Brief History of Metal

Brief History of Metal

1967 - Before the Storm

Unlike the creation of, well, creation, which (allegedly) only took six days, Heavy Metal took a slightly longer bath in the primordial stew before making it's grand entrance onto the world stage. For the sake of brevity, we begin our journey in the 1960's.  The early half of the decade witnessed an unparalled explosion of popular music.  Vanguard acts, such as The Beatles (I Wanna Hold Your Hand), The Rolling Stones (Paint It Black), The Who (My Generation), and The Kinks (You Really Got Me), emerged as the "third generation" of rock and roll (behind the blues originators and the Elvis Presely/Little Richard generation).  Each of these groups contributed to the creation the "rock band" archetype: loud, unpredictable, rebellious, and even dangerous.  By the latter half of the 1960's, the next generation of "rock stars" began to sow first seeds of protypical Heavy Metal.  Drawing inspiration from their blues and rock and roll forebearers, "hard rock" acts, like Cream (Tales of Brave Ulysses), Led Zeppelin (Communication Breakdown), and The Jimi Hendrix Experience (Voodoo Child), provided the soundtrack for a generation increasing disaffected by social injustice and the escalating war in Vietnam.  What differentiated these acts from their predecessors was technological advances that enabled new heights in sonic disruption (Blue Cheer - Summertime Blues).  These acts were markedly louder not only in volume, but in weaving of brutally blunt social commentary into their lyrics. Heavy Metal began to take shape...

1970 - The Birth of Heavy Metal

Just as physicists point to the Big Bang as the origin of our universe, so too can we pinpoint the exact moment and location when heavy metal burst forth onto the scene. That place and time?  England’s West Midlands, Birmingham to be exact, in 1968. What happens when you have a generation come of age in an economically depressed industrial town during an era of lost innocence? Well, Black Sabbath (Paranoid) happens. The quartet forged a sound that recalled the clamor of the steel mills (Iron Man) that dominated landscape of their hometown. In the process, they unleashed a sonic revolution. Black Sabbath succeeded in synthesizing early rock ‘n roll, hard-edged blues (Fairies Wear Boots) and the “Devil’s Interval” with a nightmare and a long line of patrons at a movie theater to see a horror film starring Boris Karloff (incidentally titled Black Sabbath). Black Sabbath forged an entirely new and unique musical path, marked by Tony Iommi’s brooding guitar riffs, Geezer Butler’s intelligent lyrics and thundering bass, Bill Ward’s pounding drums, and Ozzy Osbourne’s, well, Ozzy. Sonically, the music was starkly dark and ominous, standing in stark juxtapositon to the “flower power” pop music of contemporary acts. Lyrically, Sabbath openly addressed socially taboo subjects ranging from political corruption (War Pigs) to recreational drug use (Sweet Leaf) to social ostracization (Children of the Grave). Compared to the hard rock acts of the late 1960's, Sabbath's compositions and performances were minimalistic in form and execution. Yet, what they lacked in complexity, Black Sabbath compensated for in terms of power and intensity. Nevertheless, Black Sabbath set the standard as the first proper heavy metal band.

1978 - Hellbent for Leather

With the musical foundation laid by Black Sabbath and Deep Purple, it was only a matter of time before someone synthesized heavy metal into a complete and proper ethos. Enter Judas Priest (Victim of Changes). Like Black Sabbath before them, Judas Priest hailed from Birmingham and sounded every bit the part. Yet, Priest incorporated many of the musical elements pioneered by Deep Purple. The quintet successfully combined the darkness and intensity (Dissident Aggressor) of Black Sabbath with the musicality and complexity (Tyrant) of Deep Purple. Featuring the twin-guitar attack of Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing as well as the unworldly vocal ability of Rob Halford, Judas Priest ushered heavy metal into uncharted territory (Exciter). Capitalizing on their unique talents, Priest ushered in an era of heavy metal that was at once highly rhythmic and melodic that interchanged between breakneck and more reserved tempos (sometimes within one song). However, the lasting legacy of Judas Priest was the introduction of the indelible image of heavy metal: leather and studs. Co-opted from London’s Soho gay club scene, Rob Halford (who is openly gay) incorporated the fashion into Priest’s stage show in the late 1970s. No one could anticipate at the time that the look would become synonymous with heavy metal. Nevertheless, heavy metal now had a look that matched the power and intensity of its sound (Metal Gods).

source:metal.mit.edu