Is The Beatles 'Helter Skelter' considered Metal?

[MIB41]

With Helter Skelter the Beatles definitely examined the pace of a song by trying to sustain a frantic level to reflect the lyrics and intended meaning, then closed it with the classic line " I have blisters on my fingers", referencing the end result of playing those chords so hard for so long. It's easy to see why someone like Ozzy would tap into that energy and make it a style onto itself. But I don't like to ever say any one person invented a style. So many artists borrow either directly or indirectly from one another because you only have so many chords to work from. In those days the Beatles, Beach Boys, Kinks, and Hendrix were just one small sampling of performers inspiring and influencing one another.

[Werewolf]

and Hendrix were just one small sampling of performers inspiring and influencing one another.

Hendrix guitar playing was definitely an influence.

The birth and rise of hard rock, punk and eventually Metal was a backlash against the hippie counter culture of the 60s. To quote Alice Cooper "We were the group that drove a stake through the heart of the love generation"

[Blue Meanie]

I'd still love to hear the 23 minute version of Helter Skelter that is supposedly locked up in the vaults. Probably the reason why Ringo blurts out "I got blisters on my fingers" at the end of the song

[EMCE Hammer]

I never thought of HS as "metal" but I always considered it in the pantheon of early hard rock like Blue Cheer, Butterfly, etc. that have been mentioned. Sabbath has always been the founding father for me, I think because in my eyes there's a little bit of darkness in "heavy metal" to separate it from "hard rock." But at the end of the day I think a lot of it's just semantics, and the lines are blurred. There are plenty of bands that have composed songs across multiple genres, and I think that muddies the water of the debate even more. Van Halen, Eagles, Journey, the Police, Fleetwood Mac, Deep Purple.......all my favorite bands are all over the spectrum. Heck, throw Metallica in there.

[cjefferys]

Like any form of music, it didn't suddenly appear out of nowhere, metal slowly evolved from rock and "Helter Skelter" was one of the songs that paved the way (along with stuff from Blue Cheer, Hendrix, Sabbath, etc). I kind of wonder what listeners of the White Album thought of it when they first heard it back in 1968, it must have been a bit jarring (but not quite so much as "Revolution 9" must have been )

if you want to go EVEN further back, classical music composers have had a great deal of influence on Metal. Bach, Wagner and Beethoven in particular.

Deep Purple's Ritchie Blackmore was influenced a great deal by classical music.

Metal and Classical do blend well.

Absolutely. This is one major way that metal differs from rock, while rock has foundations in blues, a lot of metal has more of a classical foundation. I think this is one reason why I like metal.

[Mongoose1983]

I'd say it is.

And it's fantastic that it was Paul McCartney, THE musical genius of the XXth century, the one to open this new path in Popular music, giving birth to what is now a whole subculture. It was not deliberated -as it happened with much he & his bandmates did back in the day, it was a total discovery.

I do believe in hundred years from now (and probably more) there will be kids studying this in Music schools and universities around the world.