Today’s outsider is a curious mix of Rock, Country and Pop. The German band The BossHoss has specialized in producing country-style cover songs originating in Pop and Rock. I can only recommend them for these days when you can’t stop grinning, or for those days when you dearly need something to grin about…
Watch them perform “I keep on Dancing” (from “Liberty of Action”, 2011) on stage:
The 1970s witnessed exciting musical developments. Art Rock, Glam Rock and Progressive Rock stood in contrast to noisy Hardrock, out of which Heavy Metal would soon be developing. Disregarding the development of the former (at least until next week) today’s journey will take us to Birmingham, United Kingdom.
Among a number of promising Hardrock bands, the industrial town also inhabited four young men who, by the name of Polka Tulk, toured the local clubs as best they could and played blues-oriented, heavy riffs. Tony Iommi, Bill Ward, “Geezer” Butler and Ozzy Osbourne introduced a heavier groove, lower pitches, and unusually serious tones in their songs. The low pitch of Iommi’s guitar, by the way, resulted from necessity. Having lost two fingertips of his right hand in a workplace accident, Iommi had to play lower keys in order to prevent his hand from aching, and created a sound hitherto unheard. Occultism and witchcraft were subjects of interest among the public, thus the band’s new name Black Sabbath further contributed to the quartet’s success. Their first album, “Black Sabbath”, was produced in only two days, starting off a rocket-like career. The term Heavy Metal is said to have been used for the first time during the seventies, and was soon inextricably linked to the Birmingham band.
Listen to these first sounds of Heavy Metal, the hardest music of the seventies. Enjoy “The Wizard”, second song of the 1970 album “Black Sabbath”:
These first events connected to Heavy Metal music are occasionally called the First Wave of British Heavy Metal. During the seventies, of course, no one knew in how many more successful waves Heavy Metal would wash over millions of fans during the following decades. There even was a number of bands who instisted on being called Hardrock instead of Heavy Metal bands, among them Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple. Heavy Metal, however, had gained such momentum that more and more groups were born from nowhere, aiming to follow in the footsteps of Black Sabbath. Today this movement in the end of the seventies, bringing forth giants like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, is known by the name of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, in short NWoBHM.
Both the prehistory of Heavy Metal (i.e. Art Rock, Glam Rock, Hardrock) and the NWoBHM will be subject of my next post.
Black Sabbath in Billboard Magazine, 1970 (from left to right: Ward, Iommi, Butler, Osbourne)
Before going right into my favourite subject, a word of advice:
Please bear in mind that I am constantly gathering information on heavy music, its history and current developments, thus my posts might not be chronologically correct. I am, as all of us are, just a learner – and there is something new to be found out every day.
I am going to tell you something about this and that, give you some hilarious story followed by bare fact, and engage into some part of history only to switch to something entirely different next. My aim, however, is to provide a context for any event and relate facts to each other, and I will do my best at this.
Another idea occurred to me just yesterday: Why exclude any other music than Heavy Metal? There are so many different songs I love and I discover more and more of them, that I decided to introduce what I call the outsider section. In every post I will provide some music and band, which are distinctly “un-metal”.
By the way: I am intending to post weekly, preferably on Mondays to give us all a nice start into the week…
This blog is for everyone who loves music.
It attempts to offer you an insight into the history of heavy music and its recent developments. Of course what you will find is my idea of Heavy Metal history, since there is no objective or official version. I also want to inspire curiosity by introducing bands, recommending songs and literature on the subject, sharing lyrics, scandalous anecdotes and all the amusing facts I come across.
At the age of 13 I discovered my passion for heavy music and this love has never ceased. My primal Rammstein obsession was soon accompanied by many more addictions to bands like Machine Head, Slipknot, Chimaira, Becoming the Archetype, Black Sabbath, Pantera, Scar Symmetry, Skindred, Finntroll, and countless others. The range of my taste is broad, however, also including Rock, classical music, Jazz, chanson, dubstep and more.
I am constantly on the lookout for new and different music. Curious? Accompany me on this journey.
Heavy Metal Infection 