Before Black Sabbath | How Psychedelic Rock Became Metal
Rock’n’Roll used to be the gnarliest heaviest genre in town. A genre that embodied rebellion, fast cars and the loudest guitars that late 1950s music had to offer.
2020-02-13 19:00:00 - Black Sabbath
But as the 60s wore on, coffee and minor rebellion seemed positively childish, popular music needed something harder, and more in-sync with the sex and drugs part of sex, drugs and rock’n’roll. Enter Psychedelic rock, similar to good ol’ Rock’N’Roll but with mind-expanding themes and an intense interest in a girl called Lucy, who was in the Sky with Diamonds. If you know what I mean.
But the Summer of Love came and went, the Vietnam war didn’t end despite Hippie opposition and the tragic events of Altamount and the Manson murders made it so that the positivity of the movement seemed blind. A darker sound was needed, and appeared in the form of Metal.
The bastard child of rock’n’roll and Psychedelic Rock, Metal was harder, heavier and louder than anything before and became one of the most important genres of all time. But how did we get there? Going via Eddie Cochran, "Misirlou" by Dick Dale "You're Gonna Miss Me" by The 13th Floor Elevators, through "Purple Haze" by Jimi Hendrix, "Sunshine of Your Love" by Cream, "Summertime Blues" by Blue Cheer, "Born to be Wild" by Steppenwolf, "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" by Iron Butterfly, "Helter Skelter" by the Beatles and "21st Century Schizoid Man" by King Crimson? Not to mention "Wicked Woman" by Coven, "Dazed and Confused" by Led Zeppelin.
But how did we get from Chuck Berry's “Johnny B. Goode” to “Black Sabbath” by Black Sabbath in twelve years? This is How Psychedelic Rock Became Metal.