Let's discuss the evolution of Classic Rock to Heavy Metal. What were the most influential bands and albums?

Every once in a while I'll hear a metal song that reminds me of a specific classic rock band; the first time was was Star One's "Set your controls," it was like Boston meets Styx meets Arjen

The hard rock and the metal in the very beginning were separated by a thin line bands like AC/DC, Deep Purple, Judas Priest, Alice Cooper, Skid Row... were respected and enjoyed by both kinds of fans, the rockers ones and the metalers, IMO the evolution has came later when started to appear all that metal subgenres... power metal, thrash metal, death metal... which are clearly different from hard rock.The inffluences of rock are very different depending the kind of metal that the band plays, f.e: Dream Theater has influences of Rush and Yes and Saratoga has inffluences of Deep Purple so in general I don't think it could exist a hard rock band who would have influenced the whole metal genre... well maybe could be AC/DC... but it's hard to know, each band has their own inffluences.

personnally i think the real turning point in metal was the song 'overkill' by motorhead, thats one of the very first songs using the double bass kicker, a much used tool in metal. that song was some of the roots for thrash metal.

Ye when I listen a double bass drum I know that is metal but the true heavy metal doesn't use double bass drums, well.. Judas Priest in their last era yes but that's an exception, the main difference keep in the guitars and the vocals the bass and the drums are really similar in heavy metal than in hard rock... I'm TALKING ABOUT pure heavy metal: W.A.S.P, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest.... that stuff is very similar to hard rock the evolution comes in thrash, progressive, death, power... that's what makes the difference btw metal and hard rock but the true heavy metal and the hard rock ain't that different

I agree...bands like W.A.S.P., Saxon and even Accept were the bridge between hard rock and Heavy metal...AC/DC's generation was unique and no one could equalise their performances, but they passed on a great legacy which has been well continued by bands as Iron Maiden, Mercyful Fate, and why not...Megadeth

Where would Led Zeppelin fall in this whole equation? I know many people consider then a heavy metal band but they're often referred to as "classic rock" in the mainstream.

For me Led Zeppelin is a progressive rock band and a hard rock band, sometimes in few songs heavy metal, but not all, I see it more similar to Rush or Yes than Judas Priest or Iron Maiden

I think that all the bands back there I mean the one's that most people know , Black sabbath, Deep purple,Judas Priest , Iron Maiden ,AC/DC ,Led Zeppelin ect ect ect , From classic Rock to Heavy metal all of them were influences , all of them ...I mean if you think about it all the genres we have today couldn't come out only of a band or one style , and we are looking at a time were this type of music was something kind of new so I think all of them are important and influencial ...

so I think that each band influence each other and so on and so on to become what it is now ... a big evolution perphaps ...but one thing is for sure that many bands would not have come if it wasn't for other bands ...Great Thread .

=) Of course the bands influence each other metal wouldn't exist without Elvis oh yeah!!! DDD XDD

Yup very true my dear , I mean the influence is so much and well like I was talking to my music apreciation teacher , we were listening to music and talking and she mention that she couldn't believe how so mnay music influence and gave birth to other music , that's the beauty and essence of music ...

and well when some music tries to decline or something happens other comes out of it ..like The New Wave of British Heavy Metal.. and that happens a lot in a lot of genres ...

Firts of all blues are between hard rock and heavy metal, but what you guys say about band Blle Cheer, fav song are "Symmertime Blues" For me its like mix between blus and hard rock, its great

Like some guys mention here bnds Accetp, Judas Priest are mix betwen hard rock and heavy metal, i think in nowdays its hard rock if we take death and black metal and in that time pure heavy metal

But what is Witchfinder General doom or NWOBHM?

There are always long conversations about which band started metal, and which not..
I think it's impossible to just draw the line between metal and hard rock ala Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple...
It's true that the bands like Black Sabbath for example, were the first popular, but I'm sure that there were many other underground and unknown bands before. And metal surely wasn't born during the night or with one specific song.
So it's hard to say when it started.. It may be Elvis, yes.

well I'd say that it started at lighter rock actually, then as rock evolved, it got harder, and was gradually gaining influence from blues, then we get those bands that bordered, Deep Purple, Ritchie Blackmore, Bad Company, Led Zeplin, and by that time metal had been born........

I think metal has its primitive roots in the likes of Sex Pistols, Kiss, Rinbow, Judas Priest (70's), deep purple, Sabbath, Zepplin, Motorhead the list just goes on... All in that era were classed as heavy metal. And by many still are. The music evolved as these musician pushed the boundaries... before eventually... Well ill just leave it at British Steel/Holy Diver/Overkill.

Very few bands who invent a genre of music perfect it on their first album.

I think Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" was the first really metal release.

(Keep in mind its all IMO)

Rock and metal seemed to grow in the fashion of "Who can be louder, faster, darker, heavier" whatever.

Once the distortion of the electric guitar came in, suddenly expiraments were going like crazy to create unique sounds that had never been heard before. With the electric guitar and the Blues and Progressive Blues movement, we began to see bands playing in a style no one would have been accustomed too. Even if distortion wasn't used in many bands, is was the fact that the guitar was having so much use undergoround and in mainstream that bands would go "Hey, what if I play it this way" or "Hey how about you make the amp. sound like this" and blah blah blah.

During the 50's and 60's we look at the Distortion and Blues movements to be sortof branches underneath rock - because the term "rock" had been around for while. Now the term metal (I believe) was first used by Steppenwolf in "Born to Be Wild" which was, when you look at, a very generic use of the term and didn't mean they said "We are a metal band". However the 60's would be the time of exploration the would lead bands to all sorts of directions for how they want to sound.

Black Sabbath was one of the first to make a deep and heavy sound that was unique in the sense that it brought that sound to a world that caught up in a very upbeat, happy cheery, light-toned time in music. I think that as far as publicity goes, Black Sabbath started a foundation of the idea to have a heavier sound music. It just wasn't really thought of before them.


Wow alot to type about here...


Now the 70's brought us more shape to metal and its subgenres. AC/DC gave us traditonal Progessive Blues in more "Rock n Roll style" up-beat in a sense, but more in your face. Led Zep. would also give us a more conglamoration of sounds and instruments used more orchestraic then before, making them sound much a more evolved blues. Black Sabbath continued with their heavy soundbase.

Alice Cooper would take an interesting turn with rock and blues making a straitforward horror song like "Teenage Frankenstein" or a uniqe sounding horror song like "Under My Wheels". Honestly I think Alice Cooper also invented Shock Rock that would be soley his genre until KISS's formation and expiramentation with on-stage performances.

Now here is where I get argued with alot by my fellow metal fans - Who started the Speed metal genre? They claim Iron Maiden, which, I would believe if Motorhead wasn't around. Personaly I think Motorhead took Black Sabbath's heavyness and Punk's speed to create the basis of Speed metal. (However, I also find Motorhead to be a early Thrash metal band, but I feel its important to mention that they were one of the first to add that speed despite the genre contradictions.)

Punk came into play when it became more about "anti" everything. Punk was around in the 60's too, but in the 70's we saw Sex Pistols who really was the driving force of the Punk Scene at that time.




Sheesh, too much to write about... Figure the rest out.

IMO are the most important rock bands Van Halen, Alice Cooper, Kiss and AC/DC. These bands have released many important albums and songs.

Written by Doc G. on 18.05.2006 at 06:08

personnally i think the real turning point in metal was the song 'overkill' by motorhead, thats one of the very first songs using the double bass kicker, a much used tool in metal. that song was some of the roots for thrash metal.

double bass kicking was first used by Led Zeppelin's legendary drummer John Bonham in late 60s.

Let me tell you about my life experience, I'm not a musician, only I love rock and metal since 1956, then I can't tell you about the technical part of the music (I read another great posts with this topic). "In the beginning was rock'n roll" (sorry, just kidding) Cliff Richards, Bill Halley, Elvis.... they were the first "rockers" in history, in 60's came The Beatles to save rock of the "commercial dancing way" and Rolling Stones put the rebel character. Hard rock was the next step, progressive rock, symphonic rock, and then Pink Floyd take it to the highest point of the rock evolution, in that time I listened Cream, Ten Years After, Credence Clearwater Revival, Reo Speedwagon, Jethro Tull, Nazareth, Uriah Heep, Yes, Eric Clapton, Jimmi Hendrix, Rick Wakeman, The Doors, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, etc. Late 70's and 80's brought heavy metal (Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Skid Row, Queensryche, Quiet Riot, Ozzy, Dio, etc. etc.) and mid 80's brought thrash metal (Metallica, Metal Church, Megadeth, Testament, Slayer, Kreator, Destruction, etc.) and death metal (Death, Canibal Corpse, Obituary, Benediction, Suffocation, etc.), finally 90's I found Therion, Dark Tranquillity, Hypocrisy, Amon Amarth, Unleashed, etc. etc. etc.

Written by Prowler84 on 01.09.2006 at 15:17

Written by Doc G. on 18.05.2006 at 06:08

personnally i think the real turning point in metal was the song 'overkill' by motorhead, thats one of the very first songs using the double bass kicker, a much used tool in metal. that song was some of the roots for thrash metal.

double bass kicking was first used by Led Zeppelin's legendary drummer John Bonham in late 60s.

Note: I said ONE of the first songs.
...and strangely enough it was invented by a jazz drummer named Louie Bellson. Made popular by people like Keith Moon, I used to think John Bonham was the first, but if you'll watch DVDs John always has the high hat going, he had the biggest bass drum in the business but he wasnt a double-basser.

In the late '60's/early '70's there were bands like The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Uriah Heep

Then in the late '70's is when Metal really started taking shape by down-toning the blues influences, there were bands like Judas Priest, Hawkwind, Rainbow, AC/DC, KISS, Motorhead

Then it found it's true identity: Accept, Stormwitch, Venom, W.A.S.P. , Manowar , Saxon

Although the influences are there for Heavy Metal from Classic rock i disagree that it is that simple. New ideas different tastes and different influences i think have played much bigger rolls in the development of Heavy Metal. But definately i agree that you do sometimes find a song that just makes you think Zepplin! or Sabbath! or ACDC. Actually i was listening to Testament's The Ritual album, and i was sitting there thinking if Zepplin started 20 years later that is the sound they would have gone for.

I know kiss Scorpions influenced me to listen to ozzy & metallica