Written by Guest on 20.09.2009 at 02:53

Blue Cheer and The Kinks invented metal

Blue Cheer rocked, and I agree they were probably the first to play 'metal'.
However the term 'heavy metal' was first coined by rolling stone in reference to Led Zepplin, a kind of next step past rock & roll I guess was the logic and it made sense.

@FlamingCandle: I didn't mean it literally...and it you are taking it literally, then Steppenwolf's Born to be Wild with the lyric 'heavy metal thunder from 1968 should do nicely...

Written by Guest on 26.09.2009 at 19:53

@FlamingCandle: I didn't mean it literally...and it you are taking it literally, then Steppenwolf's Born to be Wild with the lyric 'heavy metal thunder from 1968 should do nicely...

But the heavy metal here doesn't refer to a sound

@Marcel: Yeah, exactly...hence FlamingCandle's post with 'the term 'heavy metal' was first coined by rolling stone in reference to Led Zeppelin'

If you are refering more to the image of metal then that is a little hard to pinpoint, because the image evolved over time, it didn't simply popup somewhere and get called metal. If you look at the transition in the 70s between Sabbath as societies outsiders to Rainbow and then Motorhead. Each band took it a step further for there time until eventually the likes of Slayer, Venom and Metallica showed up. In reference to sound none of them were the inventors, but in terms of image they each played there own part, but to say that one band simply invented the image is narrowminded bullshit.
Yes i was referning to the sound origionally because i don't think that the image really matters.

Obviously Black Sabbath didn't wave their magic wand and create metal out of thin air. Like some of the other posters have mentioned it was a gradual process with other bands before them (and along side them) adding things to heavier styles of rock, thus mutating and changing the music. Music is constantly evolving and it has been from the beginning. Black Sabbath is just the first band that I really consider to be a true metal band. I don't even care about it that much...music is far more fun to listen to than analyze.

I've just been on Rate Your Music and some spastic has put a comment on the Beatles first record saying it was the first heavy metal record, now that's just pushing it.

Yea, I hate that. And when people say they should be on this site. I still don't know why The Doors are on here.

At least the Doors had a certain quality about them, the Beatles were just pop rock, the 60s equilvalent of Take That.

Sabbath, Deep Purple, Led Zep. Anyone of those 70's blues/rock bands.

Written by Haddonfield on 29.09.2009 at 18:53

At least the Doors had a certain quality about them, the Beatles were just pop rock, the 60s equilvalent of Take That.

ahahahah....yes! Didn't they have that song 'whatever I did..I didn't mean it...I just want you back for gooood'?
Yeah that could've easily been a Beatles song...

Black Sabbath. Although I think Judas Priest are the archetypal metal band, and did more to shape the genre, than any other band. Including Sabbath.

Written by Guest on 26.11.2009 at 06:06

Written by Haddonfield on 29.09.2009 at 18:53

At least the Doors had a certain quality about them, the Beatles were just pop rock, the 60s equilvalent of Take That.

ahahahah....yes! Didn't they have that song 'whatever I did..I didn't mean it...I just want you back for gooood'?
Yeah that could've easily been a Beatles song...

Exactly

Written by Haddonfield on 26.11.2009 at 19:15

Written by Guest on 26.11.2009 at 06:06

Written by Haddonfield on 29.09.2009 at 18:53

At least the Doors had a certain quality about them, the Beatles were just pop rock, the 60s equilvalent of Take That.

ahahahah....yes! Didn't they have that song 'whatever I did..I didn't mean it...I just want you back for gooood'?
Yeah that could've easily been a Beatles song...

Exactly

In my personal opinion, the Beatles helped to invent contemporary adult pop rock...

True to an extent, and I consider The Beatles to be rather overrated - but to give them their credit, they did some very experimental stuff too. They weren't only about the well known catchy pop songs, but they also pushed the boundaries at times by tinkering around with other influences.

Also, although I'm not a Beatles fan, I do love the humour of their films A Hard Day's Night and Help!

This debate is entirely subjective. In order to determine which band 'invented' metal, there must first be clear guidelines about what specifically constitutes metal.

If the majority of people believe Sabbath's work to be the first 'real' metal, then logically Sabbath is the first real Metal band.

But the heavy metal here doesn't refer to a sound
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There were a collection of bands during the late 60s and early 70s whose blue collar/ poor upbringings relfected through their music, changing the face of modern rock- i.e. Jethro Tull, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Blue Oyster Cult, etc, etc... No one band invented metal. Honestly, who the hell cares, as long as we have it and respect the pioneers who helped form it!!

David Bowie had some pretty heavy stuff in one of his early albums (forgot the name). Black Sabbath I credit for metal, all those other "pioneers" i credit for Hard rock and only Hard Rock. They don't sound like metal the same way Black Sabbath Does.

Deep Purple simply because the album from 1970 In Rock

I agree with many of you that "metal" was created by Black Sabbath. Also it´s true that in the same period many bands which nowadays we consider them as a "pionner metal bands" born.

I'd say lou reed had a very big influence on metal, especially a lot of techniques metal guitarists use nowadays.

As it has already been mentioned, the question is subjective although bands like Black Sabbath greatly contributed to the evolution of rock music to the early metal. So I don't think metal was invented as such but bands inspired each other, the (then) new ideas got more widespread and "harder" bands started appearing, bands that were founded on those ideas. For all we know, there could have been some smaller bands whose name never got out; that were playing significantly harder music for the time. Not necessarily well-written and quality music (hence the lack of attention) but something closer to what we could consider to be metal in today's world. Just a thought.

Written by whatsacow on 29.04.2010 at 06:02

I'd say lou reed had a very big influence on metal, especially a lot of techniques metal guitarists use nowadays.

I don´t find metal influences in the Lou Reed´s music.......

Written by Guest on 02.05.2010 at 05:36

Judas Priest

That's funny because Halford himself would disagree.

Rob Halford notes: "Black Sabbath absolutely invented heavy metal. I've read a lot of essays and such like about tracing it all back further and further. It's as though these writers want to claim the source, a bit like Dr. Livingstone and the source of the Nile. But as a purist metal musician, I can tell you- it's Black Sabbath."

It has to be Black Sabbath...doesn't it?

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it is. But hey, ask Tony Iommi and he'll just say they're hard-rock, but he doesn't totally reject the "heavy metal" title for the band. Then again, there are very few bands that have "invented" genres that agree that they did.

But really, if you ask the pros, they'll tell you it's Sabbath.

Blue Cheer is credited for being heavy metal pioneers...also, The Kinks were among the first to have a lot of distortion and power chords so The Kinks and Blue Cheer invented heavy metal...Steppenwolf too...sure, you can respond to this and blindly and ignorantly say "no, you fucking idiot! It was Black Sabbath! Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-Black Sabbath!"...whatever...

Music professors with degrees the world over who have studied this shit will argue with you until you're blue in the face that is was Blue Cheer, The Kinks and Steppenwolf...

I don't think there was a band that invented metal. Maybe it's the alcohol inside me talking (if not then it surely is the reason why every second letter I'm typing is not the one I wanted) but let's consider a bit different train of thought:

Let's consider a such hypothetical scenario, when you have a heap of sand. Now in accordance with the purpose of this hypothetical situation you'll pick up one grain of sand and you'll put it somewhere else. Now another grain. And another one. Eventually you'll have moved your original heap to another position (it probably has a different shape as well, but this is irrelevant). Now at which point exactly ceases your original heap to be a heap. And similarly - when will the sand in the second position become a heap?

Now lets apply the same principle (paradox actually) to music. Let's say we have a existing genre (a baseline genre of sorts to which will serve as comprasion) and bands (of course not all, but every once in a while there will be one) will try to bring in new things. Influences, playing styles, techniques, and so on. Every band adds something. Some more, some less; but still something. At one point we'll look back and see that we're something quite different from our baseline genre. It's impossible to say when exactly our new genre started, but all we know is that now we have a new genre.

And now, the requisite of internet - tl;dr. Sorites paradox applied to music.

@Charly546: I think that's what we've finally evolved to in this thread...all the bands that were mentioned all helped to invent metal...there is no one band...each band named by every MSer brought their own unique influence, playing style, technique, and so on like you mentioned...

So, in conclusion really: What band invented metal? Answer: All popularized bands in the metal scene over its history have contributed to inventing metal.

There really was no invention of metal because the idea of its inception was not a cognitive realization. There was no "Eureka! We just invented heavy metal!"