Posted on 12/21/2019 8:04:34 PM PST by DoodleBob
In a new interview with the Toronto Sun, THE WHO guitarist Pete Townshend said that fans shouldn't be surprised that the band's first new album in 13 years, "Who", bears little resemblance to THE WHO in terms of that classic ferocious rock sound. "It doesn't sound like THE WHO from those early heavy metal years," he explained. "We sort of invented heavy metal with [our first live album] 'Live At Leeds' [1970]. We were copied by so many bands, principally by LED ZEPPELIN — you know, heavy drums, heavy bass, heavy lead guitar and some of those bands, like Jimi Hendrix for example, did it far better than we did. CREAM, with Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, they came along in '67, same year as Jimi Hendrix, and they kind of stole our mantle in a sense. So people who want to hear that old heavy metal sound, there are plenty of bands that can provide it. So it's not really what we can actually do today. Even if we wanted to, it was never high on my list of wishes."
Townshend told The Pulse Of Radio that THE WHO was among the most versatile bands of its era, and that its musical talent freed him to write material that frequently covered many different genres. "...THE WHO never gave me a clear brief," he explained. "They never said to me, 'We wanna be a comedy act,' but if I gave them comedy songs, they were brilliant at them. They never said to me, 'We wanna be a girl-friendly band,' but if I gave them a love song, they would do it brilliantly. They never said, 'We want to be a heavy metal group' — if I gave them a heavy metal song, they did it brilliantly.
(Excerpt) Read more at blabbermouth.net ...
Re: Black Sabbath “inventing” Heavy Metal. The term was coined by Steppenwolf in their song “Born to be Wild,” and one could argue that the band’s hard-rockin’ material presaged “metal.”
The Who’s “Live At Leeds” album captured the ferocity of their “heavy” live sound, and Roger Daltrey was arguably the first rock vocalist to scream for his supper. Thee inspired bands such as Cream (”Tales of Brave Ulysses”), Led Zeppelin (”Heartbreaker”), Deep Purple (”Smoke On the Water”), Cactus (”Parchman Farm”, Mountain (”Mississippi Queen”).
Judas Priest probably was the first band to put all the elements of industrial-strength Heavy Metal together (testosterone-infused music, S&M-inspired leather and studs attire, banshee vocals).
Best concert I ever attended was the Doors, December 31, 1967 - January 1 1968, at the Family Dog in Denver.
Maybe.
You're joking, right? You must be joking. In the off chance that you are actually serious, about the only thing you got right was that it's really angry heavy metal.
First off, it's American. There is dispute as to who was the first death metal band, but there is no dispute that it is either Possessed or Death. Both of those bands are American. So are the rest of the pioneers of the genre: Obituary, Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, Autopsy... (Oddly, most of the original death metal bands are from Florida.)
Secondly, the lyrics do not promote rough sex or violence, and they have absolutely nothing to do with Nazis or whatever Nazi rap is. They lyrics of many of the bands are about violence (not promoting it), much the same way a horror film is about violence (and not promoting it). There are many other topics from politics to religion to science. The band Death has a song about abortion titled "Altering the Future."
I suppose I should stop now as I suspect your post was in jest and it went right over my head... anyway, coincidentally, I saw Morbid Angel for the first time last Saturday, Obituary for maybe my fifth time a week and a half ago, and Cannibal Corpse for the umpteenth time a month ago. They're all still rockin'
You need to start working out because none of those songs are heavy metal. Sure, that's some pretty hard rock right there, but that's not metal.
One thing everyone is missing with respect to metal isn't power chords or distortion. Try the devil's tritone. Sabbath did it first. (Well, if we don't include classical music) It set their style of hard rock apart from others, and that aesthetic created an entirely new genre.
That song was supposed to be about a Mod, who originally got their name because they liked to listen to modern jazz, venting his frustrations. The stutter came from an overuse of amphetamines used to stay up all night at their clubs.
Towhshend said he was inspired to write the song because his car got towed.
The top death metal bands by nation:
https://www.thetoptens.com/countries-with-death-metal-bands/
Germany ranks SEVENTH.
I’ve seen 3 of the Finnish bands in the last year.
It’s a subjective list, and I’m stuck in the 80s and 90s, but I’d put the order as 1. US, 2. Sweden, 3. UK and after that, most of those bands came out after I was in the navy and lost my connection to the scene. Don’t know any German death metal, and the only Finnish death metal I know is Children of Bodom...which is too happy sounding for my tastes.
The Doors...i never went to a Doors concert. It’s one that I will always wish I would have been to. Them and Pink Floyd. Sigh
You are a lucky man, my friend!
t was The Kinks in ‘64, followed by “Shapes Of Things” 1966 by the Yardbirds and Jeff Beck’s tube amps.
Then came Blue Cheer in ‘67.
My thinking is along the same lines. If use of heavily distorted guitars, deep bass, pounding drums at levels that sound like they are all in competition is how we label Heavy Metal there is no single band that invented that sound.
Even Black Sabbath built their sound on bands that preceded them using these techniques to create the Heavy tonalities. Listen to Steve Marriott instrumental works with Small Faces or Yardbirds and many others and realize the debate where did Heavy Metal begin is a pointless exercise.
Cripes...I always thought it was Iron Butterfly.
Ha ha I know my folks would say why can’t you listen to nice music like The Carpenters?
Blame The Doors they gave me a different perspective on music.
Isn’t Stairway one of the two songs you’re typically not allowed to play at guitar stores? And I can’t remember the other, perhaps someone will come along and remind us.
The Sex Pistols formed in 1975 and broke up in early 1978, and are seen as the first of the Punk Rock bands. The Clash formed in 1976 and credit the Sex Pistols.
I very much consider some of The Who’s stuff (earlier than ‘75) Punk Rock. Maybe calling them proto-punk would be accurate.
I love that Dethklok is listed there. If you haven’t seen any of the Metalocalypse episodes on Adult Swim, you probably ought to.
“Smoke on the Water”, maybe? I like the song but not one stanza, over & OVER &....
“Space truckin’” or “Woman from Tokyo” would sound MUCH better!
The Ventures’ 2000 Pound Bee [ https://youtu.be/U9UI92m77bY ] was pretty heavy too.
Agreed. IIRC, their film Quadrophenia was another example of the "angry young man" theme.
I never heard of Small Faces until now.
You’re right - Zeppelin definitely copied their version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tp0jZ4BGuDw
Here’s also Muddy Waters:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pM8_HuQ0b34
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.