Was there heavy metal before Black Sabbath?

O

ovenbakedskittles

Bluelighter
Joined
Jul 11, 2014
Messages
516
I was wondering if anybody could name a song or a band that had that heavy metal sound before black sabbath did.

I honestly believe they were the first ones to ever come out with that kind of sound. I try to find something that sounds like it but the only thing that comes close are helter skelter and a bunch of obscure psychedelic bands. But im not sure if those would be considered "metal". Black Sabbath had that dark scary vibe to them that nobody else had.

Usually theres an evolution of a certain kind of music or a progression that leads to a new style
of music but with black sabbath i feel like it was so different and it was more sudden.

Does anyone know of a band or song that had that kind of sound and chord sequence that black sabbath had?
 
Blue Cheer? Cream? Zeppelin?

Can't think of anything with a doom/satanic edge that Sabbath had - everything before them seemed to be just hard / heavy / psychedelic rock.

I'm not super knowledgable on proto-metal but I'm sure someone around here is!
 
not quite metal but there was a time in the 50s this song(you've heard it before) which doesn't have any lyrics and is less than 3 mins long was banned from radio for fear that it may insight a little street carnage and inner city gang warfare



most things i enjoy out of a guitar(power chords, plucking, fanning and reverb/distortion) i can hear within this piece, well done, link
 
i love how this thread goes from metal to sabbath to beatles to pink floyd
sabbath was already before metal
sabbath purple n zeppelin are hard rock

but its all about that seed that grew that tree, or that genetic mutation that started it all
the older, the grainier, the dirtier,. the better
find the deepest roots where it centers from
but then you have to look at culture and the change going on in society

because at some point, you cant listen to something
you need a physical media to actually take a boat to get into someones hear
because there is a ocean between the blues n the British invasion
 
Every artist since rock and roll contributed to heavy metal. I will give Stephenwolf credit for saying "heavy metal". People argue about who started what, but I'll give Deep Purple and even though they want no credit, Led Zeppelin credit for getting things going. They at least helped in the mainstream area.

Countless bands contributed, on both sides of the pond. A lot of psyche bands indirectly contributed also.

stinkfoot, The Nile Song is pretty cool!
 
Last edited:
Sabbath influenced music in general. Sabbath formed Doom Metal which is arguably one of the best subgenres of metal music.
 
Heavy Metal is one of those genres thats very broad as well, so thats not an easily answered question.
 
Being an old fart I'd say "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" by Iron Butterfly from 1968 . From Wikipedia " The song is considered significant in rock history because, together with music by Blue Cheer, Jimi Hendrix, Steppenwolf, and High Tide, it marks the early transition from psychedelic music into heavy metal. In 2009, it was named the 24th-greatest hard rock song of all time by VH1. It is also often regarded as an influence on heavy metal music and being one of the firsts of the genre"
 
Ninja said:
sabbath purple n zeppelin are hard rock
Click to expand...

Nah, Sabbath are metal, Deep Purple is hard rock, Led Zeppelin is almost impossible to categorise.

There is no way I or history will conisder Black Sabbath to not be metal. ;)

Black Sabbath tied it all together, the dark lyrics, heavy downtuned music, occult imagery and general aesthetic. They seemed to crystalise the movement. They are still one of the primary influiences for metal bands. Their track, Black Sabbath, features the good old tritone and set a template for dissonance and "evil" sounding music. This track is still one of the principle influences for metal. For me, Black Sabbath didn't invent metal- but they are the first True Metal band, the first band that played metal and not simply hard rock. Of course there were heavy songs and bands before them, and they were undoubtedly influenced by predecesors, but according to nearly every benchmark, they were the first to really do it.

Easily one of my favorite bands of all time. You cannot get much better than their first five releases.

Of course, bands like Judas Priest, Motorhead, Iron Maiden emerged to take the style elsewhere, and the rise of punk inspired metal musicians to play fast. But I think metal would not be metal without Black Sabbath.

Coven certainly used the aesthetic and have gone on to influence the newish wave of occult rock/doom stuff, like Blood Ceremony, Withcraft, even Ghost.

Music is a bit dark too:
 
Black sabbath had some things going for them to incidentally contribute to their dark sound.

Tony Iommi's finger tips were fucked up in a factory incident causing him to tune his guitar lower so it'd be easier to fret, then Ozzy and Geezer just had an interest in satanic occult style stuff. I think If it weren't for those two factors black sabbath might have just been destined to be another hard rock band.

I really like that Nile song by Floyd, never heard it before but it definitely sounds metal.
 
China Rider said:
not quite metal but there was a time in the 50s this song(you've heard it before) which doesn't have any lyrics and is less than 3 mins long was banned from radio for fear that it may insight a little street carnage and inner city gang warfare



most things i enjoy out of a guitar(power chords, plucking, fanning and reverb/distortion) i can hear within this piece, well done, link
Click to expand...


You couldn't but love that sound! :)

On the topic of tremolos...posting this; as BS did a cover but original is better imo.
 
I always loved that song "fairies wear boots". It has a kind of reggae vibe to it, in a weird way.

I only recently learned that it was directed at skinheads who gave the band grief at some point. Hence "fairies wear boots" :)
Pretty funny.

I'm not much a of a metal guy, but fuck they're powerful.
And 'Paranoid' is one of the greatest rock'n'roll records; i really got into it when i was learning to play electric guitar. It's simplicity is probably overlooked by a lot of people, but therein lies its genius, at least in my opinion.

I saw Sabbath last year, and man - they're still a killer live rock'n'roll band.
Such a great sound, standing ~20 metres in front of those walls of amps, stoned off my nut was wonderfully intense.
 
Fairies Wear Boots is awesome. My favorite track is probably Snowblind or The Writ.
 
Honestly, I had the same question myself just the other week. I mean, all artists site other artists or bands as inspirations or people they learned from. Who they hell inspired the early 70's heavy metal like Black Sabbath, Rainbow, etc? There's some great music, but I can't really see the roots of it leading back anywhere.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top