This. Although I do tend to think the Beatles were at least an unconscious influence on everything that came after them. Although the Fab Four were certainly not the first heavy metal BAND, I do consider Helter Skelter to be the first heavy metal SONG.

Bump


Dom just linked this thread in another thread. Scrolled through to see if anybody mentioned Blue Cheer as a contender.

For me Sabbath was the first heavy metal.
Saw them in '72 as a teenager. Most memorable concert ever.

The first heavy metal song was Satisfaction. Nothing before that sounded anything like it. And no song before that made you feel that way when you listened to it.

The blues make you feel a little better about being sad.

Rock makes you feel like you aren't alone when you don't feel the way your parents seem to feel.

Heavy metal makes you realize that what you've actually been feeling this whole time is anger. The first song to do that is Satisfaction.

So in my opinion, Keef invented heavy metal.

Satisfaction is a great song, but it was after You Really Got Me, which has a similar guitar sound.

I don't see how it's not You Really Got Me.

Lol you guys for thinking either Satisfaction or You Really Got Me are even remotely "heavy metal."

But more importantly, trying to find the first heavy metal song seems like a futile endeavor. I'm not familiar with many of the classic rock bands of those times (all of which could be contenders here), but Black Sabbath is obviously metal, while Zeppelin, Stones, etc. are obviously rock. AC/DC probably rock too.

ETA: I think Irieguy hit the nail on the head with bringing up emotions. Anger is a good core metal one, but there can be exceptions too. But "happy" probably doesn't count, and I think most rock makes me feel "happy."

Nominating those for hard rock, not heavy metal. Try to pay attention.

I thought I was paying attention well enough. What am I missing here...

Well, I don't know what that other guy was thinking, but I am several other posters were going by the title of thread and the OP, which both mention two different questions.

Hard rock goes back a lot further than these. What about Link Wray?

EDIT just saw this post, well played!

...And Justice For All vs. The Black Album

As an impressionable youth, I remember being so pissed when Metallica put out a video for One after they'd said they were never going to sell out and make videos -- this was the word on the street anyway, I have no idea whether its actually true.... But I still harbor bitter irrational resentment toward Metallica to this day. Not so much for making that video, as it was still metal and it was so damn good. But because afterwards they softened up and went hard rock with their next album. Most people probably consider Metallica a metal band, but once they put out Enter Sandman, with its less frenetic pace and emphasis on a thick as opposed to thrash sound, they officially jumped the line, imo.

People say that Nirvana killed metal. And I won't argue that. But the Black Album definitely put the bullets in the gun.

First metal band was Sabbath. First metal song, I have no idea.

I'd say Black Sabbath also. I'm sure others could put the reasons into better words than I have time for now but there's something about them that's very distinct from the harder versions of rock n' roll prior to that point.

Plenty of good arguments for earlier bands/songs that had most general characteristics and there was a transition happening for a few years...but if I had to draw a line it would be with Sabbath. Their sound had lots of other roots but was metal first and foremost, instead of the other way around.

I would...I think the classic metal period had already peaked just before GNR hit in 1988 (their record came out in '87 but exploded the next year).

From '85-'87 you had at least one flagship classic by each the Big 4, plus a good Maiden record, Napalm Death's Scum and just countless others. There are definitely still strong efforts beyond this point & certainly most of those bands had more commercial success later too, but I think it peaked in that short span.

What Nirvana (along with the whole Seattle band scene) did kill was the hair bands. They had already jumped the shark but were still going somewhat strong at the beginning of the school year in 1991. By summer vacation it was dead and pretty much everybody had a different wardrobe.

Metallica and GNR were huge at that point too, but they were putting out crap by then. November Rain, Sad But True type stuff that was way bigger with the jr high/freshman aged kids and others that had missed the boat.

Didn't read the entire thread, but to me the difference between hard rock and heavy metal lies in tonality, with hard rock still being quite obviously blues based and heavy metal being influenced more by dramatic classical music.

Rhythmically it is somewhat similar, hard rock can still have a bluesy shuffle whereas that's highly inappropriate in heavy metal.

Good point, Minirra. Metal had definitely been in decline for a while, but it was still kicking and screaming -- Megadeth put out arguably their best album in 1990 (Rust in Peace), Persistence of Time was big, Seasons in the Abyss... metal wasn't at its peak when the Black Album and Nevermind dropped, but it was going fairly strong. But God, you're so right about GNR -- they had such a great raunchy sound yet my mom still liked them. Then they went all November Rain on my ass, and I couldn't take anymore.

I guess I'll change my statement to: Nirvana killed hair metal, but Metallica killed heavy metal*. Pretty crazy to think that those two albums were released in consecutive months in the summer before my senior year of high school. It really was a shifting landscape of music that I don't think has happened since.

* Hair metal, RIP. Heavy metal, of course, not being at all dead but still thriving with great old bands like Testament and Maiden churning out top-quality records to this day, not to mention a bunch of entirely new sounds which I'm not up on at all. I say "killed" heavy metal, though, because it not only made it okay for a thrash band to explore downbeat tempos and more straightforward sounds, but it also changed public perception of what "heavy metal" was, it brought metal to the mainstream, and once that happened you got the procession of inferior candy bands capitalizing on Metallica's success. I still note 1991 as the line of demarcation though because it became obvious at that point that things were never going to be the same.

I don't think anyone would call it "heavy metal" but there is a TON of awesome metal being put out these days, in all kinds of sub-genres. Mastodon, Baroness, Kylesa, etc.

This is an interesting distinction.

Except that it would make Queen heavy metal. Don't they have to be the (mostly) hard rock band with the most classical / opera influences ever?

I never forgave Metallica for the Napster Crap. And I still was a fan of the black album but never bought another Metallica album after that

I was living in Europe and saw Uriah Heep perform in 1971. They were the first heavy metal band I saw.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_metal_music

Early 70's bands like Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, ACDC, Judas Priest and Led Zeppelin were hard rock. Heavy metal did not really exist until the "New Wave Of British Metal" happened in the late 70's early 80's. This is when bands like Iron Maiden, (heavier) Judas Priest, Venom, Motor Head, and Diamond Head came out of England. Once these bands invented Heavy Metal. Black Sabbath was their influence and rightfully credited as being the first. Deep Purple was a huge influence too. Though I don't think Sabbath or DP ever considered themselves "heavy metal". As far as I know the term "Heavy Metal" was not in regular use until the very late 70's or even 1980.

To this day, MotorHead still does not consider themselves heavy metal, just hard rock. Though I would suspect the Ace of Spades is likely the 1st song that was truly heavy metal and called heavy metal. A lot of the hard rock written before was reclassified as metal later.

The NWOBM influenced young american bands like Metallica, Exodus, Slayer and Anthrax. These band accidentally created Thrash Metal when they combined heavy metal with punk rock. Megadeath was a few years later due to Dave Mustain being an original member of Metallica.

It was called The New Wave of British Heavy Metal, and the "new" in there kinda implies that there already existed a form of it, don't you think?

While I disagree with his post, I'd answer your question with "not necessarily," since we're talking about what we would call heavy metal today, which might be (and probably is) different from what it was called back then. Just a thought.