Okay, so yesterday a very attractive early to mid twenties woman walks into the building I am supposedly safeguarding wearing a Pantera shirt. (I wasn't looking at that part of her anatomy....well maybe a little) I've seen her before and she's always wearing some kind of metal band t-shirt. I said to her "So you're a metal-head" to which she replied "Yea I am" I said "Whenever I see you, you're always wearing a metal shirt, last time it was.....I was dumbfounded. She bailed me out by saying "It was probably Slipknot" I told her "I am an old school metal-head, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath" to which she said "I like them too." She then went on her way. But this got me to thinking, man I really couldn't come up with any more "Old School" metal bands. With the exception (maybe) of Black Sabbath, what and when did the term "Heavy Metal" really come into existence? I know Steppenwolf supposedly coined the phrase but you can't consider them heavy-metal. And really, let's face it Deep Purple weren't heavy-metal. Back then I guess it was called "Hard Rock" I punched up a search for heavy metal albums from 1972/73 and these were the results. Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Budgie, Jimi Hendrix, Alice Coope. Then from 73 the first five were Black Sabbath, Budgie, Led Zeppelin, Alice Cooper, Deep Purple. I never have considered Led Zeppelin, Alice Cooper, Budgie or Hendrix "Heavy-Metal." When you think about it maybe the first real "heavy-metal"album is Blue Cheer's Vincebus Eruptum. After that it seems like it all falls back to the term "Hard Rock" Now don't get me wrong every Slipknot, Korn, Tool, Metallica, A Perfect Circle...this goes on to infinity, owes a huge debt to the MC5, Deep Purple, Budgie, Led Zeppelin, Hendrix, but of course all these "new" metal bands crawl and hide and say "mommy tell me when it's over" compared to The Stooges Raw Power, to which no new metal bands have compared to James Willamson's guitar riff-age.It's a shame that Pantera t-shirt girl and her ilk will never hear Iggy, The Mc5, Blue Cheer, and just know the "hits" of the other mentioned bands. You know I don't post a lot of that new metal here cause personally I think it sucks. So now to the point that leads me to this editorial, Honey (with the Pantera shirt) I know you'll never see this (shit do 20 to 30's even know what a blog is?) so when you and your boyfriend are getting ready to slam on Saturday night, might I suggest that maybe you put Funhouse on. Then when you get to be my age and you want to enjoy the events of a Saturday night might I also suggest you put on (along with your thong) the above Mr. Scaggs. GOD I'M OLD, I HAVE BECOME THE PERRY COMO OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY. See scans
GOT TO HAVE A JONES FOR THIS A JONES FOR THAT
THERE WAS A TIME I WAS LOWDOWN FOR ACTION AND NOW I KNOW I WAS MISSING THE BOAT
Terms change meanings over time. I recently saw the Left Banke referred to as an "Indie" band. Anyway...1972 or so...I'd have called Blue Oyster Cult a heavy metal band. Uriah Heap. Led Zeppelin. Atomic Rooster. The line between "hard rock" and "heavy metal" was blurry. Some if it was who you WANTED to be. If you wanted to be the Rolling Stones (like Aerosmith or the J. Geils Band...) you were probably "hard rock." If you wanted to be Black Sabbath, you were Heavy Metal. "Glam rock" was sort of in-between, too, as American boys didn't take to the make-up except in certain markets (L.A., NY, Philly...) Also: teen tribalism...it's normal to me to listen to variety...today I had Eric B & Rakim, Pato Banton, and Ezra Furman on the box...but back then...not so much. My gang had a certain music we listened to, we were more in the box than outside of the box. Then punk came along, dumped the box out and kicked the contents all over the room.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up in England, the bands that emerged in the late 60's - Zeppelin, Sabbath, Deep Purple - were commonly referred to as 'Heavy Rock'. My memory is that the term 'Heavy Metal' originated in the USA and I initially associated it with bands like Grand Funk Railroad, Aerosmith and Iron Butterfly. Beyond 1970, if there was a dividing line between the two, it soon became blurred.
ReplyDeleteYou think you're old? I had to look up "getting ready to slam" to figure out if it was a sexual or a drug reference.
ReplyDeleteRegards, Dave.