Who first coined the term Heavy Metal?

Answer 1

Steppenwolf (John Kay) in the hit, Born to Be Wild. Though written about a motorcycle, it captured the power of the then early sound put forth by this group and others.

Answer 2

The "heavy metal" phrase was actually coined as a type of event during the hippy 60's where there were a lot of coffee houses usually playing acoustic folk stuff. There were some others opened up then playing then known as underground because it was related to drugs where they played electric. When you was talking to friends about where you were going you said you were going to listen to the heavy stuff later phrased heavy metal. the word heavy was a popular hippy word. Glad you young-uns still use it

Answer 3

The fact is as Toni Iomi stated in an interveiw that a local music magazine reporter had been to one of Black Sabbath s early concerts and hated it . In the article he said it sounded like a bunch of heavy metal had dropped on the floor. This why Black Sabbath is known as the original Heavy Metal Band.

Answer 4

The first documented usage of the term to describe a musical style is in a May 1971 Creem review by Mike Saunders of Sir Lord Baltimore's Kingdom Come: "Sir Lord Baltimore seems to have down pat most all the best heavy metal tricks in the book." Creem critic Lester Bangs is credited with popularizing the term via his early 1970s essays on bands such as Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. "Heavy metal" may have initially been used as a jibe by a number of music critics, but it was quickly adopted by fans of the style.

Answer 5

The term 'heavy metal' is really a misnomer. In chemistry such a 'thing' as a heavy metal does not exist. Chemistry talks about 'transition metals'. There are 38 metals in that group of transition metals. Part of the group are lead, mercury, cadmium, zinc, copper, iron, nickel and so on.
I think the term 'Heavy Metal' was first applied to these toxic metals back in the late 17th century by a French scientist. I forget his name, sorry.

Answer 6

The origin of the term heavy metal in a musical context is uncertain. The phrase has been used for centuries in chemistry and metallurgy, as shown by citations in the Oxford English Dictionary. An early use of the term in modern popular culture was by countercultural writer William S. Burroughs. His 1962 novel The Soft Machine includes a character known as "Uranian Willy, the Heavy Metal Kid." Burroughs's next novel, Nova Express (1964), develops the theme, using heavy metal as a metaphor for addictive drugs: "With their diseases and orgasm drugs and their sexless parasite life forms—Heavy Metal People of Uranus wrapped in cool blue mist of vaporized bank notes—And The Insect People of Minraud with metal music."[24]

In 1968, the sound that would become known as heavy metal began to coalesce. Many scholars and fans point to Blue Cheer's cover of Eddie Cochran's classic "Summertime Blues," released in January 1968, as the first true heavy metal song.[39] That same month, Steppenwolf released its self-titled debut album, including "Born to Be Wild," with its "heavy metal" lyric. In July, another two epochal records came out: The Yardbirds' "Think About It"—B-side of the band's last single—with a performance by guitarist Jimmy Page anticipating the metal sound he would soon make famous; and Iron Butterfly's In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, with its 17-minute-long title track, a prime candidate for first-ever heavy metal album.
Led Zeppelin defined central aspects of the emerging genre, with Page's highly distorted guitar style and singer Robert Plant's dramatic, wailing vocals.[44] Other bands, with a more consistently heavy, "purely" metal sound, would prove equally important in codifying the genre. The 1970 releases by Black Sabbath (Black Sabbath and Paranoid) and Deep Purple (Deep Purple in Rock) were crucial in this regard.[45] Black Sabbath had developed a particularly heavy sound in part due to an industrial accident guitarist Tony Iommi suffered before cofounding the band.

Answer 7

Steppen Wolf "Born To Be Wild"
'Heavy Metal Thunder'

Answer 8

Charles "Chuck the Fu*k" DelGradios. He was an electrical engineer that helped design the sound boards used at Black Sabbath concerts. The legend goes Chuck the Fu*k was pulling wire for Ozzy's mic (which they called metal). The mic was more than 700 feet from the sound board. Chuck the Fu*k yelled at Ozzy "Your a bloody heavy metal SOB". Ozzy took it as a compliment. A few weeks later, Ozzy was interviewed by Blaster magazine in New York. The interviewer asked Ozzy if "He can continue to lat it down for years to come". Ozzy responded "Heavy Metal is forever". The phrase has been with us ever since.

Answer 9

Heavy metal (sometimes referred to simply as metal) is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s.[1] With roots in blues-rock and psychedelic rock, the bands that created heavy metal developed a thick, heavy, guitar-and-drums-centered sound, characterized by highly amplified distortion and fast guitar solos. The All Music Guide states that "of all rock & roll's myriad forms, heavy metal is the most extreme in terms of volume, machismo, and theatricality."[2]

Answer 10

I don't know who first said it, but it is famously stated that

"Jimi Hendrix was the first Heavy Metal guitarist"

Answer 11

the first mention of "heavy metal" is in a song by steppenwolf. but it is more referring to the sound motorcycles make.

the first mention of "heavy metal" when being applied to music was from chris saunders, a writer for " Sir Lord Baltimore's Kingdom Come," while covering an interview with Cream in may of 1971