A few months back, my buddy Jake made a disparaging comment about the metal genre - a genre that has helped me achieve personal dirtbike landspeed records - and rather than respond with my usual condescending venom and fisticuff challenge, I chose to make him an anthropological audio history of the genre from its supposed roots to its modern day graphic-novel greatness. The following is a
somewhat chronological history, with examples that are either iconic, personal favorites, or whatever I could find on shitty blogs.
Enjoy...and Ave Santana...
(links at the end)
Antecedents
While not in any way metal, it's generally accepted that Link Wray pioneered distorted guitar, power chords and the having of one lung. The Kinks then popularized the noise and made it sexy to pre-teen girls across the ocean who thought Ray Davies really got them now. The Who then gave it balls with walls of Marshall cabs, a guitarist with a giant nose and a drummer who was essentially an exposed nerve ending with a pharmaceutical problem. Whether or not these groups can actually be called metal forefathers is a debate in and of itself, but it’s fairly safe to say they share common DNA at the primordial level.
1.1 Link Wray (Dunn, NC) Rumble (1958)
1.2 The Kinks (London, UK) - Revenge from
Kinks (1964)
1.3 The Who (London, UK) - Heaven and Hell from
Live at Leeds (1970)
See also: Iron Butterfly, Jimi Hendrix, Steppenwolf
Godfathers
The early 70s saw the triumph of electrified blues from beer-soaked drinkholes to American arenas, as well as the refinement of The Riff, the molecular component of most metals on the periodic table, which is, of course, made up of quarks of distortion, hybrid blues modes and the Guitar Solo Face.
1.4 Led Zeppelin (London, UK) - Immigrant Song from
Led Zeppelin III (1970)
1.5 Black Sabbath (Birmingham, UK) - Black Sabbath from
Black Sabbath (1970)
1.6 Blue Oyster Cult (Long Island, NY) - Transmaniacon from
Blue Oyster Cult (1972)
See also: Thin Lizzy, Deep Purple, AC/DC
NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal)
A post-Sabbath permutation from the UK that lionized the working man and made the mustachioed feathered-hair-on-top-mudflap-in-back look attractive to the female species for the first and only time in world history. NWOBHM knobs liked fast bikes, losing teeth, chicks with face fuzz, and family crests.
1.7 Motorhead (London, UK) - Ace of Spades from
Ace of Spades (1980)
1.8 Saxon (Yorkshire, UK) - Stand Up and Be Counted from
Wheels of Steel (1980)
1.9 Iron Maiden (East London, UK) - The Trooper from
Piece of Mind (1983)
See also: Diamond Head, Angel Witch, Grim Reaper
Glam/Pop/Scuzz
A cross-dressing, after-punk permutation from the ‘Merican West Coast that lionized the non-working man. Particularly the non-working man with heroin tracks, alcoholic pores and venereal disease.
1.10 Motley Crue (Los Angeles, CA) - Shout at the Devil from
Shout at the Devil (1983)
1.11 WASP (Los Angeles, CA) - The Flame from
WASP (1984)
1.12 Guns N Roses (Los Angeles, CA) - Welcome to the Jungle (demo)
See also: Ratt, Quiet Riot, Twisted Sister
Thrash
[i]The bigger-better-faster-more ethos of the Me Decade spilled over into the club scene of The Bay Area (originally) and helped spawn what would become a faster-louder-angrier-offensiver version of what was possibly hinted at by earlier English bands like Motorhead. Thrasher tribes grew their bangs to match the rest of their mane and drew designs on their jean jackets, often ripping off the arms for awesome effect. Government-hating was a common theme, as well as moshing, as evidenced by the songs “Caught in a Moshâ€