Metal Reviews

i haven't heard all of those older bands but judging by there sheer heaviness at the time when they came out I don't think its a stretch of the imagination to assume they did.

That's precisely how I see it. I was born in 1982, so I basically missed the whole NWOBHM movement (which ended a good two or so years after my birth). I remember first listening to Blizzard Of Ozz in 2001 and thinking, "That sounds just like what I used to hear on 'Classic Rock Radio' as a kid." And I think Lemmy himself once admitted that he always thought of Motorhead as more "Heavy Blues" than "Heavy Metal" ("Bluesy Punk-Metal" would probably be an accurate term for the band). I don't know whether or not BNR was correct about Aerosmith being considered metal in the 70's. But it wouldn't surprise me if they were, since they were still considerably heavier than most other rock bands at the time. Ditto to Ted Nugent.

To counter that, there's an early 80s documentary featured on Maiden's The Eary Years DVD where they speak to a "heavy metal" fan who claims that fans of such bands don't like that term and prefer it simply to be called "heavy rock" or "rock." So maybe the term metal didn't mean quite the same thing in those days. Or maybe the guy getting interviewed was just a cock. He certainly seemed like one.

KISS
they were considered to be metal back in the 70s. Detroit Rock City is a heavy song compared to everything else back then.

They were?
By who?

Destroyer was released in what? 1976, right?
That year also saw the release of Rainbow Rising, Judas Priest's Sad Wings, Scorpions Virgin Killer, Blue Oyster Cult's Agents Of Fortune, Thin Lizzy's Jailbreak... more to the point: Alice Cooper Goes To Hell, who was obviously an influence as far as theatics are concerned.
And previous to that, there was Sabbath, Deep Purple, etc...
no, Kiss didn't invent heavy metal.

In my view, there were a group of bands in the early 70s that created the bases for heavy metal, bands that have already been mentioned, with Black Sabbath being the most important contributor to this new sound, and the heaviest of them. However, I don't think they composed the first heavy metal song, nor the first metal album. Early Sabbath albums are proto-metal for me, there are metal bits and parts in there but they are not all metal. Imo, the first complete metal album was Sad Wings of Destiny.

Kiss didn't invent anything... Not even Kiss itself which was an invention of their management recycling the outrageous make-ups of glam rock artists such as Alice Cooper or Arthur Brown.

Yeah, I heard about that.
They even went disco (Dynasty) when that was what was marketable, only they missed it by a couple of years, since by then , disco was dying and everywhere you looked people were wearing T-shirts with the words "Disco Sucks" emblazoned across the chest... which it did, of course.

What always amazes me is that some people think that big guitar riffs and 'heavy' rock didn't exist before the mid-70s.

Erm, pardon?

http://www.metalreviews.com/reviews/detail.php3?id=4806 <- that alone, from '69, beats KISS into pulp in the heavy factor.

I remember hearing this a long long time ago... the only thing I can remember is that it was kinda psychedelic and the singer sounded like a cross between Jim Morrison and Jack Bruce...
speaking of which, Cream had a "heavy" sound as did Iron Butterfly, Hendrix, etc.


Interesting article:

http://infernality.blogspot.com/2006/11 ... metal.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIgNCD3nzOg

This is pretty metal.

Ennio Morricone kicks ass.

IMO it's not as much 'big guitar riffs' as much as the classical influence creeping in that defined metal. The above samples are essentially psychedelic rock with some pretty significant distortion .. no more metal than something like Cinnamon Girl.

Yeah, but, as has been fairly consistently agreed upon, it was a progression over many years. Even within the realm of what is today universally known as Metal, there is great diversity; you have Progressive Metal which sounds nothing like Black Metal which sounds nothing like Power Metal which sounds nothing like Funeral Doom which sounds nothing like Thrash...
as for the classical influence; to a certain degree, I can see this, but, that certainly does not hold true for all Metal.
There are many influences coming together when speaking of Metal; Folk, classical, blues, jazz (for prog), etc.

If you are talking the landscape of today, then yes it took a long time. However, we are talking about the invention of heavy metal. And there are certainly many other styles that get incorporated as you have mentioned, but what makes it Metal and not Distorted Jazz with Guitars or Really Heavy Rock? My feeling the common thread is the classical influence.

Examples?

Death? Judas Priest?

Rock/metal songs get their short repetitive structure from the Blues, for sure .. but it gets its rigid symmetrical geometric patterns from classical. Cellos were doing 'palm muting' riffs long before electric guitars.

There may be some (vaguely) classical influence in Priest, but I hear just as much of their arrangements structured around the blues scales.

And the song Black Sabbath, NIB, Under The Sun, Electric Funeral, Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath, A National Acrobat, Cornucopia, Fairies Wear Boots, War Pigs, Children of The Grave, ... on and on... these are no nearer to the blues than Priest, and just as loosely classically based... the thing with Sabbath is, they didn't really lock themselves into any single classification; No two albums sound remotely alike, though they still are unmistakably Sabbath.

Nahhh, if, IF, any one band can be credited with the birth of Heavy Metal, it has to be Sabbath.

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." [18]

Even The Metal God himself states unequivocavly that it was Sabbath.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditiona ... 27s_issues

i think people are forgetting

the kinks girl you really got me and how helter skelter was important to the whole metal thing

i believe what sets metal apart from evrythin else is not quite the classical influence but seperating itself from blues and going into darker territories