Black Sabbath succeeded in synthesizing early rock ‘n roll, hard-edged blues ( Fairies Wear Boots) and the “ Devil’s Interval” with a nightmare and a long line of patrons at a movie theater to see a horror film starring Boris Karloff (incidentally titled Black Sabbath). In the process, they unleashed a sonic revolution. The quartet forged a sound that recalled the clamor of the steel mills ( Iron Man) that dominated landscape of their hometown. What happens when you have a generation come of age in an economically depressed industrial town during an era of lost innocence? Well, Black Sabbath ( Paranoid) happens. That place and time? England’s West Midlands, Birmingham to be exact, in 1968. Just as physicists point to the Big Bang as the origin of our universe, so too can we pinpoint the exact moment and location when heavy metal burst forth onto the scene. 1970 - The Birth of Heavy Metal What is this that stands before me? (Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath) These acts were markedly louder not only in volume, but in weaving of brutally blunt social commentary into their lyrics. What differentiated these acts from their predecessors was technological advances that enabled new heights in sonic disruption (Blue Cheer - Summertime Blues). Drawing inspiration from their blues and rock and roll forebearers, "hard rock" acts, like Cream ( Tales of Brave Ulysses), Led Zeppelin ( Communication Breakdown), and The Jimi Hendrix Experience ( Voodoo Child), provided the soundtrack for a generation increasing disaffected by social injustice and the escalating war in Vietnam. By the latter half of the 1960's, the next generation of "rock stars" began to sow first seeds of protypical Heavy Metal.
Each of these groups contributed to the creation the "rock band" archetype: loud, unpredictable, rebellious, and even dangerous. Vanguard acts, such as The Beatles ( I Wanna Hold Your Hand), The Rolling Stones ( Paint It Black), The Who ( My Generation), and The Kinks ( You Really Got Me), emerged as the "third generation" of rock and roll (behind the blues originators and the Elvis Presely/Little Richard generation). The early half of the decade witnessed an unparalled explosion of popular music. For the sake of brevity, we begin our journey in the 1960's.
Unlike the creation of, well, creation, which (allegedly) only took six days, Heavy Metal took a slightly longer bath in the primordial stew before making it's grand entrance onto the world stage. And while God rested, the devil created Heavy Metal.ġ967 - Before the Storm Lately things don't seem the same. (Jimi Hendrix Experience - Purple Haze) And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done.
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