King Crimson’s ‘21st century schizoid man’ came out in '69, after the formation of black Sabbath but before their first album was released, and I think it has a decent claim to being a ‘metal’ song. There was definitely a vibe for that kind of musical experimentation around that time, although Black Sabbath can claim to be more defining of what ‘metal’ was.
After making that comment, I went and compared first album dates with other bands I thought came out at a similar time, and sabbath was 5 or 10 yrs ahead of them. And Ive no idea when Earth got started. But yea King Crimson and some hippy rock who were getting a little heavier where the only big names I saw listed as metal in 1970.
I stand by he didnt invent it singlehandly, but dam if anyone else could contend for title of Grandfather of metal. I made it to a few ozzfeasts in the late 90s early 00s, great time. He fucking rocked.
You can waste all sorts of time on the net arguing with people about who started what genres. Then you start getting into terms like proto-metal, etc.
No personal issue with your choice because it’s a fucking awesome song, but if wanted to be one of those assholes I’d say it’s heavy prog rock, in the pool of music metal would later draw from. That said, I’m no musicologist, and somewhere right now there’s someone in a black t-shirt with a very cool but difficult to read band name on it reading this, aghast.
I think we can all agree that Black Sabbath is a cornerstone in what metal generally (and specifically sludge, stoner metal, etc.) developed into.
If that song doesn’t count, then I think you really do have to hand it to Black Sabbath as the defining progenitor of the genre. Even if it does, it was an impressive exploratory foray; Black Sabbath set up camp.
Stupid thought but BS’s first two albums both came out within like 14 months of that song. Perhaps it was the kernel that got their sound together. I wonder if there are any recordings of Sabbath from before the release of that song…
King Crimson’s ‘21st century schizoid man’ came out in '69, after the formation of black Sabbath but before their first album was released, and I think it has a decent claim to being a ‘metal’ song. There was definitely a vibe for that kind of musical experimentation around that time, although Black Sabbath can claim to be more defining of what ‘metal’ was.
Anyway yeah, agreed.
After making that comment, I went and compared first album dates with other bands I thought came out at a similar time, and sabbath was 5 or 10 yrs ahead of them. And Ive no idea when Earth got started. But yea King Crimson and some hippy rock who were getting a little heavier where the only big names I saw listed as metal in 1970.
I stand by he didnt invent it singlehandly, but dam if anyone else could contend for title of Grandfather of metal. I made it to a few ozzfeasts in the late 90s early 00s, great time. He fucking rocked.
You can waste all sorts of time on the net arguing with people about who started what genres. Then you start getting into terms like proto-metal, etc.
No personal issue with your choice because it’s a fucking awesome song, but if wanted to be one of those assholes I’d say it’s heavy prog rock, in the pool of music metal would later draw from. That said, I’m no musicologist, and somewhere right now there’s someone in a black t-shirt with a very cool but difficult to read band name on it reading this, aghast.
I think we can all agree that Black Sabbath is a cornerstone in what metal generally (and specifically sludge, stoner metal, etc.) developed into.
If that song doesn’t count, then I think you really do have to hand it to Black Sabbath as the defining progenitor of the genre. Even if it does, it was an impressive exploratory foray; Black Sabbath set up camp.
Stupid thought but BS’s first two albums both came out within like 14 months of that song. Perhaps it was the kernel that got their sound together. I wonder if there are any recordings of Sabbath from before the release of that song…