Blue Cheer - The Origins of "Heavy Metal"

Anyway, I always think bands like Blue Cheer and Truth paved the way for eventually became heavy metal. Then Black Sabbath (and the Zep) took it to the nth degree. JMHO.

I guess the real reason people pick Blue Cheer as the first is because all of these acts premiered at the same time (1968).

 

Oh the who invented the Heavy Metal question? You have about fifty bands who could claim this.

The Kinks "You Really Got Me" sounds more like power pop with some distortion it's nowhere near heavy metal to me. I have my opinion on this regarding Black Sabbath. If you ever listen to "N.I.B" is very similar to Cream "Sunshine of You Love" and last three minutes of "I Want You (She's So Heavy) is basically proto-doom no debating both songs in my opinion.

Of course there others as well but in my opinion Black Sabbath were like the Byrds of folk rock nipping at the heals who were setting the foundation for example Led Zeppelin to name one band but formalized arguably formalized better than anyone.

 

Listen to the Blue Cheer Record Store Day LP that came out in late November 2018 and don't tell me that they weren't original. That is one hell of a brilliant demo that the band recorded to get signed in 1967. Incredible!

 

They actually started in '67 and they played much louder. I would disagree that Led Zeppelin took heavy music beyond, or even close to, what Blue Cheer did. They just were more popular.

 

You had lots of one off bands in the 60’s putting some freaky heaviness onto promo 45’s. Maybe only influential regionally but still valid.

Also have this album by Art (pre-Spooky Tooth) that came out in ‘67. Sabbath was heavily influenced by this, took direct inspiration from them.

 

Actually Mars wrote about a Ford Falcon not motorcycles! There is an interview with him on Youtube talking about it, that it was about his first car a Ford Falcon. But it always will be associated with motorcycles and that does sound cooler lol!

 

I saw Blue Cheer many time during the late 1960's, although they did play some loud hard rock, I don't think they were ever really metal. The term "Heavy Metal" comes from a music writer who described Jimi Hendrix's music as "heavy metal falling from the sky". Although, I never considered Hendrix's music as what we now know as Heavy Metal.

 

Not much thunder from a Falcon unless it had a hole in the muffler. I guess the Falcon Sprint got the little 260 V8 prior to the Mustang.

 

Blue Cheer were an influence on metal of course, and maybe had a song or two that would count, but still had too much blues/acid rock in their sound to count as the first metal band. Sorry kids, that honour still belongs to Sabbath.

 

Isn't half of the first Black Sabbath album blues rock? That said, they played some seriously heavy blues. It would be difficult not to refer to Sabbath's sound as "heavy metal", blues or not. Same as Blue Cheer, but only BC did it first. ;-)

 

Yep.

 

Another Beatles' thread

 

Black Sabbath have gone on record many times to say in their early days they were trying to emulate the sound and music of Cream.

Cream came before Blue Cheer and were often every bit as heavy as the latter:



For the record though, I think Black Sabbath are the first true heavy metal band.

 

Cream were real influential. I remember listening to a 60s dj saying they got the import of the first record at the station. Cream really paved the way. But i still think Blue Cheer are more metal. The odd changes and time signatures. And the hit you over the head steccato feel of their stuff seems metal to me. Steppenwolf i think is another of that day who were metally. But Blue Cheer had a more metal feel than both. I bet Blue Cheer dug Cream.

 

Black Sabbath had many influences, but their blueprint can be traced to the first half of this song:

 

Also, Dickie was often screaming out his vocals and the drummer was bashing the heck out of his kit. Listen to how many times the crash cymbal is hit on Vincebus Eruptum.