First heavy metal song ever?

[WildRanger]

In your opinion, what is it?

[The Walrus]

I know this is a hotly contested subject but to me the Blue Cheer piece is simply rock. That's it. It's got groove... screams rock to me. Not metal.

Sabbath's tune is definitive proto-metal imo. It's that tritone with that meaty guitar sound. And the doomy, evil nature of it... yeah, man. 

[MirrorMask]

Judas Priest's Sad Wings of Destiny could be called the first heavy metal album.

[Stadler]

I strongly, but respectfully push back on that.    One, it's not all metal, and two, 1976.   After Iron Man.  After Burn.   After "In Rock". After "Truth".  After "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida".

[El Barto]

The whole thing is an evolution. There isn't really a starting point. Only a point where you think the elements all came together, and that's a matter of interpretation. Personally, I'd probably go with You Really Got Me, though plenty will come along and say "bah, that's not metal!"

[Pragmaticcircus]

Judas Priest's Sad Wings of Destiny could be called the first heavy metal album.

But even Black Sabbath's Master Of Reality, their third album (one of their heaviest too) came 5 fucking years before that 

[Stadler]

The whole thing is an evolution. There isn't really a starting point. Only a point where you think the elements all came together, and that's a matter of interpretation. Personally, I'd probably go with You Really Got Me, though plenty will come along and say "bah, that's not metal!"

No, but that's a good call.  There are others like that, too, from "Helter Skelter" to "21st Century Schizoid Man".

By the way, wrong  thread for this, but I just got reintroduced to the Kinks; from about 1970 through "Word of Mouth" there are few catalogues that can compete with what Ray Davies did.   Opera, rock, metal, pop, folk, social commentary, not social commentary...  really, really genius stuff.

[lonestar]

The whole thing is an evolution. There isn't really a starting point. Only a point where you think the elements all came together, and that's a matter of interpretation. Personally, I'd probably go with You Really Got Me, though plenty will come along and say "bah, that's not metal!"

Came here to post this exact song, first one as far as I know to have "that" sound. Add it to the poll please...

[pg1067]

Judas Priest's Sad Wings of Destiny could be called the first heavy metal album.

But even Black Sabbath's Master Of Reality, their third album (one of their heaviest too) came 5 fucking years before that 

To say nothing of Sabotage and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath and a bunch of albums by Deep Purple, AC/DC, Scorpions, UFO, etc., all of which predate Sad Wings.

[MirrorMask]

Well, in my defense I could say that as El Barto pointed out, the whole thing was an evoloution, and that by the time of SWoD, that might have been the first time you could tie the word "metal" to it without the need to call back to other genres... but Black Sabbath (the song) is a nice candidate too all things considered 

[Adami]

Mars - Bringer of War.

[lonestar]

Mars - Bringer of War.

A legit contender.

[LudwigVan]

Mars - Bringer of War.

   If we're going there, then I say go back further for Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor

[BelichickFan]

The earliest one I listen to is Helter Skelter.

[Anguyen92]

What about Born to be Wild?  1968.  Seemed early enough, or it does not count?

[ChuckSteak]

The whole thing is an evolution. There isn't really a starting point. Only a point where you think the elements all came together, and that's a matter of interpretation.

This.

[wolfking]

What about Born to be Wild?  1968.  Seemed early enough, or it does not count?

That was the first one that popped in my head too.

[TAC]

Mars - Bringer of War.

   If we're going there, then I say go back further for Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor

No, we're NOT going there!

[bl5150]

Vivaldi started it all and anointed Yngwie J. Malmsteen as his successor.  Anyone else is kidding themselves.

[KevShmev]

Judas Priest's Sad Wings of Destiny could be called the first heavy metal album.

If someone wants to ignore Black Sabbath, sure.

[wolfking]

Vivaldi started it all and anointed Yngwie J. Malmsteen as his successor.  Anyone else is kidding themselves.

[TheCountOfNYC]

The Beatles-Helter Skelter

[Pragmaticcircus]

The Beatles-Helter Skelter

That's barely even garage rock 

[Pragmaticcircus]

Vivaldi started it all and anointed Yngwie J. Malmsteen as his successor.  Anyone else is kidding themselves.

Pretty standard classical music mate 

[bl5150]

I think I might have to unleash the fookin'  fury 


I PM'd  Prag to explain the Malmsteen sarcasm   

[njfirefighter]

Heavy metal's beginnings IMO


Iron Butterfly: Iron Butterfly Theme  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDoWtqIGUjY
The Crazy World of Arthur Brown: Fire https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=en1uwIzI3SE
The Crazy World of Arthur Brown: Confusion (I didn't see a split version with just Confusion, Confusion starts at 3:15 mark)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cf7xA51kMes
Mc5: Kick Out The Jams https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYg-a3W35CE
Mc5: I Want You Right Now https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1teJmDoHJc
Grand Funk Railroad: Inside Looking Out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxcOxvEsE_Y
Grand Funk Railroad: Into The Sun https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dzlT1ihN6o
Grand Funk Railroad: Paranoid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1BqwRPZWyI
Blue Cheer: Out of Focus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8xTHJsDgiE

[wolfking]

Vivaldi started it all and anointed Yngwie J. Malmsteen as his successor.  Anyone else is kidding themselves.

Pretty standard classical music mate 

I think I might have to unleash the fookin'  fury 


I PM'd  Prag to explain the Malmsteen sarcasm   

Fuckin 

[?]

I know this is a hotly contested subject but to me the Blue Cheer piece is simply rock. That's it. It's got groove... screams rock to me. Not metal.

Sabbath's tune is definitive proto-metal imo. It's that tritone with that meaty guitar sound. And the doomy, evil nature of it... yeah, man. 

This.

[cramx3]

Is there an option for "I don't particularly care"?  Like others have said, it's an evolution.  I get some people, and even the artists, may take pride in saying "this is the first" but as shown here, it's deeply contested and can be easily disputed no matter what you chose since nothing is so clear.  For that reason, I don't really care what the first metal song ever was.  I'm just glad the music progressed this way and have been trying to get to see lots of the bands who started it all over the years as my way of respect to the genre (and of course for my own enjoyment)

[Bertielee]

What about Born to be Wild?  1968.  Seemed early enough, or it does not count?

That was the first one that popped in my head too.

Me too. Hell, it is even the first song citing something as heavy metal ("heavy metal thunder").

B.Lee

[Stadler]

Just as an aside, I friggin' hate that song.

[The Letter M]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_metal_music#Origins:_late_1960s_and_early_1970s

How do people feel about this article, then?

Critics disagree over who can be thought of as the first heavy metal band. Most credit either Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath, with American commentators tending to favour Led Zeppelin and British commentators tending to favour Black Sabbath, though many give equal credit to both. A few commentators—mainly American—argue for other groups including Iron Butterfly, Steppenwolf or Blue Cheer.[130] Deep Purple, the third band in what is sometimes considered the "unholy trinity" of heavy metal (Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and Deep Purple), despite being slightly older than Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, fluctuated between many rock styles until late 1969 when they took a heavy metal direction.[131]

-Marc.

[Adami]

Just as an aside, I friggin' hate that song.

You love it.

[JayOctavarium]

My vote:

Pink Floyd - "The Nile Song" (1969) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MduQlWUoyhI

Pink Floyd - "Ibiza Bar" (1969) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiXwUS9FFgc

[Stadler]

Just as an aside, I friggin' hate that song.

You love it.

I disagree with you.