The first heavy metal band was not Black Sabbath

Most people tend to think that giving birth heavy metal It can be returned to Birmingham EnglandWith the release of their first album Black Sabbath. On my face vinyl the sound of his guitar Tony Iommi Set the chart for what Metal, taking blues basics and adding different textures to make it sound ominous, somber and raw. Then again, maybe metal was around before Iumi started thinking about death chants.

During the 1960s, the counterculture movement also brought its share of dark gangs. Compared to songs about moving to San Francisco and the euphoric sunshine of psychedelia, bands love it The Doors or The Velvet Underground He was really exposing fans to the rough side of life.

Although each of these bands can be described as the originator of metal and its sounds Metal It can clearly be traced back to the Blue Cheer band around the same time. Taking the raw votes of what was coming out of Detroit with them MC5 and the Stoogesthe blu cheer They started as a response to the popular slant rock had taken.

Rather than cater to the mainstream of the time, the band’s debut album was released I will overcome the eruption overflowing with early metal energy. Around the same time Global Health Organization They were breaking into the hard rock scene with their cover “summer blues” to Eddie Cochran. But Blue Cheer’s interpretation is closer to the metal that would be heard a few years later, with its use of guitar fuzz and overwhelming distortion.

When asked about his own tone, guitarist Les Stevens spoke of needing to hear something heavier than he was used to on the radio, telling Metal Evolution, “I’ve always been drawn to a simple key and heavy strings. I’ve tuned my guitar to D since I’ve been playing surf music.” And I loved the thunder-like sound.”

since “summer of love” We already had the “whatever sells is good” mentality, arrival blu cheer It preceded Sabbath by two years, the first time anything this heavy had been heard on the radio. More than their music, Stevens’ guitar style had the same aesthetic that later metal bands were to do, and he continued: “I always thought about how I was going to make my guitar go off like a nuclear bomb. I felt like if I got enough amps, I could approach it.

although blu cheer They remained relatively unknown for most of their career, and the biggest names in heavy rock at the time would listen to them. When asked about its effects, d Jedi Lee from Rush Blue Cheer are considered the true pioneers of heavy music, recalling: “In a way, they were the first heavy metal band, except they didn’t think in metal terms. It was a tumor they were chasing angrily.”

Although Blue Cheer may not have thought of metal as a label, the need to make their sound more distorted and angrier than they expected eventually led to the rise of metal and punk rock, with everyone trying to play louder and faster than those around them. Heavy metal may not have a single true godfather, but Blue Cheer was one of the main innovators of heavy metal.