OT: Happy International Day of Heavy Metal
- Thread starter BIGRUBIGDBIGredmachine
- Start date
An often overlooked, very early Heavy Metal type band Blue Cheer, here covering the great Eddie Cochran tune “Summertime Blues”, I like the original Cochran version much better and will post below:
^^^ Everyone playing an instrument in that clip is just amazing.
The vocalist isn't bad either.
Great match-up with Zep. Moon and Bonham about even, Page the edge on Townshend, Entwistle a slight edge on JPJ. Daltrey is excellent, but no match--nobody really is--with Plant pre-vocal cord surgery c.'74; post surgery, fairly close.
Robert Plant was an outstanding R&B - Rock type singer, but to suggest he is better than other singers from that era is not accurate. First of all, he doesn’t compare to pure soul singers like Otis Redding, David Ruffin, Sam Cook, Marvin Gaye, etc. In rock music, certainly Paul Rodgers, Steve Winwood, Gregg Allman, Bob Seger, Rod Stewart, Joe Cocker, Roger Daltry, Chris Cornell, Van Morrison, Jim Morrison, Elvis Presley and numerous others are in the conversation.
Plant was the best rock vocalist before his vocal cord surgery, nobody had his range.
Robert Plant did great for a High School dropout. One of the best ever.
I once used a sort of VIP port-a-potty after Lars from Metaliica. He was a perfect gentleman.
“I think (Cream) was one of the early Heavy Metal bands probably, without knowing it. Because when we disbanded Cream and we weren’t around anymore, Led Zeppelin filled that void. They became the first kind of official Heavy Metal band. So maybe Cream was forerunner of that,” Eric Clapton said.
rockandrollgarage.com
Jack Bruce (bassist, Cream): "I still don’t take the blame for inventing heavy metal. Hang that one on Led Zeppelin.”
www.loudersound.com
Eric Clapton's opinion on Led Zeppelin
The guitarists Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page were born just a few years apart at the same area in England back in the 40s. Both musicians were hugely influenced by the Blues when they were going and they ended up during different eras being part of The Yardbirds, that was one of the most...
rockandrollgarage.com
How Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Free and more changed the course of music forever
"It was the incredible guitar playing and the violence of the drums that did it for me" - the story of how rock got heavy
www.loudersound.com
In your opinion, what is “Heavy Metal” or “Metal” music? In my opinion, it is basically loud, distorted rock music with an emphasis on heavy rhythm and less emphasis on melody and harmonized sound. All music evolves and comes from an earlier template. I believe what became known as Heavy Metal is directly connected to the hard rock music of the latter 1960s.
that's an odd thing to say...metal is based on power chords, which is by definition, harmonized sound.
to me, metal truly became its own genre when it started breaking ties with blues - some metal bands are still quite rooted in the blues, but not always. based on that demarcation, zeppelin, hendrix, etc., are transformational acts, but are still rooted in the blues. they were heavy, but not metal...and they opened the door for metal is my point. metal can have closer ties to classical music than traditional blues does.
Well I don’t think it’s that odd. I think harmonized sound is connected to the sequence or mixing of major and minor chords. Power chords have a neutral sound because the major/minor third is left out. Songs by Cream, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Jimi Hendrix use power chords. Also I would add that many of the so called “progressive” rock bands of the late 60s , early 70s used classical music influences in their sound (Yes, Moody Blues, Jethro Tull, Procul Harum, Emerson,Lake & Palmer), etc.
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Interested in your opinion on Black Sabbath. While I'm far from a Black Sabbath expert, their first two albums contained what have become classic rock, radio friendly singles (e.g., Paranoid, War Pigs). Master of Reality, their third album seems to be where they became "more metal." James Hetfield has named the brilliant Into The Void as his favorite Metallica song, and Eddie Van Halen named the riff from Into the Void as one of his favorites.
Into the Void has such a sludgy sound that seems to be the blue print for what became the stoner metal genre. I listen to an internet station from Canada called Crucial Velocity that turned me on to a lot of bands--when I look them up, they are mostly deemed "stoner metal." Funny thing, never have been stoned.
Love this part of Into the Void (cued up):
I’m certainly no expert on Heavy Metal music and I think there are too many labels and subgenres in rock music. The beauty of rock music is how diverse it is with so many musical influences incorporated into it. I listened to some of The Black Sabbath album and song you mentioned above. I think the sound is very much connected to that era. It seems to me to be heavier music but yet connected to the blues influence. The vocals are good and there is melody and harmony. This was before punk rock became influential on heavier music. As RUevolution36 pointed out, as Heavy Metal evolved it became more disconnected from the roots of rock music, that’s about the time I started to check out of the real heavy rock scene.
Yes, so many genres of "metal" now. Thrash, metal core, NuMetal, Speed metal, doom, stoner, on and on and on. I dislike labels. As you will see from my posts in the new music thread, while my tastes lean towards heavy music, I love all kinds, especially music with clever lyrics and fine guitar work. One element missing from many metal artists is keyboard/organ. Thus, Deep Purple is special, and sometimes one of my favorite bands, Corrosion of Conformity record tracks with keyboards. One of the reasons I enjoy Springsteen's earlier work is the heavy use of both piano and organ--my father was a professional keyboard musician.
Read up a little bit more on the Master of Reality recording- Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler downtuned their guitar and bass for the heavier sound.
One other interesting thing about Tony Iommi is that he lost his fingertips in an industrial accident when he was young. Ironically, he worked in a real "metal" factory, and he proceeded with prostheses on his fingertips. Great story about how he persevered linked below. Very inspirational--never give up on your dream and pursue your passion and things work out.
Thrash metal is a good description of the Anthrax types, not my cup of tea but again musical beauty is in the ear of the beholder. It's certainly not what I consider as heavy metal from Zep, The Who, VH, Aerosmith, etc. etc.
Anthrax broke so many boundaries and so much new ground. Their collaboration with Pubic Enemy in Bring the Noise opened up another genre of music.
