Which was the first metal band and where did they start?

Answer 1

Check out a band called Blue Cheer. They pre-dated Sabbath by 2 years.

Blue Cheer could reasonably claim credit as well - formed 1966 - they had about 20 Marshall stacks and were so loud some peoples ears bled !! I used to have 2 of their vinyls when they came out - it almost scared us at the time it was so "heavy" !! Way before Sabbath.

Sabbath - formed 1967 - was AFAIK the 1st to actually be called "heavy metal", musically, but they didn't invent it. Their music wasn't what it became until in '69 when Iommi decided to put a horror film style touch to it. First LP was 1970. I do think that Iommi was nevertheless the 1st guitarist I ever heard to use such massive saturated distortion and deep bassy punch with his original wall of Laney amps.

The first group I know of to use the term heavy was Iron Butterfly - "Heavy" is the title of the 1st LP - spring of 1967 - the idea was there but the music wasn't really that heavy although well on the way.

Answer 2

Part of an overview from Allmusic.com

For all its status as America's rebellion soundtrack of choice, heavy metal was largely a British creation. The first seeds of heavy metal were sown in the British blues movement of the '60s, specifically among bands who found it hard to adjust to the natural swing of American blues. The rhythms became more squared-off, and the amplified electric instruments became more important, especially with the innovations of artists like the Kinks, the Who, Jimi Hendrix, Cream, and the Jeff Beck Group. Arguably the first true metal band, however, was Led Zeppelin. Initially, Zep played blues tunes heavier and louder than anyone ever had, and soon created an epic, textured brand of heavy rock that drew from many musical sources. Less subtle but perhaps even more influential was Black Sabbath, whose murky, leaden guitar riffs created a doomy fantasy world obsessed with drugs, death, and the occult. Following the blueprint laid down by Zep and Sabbath, several American bands modified heavy metal into more accessible forms during the '70s: the catchy tunes and outrageous stage shows of Alice Cooper and Kiss; the sleazy boogie of Aerosmith; and the flashy guitar leads and wild party rock of Van Halen (not to mention the distinctively minimalist grooves of Australia's AC/DC). In the late '70s, a cache of British bands dubbed the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (including Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, and Motorhead) started playing metal faster, leaner, and with more menace than ever before.

Answer 3

I'd say Black Sabbath, and they started in Liverpool, England. Some would say that Led Zeppelin is the first metal band, but their first 2 albums are heavily rooted in the blues. Go with Sabbath.

Answer 4

The first heavy metal band can be up for debate. I would say Black Sabbath but many would say Blue Oyster Cult or even Deep Purple, but the first true dark sound has to be Sabbath.

Answer 5

The Greyballers

A short lived, north Carolina band from the 50's ( I think 56),
they played once at the Roxy, but the band disintegrate before they sign a record deal with Antavox Music. The lead singer died years later on a air accident in Washington DC, the plane he was onboard crashed into the Potomac River.

the other integrants just dissapeared.

Answer 6

Tossup between Jimi Hendrix Experience and Steppenwolf. They were groups in the late 60's that pioneered metal. Tip o the hat to Steppenwolf for the coining of the phrase "heavy metal" -- in "Born To Be Wild," one of the lines is "Heavy metal thunder, racing with the wind, and the feeling that I'm under..."

Answer 7

sorry they are all wrong. the very first "heavy metal" band was called Iron Butterfly. hardly sounds like metal from todays view poit but hey it was the sixties, what can i say. you may remember them for Inagodadavida.

Edit>>ok reading back, one guy got it right. and yes blue cheer was awesome. more like one of the first acid bands though, they were produced by the premeir lsd inovator of the time, (and soundman for the Greatful Dead, ahem), Owlsley "Bear" Stanley.

Answer 8

Black Sabbath was the first band to acquire the title of heavy metal. u.k
I AM. S

Answer 9

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that emerged as a defined musical style in the 1970s, having its roots in hard rock bands which, between 1967 and 1974, mixed blues and rock to create a hybrid with a thick, heavy, guitar-and-drums-centered sound, characterised by the use of highly-amplified distortion. Out of heavy metal various subgenres later evolved, many of which are referred to simply as "metal". As a result, "heavy metal" now has two distinct meanings: either the genre and all of its subgenres, or the original heavy metal bands of the 1970s style sometimes dubbed "traditional metal", as exemplified by Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Blue Öyster Cult and Black Sabbath.

Heavy metal began gaining popularity in the 1970s and 1980s, at which time many of the now existing subgenres first evolved. Heavy metal has a large world-wide following of fans known by terms such as "metalheads" and "headbangers".


Sandy Pearlman, original producer, manager and songwriter for Blue Öyster Cult, claims to have been the first person to apply the term "heavy metal" to rock music in 1970. In creating much of the band's image, which included tongue-in-cheek references to the occult, Pearlman came up with a symbol for the group (similar to the use of a symbol Iron Maiden later included on their album cover artwork), the alchemical symbol for lead - one of the heaviest of metals. He put forth this term to describe the type of music that Blue Öyster Cult played.

A late, but disputed, hypothesis about the origin of the genre was brought forth by "Chas" Chandler, who was a manager of the Jimi Hendrix Experience in 1969, in an interview on the PBS TV program "Rock and Roll" in 1995. He states that "...it [heavy metal] was a term originated in a New York Times article reviewing a Jimi Hendrix performance," and claims the author described the Jimi Hendrix Experience "...like listening to heavy metal falling from the sky." The precise source of this claim, however, has not been found and its accuracy is disputed.

The first well-documented usage of the term "heavy metal" referring to a style of music, appears to be the May 1971 issue of Creem, in a review of Sir Lord Baltimore's Kingdom Come. In this review we are told that "Sir Lord Baltimore seems to have down pat most all the best heavy metal tricks in the book". Creem critics David Marsh and Lester Bangs would subsequently use the term frequently in their writings in regards to bands such as Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath.

Heavy metal may have been used as a jibe initially by a number of music critics but was quickly adopted by its adherents. Other, already-established bands, such as Deep Purple, who had origins in pop or progressive rock, immediately took on the heavy metal mantle, adding distortion and additional amplification in a more aggressive approach.

Answer 10

wooo, even though am a heavy metal guitarest, ((not only that, but i love the heavy metal)), i didn't know that much of information "Cristi@n" gave....i'll make sure i rate that high...:)

good question and a good answers....