Sure, but there's underground and then there's obscure. Me and my Metal buddies saw Angel Witch play a few times back in the day, but that doesn't mean that we knew of every local Metal band in every Metal scene around the country, nor of every record that was released that could be construed of as Metal. What I do know is that if you were listening to Angel Witch back then there was a good chance that you might have records by AC/DC and Van Halen too.
When I was listening to Metallica, Iron Maiden, Sabbath back in the day everyone knew they are heavy metal. If you went to a record store, that's where you would find them. Saying that they are in the same category as, say, Montrose doesn't sound to me. We'd need to categorize all the other hard rock bands as something else then for me to be able not to laugh.
Heavy Metal, for better or worse, has evolved so that what was deemed Metal back in the early 1970s isn't readily appreciated as Metal now. Tastes and definitions, of all music, changes with time. For example, when Queen's first few albums came out in 1973/74, they were classed as a Heavy Metal band, but would that same definition apply now? Probably not?
Interestingly enough is that Iron Maiden was covering Montrose.. Iron Maiden Space Station #5 (Montrose cover) (1992) (from Best of B-Sides compilation, 2002)
Opening riffs and Theremin on the guitar are completely insane! Montrose Space Station #5, tv appearance, 1973
If tastes and definitions change then we can't definitively say that what is defined as Metal now will be defined as Metal in the future. Maybe in the future Queen's first albums will be called Metal and Metallica's first albums won't. We just don't know. Sound ridiculous? Well maybe if you regarded Queen as metal in '75 what you are proposing would have sounded ridiculous at the time too. So, it becomes a likely temporary situation. Best call what you think of as metal..... Metal For The Time Being.
Kind of a crazy thread - not in terms of the content, which has been debated many times on this forum - but how emotive this topic seems to be. It seems: The term “heavy metal” was in relatively regular use back in the 70s. The genre has developed and splintered into many sub-genres, some of which - unless you follow the journey - do bear little resemblance to their 70s forebears. There is a porous, grey zone on the perimeter between hard rock and heavy metal. Many of those bands, in that grey zone, will have some songs that could be argued as heavy metal and some as hard rock, and will have examples of being referred to as both in the media (incidentally, most of those bands desperately did NOT wish to be tagged as heavy metal, given it is sooo critically stigmatized, with a terminally unhip, almost incel aesthetic). Some of MY favorite music is in that grey zone, hence this topic is interesting. I shall read on!
People seem to be really hung up on this concept that "Well, Band X was called heavy metal in 1974, but they're not now, so the definition has changed". No. The definition did not change. Metal is genre with a clear and obvious sound to anyone who actually listens to it. The term was thrown around and slapped on everything in the 70s that was heavier than Perry Como. I can kind of see why people are still confused and resort to quoting magazine articles from the mid-70s as the ultimate arbiter as to what is and isn't metal. What I don't get is people's refusal to believe that people in the 70s might have got it wrong. Now we have the benefit of hindsight, and ears. We can listen to bands that were labeled metal in the 70s today and realize that, quite obviously, Queen was never a metal band. They were mislabeled. And that's fine. But just because a journalist in 1974 who was hung over and rushing to meet a deadline told you Queen was a metal band doesn't mean you have to cling on to that as the gospel truth to the end of your days. The definition of metal hasn't changed at all. It has certainly expanded to include new genres as they've developed, but at the end of the day, Black Sabbath will always be a metal band and Queen won't. And no, don't bother posting Stone Cold Crazy. Like Helter Skelter, just becuase it's the heaviest thing they've written, it doesn't make it metal.
I know the post you were replying to cited Queen, but the OP was referring to Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, and “classic heavy metal” which he (now) sees as hard rock. For me, those three acts, plus Metallica, are basically the four key heavy metal cornerstones. I can see no world in which they aren’t considered heavy metal. I’m not sure Queen ever really are considered “classic heavy metal”, even if some of their early noises had a progressive/ fantasy metal feel … they were always too diverse and eclectic to be anything other than pomp rock. I’d have Queen’s early stuff in that “grey zone”, together with Deep Purple and many others.
This reminded me of Doc Brown's line in Back to the Future: "There's that word again. Heavy. Why are things so heavy in the future? Is there a problem with the Earth's gravitational pull?"
Necrophagist made Slayer sound like The Partridge Family in comparison, guess they aren't metal anymore either...
Younger bloke started working with me recently. We started to talk music. Him. I like heavy metal. Me. Cool same here. Him. Who do you like? Me. I love bands like Sabbath. Him. They are not metal as blues based. Put me in my place and showed my age! I invited him round and put on a Sleep album which got my credibility back.
Psst, you never lost your credibility; he did, but he gained it back if he can enjoy Sleep. Sleep is the best.
True, but as a kid growing up in the UK in the 70's I never really heard any Heavy Rock / Metal as it wasn't much played on the radio and didn't much get on TOTP. Even though it was hugely popular music it wasn't much on the airwaves. Very much an alternative thing to the mainstream. It wasn't like today where kids growing up can tune into Metal just as easily as any other music, or even the 80's where you had MTV. Unless you had an older brother or sister that was into it, it was pretty much an unknown world. Yes I heard the odd heavy record from time to time but I didn't even know about Black Sabbath until I was 15 or so in '78. When I started getting into heavy music I didn't much differentiate between what folks call Hard Rock and what folks call Heavy Metal because it was all part of that other world to me and presumably to a lot of kids my age who grew up on Glam Rock and Chart Pop music. I always liked the heavier Glam stuff so it was a natural progression, but I wasn't presented with the opportunity sooner. Punk Rock kinda passed me by in the same way. Though obviously this was a only kid's eye view of it.
