Who Invented Heavy Metal?

[ace00]

Wasn't it the Osmonds?

Oooh good one - crazy horses

The Sabbath have that beat by at least 2 years.

[NotAllThere]

Most of these bands are from Birmingham or the surrounding area.
It really is a fascinating episode in musical history (to me anyway).

Heavy industry died, giving birth to heavy metal. Does that mean when the service industry dies we'll get some kind of weird "service metal".

[VectraMan]

I seem to remember hearing the first use of the phrase "heavy metal" was a journalist writing about Jimi Hendrix.

But I'd agree that Black Sabbath were the biggest influence on all the "heavy metal" nonense that followed. Led Zep were never heavy metal, and neither were Deep Purple.

[DaveB]

Long running discussion point this.
IMO it's Black Sabbath. Remember we're talking METAL not ROCK.

The earliest incarnation was bands like Iron Butterfly ( In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida ) Steppenwolf ( Steppenwolf, specifically Born to be Wild ) and The Jeff Beck Group ( Truth ). They were all playing what was essentially Heavy Metal in all but name in 1968/9 . Led Zep's debut in '79 led to their 2nd album that year and the single Whole Lotta Love - arguably the first Heavy Metal chart hit.

Sabbath didnt arrive on the scene untill 1970 along with Deep Purple. 1970 also saw albums from Uriah Heap, UFO and Black Widow that all featured a classic Heavy sound, and all of which were a huge influence on Metal bands in the years immediately afterwards.

Whoever it was, imo it wasn't Sabbath.

[minestrone]

'Born to be wild' by Steppenwolf was the first use of the term in music but I do agree it just evolved.

[Sysman]

Heavy industry died, giving birth to heavy metal. Does that mean when the service industry dies we'll get some kind of weird "service metal".

“service plastic"

[expat]

The earliest incarnation was bands like Iron Butterfly ( In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida ) Steppenwolf ( Steppenwolf, specifically Born to be Wild ) and The Jeff Beck Group ( Truth ). They were all playing what was essentially Heavy Metal in all but name in 1968/9 . Led Zep's debut in '79 led to their 2nd album that year and the single Whole Lotta Love - arguably the first Heavy Metal chart hit.

Sabbath didnt arrive on the scene untill 1970 along with Deep Purple. 1970 also saw albums from Uriah Heap, UFO and Black Widow that all featured a classic Heavy sound, and all of which were a huge influence on Metal bands in the years immediately afterwards.

Whoever it was, imo it wasn't Sabbath.

Most of what you mention is arguably Heavy Rock but not Heavy Metal IMHO. Sometime the distinction seems good to me, sometimes it doesn't. I think the litmus test is, would the word "thrashing" come to mind?

BTW Deep Purple's Hush from 1968 (not 1970) is definitely in there. I would put the Kinks' You Really Got Me in there musically, but curiously I don't think any of us saw that at the time so in terms of a musical movement or genre it kind of doesn't do it.

[DaveB]

Most of what you mention is arguably Heavy Rock but not Heavy Metal IMHO. Sometime the distinction seems good to me, sometimes it doesn't. I think the litmus test is, would the word "thrashing" come to mind?

BTW Deep Purple's Hush from 1968 (not 1970) is definitely in there. I would put the Kinks' You Really Got Me in there musically, but curiously I don't think any of us saw that at the time so in terms of a musical movement or genre it kind of doesn't do it.

I wouldnt say thrashing applied to any of those, including Sabbath. That didnt arrive till later with Metallica, Megadeath and Anthrax, among others.

A heavy rythmic sound based on distortion, power chords, a solid drum sound and heavy bass is what makes Heavy Metal what it is.

[NotAllThere]

“service plastic"

Groovy...

[DaveB]

Groovy...

Badly produced, low quality, flimsy and untimately dissapointing and a waste of money.