- By the late 1960s, the seeds of heavy metal were already planted. Historians consider bands like Blue Cheer, MC5, Iron Butterfly and Steppenwolf as prototypes for the genre, with Steppenwolf’s song “Born to be Wild” being the first time the term “heavy metal” was mentioned in music. Popular bands of the period such as The Yardbirds, Deep Purple and Cream hinted toward a more aggressive sound, while Jimi Hendrix reinvented the sound of the electric guitar by utilizing extreme loudness with heavy distortion and feedback.
- The first band to mark the inception of true heavy metal, Led Zeppelin, set down the blueprint with their music and lyrics, as well as their excess-filled lifestyle. Lead singer Robert Plant established an iconic look and vocal style, while the other members of the band--Jimmy Page on guitar, John Bonham on drums and John Paul Jones on bass and keyboard--placed an emphasis on virtuosic playing that would become a staple of the genre.
- The only other band of that time to create a similar impact was Black Sabbath. The band stepped away from the blues-influenced roots of proto-metal espoused by Zeppelin, and instead pioneered the use of loud, ponderous riffs, according to the “Encyclopedia of Heavy Metal Music.” Lead guitarist Tony Iommi adopted this style because of an accident that severed the tips of two of his fretting fingers. With the use of artificial fingertips, he started playing simpler power chords and tuned the guitar down, resulting in a much heavier sound that would influence countless metalheads.
- The success of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath triggered a New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) in the 1970s, headed by bands such as Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Def Leppard and Motörhead. Most of them followed the Black Sabbath mold and also incorporated elements of punk in their sound. By this time, the “devil’s horn” hand sign, whose invention is widely attributed to Rainbow/Black Sabbath singer Ronnie James Dio, became popular in concert arenas.
- In the 1980s, Los Angeles became a big breeding ground for bands like Poison, Ratt, Twisted Sister and Motley Crüe, who took elements of glam rock bands from the 1970s and put on makeup, along with industrial amounts of hair spray. The result, called “hair metal” derisively by some, signified metal’s shift into more pop sensibilities that translated into huge success. Power ballads became the norm, and the movement stayed strong until the early 1990s, when grunge bands from Seattle replaced L.A. hair metal bands in popularity.
- Partly as a reaction to the pop sensibilities of hair metal, bands like Metallica, Megadeth and Slayer took their cues from the heaviest elements of the NWOBHM and upped the tempo substantially, resulting in a subgenre called thrash that reached new levels of aggression and sonic brutality. Metallica in particular would become hugely successful later on, but it was Slayer who reached new levels of darkness in their lyrics and sound, creating a whole new subgenre in the process.
- The precedent set by Slayer soon inspired countless bands to explore darker and more morbid themes in their lyrics; thus, death metal was born. Bands like Cannibal Corpse, Napalm Death and Morbid released songs about Satanism, torture and degradation. The use of low, guttural sounds instead of singing is also a characteristic of the genre. In Norway, the trend took on the form of black metal, and the scene was steeped in controversy during the 1990s due to a series of church burnings.
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