Roots of Metal

[sc00ts]

Lately I've really been getting into a lot of early 70s "proto metal." I've read a million times that three albums appearing in 1970 basically laid the ground work for metal, namely Black Sabbath--Paranoid, Deep Purple--In Rock, and Uriah Heep's self titled debut. I have a real hard time getting into Heep, but Sabbath and Deep Purple are fucking legendary. If you haven't heard the first Lucifer's Friend lp you should search that out too. Relapse just issued a double lp with bonus 7" of early 70s-era Pentagram that is just amazing. It's tough sometimes to sift the hard stuff from the lighter rock, like Dust or Black Widow (both have their moments, particularly Dust, but then lapse into the weakest post-hippy nonsense imaginable). Anyone have any other recommendations along these lines?

[Shevy]

I'd say Black Sabbath definitely influenced more metal bands than any other early band out there. It's unfortunate, since Pentagram had/has/always will have it all over Black Sabbath (Ozzy sucks, Iommi is the most overrated guitarist of all time).

Also, I've always believed that the very core of metal pre-dates the 70's. Namely: The Who, Iron Butterfly, and Jimi Hendrix. It certainly wasn't the Alice Cooper of the 70's, but it's some definite foundation.

Other bands from the early 70's that I feel fed an interest in metal would be bands like: Rush, Free, UFO, Hawkwind, and KISS.

On the topic of Hawkwind...check into some Opal Butterfly. I can't believe Lemmy used to play for these tools. It's practically unlistenable.

[sc00ts]

Hmm, not familiar with Opal Butterfly, but I like (some) Hawkwind quite a bit. They are a very off-or-on band though. The last album they cut with Lemmy still in the band (Warrior on the Edge of Time) is my favorite, if you can get past the longish spoken word cyborg-poetry of Micheal Moorcock (amazing writer, though).

While I can see ASPECTS of what would become metal in dudes like Hendrix, the Who, Zeppelin, etc, it's always seemed a tenuous connection at best. To me, it's like metal's early protagonists just pulled all this different influences from what came before them (Hendrix's use of distortion and virtuosity, the pysch era's penchant for sword-and-sorcery images and longer songs, the Who's attitude, etc). Those aspects separately are not metal, but the combination of them starts an alchemical process that points us in the right direction.

I mean, it's hard to see anyone in the late 60s/early 70s as a progenitor of metal when Sabbath bursts on the scene and is already playing louder and fiercer than half the shit that passes for metal 30 years later.

[Shevy]

I simply look at the 60's as the precursor to it all.

On another off topic, one thing that has saddened me over the years when it comes to metal is the lack of a bluesy sound. Sabbath obviously had a very blues oriented sound...but metal today is very lacking in that department.

I prefer bands that draw influences from several different forms of music, but a lot of these guys (especially when you get into death, black, and goregrind), don't necessarily mix influences, but instead they copy some of the older shit they liked from one genre. I mean, it's pretty sad when "Suffoclone" is a part of one's vocabulary when describing a modern death metal band.

[Nico Mc Brain]

Does Rainbow count? Thier early song Kill the King I think has something of thrash in it.

[Shevy]

Dio's a fag, but he's metal.

[unclemeat]

Dio kicks ass!

Rainbow is some good stuff. Got the whold DP feel to it.

[sc00ts]

Only Rainbow album I have is Long Live Rock n Roll, but it is pretty great imo.

I totally agree with you Shev about the lack of blues influence in modern metal. I think when you look at the late 60s/early 70s though, the blues was a primary influence for a lot of acts, not just metal. You had a lot of legends (John Lee Hooker, Howlin Wolf, etc) being "redescoverd," cutting albums with Canned Heat and the Animals, being covered by Zeppelin and the Yardbirds... It was only natural that bands like Sabbath, Pentagram, and Lucifer's Friend would have similar influences. There were no other pre-existing "metal" acts to draw from.

Fastforward 30+ years... What is the major influence for new bands today? Nothing as straightforward and mundane as the blues. Often not even anything as straightforward as Sabbath, though I could envision someone citing Trouble or Cathedral or Sleep without seeing the essential source.

Danzig is one of the few "newer" bands that show a definite allegiance to blues-based music. He's always been a retro motherfucker though, with his Elvis covers and 50s r & b stylings.

[Shevy]

Sc00ts said:

Fastforward 30+ years... What is the major influence for new bands today? Nothing as straightforward and mundane as the blues.

Depends on how you look at it. A lot of metal bands are influenced solely by older metal bands. Read any review for an underground act, and you're bound to find at least one of these bands as a major influence: Suffocation, Morbid Angel, Carcass, Emporer, Venom, Bathory, Celtic Frost, Slayer, and Testament.

Metal is such an inbred form of music that people can throw around the word "brutal" to describe just about anything. When a band finally does come along that, for example, bases their music around death metal but throws in strong elements of noise and jazz, people shit their pants and proclaim the members "genius".

I'm not saying I don't like the current state of metal. Obviously I wouldn't be running KitF if I didn't. However, metal could definitely stand some progression.

[sc00ts]

I found Sweet--Desolation Boulevard at the Salvation Army for a buck on cassette last night. Really good stuff, sounds kinda like a harder version of T.Rex (they were sort of on the glam side of early metal). Their big "hit" was Ballroom Blitz.

Note: if you like this, avoid the album Level Headed at all costs. They took a marked turn toward Top 40 soft rock on that album and it sounds like a fucking Bee Gees side project.

[sc00ts]

Hey, if you guys are interested in Pentagram, headheritage.com has the complete First Daze Here album available for download. Incidentally, this is a great site to learn about "fringe" music, though it definitely skews toward older stuff. Julian Cope only reviews stuff he loves so take him with a grain of salt, no one gushes the way this guy does. Still, a good read, and the guy definitely knows his shit, even if you don't agree with his tastes.

[Shevy]

Nice. I'll have to check that out when I get out of work.