The Roots of Metal

We all know that the roots of metal are directly traced back to Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. However, it sometimes isn't that cut and dry. In your opinion, what other bands that may not be as obvious, influenced the early metal sound that Black Sabbath and Judas Priest perfected?

Iron Butterfly and Blue Cheer are my choices

I ws gonna say Blue Cheer too. But also Steppenwolf and The Kinks

Cream and Deep Purple also tend to be mentioned quite often

Alice Cooper and Aerosmith, although, I guess those are pretty obvious!!!!

BLACK WIDOW have been a very important band because they influenced many bands like ANGEL WITCH, WITCHFINDER GENERAL, and many more NWOBHM bands. Also early BLUE OYSTER CULT have been important.

UFO also have been an increible influence of many of the big NWOBHM bands and euro metal bands.

The Yardbirds
Cream
Jimi Hendrix
Steppenwolf
The Doors
Amboy Dukes
Thin Lizzy
Wishbone Ash
Blue Cheer
Blue Oyster Cult

Chuck Berry and The Beatles I think had their moments of "taking it up a knotch" that influenced those coming after....

scottmitchell74 wrote:

Chuck Berry

That's what I was looking for. Gotta throw Jerry Lee Lewis in for showmanship......

The KINKS definitely some metal riffs there....in a punky sort of way.

ALICE COOPER were around in the mid-late 60's but only released their first album in 1969....

BLUE CHEER are a definite as well...fuzzed out RAWK!!!!!!

Johnny Cash

spiritoradio wrote:

Johnny Cash

Um, no!

spectrefate wrote:

scottmitchell74 wrote:

Chuck Berry

That's what I was looking for. Gotta throw Jerry Lee Lewis in for showmanship......

I can agree that Chuck Berry was an influence on some of the early Heavy Metal guitarists. Ted Nugent and Frank Marino both list Chuck Berry as an influence.

people will probably not agree, but the Beatles.

Oh yeah the Beatles have had such a profound influence on the many aspects of the rise of heavy metal both sonically speaking and recording techniques wise. The thing that made heavy metal unique is the sheer volume of it (its still loud when you turn the volume down), it was actually as it said on the label 'Heavy'. But before the Beatles Sgt. Pepper's album from 1967 no one could obtain a big full heavy bottom end sound on the records. Sgt. Pepper's achieved this through many studio production innovations including multi-tracking with a 4 track recorder and then recording all those onto 1 track of another 4 track recorder and doing this over and over thus creating layers and layers of sound. The Sgt. Pepper's album also was released in stereo and caused the rise in popularity of stereo record players thus enhancing volume and sound again. Without these innovative production tecniques on Sgt. Pepper's metal wouldn't be heavy and would of been tinny drums and jangling guitars. But production aside the Beatles hade many menacing and heavy moments such as oft covered proto-metal classic Helter Skelter and I Want You (She's So Heavy) being two famous examples. But not only that The Beatles was the catalyst for alot of the original hard rock/metal musicians getting into music and rock n' roll. I wouldn't be far off saying that Ozzy Osbourne's favourite band is the Beatles.

Beatles. I don't like them but you're right. I collect early (67-72) Hard Rock & proto Metal bands; and there are a whole bunch of them that show clear Beatles influences. I think they were a huge influence on many types of progressive rock bands, including the loud ones.
Clearly a band doesn't need to play Metal to be influential in the genre. Take for example two bands listed on this thread; Blue Cheer and Black Widow. Blue Cheer (in their heyday) really wern't very original. They were a straight Blues band, that cranked their amps up higher than anyone ever had before; but other than that I don't really count them as big contributers to Metal history (being pioneers of volume I guess is contribution enough).
Whether Blue Cheer was an early Metal band is debatable; but Black Widow definitly wasn't. I've got all their stuff and there is hardly a power chord anywhere. They were a prog band that really wern't any louder than the Doors or Arthur Brown (if that). However they did have a unique image; and that image became a big influence on later metal history also. In fact you could almost say that Black Sabbath was a cross between Blue Cheer and Black Widow;(more likely early Zepplin & Black Widow...but it amounts to the same thing). So here you have two bands that were not Metal IMO; but yet both were likely major influences on the evolution of Metal. I think the Beatles made a similar contribution.

Exactly right metal's heterogeneous influences are just as important as its homogeneous influences. Just look at say 3 of the greatest metal albums of the 90's King's X-Dogman, Trouble-Manic Frustration and Soundgarden-Superunknown,both have a prevailing Beatles and late 60's psychedelia influence on them yet are so modern metal for that stage. Without those influences those albums would be know were as good.

Ronnie James Dio and the Prophets + the Elves. Would you agree Ult?

Robert Johnson maybe? If you really want the earliest roots that is. But other than that i would go with Cream, Blue Cheer and Sabbath

GrandNational wrote:

Ronnie James Dio and the Prophets + the Elves. Would you agree Ult?

I don't know that I'd agree with that one. I just don't think Ronnie was too well known until Rainbow. He certainly was a huge influence in metal with Rainbow and Black Sabbath, but with the Prophets, the Elves and Elf, I just don't think his influence was very broad yet.

The Beatles I can agree with. Many of the 70's artists credit the Beatles, and The Stones, as their reason for even picking up a guitar, bass or drums.

candlemass wrote:

spiritoradio wrote:

Johnny Cash

Um, no!

Not in music, but in attitude.

For some reason, I think some Johnny Cash tunes would sound good if Motörhead covered them.

My ex-wife had a CD in which Cash covered songs by Danzig and Soundgarden. There must be some hard rock covers of "Ring of Fire", but I can't think of any. I think it could work!

Yeah Johnny Cash recorded the song '13' which was written for him by Glen Danzig on his American Recordings album from 1994. Danzig then latter covered that song on his Satan' Child album from 1999. The Del-Lords (Ex members of The Dictators) covered Folsom Prison Blues, although that suited them well because they were a country street rock n' roll band opposed to their former bands brand of proto-punk metal.

Leslie West & Mountain. Mississippi Queen, 1970. This song had a huge impact on heavy music in the 70's.

Yeah some say Mountain was america's first heavy metal band.