Who Invented Metal?

this video is sponsored by Skillshare go to sk l dot s h / polyphonic 9 to get two months of Skillshare for free there are a few genres quite like metal it's a style of music that's both beloved and hated celebrated and criticized since its birth that spawned dozens of subgenres and movements each more extreme than the last and nowadays metal is ubiquitous it's a staple in many people's lives but where does it all begin it's a difficult question no music exists in a vacuum instead music growth is a slow-moving beast building on years and decades of development but was there a flashpoint is there a single artist a single song you can look at as the branching point where rock split off and became something new something wholly different and something that would reach it's tendrils into the modern world and become a genre unto itself let's take a closer look on the broadest level tracking change in genre is like tracking changing color what is the exact point that red becomes orange this is a topic that's highly debated in music communities and to get to that transition point we need to understand the early history of the genre while many trace the origins of metal to the 1960s rock movement the groundwork for it was laid a generation earlier like so much music metal can trace its earliest roots to the blues in the early 1950s Memphis blues scene musicians began to play with heavier sound in their music artists like Joe Hill Lewis and Pat hare played with heavier and heavier distortion creating an angry sound out of their guitars check out James Cotton's cotton crop blues for an idea of this [Applause] [Music] just like the Louisville Ames Pat hare even had a song called I'm gonna murder my baby foreshadowing the morbid subject matters that would become a staple of metal this distortion then became essential to the surf rock movement coming out of America in the early 1960s while surf rock may seem like an unlikely place for metal origins it provided more use of distortion and notably riffs that used fast picked guitar just check out dick dale's timeless misirlou' which you'll probably recognize if you're a fan of Quentin Tarantino or the Black Eyed Peas and while these influences may have laid the early groundwork metal really started to come about in the late 60s with some of the most famous rock bands of all time these bands usually came out of England and were heavily influenced by the grit of American blues a group like the who played with faster tempos and heavier Distortion you can hear this in 1966 as my generation [Applause] [Music] Just Cause we get around the who were all about pushing their music - louder heavier places and a year after my generation they released I can see for miles one reviewer famously called I can see for miles the heaviest song he had ever heard legend has it the Beatles Paul McCartney read that review and took it as a challenge and so the next year the Beatles released helter skelter a positively thunderous song that's always a pummeling baseline thick distortion and harsh shouted vocals it's no surprise that a lot of people point to it as an early influencer of metal music at the same time Eric Clapton's trio creme were trying their hand at heavier music listen to a song like tales of brave Ulysses for some wild loud psychedelic guitar solo with all due respect to the Beatles cream and the who none really hold the title of the heaviest song of the era in 1967 the psychedelic blues band Blue Cheer recorded a cover of the eddie cochran tune summertime blues that song has been covered a number of times and the who would even go on to cover it themselves but none of these covers were anything like blue cheers their take on that song was deep dark and loud to this day many people consider summertime blues the first real heavy metal song I think one of the standout traits of summertime blues is how deep it is sitting far lower in the audio spectrum than many of its peers this is something that became a key part of metal as evidenced by the genres affinity for drop tuned guitars and five or six string basses blue sheer released that song in 1968 which became a really important year for metal music alongside summertime blues that year saw the release of two more songs often called the first metal song Steppenwolf's born to be wild came out in 1968 and it was a big hit following summertime blues onto the charts that song uses gruff vocals distorted guitar and taps into motorcycle culture an aesthetic that metal would draw from frequently over the next few decades and perhaps most importantly born to be wild feature the line heavy metal Thunder while Steppenwolf weren't using the phrase to describe music it's stuck and people soon started applying it to the up-and-coming genre and that genre found some more staples on June 14 1968 when Iron Butterfly released the 17 minute epic in-a-gadda-da-vida that song with a psychedelic journey driven by heavy bass and thick guitar Doug Ingles vocals on that song are absolutely iconic giving an idea of what's to come in metal wheels and the lyrics hint at walking fantastical lands made more fantastical by the garbling of the intended title in the Garden of Eden what might be more important than the songs released in 1968 is the new bands that were created Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin though you don't often hear Zeppelin described as heavy metal today they were one of the groups that brought the term into the public eye their debut album draws from electric blues but cranks up the volume and tempo a song like communication breakdown is essential to the development of metal as a genre throughout their career Zeppelin would also put together elaborate stage shows and sing about fantasy but the fantasy Zeppelin sang about was often bright and triumphant it was Black Sabbath who tapped into the darker side of fantastical imagery building on a trend set by groups like coven and Black Widow Black Sabbath started to use images of Satanism and witchcraft in their music and then in 1970 Black Sabbath released their debut album and while people may be able to point to earlier dates there's no later date that you could reasonably argue for the birth of heavy metal when Sabbath's self-titled debut hit the scene it showed the world what metal was unlike some other artists who went heavy for individual songs this was an entire album of metal front to back it featured Tony Iommi's thick tritone cords made even darker by his false plastic fingertips that let him bend the strings like no other below this geezer butler doubled Iommi's guitar riffs giving them a darker heavier sound listening to something like wicked world it's easy to hear that this is undoubtedly metal [Music] more than just birthing metal this album also birthed one of metals early subgenres do men over the next few albums Sabbath codified the genre of metal 1970s paranoid was loaded front to back with classic metal songs like war pigs iron man paranoid and fairies where booze [Music] and master of reality laid the groundwork for stoner metal with sweet leaf [Music] alongside Sabbath and Zeppelin there was one more group instrumental to the birth of metal in the late 60s and early 70s deep purple their 1970 album in rock featured Ian Gillian screeching vocals which would go on to influence other giants like Iron Maiden in the second wave of heavy men and throughout the rest of the 70s groups like Judas Priest and Motorhead began to punch their way into the mainstream helping tread new ground for metal and defining the genre thanks to these acts and many more metal found its footing in the 1970s and exploded into popularity growing into the mini headed giant you know and love or hate today as metal developed into its own genre it became clear that every good metal band needed a good logo and the key to any good metal logo is a kick-ass typeface if you want to learn to make your own kick-ass metal font you should check out design your own fonts from paper to screen a Skillshare course by type designer Nataniel gamma Skillshare is an online learning community with over 20,000 classes and design music business and more Premium Membership gives you unlimited access to high-quality courses on a myriad of skills so that means once you've designed your band logo you can teach yourself guitar with Henry Olsen's beginner guitar masterclass and soon enough you'll be ready to take the stage and start your own metal career and best of all if you sign up using the link in the description you can get your first two months of Skillshare absolutely free that means unlimited access to more than 20,000 classes so go check it out and start learning today and remember to use the link in the description to show them that I sent you and show your support for my channel and if you do learn to design your own metal fonts shoot them my way I'd love to see what you guys can come up with hey guys thanks so much for watching just want to let you know that there's a sale on at dftba so if you've been meaning to pick up polyphonic merch now is the time you can get free shipping on orders over $50 between November 23rd and 26 so go follow the link in the description and check that out if you want to pick up some cool posters and support the channel too

Channel: Polyphonic

Views: 1,013,993

Rating: 4.8977618 out of 5

Keywords: polyphonic, music, video essay, heavy metal, metal, metal history, heavy metal history, who invented metal, black sabbath, led zeppelin, blue cheer, cream, music history, summertime blues, born to be wild, iron butterfly, deep purple, polyphonic metal

Id: dSIf_KVNsqg

Length: 11min 39sec (699 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 22 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/tabben]

this guy makes quality vids

[u/Horatio-Hufnagel]

His arguments are reasonable, which is way more than I can say for many of these videos. Pleasantly surprised by this one.

[u/wbr799]

This is a really clear and comprehensive explanation!

Also cool to hear Coven and Black Widow being namechecked.

[u/Freysey]

Helter Skelter gets way to much credit.

Also Sgt. Peppers was Beatles influenced by Zappas Freak Out!, which is arguably a better more important album.

Freak Out also had lyrics that werent complete nonsense.