Name-dropping of Heavy Metal Influences

[Immolation]

Jimmi Hendrix. Led Zeppelin. Cream. Deep Purple. Some of the names that are often quoted as the "founding fathers" of heavy metal, even if they may not necessarily have had anything to do with metal. Just how important are these names (and other common so called "founders") to metal, musicwise?

[▓]

Well, Hendrix and Clapton were around at that time when guitar technicality became fetishised. For a couple of decades "good" and "popular" music both equalled whichever guitarist could play with most flair at the time. Metal, for a period relied upon such guitar technicality as its raison d'etre.

These ideas have grown apart over time and links now revolve only around this chance intersection at one point in history. Again, much too much is made over this bland & uninteresting moment in history. But the baby-boomers will start dying in great numbers soon so maybe then we'll start to hear less about the "uniqueness" of the 1960's and perspective will be restored.

[born for banning]

Jimmy Hendrix. Led Zeppelin. Cream. Deep Purple. Some of the names that are often quoted as the "founding fathers" of heavy metal, even if they may not necessarily have had anything to do with metal.

Rock and roll music does not attract society's success stories. It attracts people who lacking a way to accomplish anything real, find a medium for achieving popularity and make that their goal. It's like a parallel reality, except the only reason it's real is that millions fall for it with their $$$ and time.

These same people are motivated by revenge toward metal, which broke away from rock and created its own movement. So they will do anything possible, and everything possible, to try to make it seem like rock music, or it will signal that their false elitism game is up.

[Immolation]

Rock and roll music does not attract society's success stories.

But who is the universal success story that metal has to its claim? While metal may have the most intelligent artistes of our time, the means that they chose to pursue the art led to them being alienated, meaning that the vast majority of people will never know they existed, or understand their concepts. Wouldn't it have been better to write a book?

[More Celt Than Sassenach]

Rock and roll music does not attract society's success stories. It attracts people who lacking a way to accomplish anything real, find a medium for achieving popularity and make that their goal. It's like a parallel reality, except the only reason it's real is that millions fall for it with their $$$ and time.

These same people are motivated by revenge toward metal, which broke away from rock and created its own movement. So they will do anything possible, and everything possible, to try to make it seem like rock music, or it will signal that their false elitism game is up.

Well i agree this is true about a lot of rock music it does not mean that that is an inherent quality of rock music. I love rock music, the doors, jimi hendrix, pink floyd, king crimson, led zeppelin. These bands are great artistic endeavours and are motivated by more then just cash.

[we hope you die]

Two words, Black Sabbath. If you look at how Sabbath fit with these other bands in terms of influence you will see just how much influence these bands had on the future of metal.

[tovarish]

Two words, Black Sabbath. If you look at how Sabbath fit with these other bands in terms of influence you will see just how much influence these bands had on the future of metal.

I have to agree.  At the time Black Sabbath and maybe Motorhead were the hardest bands around.

As far as Led Zeppelin goes...  They used the term heavy not to describe their sound, but their lyrical content.  Think of the bohemian term "heavy."

[oscar the cat]

Two words, Black Sabbath. If you look at how Sabbath fit with these other bands in terms of influence you will see just how much influence these bands had on the future of metal.

Black Sabbath doesn't sound anything like that shit!

[we hope you die]

And that my friend, is exactly my point.

[tovarish]

I think this is just another case of the term metal being misused.  Sure Sabbath's lyrical content toyed with some ideas like war, the occult, and so forth, but the music was/is a blues-rock hybrid.  I think Sabbath paved the way for more contemporary "metal" bands like metallica or megadeth...  

The importance of these names influences popular music more than they influence metal...  

[we hope you die]

No, Sabbath introduced a completely new sound as well, their style of slow droning chords had never been to used the same extreme before they did. On the first album there was a still a heavy blues influence, but then you get tracks like Black Sabbath, War Pigs, Electoric funeral, and into the Void, all with much louder guitars than bands before, and a much more droning morbid feel to them, and thats without even mentionning the lyrics.

[Vajra]

Not only that, but as far as the structure of the songs you mention go, they are as to Cream what At The Gates is to Trivium.

[we hope you die]

Cream and Jimi Hendrix were more about riffs and solos. With Black Sabbath, yes there were riffs and solos, but there was also mood, there was far more atmosphere added, which meant it supervened mere party music. Led Zepplin, despite being in the same field, never really escaped the blues rock style, and the lyrics always bored me.  

[Vajra]

They were more about the riff, the party starting hook. Sabbath were more about riffs and aesthetic intertwined to a high level so to create the dense mood that their music had.

[beyond_godlike]

What about singing style? As far as i'm aware, Ozzy used a new singing style than used before. A kind of scary voice. It led to metal singing styles later. He also used those screams in songs to add ambiance. It reminds me of more ambientish black metal bands' singing techniques, except black metal singers distort their voices. I'm not saying Ozzy was a good singer however. Just saying that to avoid that discussion. I think he has a horrible voice, but he did have a few good ideas.