Heavy Metal – the Descendence

Heavy Metal – The Descendence

Around the year 1985, something strange happened. Heavy metal became the most popular form of music in the whole world. That is when the big names in metal – Metallica, Slayer, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest – came into picture and they are worshipped by metalheads even today. That was the time when heavy metal albums were going platinum. And that was the time when huge concerts attended by many metal bands made their way into an otherwise unaccepting world. But is this when metal began? Is the 1980s the birth era of heavy metal music? Where from did this music genre come into picture? What were the influences? And which was the first heavy metal band? Let’s take a look.

“Who gets to be called the first heavy metal band?” - this is probably the most debated question among  all metalheads worldwide and probably, no one would be able to properly answer that. The earliest names in the world of metal were Cream, Jimi Hendrix, Blue Cheer, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Mountain, Black Sabbath, etc. They were the ones who spearheaded a revolution called metal. Many consider Led Zeppelin as the first metal band and many other say it’s Deep Purple. The term “heavy metal” was first officially used with Alice Cooper in Rolling Stones magazine. But in my opinion Black Sabbath should be named the first ever heavy metal band. The band was formed In Birmingham, UK in the later parts of 1960s. Most people associate Black Sabbath with their vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. But it was Tony Iommi, Sabbath’s guitarist, who is primarily responsible for the heavy and dark music that Sabbath is famous for. The sound of being demonic was welcomed by the youth of that generation, even though the other half of the society did not accept this sort of music. There was a thrill in their music and the very idea of doing something forbidden appealed the youth as it still does now. And heavy metal builds on that, something that is not ordinary, something that a normal person would dread, constantly asking questions on established norms of the society.

Since Black Sabbath, the sound of evil has become a defining element of heavy metal music. But what makes metal sound evil? The blues scale has the flat 5th, also known as the tri-tone, which is considered as the devil’s note. In the middle ages it was believed that a tri-tone is played when someone is calling the beast. And Black Sabbath’s title track, “Black Sabbath”, is totally based on the tri-tone. Ever since then, the tri-tone has become the most significant note in a metal music. Black Sabbath, primarily, has used the tri-tone to the fullest extent. But there is more to this music than just simply sounding evil.

Most people do not associate metal with virtuosic styles of music like classical or opera. But it is these influences that make metal unique. Most heavy metal practitioners were fans of dark classical music that include an extra kick of bass. Classical musicians like Richard Wagner influenced many metal musicians. He had an octa-bass, which as double sized base violin that needed two persons to play, in his orchestra. He also reshaped his orchestra to have a lot of base players and when that orchestra played, there was so much bass in it. This sort of improvisations influenced and shaped heavy metal music. The improvements in technology helped this purpose and allowed metal musicians to play amplified and continued notes, which was earlier realised with orchestration but now realised with technology because the notes are now fed back with tools now popularly known as processors and amplifiers. Heavy metal also has another root – the South American blues, also known in early days as the music of the slaves. The blues was music of the oppressed and was invented by the black people who were brought to America as slaves. It very much spoke to people who needed something different, who needed some sort of liberation, who needed a feeling of belonging. Every metal fan would agree that these two forms of music – the classical and the blues – were the musical ancestors of heavy metal.