"The Roots of Metal" Project

This morning's track is Bow Wow's "Sliver Lightning" which I regard as being hard rock:

OK, so I'm about to throw a cat well & truly amongst the pigeons as I've finally (well... potentially) discovered a super-underground release that I've never heard of that ticks all of the metal boxes & may have been released earlier than many of the records that we believe to have truly cemented, established & defined the modern heavy metal sound. From what I've been able to determine thus far, there was a Dutch band by the name of Trash (or The Trash depending on where you look) who would later go on to change their name a couple of times to both Emerald & Warrior during the 1980's. The Trash recording four songs in the 1970's which may or may not have been released as a demo tape, reported on some metal websites to have taken place as far back as 1976. Well, if that's really the case then these demos represent the most pure metal release we'd seen to the time as I'd suggest that all four songs fall into the heavy metal camp & even showcase the regular use of tremolo-picking which foreshadowed the coming speed metal boom. It's all good stuff too. Just listen to those soaring higher register metal vocals! What a shame that this wasn't a proper release & I can't confirm the release date because it would comfortably have slotted in at number nine on our chronological timeline between Rainbow's "Rising" & Judas Priest's "Sin After Sin", thus closing out our first ten genuine metal releases list. If I'm being honest though, I suspect that this material is far more likely to have come from 1979 given the similarities to late 70's Judas Priest & Motorhead but I guess we'll never know.

Today's track is Bow Wow's "Electric Power Up" which I'm gonna suggest is another early example of the speed metal genre:

I'll about 99% sure that I've covered every possible option from 1970-1976 now so I've begun checking out 1977 releases behind the scenes. Here's some from today:

The 1977 "I giovani della notte" E.P. from Italy's Crazy Band includes no genuine metal songs. It's purely a hard rock record.

The 1977 "To You All" sophomore album Switzerland's Krokus is also a hard rock record with no metal to speak of.

English d-beat legends Discharge's 1977 demo tape is pretty much a punk rock release with hints of hardcore punk here & there.

And finally, the 1977 "Back To The Music" debut album from Germany's Mass is a blues/hard rock record with only the one track that qualifies as heavy metal.

This morning's track is Bow Wow's "Rock'n'Roll Drive" which is a hard rock tune:

I checked out the 1977 "Jardim de Infância" debut album from Brazil's Robertinho de Recife this morning but found no metal whatsoever. Instead I got a really interesting blend of psychedelic rock, progressive rock, Mahavishnu Orchestra-style jazz fusion & Udigrudi folk music.

I also explored the 1977 "Keep The Dogs Away" debut album from Canada's Thor. I didn't find any metal there either. It's a glammy hard rock record for mine.

And finally, I checked out 1977's first demo tape from Los Angeles' Sister; a release that features former New York Dolls guitarist & legendary WASP front man Blackie Lawless behind the mike as well as Mötley Crüe bass guitarist Nikki Sixx. It's certainly a pretty crude & lo-fi recording but I've been very surprised to find that there's enough metal on offer here to qualify as a genuine metal release. I'd suggest that the first two tracks "Sex Dreams" & "Sex Drive" (which was re-recorded for WASP's 1985 sophomore album "The Last Command") are heavy metal tunes while "What I Am" is hard rock & closer "Sweet Disease" is an early example of glam metal. This puts Sister's demo into the conversation for the earliest US metal release but we'll have to see where we end up at the end of our investigation of 1977 to confirm that. Who would have thought, huh?

Today's track is Bow Wow's "Rainbow of Sabbath" which I regard as being hard rock:

This morning's track is Bow Wow's "Tell Me Tell Me" which I'd suggest is hard rock:

This morning's song is the title track from Bow Wow's "Signal Fire" album which is once again a hard rock tune:

Today's track is Bow Wow's "Still" which I consider to be hard rock:

This closes out the "Signal Fire" album which I've only found to include two metal songs out of the ten on offer which sees it being ineligible for metal status. Tomorrow we'll be starting on Motorhead's 1977 self-titled debut album which is sure to prove to be controversial.

I checked out Murasaki's 1977 sophomore album "Impact" this morning but found no signs of metal. It's a hard rock record with one lengthy progressive rock number tossed into the mix.

This morning we kick off a brand new release in Motorhead's 1977 self-titled debut album. The opener is their signature tune "Motorhead" which I'm going to controversially tag as punk rock rather than heavy metal:

I think punk rock is a bit of a stretch and I would tag it as garage rock myself. Originally written for Hawkwind in '74/'75 and released as the B-side to Kings of Speed in '75, so proto-punk at best.

Yeah, I could get onboard the garage rock call actually. I can easily see a punk rock band playing that song though too.

I checked out Deep Purple's 1977 live album "Last Concert In Japan" this morning. Of the nine tracks, only closer "Highway Star" qualifies as heavy metal & even then it sounds noticeably less metal than it did on the "Machine Head" album as the rhythm guitar is further back in the mix with the keyboards being much further forward. It's a hard rock record for mine.

I also explored the fifth & final full-length from Australia's Buffalo entitled "Average Rock 'n' Roller". There was no metal there at all. It's a hard rock album with country rock & boogie rock influences.

And finally, I checked out Diamond Head's two-song 1977 demo tape. The opening track "Streets of Gold is close enough to speed metal in my opinion while the other track "Shoot Out the Lights" (which would also be re-recorded for their 1980 debut single) is only hard rock. If we're considering this to be a full release then it technically qualifies as metal given the 45% metal ratio.

This morning's track in Motorhead's "Vibrator" which I'd suggest is a punky hard rock tune:

Also, I revisited Rainbow's "On Stage" live release yesterday & found it to be a hard rock record but it does include "Kill The King" which I'd suggest is a heavy/power metal number, probably the first example of power metal ever.

"Vibrator" is the worst track on the record and I would go for a garage rock tag again.

I love On Stage and bought it on the day of release. I remember it was ridiculously expensive, I think I paid £6 for it, when most single albums went for £2.50 and doubles for about £4.50. Definitely a hard rock record though, with a whole side (Mistreated) being blues rock. I'll still never understand why there was no Stargazer included, though.

Apart from  a brief dalliance with "Starstruck", there was actually bugger-all from "Rising" included in general which was the album they were touring behind at the time which was really strange, wasn't it? And I agree that "Vibrator" is the weakest track on "Motorhead" too. I'm not sure I'm well enough across the garage rock subgenre to be drawing upon it as a reference point here though.

Today's track is "Lost Johnny" which I regard as being hard rock:

Lost Johnny is another of Lemmy's old Hawkwind tracks, from 1974's Hall of the Mountain Grill album and I would concur that it is hard rock.

I checked out 1977's "Knights of Love" sophomore album from Australia's Taste today but found no metal whatsoever. It's a hard/glam rock record with progressive rock influences.

I also explored Thin Lizzy's 1977 eighth full-length "Bad Reputation" which is essentially a hard rock record but does include one genuine heavy metal song in "Killer Without a Cause".

This morning's track is Motorhead's "Iron Horse/Born To Lose" which I'd suggest is hard rock:

I fucking love Iron Horse, it may be my favourite on the whole album, but yes, hard rock it is.

This morning's track is Motorhead's "White Line Fever" which I'm once again gonna tag as hard rock although it does have a metallic component.

I checked out Rush's 1977 fifth album "A Farewell To Kings" this morning but once again found no metal whatsoever. It's a progressive rock record.