For me, the “creators” of Heavy Metal, would be Black Sabbath and Judas Priest.
Hard Rock? That is far more difficult to answer, but maybe The Beatles? Check out George Harrison‘s riff on I Feel Fine (1964), which can then be followed by Paperback Writer (1966), the opening riff in Revolution (1968) and Harrison’s playing in Come Together (1969).
3 Responses
IMO, Judas Priest were the first creators of heavy metal. Priest had the heaviness, image, and music approach for heavy metal. With all respect to Black Sabbath, I don’t credit them as being the first heavy metal band. Sure, they were influences, but i can’t label them as a “creator” of heavy metal. IMO, they weren’t “heavy metal” until Dio joined the band. When I listen to early Sabbath and Priest albums, I’m only picking Priest as the creators of “heavy metal”, while Sabbath is a “blues based” heavy rock band. IMO, it’s not even close…..Judas Priest are the creators of, and the first, heavy metal band.
IMO, the first hard rock band was The Kinks.
Rattle,
I am always thankful, for how you make the case, Judas Priest 🙂 I will “say,” that despite the “experts” claiming it was Accept‘s Fast As A Shark, I always thought that Exciter was the first thrash song.
I would agree with Black Sabbath and Judas Priest being the creators of Heavy Metal, as far as hard rock? I’d have to go with Deep Purple.