Black Sabbath emerged from the darkness and invented heavy metallic—or did they? Yes, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, and Black Sabbath are thought of the pioneers of the tougher, louder, and heavier sounds that will develop into often called heavy metallic. But across the similar time, different bands blended parts of blues, storage rock, and psychedelia with darker imagery, taking “Flower Power” in a heavier path. These teams have been labeled “proto-metal” in recent times.
How this type of music got here to be known as “heavy metal” is a little bit of a thriller. Underground literature icon William S. Burroughs had a personality named “Uranian Willy the Heavy Metal Kid” in his 1961 novel, The Soft Machine, which possible launched “heavy metal” into the vernacular to hippies who learn his work.
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The first time somebody used the time period in a tune got here in 1967 with Steppenwolf’s “Born to Be Wild,” which incorporates the road, “heavy metal thunder.” Around that very same time, “heavy metal” appeared in music criticism. Both Lester Bangs and “Metal Mike” Saunders (vocalist of punk band Angry Samoans) are credited with utilizing the time period in 1970. Bangs employed it when reviewing The Guess Who for Creem (“they’re quite refreshing in the wake of all the heavy metal robots of the year past”) whereas Saunders known as English rock band Humble Pie a “noisy, unmelodic, heavy metal-laden shit-rock band” in a difficulty of Rolling Stone (through Loudwire). Though “heavy metal” could be used as an insult in these early days, some bands like Judas Priest adopted it as a badge of delight.
1
Blue Cheer
Debut Album: Vincebus Erputum (1968)
Blue Cheer burst on the scene within the 1968s, unleashing “an angry fist of sludge and feedback and hurling it at stunned, stoned hippies like a wave of mutilation,” per Classic Rock. The trio—bassist Dickie Peterson, drummer Paul Whaley, and guitarist Leigh Stephens—launched their debut album, Vincebus Erputum, in 1968, with a canopy of Eddie Cochran’s “Summertime Blues.” The tune reached 14 on the Billboard Hot 100, main this new band of long-haired weirdos to play exhibits like American Bandstand and Beat Club.
The band recorded their second album, Outsideinside, in New York Harbor as a result of they have been too loud to play within the studio. Blue Cheer burned too brightly with their preliminary success. Drug habit and lineup adjustments resulted in a handful of albums that did not recapture the magic. By 1971, the band had damaged up.
2
Budgie
Debut Album: Budgie (1971)
Budgie, a Welsh trio consisting of Burke Shelley (vocals/bass), Tony Bourge (guitar/vocals), and Ray Phillips (drums), fashioned in 1967 and launched their debut album 4 years later. While Budgie wasn’t as commercially profitable as their friends, they loved a devoted following and have been one of many headlining acts of the 1982 Reading pageant. Their 1974 album, In For The Kill, included “Crash Course in Brain Surgery,” which Metallica lined in 1987. Van Halen would carry out the title monitor throughout their membership days.
In current years, Budgie has gotten a reappraisal for his or her affect on bands like Iron Maiden and Megadeth.
In current years, Budgie has gotten a reappraisal for his or her affect on bands like Iron Maiden and Megadeth. “Budgie is one of my favorite bands of all time, and they never get the credit they deserve,” mentioned contestant Jakob in an episode of BangerTV’s Metalheads trivia show. “If you can be covered by Van Halen and Metallica, you deserve to be listened to.”
3
Sir Lord Baltimore
Debut Album: Kingdom Come (1970)
In 1968, two youngsters from Brooklyn—drummer/singer John Garner and guitarist Louise Dambra—began jamming in Garner’s basement. According to Classic Rock, the 2 recruited bassist Gary Justin to reply an advert within the Village Voice for a “heavy band needed for recording.” One profitable audition of “four songs that were sorta half-assed” and Sir Lord Baltimore was fashioned.
One profitable audition of “four songs that were sorta half-assed” and Sir Lord Baltimore was fashioned.
Creem journal as soon as heralded Mike Saunders’ overview of Kingdom Come as “the first known reference to ‘heavy metal’ as a music genre.” Saunders mentioned Sir Lord Baltimore “seems to have down pat most all the best heavy metal tricks in the book.” Sadly, the band broke up within the mid-’70s, as a consequence of poor gross sales, drug use, and persona clashes inside the group.
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4
Josefus
Debut Album: Get Off My Case (1969)
Like many proto-metal teams, Texas band Josephus existed for only some brief years, however they left fairly an affect, most notably with their second album, 1970’s Dead Man. Described by Classic Rock as “raw, live-sounding production, heavy blues-driven psychedelic rock with distorted riffs, rumbling basslines, acid-drenched solos and energetic vocals,” the album influenced a technology of rockers—together with Dave Wyndorf of Monster Magnet (his band lined “Situation” for his or her 2021 proto-metal celebration, A Better Dystopia).
Josefus fashioned within the late ‘60s, with vocalist Pete Bailey, guitarist Dave Mitchell, bassist Ray Turner, and drummer Doug Tull. The group split in 1970, though they would reform later in the decade and again in the years since. Sadly, Pete Bailey died in 2024, lowering the curtain on Josefus’ prolonged profession.
5
Coven
Debut Album: Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls (1969)
A rock band extra Satanic than Black Sabbath? Such a status adopted Coven, one of many earliest occult bands in America, following the discharge of Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls. On the album, Jinx Dawson sang about witches (duh), devils, and different darkish topics whereas the band weaves acid rock, prog, and psychedelia collectively. It is heavy.
Unfortunately, following the album’s launch, Esquire ran an article about Charles Manson’s curiosity within the occult and Coven’s album (the article included a photograph of Manson holding up a replica of Witchcraft Destroys Minds). With a “Satanic Panic” following the Sharon Tate murders, Coven’s label pulled the album from cabinets, making it a uncommon collector’s merchandise for many years. Coven would break up within the mid-’70s, however Jinx reformed the band within the 2000s.
6
Hawkwind
Debut Album: Hawkwind (1970)
Many know Hawkwind because the band that Lemmy was in earlier than he began Motorhead, however this psychedelic rock group is rather more than a launching pad for one of many hardest and quickest bands in heavy metallic. Formed in 1969 (and nonetheless recording/performing as of 2025), Hawkwind pioneered “space rock,” a textured sound that was one half cosmic hypnosis, and one half surging vitality.
Many know Hawkwind because the band that Lemmy was in earlier than he began Motorhead…
The group, led by vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Dave Brock, reached new heights of heaviness with their second album, 1971’s In Search Of Space. It opens with the 16-minute anthem “You Shouldn’t Do That,” which Prog magazine described as “raw, pulsating space rock, hypnotic yet shot through with pure adrenaline.” Hawkwind’s sonic method influenced many to go greater and bolder, to shoot past the celebrities with their sound.
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7
Mountain
Debut Album: Climbing! (1970)
Mountain is commonly neglected, written off as a “one-hit wonder” after getting “Mississippi Queen” performed on the radio. But the group, fashioned by singer/guitarist Leslie West, is taken into account as being one of many bands that helped rock transition from the psychedelic “flower power” of the Nineteen Sixties to the tougher, grittier perspective of the ’70s.
And such a transition was witnessed by 1000’s on the band’s third live performance: Woodstock. “I think I had the most amplifiers of anybody there,” West instructed Rolling Stone in 2019. The sound was so loud and surprising that I bought scared. But as soon as I began taking part in, I simply stored going as a result of I used to be afraid to cease.” Mountain’s set was well-received by the crowds, and West could be a direct influence on Randy Rhoads, whom some take into account the best guitarist who labored with Ozzy Osbourne.
8
Uriah Heep
Debut album: …Very ‘Eavy …Very ‘Umble (1970)
Taking their title from a personality in David Copperfield, Uriah Heep fashioned in 1969 and launched their debut album …Very ‘Eavy …Very ‘Umble a 12 months later. Showcasing progressive rock and blues, the album supplied a sonic method that is now synonymous with heavy metallic: Mick Box’s blistering guitar riffs paired with vocalist David Byron’s hovering vocals. However, not everybody was a fan: Rolling Stone’s Melissa Mills wrote in 1970 that “if this group makes it, I’ll have to commit suicide.”
Showcasing progressive rock and blues, […Very ‘Eavy …Very ‘Umble] supplied a sonic method that is now synonymous with heavy metallic…
Further proof of Uriah Heep’s affect could be present in This Is Spinal Tap. The movie’s keyboardist, John Sinclair, toured with Uriah Heep through the film’s pre-production section. When he got here again, Sinclair instructed the crew how they’d been booked to play an Air Force base (through People). The story was then written as a scene within the film.
9
Dust
Debut Album: Dust (1971)
A quartet of youngsters from the Brooklyn neighborhood of Flatbush fashioned Dust in 1969. The group featured Richie Wise on guitar and vocals, Kenny Aaronson on bass, and Marc Bell on drums. Their supervisor, Kenny Kerner, supplied lyrics and manufacturing, which had a significant affect on how metallic music was made. “There were bands that had heavy metal elements, but you couldn’t hear the drums well,” Bell instructed Loudwire in 2013. “There weren’t that many producers who knew how to produce this music in America.”
Dust went gold for Karma Sutra Records with its thundering sound of blues-inspired exhausting rock. The second album, Hard Attack, featured cowl artwork by Frank Frazetta, whose fantasy art work would seem on albums by Molly Hatchet, Nazareth, and Yngwie Malmsteen. The rock band broke up due to an absence of label help. Anderson went on to play bass for Bob Dylan and The Yardbirds. Wise went on to be a profitable producer. And Marc Bell performed with Richard Hell and the Voidoids earlier than becoming a member of the Ramones as Marky Ramone.
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10
Pentagram
Debut Single: Hurricane’ (1973)
Sometimes, it takes a number of a long time earlier than you develop into an in a single day sensation. Take Pentagram, the early heavy metallic band. The group skilled surprising fame in 2025 when a video of singer Bobby Liebling, trying bug-eyed and bewildered throughout a efficiency, went viral (beneath). As of writing, it has over 3.9 million views.
The clip launched new followers to the band, which was fashioned fifty years earlier in 1971. Unstable lineups prevented the group from actually taking off within the early days. They launched a handful of heavy singles within the ’70s (collected within the First Daze Haze comp). When they launched their self-titled debut album in 1984, that they had solidified their doom metallic sound, going heavier and slower with crushing riffs and Liebling’s shamanistic vocals.
Liebling’s private points and behaviors have been the largest impediment to Pentagram’s success (Decibel dubbed him a “walking catastrophe” in 2016). But the band appears poised to obtain some late-career flowers. Pentagram launched Lightning In A Bottle in 2025, proper as they went viral, and Metal Injection praised it by saying it’s “the exemplar of what great doom metal should be.”
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