Pre-Heavy Metal Songs from 1967
Contents
- The first ever heavy metal song is considered to be either “Purple Haze” by Jimi Hendrix or “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” by Iron Butterfly
- Other contenders for the title of first heavy metal song include Cream’s “Sunshine of Your Love” and Led Zeppelin’s “Dazed and Confused”
- The first metal song to chart on Billboard was Steppenwolf’s “Born to Be Wild”
- Other early metal songs that were popular in the late 1960s include Blue Cheer’s “Summertime Blues” and Deep Purple’s “Hush”
A list of pre-heavy metal songs from 1967 that are essential for any fan of the genre.
The first ever heavy metal song is considered to be either “Purple Haze” by Jimi Hendrix or “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” by Iron Butterfly
The first ever heavy metal song is considered to be either “Purple Haze” by Jimi Hendrix or “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” by Iron Butterfly, which were both released in 1967. “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” is often cited as being the first ever heavy metal song due to its heavy use of distortion and feedback, which became trademarks of the genre.
Other contenders for the title of first heavy metal song include Cream’s “Sunshine of Your Love” and Led Zeppelin’s “Dazed and Confused”
1967 was a banner year for hard rock, with many of the genre’s defining moments happening that calendar year. The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s “Purple Haze,” the Doors’ “Light My Fire,” and Cream’s “Sunshine of Your Love” all came out in 1967, as did Led Zeppelin’s debut album. It’s no wonder, then, that some have argued that these songs – and not Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man” or Deep Purple’s “Hush” – are the first heavy metal songs.
To be sure, all of these songs are heavier than anything that had come before them. But they don’t quite have the same bombastic, over-the-top quality that would come to define heavy metal. Sabbath and Purple, on the other hand, took the hard rock template and cranked everything up to 11. With their heavier riffs and dark lyrical themes, they laid the foundation for the metal genre as we know it today.
The first metal song to chart on Billboard was Steppenwolf’s “Born to Be Wild”
In 1968, the first metal song to chart on Billboard was Steppenwolf’s “Born to Be Wild”.[1] The song is about a motorcycle gang and includes the famous line “I like smoke and lightning/ Heavy metal thunder”. This was followed in 1969 by another hit song about motorcycles, Norman Greenbaum’s “Spirit in the Sky”. Also in 1969, the first full-length metal LP, Led Zeppelin’s self-titled debut album, was released.
Other early metal songs that were popular in the late 1960s include Blue Cheer’s “Summertime Blues” and Deep Purple’s “Hush”
While not as heavy as some of the other songs on this list, Blue Cheer’s “Summertime Blues” and Deep Purple’s “Hush” were both popular in the late 1960s and are considered to be early examples of metal songs.
