best/architypal metal band

hanx · #1 04-25-2009, 10:03 PM

I had a weird as hell dream about Rob Halford last night, so i thought i'd get some debate going.

And i don't mean the rock bands that did one or two songs that got the concept out there, i mean the bands that took it and ran with it.

For the rock band that invented metal, my vote is for The Vwelvet Underground.

bongomania · #2 04-25-2009, 10:53 PM

The VU? I dunno, they were far more in a proto punk vein than a proto metal vein. Obviously it's subjective, not like "I'm right and you're wrong"

, but I don't think their sound had much to do with the hard rhythmic blues-rock that became metal, the VU was too loose and non-aggressive. I'd look to Scorpions ('65), Blue Cheer ('66), Deep Purple ('68), and Sabbath ('68) as early proponents. Heck, even Jimi Hendrix had some metal flavor at times.

Priest got started in '69, and Maiden in '75.

Sartori · #3 04-25-2009, 11:09 PM

Black Sabbath. Period.

IanStephenson · #4 04-26-2009, 05:39 AM

Maiden and Priest were NWOBHM bands (late 70's) - by definition second generation heavy metal. Sabbath, Purple and Zepplin (even though the latter did a much wider range of stuff) were 8-10 years earlier (late 60's, early 70's).

Against Will · #5 04-27-2009, 10:22 AM

Velvet Underground definitely did not invent metal. Barely anyone knew about them when they were around and they were way too artsy.

I would say Blue Cheer's Vincebus Eruptum and Black Sabbath's Paranoid were the ones that lit the fuse. Both of those outsold VU's entire catalog, and the Velvet's influence wasn't really felt until the mid-late 70's. But I don't think one single band can be credited with creating a genre, as much as people try; every new band takes its influences and expand upon them on some level and its the aggregate of all these bands over a period of time that makes a genre. Some bands cast larger shadows than others, but the smaller ones can be just as important. Black Sabbath, Aerosmith and Iron Maiden dwarfed Discharge and the Misfits in sales, but the latter were just as important in developing the sound of later American metal bands like Metallica, Megadeth and Anthrax.

klyph · #6 05-04-2009, 05:50 AM

IMO Deep Purple and Zep are "hard rock". Heavy Metal= "horror movie" lyrics+minor key nonblues= Black Sabbath. That's It.They were the first, and Geezer Butler (who wrote most of the lyrics on the first 3 BS albums) and Tomi Iommi pretty much invented the genre in '67-68. Velvet Underground? I love 'em, but they ain't metal. Much closer would be Screamin' Jay Hawkins or Howlin' Wolf, as far as antecedents. And of course Blue Cheer, The Who, etc. FWIW, IMHO, Etc.,ad infinitum.

Sartori · #7 05-04-2009, 06:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by klyph

IMO Deep Purple and Zep are "hard rock". Heavy Metal= "horror movie" lyrics+minor key nonblues= Black Sabbath. That's It.They were the first, and Geezer Butler (who wrote most of the lyrics on the first 3 BS albums) and Tomi Iommi pretty much invented the genre in '67-68. Velvet Underground? I love 'em, but they ain't metal. Much closer would be Screamin' Jay Hawkins or Howlin' Wolf, as far as antecedents. And of course Blue Cheer, The Who, etc. FWIW, IMHO, Etc.,ad infinitum.

There are many bands that were almost there. But only Black Sabbath had the complete metal sound. And, in terms of influence upon later generations of metal bands, it's even more obvious who the pioneers of metal were.