Traditional Heavy Metal (Part 1): 1960s-early 1970s

Alright metalheads, it’s time to get down to business. It’s time to talk about the subgenres of heavy metal music.

To understand the essence of every heavy metal subgenre, though, it is important to understand where the genre of music came from. Heavy metal has a long history and it all starts with traditional heavy metal.

Traditional heavy metal by definition is characterized as having mid-to-fast-paced tempo riffs, thumping basslines, extended guitar solos, and clean (often high pitched) vocals. Many might mistake certain traditional heavy metal bands for hard rock bands, but most of these heavy metal bands are less focused on the blues influences that are found in hard rock music. Traditional heavy metal also helped to promote the use of dual lead guitars.

Traditional heavy metal consists of many bands that really helped to create heavy metal music in general. The genre started significantly developing in the 1960s with the simple experimentation of many hard rock bands. The Yardbirds and The Rolling Stones were two hard rock acts that particularly helped to set the foundation for heavy metal, but neither quite managed to completely step forth into metal territory. Their harder and heavier sound still managed to pave the way for the development to come though.

Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin then came onto the scene and were essentially the transitional bands between the hard rock of The Yardbirds and the more purely metal sound of Black Sabbath. Led Zeppelin had highly distorted guitars and a vocalist who utilized the idea of high pitched wailing. Both of those qualities would soon prove to be staples of early heavy metal music.

The “first heavy metal band” is an often disputed concept, with many claiming that the title belongs to Deep Purple.



Most critics and professionals would agree, though, that Black Sabbath was the real first heavy metal act. Tony Iommi, who is the lead guitarist of Black Sabbath, was injured in an industrial accident, causing him to tend to tune his guitar lower and to rely on power chords. Iommi also wrote music using the tritone (also known as “The Devil’s Interval”) and combined with the dark lyrics that Black Sabbath relied upon, they were seen as the first heavy metal band.



At first, heavy metal was not well received. Many critics reviled the music, calling it dark, evil, and even Satanic. However people were drawn to the music and it received a strong following.

The next real example of heavy metal is Judas Priest. When they arrived on the metal scene, reality began to really sink in. Metal was becoming a phenomenon. It was a musical genre that divided critics and listeners alike. Judas Priest utilized many of the musical techniques that metal is known for, including higher pitched vocals as well as dual distorted guitar work and moody basslines.



There were several other traditional heavy metal acts of the early '70s. These acts included Alice Cooper, Scorpions, Blue Oyster Cult, and Kiss.

Next week, we will continue to discuss traditional heavy metal, focusing on the late '70s until present day.