Favourite 60's metal song?
 

A lot of people don't believe in metal in the 60s, which is fine, but there was undeniably a heavy theme arising in many rock songs towards the end of the decade. I've listed as many as I can think of above but feel free guys to point out stuff I missed, I always like discovering new music. Especially experimental stuff like this. :)

Btw this is for songs released in the 60s, not written in the 60s, so no Black Sabbath here (unless there's some early EP or demo recoring I don't know about of course).

Anyone that doesn't say Hendrix kills a puppy

...And that's how metal started:




The definite father of metal, and, for me, the king of metal.

There is no definitive answer to any single artist being responsible for any particular genre TBH. You could argue that classical music such as Wagner was the first real heavy music but it would get us nowhere really.

Jimi Hendrix is covering the Troggs song from the mid 60's so we could say that the original was the first song (as it's certainly heavy for it's time) or what about The Kinks You Really Got Me that many think was the first prototype riff for Metal? or what about the last half of I Want You (She's So Heavy) by The Beatles?

I won't bother choosing any track in particular because Heavy Metal whilst undeniably being inspired by the 60's didn't become a recognised genre until the 70's. It's like asking what was your favourite Punk track from the 60's.

I won't even get started on what the Blues did for Metal!

There can never be an answer to who is responsible for a particular genre or who is the first one who did something. But as we accept Chuck Berry as the father of rock n roll, we could accept Jimi Hendrix as the father of metal. He did with his guitar 90% of the stuff that metal guitarists have ever done. I didn't say that a particular track was responsible, Jimi's performances are responsible.

My journal is focusing on this area a bit at the moment, but you can pick any blues rock and psychedelic rock artist that played a bit on the heavy side and you'll have an answer. What's interesting though, a large percentage of the albums I've put up have a very large Jim Morrison and Doors influence, so the influences are far and wide on metal as we know it. For arguments sake, I'd still say the the debut Black Sabbath album was the first true metal album and I'm only basing that on the A-Side of the record.

I voted for Voodoo Chile, but I don't buy into sweeping generalization like this one. Dave Davies, ( or Jimmy Page depending on who you believe), Keith Richards, Jeff Beck and Robert Fripp, would all be deeply disappointed you left them out. I'm sure I'm forgetting a host of other players as well...like the guys from Blue Cheer and the MC5.

Voted for Steppenwolf as I genuinely enjoy that song more than Voodoo Child.
Love Hendrix too, but not letting romanticism sway my vote...

I voted for Summertime Blues by Blue Cheer--their Vincebus Eruptum album is a blueprint for heavy metal!

Helter Skelter. Just wish Lennon screamed more on the track because it was so satisfying to the ear, very much like Black Francis screaming in the Pixies.

Out of these I would go with "helter skelter". Someone made a good point with the kinks. But as mentioned, sabbath's debut takes the cake. That's the first heavy metal album in my opinion. Sure, there were other heavy songs, but nothing like sabbath. There was definitely a difference. And their debut did come out in 69, so sabbath takes the cake for sure.

Nope. It came out in 1970.

Ah, I got that mixed up with the band forming in 69. It came out in Feburary of 70, close enough.

It might be close, but there has to be a cut-off point.

There was only a two month difference. But I know, it was still
1970. I wasn't being serious. It wouldn't have made the album any better if it came out two months before.

I pointed out the stats of it all. But from a musical perspective I agree with you. What Sabbath were putting out at that time, was more metal than any of the other contenders above.

Without a doubt. You take any one of these songs and then put on the title track of their first album and it'll just blow any of them away. Nobody before Sabbath was doing anything like that. I know a lot of people will say that Sabbath wasn't metal, I would disagree. They weren't just heavy blues rock, I've heard that and Sabbath sounds completely different.

I wasn't saying that Black Sabbath's material was better than the examples above, I was saying that they were really the first bona-fide metal band and had everything that people associate with metal. The other bands above were mostly playing a very loud blues rock, psychedelic or acid rock. Like most bands of the time, Sabbath had a noticeable blues slant but that was balanced out with the components crucial to metal at that time.

I wasnt saying that they were better, either. When I said "blow them away" I meant that they could blow any of those songs away with their darkness and heaviness.