Garage, Psychedelic and Early Heavy Metal

I personally believe that "heavy metal" music, especially in its early stages, had some origins in garage and psychedelic rock. So I'll start from that point.
Garage rock was a raw form of rock and roll that enjoyed its original period of wide success in the U.S. and Canada from 1963 to 1967 (I would venture to say throughout '67.) Did you know that this was originally known as "punk rock"? It was renamed to "garage rock" to distinguish it from 1970s punk music.

This genre was typified by very low-budget record production; recordings were often made by mostly teenage males in the garages of their suburban homes.
But other bands consisted of professional musicians in their twenties or older.
Though some song themes concerned high school life and lying/cheating girls (or boys), garage rock bands were actually quite diverse in both musical ability and style.
A larger number of these groups produced only regional hits; the vast majority of these bands were commercial failures.
New styles and genres evolved such as Bubblegum and progressive rock, replacing the garage sound. But throughout the 1970s and '80s, interest by record collectors and fans revived this music, continuing into the present with current variations.
Garage rock had been evolving regionally since 1958 ("Jenny Lee" by Jan and Arnie-later to be Jan and Dean-, "Dirty Robber" by The Wailers, and Rumble" by Link Wray are generally considered the first "garage" songs. "I Don't Need You No More" by The Rumbles (1962) was another early prototype.

In 1963 the garage sound made the national charts. Such regional favorites as Paul Revere and TheRaiders, The Kingsmen, The Trashmen, and The Rivieras.

The British Invasion (1964-1966) DID greatly influence the garage band sound; many local American groups began adopting a British Invasion sound; the Invasion also inspired new, very amateurish bands to form. Most garage bands were probably more influenced by the British blues-based groups, such as The Kinks, The Animals, The Yardbirds, and The Rolling Stones (TheBeatles were actually disdained by some of the more purist garage bands.)

This genre is believed to have peaked in 1966 ("Psychotic Reaction" by The Count 5, "Pushin' TooHard" by The Seeds, "Lies" and "One Track Mind" by The Knickerbockers, "Gloria" by The ShadowsOf Knight, "96 Tears" by ? and The Mysterians, "Talk Talk" by The Music Machine, "Dirty Water" by The Standells, "Little Girl" by Syndicate Of Sound, and "Hey Joe" by The Leaves, among others in this year alone), went into a slow decline in late 1967, a few garage records were released in 1968 and '69, with the sound generally disappearing by '68 (some say 1970). In its own time, garrage rock was not identified as such; its name was acquired in the early '70s by record collectors and critics.

Psychedelic Rock (also known as "acid rock")was a style of rock music inspired by or attempting to duplicate the "mind-tripping" experiences brought on by drugs, especially LSD. (Electronic, progressive, and heavy metal evolved from this genre.)

The first musicians to be influenced by drugs were in the jazz (drug references were used in some songs) and folk genres, but the first use of the term "psychedelic" was by the "acid-folk" group, The Holy Modal Rounders in 1964. The first use of the term in ROCK MUSIC is credited to the 13th FloorElevators; the earliest known appearance of this term IN PRINT is credited to their 1966 album, "The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators."

But The Grateful Dead and Pink Floyd had utilized the psychedelic sound as early as 1965; "Sunshine Superman" by Donovan, was one of this genre's first pop singles (and a no. 1 smash!).

Psychedelic rock came to wideapread public attention in this year, 1967, and was typified by abstract lyrics that often described dreams, visions, or hallucinations, modal melodies, longer songs and lengthy instrumental solos, and distortion, reverb, reversed, delayed, phased sounds, and other "trippy" electronic effects. It was truly "music to take your drugs by".

As the Holy Modal Rounders were trail-blazing in psychedelia, a similar band from San Francisco called Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions were influenced by the Byrds and the Beatles, switching from acoustic to electric music. Renaming themselves The Warlocks, they fell in with Ken Kesey's LSD-fuelled Merry Pranksters in Nov. '65. The Warlocks then changed their name to TheGrateful Dead the following month. The Dead played to light shows with pulsing images projected over the group, their sound soon becoming known as "acid rock". Throughout 1966, the San Francisco Sound flourished, making stars of several local bands and bringing fame to the venues they played in. (Ironically, while the Grateful Dead became the leading San Fran band by both local concert-goers and rival bands, gaining a cult following, their records didn't sell as well as those of their peers. The Dead didn't achieve national popularity until around 1969-1970.)

San Francisco was the main focus of the psychedelic music scene, but other American cities also made significant contributions: From Los Angeles came The Byrds, Love, Spirit, The United StatesOf America, and The Doors, among others. New York City gave us The Blues Magoos and Blues Project, among others. Detroit begat The Amboy Dukes. Texas (particularly Austin) gave us Bubble Puppy, Red Krayola, and many others.

Even some well-established groups were influeenced by psychedelic music, such as The Beach Boys (particularly the group's writer/arranger/producer Brian Wilson, who was also influenced by drug use and mental illness. The result was "Pet Sounds", a classic album, "Good Vibrations", and the unfinished "SMiLE", remade by Wilson in 2004.)

Motown, particularly writer/producer Norman Whitfield and new lead singer Dennis Edwards, gave The Temptations an edgier sound with "Cloud Nine", "Runaway Child Running Wild", "Ball Of Confusion(That's What The World Is Today)", and "Psychedelic Shack". "Reflections" by Diana Ross and The Supremes were another Motown example. The Chambers Brothers had the 11-minute long classic, "Time Has Come Today".

"Jefferson Airplane Takes Off" was the first album tocome out of San Francisco during this time; it sold well. As a result, the record industry became interested in the city's music scene.

Across the ocean, the British group Pink Floyd had been developing psychedelic rock with light shows since '65. Cream and the Jimi Hendrix Experience were emerging to the forefront. As in America, several established artisits also joined the psychedelic music scene, including Eric Burden, The Small Faces, some of The Who's work, particularly "I Can See For Miles" and their later album "Tommy".The Rolling Stones' "19th Nervous Breakdown", "Paint It Black", and their album, "TheirSatanic Majesties Request" contained many drug references and psychedelic hints.

And then there were The Beatles; some say they had to play "catch up" with the new sound or risk becoming obsolete if they remained as the "four lovable, safe, wholesome, and clean mop tops". Some say they were already ahead of the game. What I DO know is that this group not only kept up, they SURPASSED the San Francisco Sound.

From the landmark Rubber Soul, there was "The Word", "I'm Looking Through You", "NorwegianWood", and "Girl". Revolver featured "Tomorrow Never Knows", "Yellow Submarine", "Love You To","She Said, She Said", among others. And in this year, 1967, there was the groundbreaking "Strawberry Fields Forever" and yet another landmark album, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts ClubBand" (Many consider this the group's masterpiece. I maintain that this is just one of SEVERAL).

Psychedelic music soon became a worldwide sensation (There was even Mexican psychedelic rock.)

Many of these psychedelic music pioneers gave up the genre by decade's end, however; some returned to basic rock and roll, some evolved into a progressive rock sound (like Yes), while others evolved into a harsher, louder music-heavy metal.

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that became a defined musical style in the 1970s, but its origins are from the late '60s. Rock and blues music are sometimes mixed to create a very heavy drum-and-guitar driven sound, with highly amplified distortion.

The most common line-up consists of a drummer, a bassist, a rhythm guitarist, a lead guitarist, and a singer (who may also play an instrument). Keyboards were popular with the early metal bands, but is less popular today.

But it's all about the guitar, baby! It's the key element of this genre (Riffs, distortion, amplification, complex solos, more sonic power!)

Most vocals vary in style, ranging from almost operatic to gruff and scratchy to outright growls and howls. Seriously.

And crank up that volume! Extreme loudness is also an integral part of heavy metal. (Many of this genre's artists paid a price for it; Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath) has considerable hearing loss, as does Ted Nugent (The Amboy Dukes)and Pete Towshend (of The Who, the group that once held the distinction of "The World's Loudest Band")among many others.

Visuals and images are an important part of this genre; album covers and stage shows are as much a part of the presentation as the music itself.
In reaction to the "peace and love" theme of the hippie culture, heavy metal themes are darkness, evil, power, depression, war, nuclear wipout, anti- political and anti-religious issues.
Sometimes classical or classical-like music is used in this genre.

The term "heavy metal" has been around for a while: it had already been used for centuries in chemistry and metallurgy. An early use of this term in modern culture was used in 1962 by writer William S. Burroughs in his novel,The Soft Machine (There's a character called "Uranian Willy, the Heavy Metal Kid"). In his next novel, Nova Express (1964), the term's used as a metaphor for addictive drugs.

But the first recorded use of heavy metal in a song was the phrase "heavy metal thunder" from Steppenwolf's "Born To Be Wild" (1968). The British group The Move (from Birmingham, England also the home of Led Zeppelin, and Black Sabbath) have claimed that the sound came from their "heavy" guitar riffs. Sandy Pearlman, original producer/manager/songwriter for Blue Oyster Cult, claims to be the first to use the term in 1970.

Early heavy metal evolved from the British blues scene. Groups experimented, wrote new arrangments, or often just speeded things up! The Kinks' "You Really Got Me" has been cited as one of the very first "heavy metal" songs. Blue Cheer's "Summertime Blues" (1968) is considered by some fans and scholars as the first true heavy metal song.
There's The Beatles' "Helter Skelter" and the single "Revolution" (both from '68) which set new standards for this genre (But hey, weren't The Beatles always setting standards?). Jeff Beck's album "Truth" was widely influential and is considered the first heavy metal album.
The first heavy metal bands, such as King Crimson, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, UFO, and of course, Led Zeppelin, are now considered "hard rock" bands by many fans. But sometimes these terms and sounds can overlap.