The Story of Heavy Metal in 100 Songs – Part 1: The Classic Era

Heavy Metal! That’s not music, it’s just noise. This is probably what most average pop music listeners have to say about the genre. The rest of the population probably associates the term Heavy Metal with lead and smelting ore in blast furnaces. Being an avid fan of Heavy Metal for well over fifteen years now, I’ve always felt the need to further the cause of this much maligned art form. So when a close friend asked me to try and introduce him to the essence of Metal by recording a collection of my favourite songs to try out, I decided to go one step further and write an accompanying note as well.

In selecting these songs, I have tried to distil the varied styles, artistic elements and sub-genres into a listenable format – as long as there is an open mind and ear for it. The progression moves along the timeline of Heavy Metal development from the Late Sixties into the current Millenium. It is also important to mention that this compilation stays most true to the core Heavy Metal and Hard Rock forms of music and does not transgress into the extreme Death and Nu Metal sub genres. Lastly, this compilation may not include recordings made by the Bands mentioned post 2008; readers may extend their personal inventories as preferred.

Our journey begins with a few songs that are more Classic Rock and Blues – nonetheless important as indicators of artistic elements that would continue to influence the future development of Heavy Metal.

Layla by Derek & the Dominoes is probably one of the single most important examples how an electric guitar riff can make a permanent imprint in the sands of time, long after the band is forgotten. And who better a guitarist than Eric Clapton to play it? Sadly, Eric decided to pursue more ‘Slowhand’ approaches to guitar playing as his years wore on…. Oh, well! Whatever.

Steppenwolf’s Born to be Wild – made famous by the iconic Sixties film Easy Rider, is also the song that first coined the term Heavy Metal. It also introduces us to the most important elements of Metal songwriting and inspiration – freedom and rejection of boundaries to the human spirit.

Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple represent the Classic Metal era with the next two songs.

Immigrant Song is full of searing riffs and rhythm, backed by powerful vocals, as it tells the tales of the Norsemen in their conquering quests of old.

Child in Time shows an early and raw version of Deep Purple, most influential as a band for bringing keyboards into Metal. While the standard format Metal has always had drums, guitars and bass with vocals, Jon Lord (Deep Purple) was among the earliest keyboardists to challenge the assumed right of the guitarists to leading the melodies.

It is also an early example of the Epic song, where each band member’s talent is showcased along the ten minutes of the song, with multiple changes in tempo.

Black Sabbath is considered to be the first true Heavy Metal Band by many fans of the genre.

These four ordinary blokes from Birmingham decided to stick the finger right up the flower children – disinterested in the Hippy movement and convinced that people really weren’t all that brotherly anyway.

Paranoid and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath hold testimony to these strong dark emotions directed at individual and societal bugbears. Notice how these Godfathers of Metal weren’t anywhere close to as heavy in their sound, given the music technology of the era. A good comparison can be made against the song Iron Man with Ozzy Osbourne singing alongside the Irish band Therapy?

Black Sabbath wasn’t really promoting Satanism as much as taking on religious and social dogma. Sabbath still continue to forge ahead with new projects and in the words of Ozzy – I don’t want to change the world, I don’t want the world to change me.

No story of Heavy Metal can ever be told without paying special tribute to Judas Priest. This talented band is probably the only band to have both inspired generations of bands after them many times over, constantly reinventing themselves, yet always true to form.

If ever any band can be defined as exemplifying the pure Heavy Metal sound it has to be the Priest. Over a career spanning three decades, this band has played across the spectrum and is always fondly remembered for the fast scorching numbers it has belted out, getting faster with age.

-          The Ripper – based on Jack the Ripper and showcasing Robert Hanford’s amazing vocal range, even as far back as 1976

-          Victim of Changes – an epic metal song from the Priest’s early repertoire

-          Beyond the Realms of Death – note the soulful lead playing, one of KK Downing’s finest moments

-          Exciter – probably the earliest Speed Metal song, spawning the sub genre a decade later

-          Screaming for Vengeance – essential Priest in the Eighties, note the screaming talent of Halford as he showcases that famous element of Metal- the almighty scream!

-          Freewheel Burning – another Eighties scorcher

-          The Sentinel – one of many famous fantasy theme characters created by Judas Priest; Metal has always been prone to fantasy and its associated imagery same in its songs

-          Painkiller – The defining moment for Judas Priest in the Nineties – pure Heavy Metal – screams, double-bass rhythms, speedy leads and grinding distortion.

Taking a small detour from the journey so far, let us now step back into the Seventies and witness the birth of the Hard Rock genre, with the best band to showcase it to us- AC/DC.

The easiest way to understand the difference between Hard Rock and Heavy Metal is to compare beer and absinthe – shades of lightness or heaviness with dull and sharp edges intertwined, straight up versus mellowed with dilution in various forms. Confused? Try chopping wood with a blunt axe and then use an industrial laser and these metaphorically define the extremes of the spectrum between Hard Rock and Heavy Metal – sheer grit contrasted with technical precision.

Jail Break, originally recorded in 1974, established AC/DC with a reputation for being the quintessential bad boys of Hard Rock, with it’s theme running against the normal rule of law ‘all in the name of liberty’. This band is still recording and performing till date, and the next song sums up what you get when you reach for one of their albums – If You Want Blood, You Got It.

Alongside the Hard Rock movement was another important genre in the making – Punk. Iggy Pop, with one of his early bands of the Seventies – The Stooges – and recorded a defining album in Raw Power. The headlining single off this album– Search and Destroy – gives a strong taste of the raw energy that Punk as a genre put out there, with its blatantly anarchist themes.

As the Eighties began, Motorhead took the stage in Europe with its famous three-member, bass driven, pulsing brand of early Speed Metal. Overkill – from the legendary album of the same name - is possibly the earliest example of double-bass’ drumming with it’s machinegun rhythm foundation that Thrash Metal bands of the later years would build a genre around.

Motorhead was and has always been a hardworking band – playing true its rhythms and touring endlessly in an early era where music- and not videos – defined success. Lemmy Kilmister- lynchpin, bassist and vocalist- even went on record saying that he didn’t like being termed Heavy Metal because the term sounded very droll.

All the same, well past the glory days of Ace of Spades, Motorhead still proved their mettle well over fifteen years later with Burner – extremely fast, wild and played with supreme precision.

(Continued in: The Story of Heavy Metal in 100 Songs – Part 2: The Eighties and Europe)