album with only one or 2 hard rock songs, or they mellow down completely. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXgrmCvtxv8
Metalheadgamer1970 on
I honestly think Sabbath is the first true metal band no matter what, but Priest truly reinvented the genre.
About that Bitter Creek song......it's not really a Metal song to me, in my ears it's more so Psychedelic Hard Rock, or Acid Rock.
calebheney223 on
not really metal, but many guitarists such as Carlos Santana, Paige, Hendrix, EVH, etc inspired many metal guitarists to play guitar