First heavy metal song?

[txteach]

I actually think it might be Helter Skelter by The Beatles. The album was released in early 1968 and that song is heavy. My brother thinks it might be Paranoid by Black Sabbath but wasn't that album 1970?

My other brother believes it's probably a Led Zeppelin song maybe off their first album.

What do you think??

[Mikey]

Pink Floyd's Nile Song came out in '68 and to me it's even seems more metal then Helter Skelter

YouTube - Pink Floyd -The Nile Song

m

[huedell]

This is a question upon a question. Tough call.

First "metal" would need to be defined and THEN you'd have
to attach that definition to a song (and then figure out if there
isn't a song that came out before it too that would also
fit your definition).

Sure, I understand this...in the end...is a game...but
what I'm really doing is just putting in my two cents
that a question like this is way crazy for me---

I've never been good at putting genre labels on any given music
---I mean, I've never even been able to define "metal" really,
so right out of the box I'm left in confusion.

[Mikey]

The definition of metal can't be defined in words ... but everyone knows what it is when they hear it.

[huedell]

The definition of metal can't be defined in words ... but everyone knows what it is when they hear it.

Everyone but me apparently

No, I mean, I get what you're saying if you are saying everyone knows what
THEY THEMSELVES would call "heavy metal",
and I guess that's closer to the truth

----but otherwise the term "heavy metal" is just as fluid as
any other art genre label.

[fallensaviour]

I think I would go with steppen wolfs "born to be wild" also from 68.
But you could also debate this pretty heavily.I mean I think muddy waters or chuck berry could also have been inovaters of modern metal.Those guys had some crazy quitar riffs back in the day way before anybody ever thought about using a quitar the way they did.They called it blues back then.

[palitoy]

Iron Man- Sabbath

[fallensaviour]

The definition of metal can't be defined in words ... but everyone knows what it is when they hear it.

Here you go from wiki;


Heavy metal (often referred to simply as metal) is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in England and the United States.With roots in blues-rock and psychedelic rock, the bands that created heavy metal developed a thick, massive sound, characterized by highly amplified distortion, extended guitar solos, emphatic beats, and overall loudness. Heavy metal lyrics and performance styles are generally associated with masculinity and machismo.

[Mikey]

To me, Born to Be Wild was just regular rock -- or the beginning of hard rock -- not metal

[Werewolf]

Alice Cooper's I'm Eighteen. It was released in October 1970 and preceeded Sabbath's Iron Man (October 1971) by nearly a year.

[thomasjo_2093]

In my opinion it would be Black Sabbath's Balck Sabbath.

John

[livingdead70]

What about kick out the jams MFer by MC5?
I often see it credited as that, not saying its right, but well what do yall think?
trey

[cjefferys]

It's really hard to nail down, definitions of a particular genre are always open to different interpretations. One song commonly referenced as the first heavy metal song is Blue Cheer's cover of "Summertime Blues" from 1968. It does predate a lot of the songs and bands mentioned here and I personally could see the song as loosely falling under the heavy metal genre.

[BlackKnight]

1st Heavy Metal Song I had ever really paid attention too ,.. & Loved was Twisted Sister's " Were not gonna Take it" .

Prior to this song,.. I was kinda way out in left Field with Music,.. nore really paid attention to it that Much. It started the Madness for me anyways...

[Mikey]

The first heavy metal song was when they started calling SOME "hard rock" songs Heavy Metal at the time.

Backtracking don't count