History of Heavy Metal Thread

[Guybrush]

Originally Posted by RezZ

To say instrumental sill, tempo and such makes it more metal is certainly a bit fishy. Take the huge genre of Doom metal bands like Om and Sleep, they are know for a slow tempo and not exactly being virtuosos.

Not sure if you were referring to my matrix example

If you were, then it doesn't actually say that instrumental skill or high tempo is what makes metal. You just record different traits, then you have to figure out yourself what kind of traits you think of as metal. A question then could be when has proto-metal become real heavy metal? Maybe hard rock or eurodance could pop up elsewhere in the tree if you take it far enough.

There must be some core traits that define metal but I can't say right now what they are.

[almauro]

If you want to partake with the Matrix, I suggest breaking down the elements of the two most influential metal bands. IMO they would be Sabbath and Maiden. Sabbath, I would argue, was the first Doom band and really influenced the first wave of slower and heavier bands in the 80's such as Trouble and St Vitus. Then of course there's Maiden, who perfected the classical influences of first wave proto-metal bands such as Deep Purple, Led Zepplin and Queen + Lizzy's dual guitar attack. That would give you a broad range of characteristics to start with.

[Certif1ed]

The characteristics fall into many areas and going down the elemental route is fraught with danger - or at least red herrings - as the Wikipedia article illustrates, albeit unintentionally.

I've set up the "Bands that define metal" thread as a kind of net to try and trap the characteristics. This might take some time, of course - but I'm in no hurry

Obviously, metal is more than Sabbath, Motorhead, Dio and Maiden - there are more modern bands to consider too.

Unless there's compelling evidence to the contrary, I'd suggest Metallica as the ultimate metal defining band - and not because they're my favourites, but because they released 5 genre-redefining albums before going completely crap.

[Unknown Soldier]

Originally Posted by toretorden

Although my phenology idea didn't get too much attention, I quite liked it and know a simple way to do it if people are serious about this. Right now, the thread is a lot of talk but little hands-on stuff if you know what I mean

What you could do is make a matrix where you record different traits. The easiest way to do it is to keep traits binary, but you could have more values for each trait. What I mean is something like ..



0 is the ancestral state of the trait (usually means the trait is lacking) while 1 is the advanced or evolved form.

I just made a quick example and I see already it contains errors there, but disregard that As you see, distorted guitar is the one trait they all have in common here, so that must have branched off quite early. In the similarity matrix, you can see King Crimson and Pig Destroyer (f.ex) have 2 traits in common -> the same value in two traits. King Crimson is more similar to Iron Maiden which it shares 3 traits with.

The above similarity matrix isn't very good but if you add more such variables to the mix, then perhaps you could make something of it. You could make a standard set of variables and have people add 1s and 0s for bands they like or think are important to your dataset.

You would have to identify the important traits of course but you've already discussed quite a few here I guess.

edit :

The similarity matrix can easily be represented visually through a variety of means, for example a phylogenetic tree (once you find an "ancestor" who should have primitive traits) which was my original suggestion.

I really like this matrix idea but I agree with some of the others that this kind of thing only really works with a small amount of bands, because the bigger it gets the less defineable the whole thing becomes. The problem with metal as this thread shows, is that it draws on so many influences that people wouldn`t often suspect, the same I suppose could be said for other types of music such as punk etc.

I think this thread will really define itself when the multitude of HM genres are really defined later on and most will probably root back to Sabbath anyway. There are something like 20 plus genres in HM or perhaps more that I`not really aware of out there and to be honest a lot of the time the differences between them are so subtle.

[mr dave]

while i don't have time for a massive post created to justify my opinion here, i'm thinking Fear Factory deserves a nod in defining post-hair metal / nu-metal before it just meant rap mashed in with hard rock. 'soul of a new machine' and 'demanufacture' are brutal albums. although the credit might have to go to Ministry.

and what about Soundgarden and their take on metal in an alternative rock world? (at least up until Badmotorfinger).

[Certif1ed]

Originally Posted by mr dave

while i don't have time for a massive post created to justify my opinion here, i'm thinking Fear Factory deserves a nod in defining post-hair metal / nu-metal before it just meant rap mashed in with hard rock. 'soul of a new machine' and 'demanufacture' are brutal albums. although the credit might have to go to Ministry.

I think they deserve a nod too - which is why I mentioned them in the "Songs that DEFINE Metal" thread.

Let's try and get FF's historical context via a thread like the others I've tried to set up here, with verifiable links, not general straw-man opinions or confusing terms like "post-hair metal".

Originally Posted by mr dave

and what about Soundgarden and their take on metal in an alternative rock world? (at least up until Badmotorfinger).

What about them?

[Certif1ed]

So let's leave the 1960's behind (except as a reference point) and check out some of the bands that made up the Heavy Metal scene in 1970.

Oh.

There wasn't one.

So we'll have to examine the Hard Rock bands that were around then to find sources for Heavy Metal other than Glam and Black Sabbath.

Whenever I've joined threads on this kind of topic, someone has always mentioned Sir Lord Baltimore and Dust - but I'm just not convinced. This is commonly cited as the best representative of heavy metal from SLB's 1971 debut.



...it's just not, is it?

Yes, there are riffs, and they sound heavy - a bit Sabbath-like in places. But they're not full power chord riffs - the fuzzed guitar is too far back in the mix to get that full metal sound, and probably never would.

It's loud and raucous, but so were Blue Cheer.

The soloing doesn't even hint at phrygian, it's entirely pentatonic a la Clapton/Yardbirds.

Ignoring all my opinionated asides above - who are the next step in the chain in metal evolution? I don't hear this in Priest, Maiden, Saxon, etc.

As far as I can hear, it ends right here - the hard rock sound with busy drumming so obviously rooted in Cream. I can't hear a single contribution to metal's evolution.


Next up for a ripping are Dust, who released their debut in 1971.

It's tough to know which song to post here, because nothing on their debut is what anyone would call heavy metal, yet some of the tunes have metal elements. It's a toss-up between 3 out of the 7 tracks, 2 of which have decidedly hair metal titles; "Chasin' Ladies", "Love Me Hard" and "From a Dry Camel" are the best examples of proto metal - which truthfully, is more than Sir Lord Baltimore can offer.



The verses, of course, let the whole thing down - and it's deeply reminiscent of Led Zeppelin - but it's still a cool track.


This, however, from Todd Rundgren's Nazz, has the metal attitude in the searing riffs ripping through from the Flying V, but sadly stifled beneath that silly psychedelic production;




I just can't help it - most of the really juicy influences come from the late 1960s!

Here's the root of the most demonic side of Heavy Metal;

Surely Black Sabbath had some inspiration from Coven (who had a bass player called Oz Osbourne, as if by some strange co-incidence)?

By some other strange co-incidence, the first track on their debut album of 1969 was entitled "Black Sabbath".




Heh - if you're not familiar with Coven, I'd bet you weren't expecting that!

Their debut "Witchcraft Destroys Minds and Reaps Souls" is packed with exciting Metal-type track titles, but the music is mostly Satanic ritual chanting and, perhaps, disappointingly psychedelic - but I like it - and it's mostly better than "Black Sabbath".

According to Wikipedia, Coven were the first band to use the Inverted Cross - and also the "Devil's Horns" hand salute. Sorry, Ronnie James Dio, you were beaten to it.

Interesting tid-bit - Van Halen stole the title "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge" from this album, and Coven themselves pinched stuff from Pink Floyd's "A Saucerful of Secrets" (as did soooooo many bands back then).

This, from 1974 is a bit more like metal - but still not quite. The strongest link is obviously the strong Satanic lyrics and dark style.




Back to 1969, and this is what Iron Maiden sounded like;




However, I think that Lucifer's Friend sounded very much like the present day Iron Maiden in 1970 - and didn't Helloween write a song call "Ride The Sky"?;



Uncanny, no?


Black masses were unaccountably popular in 1969 - and using "A Saucerful of Secrets" seems to be the chosen method of communicating the ambience of such a ritual;

Here's White Noise's take on it from 1969;




Mort Garson's from 1971;




Pagan Altar's - finally, real metal from 1982 - although you can clearly hear the Hard Rock side more than the metal!




Doom Metal fans may also be interested in Black Widow (1970 - although their debut was released in 1969);




I'm not sure where Jacula fit in (if it does at all), but they were so awesome, I couldn't leave them out



Finally, an interesting band named Pentagram, who didn't get around to releasing their stuff until the 1980s, but were apparently recording in the early 1970s;




More to come from 1970 (and maybe a little before!).

[Certif1ed]

Keeping with the heaviest of the heavy rock bands of 1969-1972, it's quite clear that Heavy Metal is conspicuous only in its absence - but if you've been looking in my "Bands that define Metal" thread, the difference between Hard Rock and Heavy Metal can be quite, shall we say, fuzzy?

You can lay down guidelines, like;

Metal has less swing - it stomps, then have that idea torn to shreds by bands who use the swing but turn it into swagger, like Skid Row, Pantera and even Black Sabbath.

Metal uses tritones - except for the huge number of bands that don't, like Saxon, Motorhead, Guns and Roses, Steel Panther...

Metal uses the phrygian mode - except for the huge number of bands that use the pentatonic, such as the bands I mentioned above, and at least 50% of the NWoBHM

Metal avoids the blues - with a huge number of exceptions... you see where this is going? Good, 'coz I don't!

Metal is not necessarily fast or slow, although, like Heavy Rock, it is heavy.


Defining what metal is can be a tricky proposition - and defining what it isn't is just as laden with pitfalls, especially as some "not metal" bands played some metal songs - e.g. Queen's "Stone Cold Crazy" and "Sheer Heart Attack", Deep Purple's "Black Night" and Led Zeppelin's "Communication Breakdown" (and all the others I can't be bothered to try to rememeber).


So here are 10 of the heaviest songs from 1969-72, and I'm kicking off with a cracker that everyone knows, which appears to be structured similarly to Deep Purple's "Child In Time" (itself stolen from It's A Beautiful Day's "Bombay Calling");



An interesting track from Peacepipe, with its foundations in 1960s heavy psyche, but utterly drenched in heavy metal feedback, and suitably nihilistic lyrics;



Valhalla - not the track I'd have picked from their self-titled debut, but the only one I could find on youtube...



Warhorse from 1970 - listen past the poor quality audio to the great heavy music!




UFO performing "Boogie For George" in 1970. Actually, I think it's pretty awful - but UFO are an important part of the metal timeline, so I've included them to enhance my sense of logic in this collection...




Leafhound from 1971 sounding like a cross between Zep and Sabbath;




...and well worth a listen, I'm adding Spontaneous Combustion as a bonus - the heavy bit starts around 0:55, and, while it's not strictly metal, there's something there in that precision guitar/bass synch riffing and fat bass sound that says metal to me. Even if you don't agree, SC are well worth checking out;



Geronimo, from their 2nd album, released in 1971 - some seriously heavy stuff came out of the German "Krautrock" scene;



More from Germany - the legendary Eloy get really close to the metal Grail, then blow it with those psychedelic blues solos, man;




The Pink Fairies bring on the speed with Teenage Rebel from 1971;




Captain Beyond from 1972;




Australian band Buffalo from 1972 - metal starts to emerge. This is a superb band, IMHO;





...and saving the best for last (again, IMHO), Israeli band Jericho Jones demonstrate how to play in the NWoBHM style 7 years before it was "invented".

Check this out - it's really hard to find anything by this band, so chances are you've never heard them. If this is the case, then they will be a complete revelation;

[Unknown Soldier]

Whenever I think of really heavy early 70`s albums, I think Deep Purple and "In Rock" I think both Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin etc came nowhere close to this for heaviness.

I think the stomping of Pantera to be a good description, their music swaggers along and then stomps and then changes and then the whole process starts again. A Vulgar Display of Power is a great example of this.

[almauro]

Originally Posted by Unknown Soldier

Whenever I think of really heavy early 70`s albums, I think Deep Purple and "In Rock" I think both Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin etc came nowhere close to this for heaviness.

Thanks to Jon Lord's crushing organ. He was the "Fifth Element".