Metal Bands of the 70s

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C
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Metal Bands of the 70s

Postby C » 22 Jul 2022, 21:30

Were there 'metal' bands in the 70s if so who were the best?





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Re: Metal Bands of the 70s

Postby Matt Wilson » 22 Jul 2022, 21:31

Sabbath
Purple
Priest
UFO
Scorpions
Budgie

For starters

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Re: Metal Bands of the 70s

Postby Matt Wilson » 22 Jul 2022, 21:33

Maybe some Uriah Heep in the early part of the decade.

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Re: Metal Bands of the 70s

Postby Matt Wilson » 22 Jul 2022, 21:41

Rainbow

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Re: Metal Bands of the 70s

Postby C » 22 Jul 2022, 21:59

When did these hard rock bands become 'metal'...?

[or was it heavy rock?]




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Re: Metal Bands of the 70s

Postby Matt Wilson » 22 Jul 2022, 22:05

C wrote:When did these hard rock bands become 'metal'...?

[or was it heavy rock?]




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You can debate that just like you can debate when progressive rock became prog.

Sabbath are considered the first 'metal' band because they largely eschewed blues riffs and psychedelia. Metal scholars have already mapped out this terrain, and I'm not going to waste time arguing with these guys online (though of course I've done that very thing before).

Like prog, metal has changed over the years and the definitions have changed as well. The bands I've named are a pretty good indicator of what is NOW considered metal from that decade, rather than what was considered metal then. Hard rock like Zeppelin, Aerosmith, AC/DC etc, are I guess, too bluesy for metal purists - though who THEY are, is anyone's guess.

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Re: Metal Bands of the 70s

Postby Matt Wilson » 22 Jul 2022, 22:10

The term 'heavy metal,' much like 'punk,' was hardly even used until it became a thing in the latter part of the decade. So much of what is classified under that category has been done in hindsight. Probably in the '70s, heavy metal and hard rock were synonymous.

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Re: Metal Bands of the 70s

Postby Charlie O. » 22 Jul 2022, 22:11

I can remember Sabbath and Purple being regularly referred to as "Heavy Metal" circa '73/'74... Zeppelin and Heep less regularly.
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Re: Metal Bands of the 70s

Postby Matt Wilson » 22 Jul 2022, 22:13

Yeah, but they used to call Aerosmith and Nugent metal too. Like I said, it was nebulous at the time. There weren't the stricter parameters we use now.

Kiss too, I remember. Then again, some still consider Kiss to be metal.

Blue Oyster Cult would be another band which passed for metal at the time.

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Re: Metal Bands of the 70s

Postby Charlie O. » 22 Jul 2022, 22:19

Matt Wilson wrote:Yeah, but they used to call Aerosmith and Nugent metal too. Like I said, it was nebulous at the time. There weren't the stricter parameters we use now.

Kiss too, I remember. Then again, some still consider Kiss to be metal.

Blue Oyster Cult would be another band which passed for metal at the time.

Don't think I remember Aerosmith being tagged Heavy Metal (and it seems like it was always "Heavy" Metal then), but the rest of those bands, certainly. I agree that it wasn't as codified then, but then, everything was a bit looser then!
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Re: Metal Bands of the 70s

Postby mudshark » 22 Jul 2022, 22:55

So, looking at the 70's, what made a hard rock band differ from a metal band, in the ears of those 'in the know'?
I can't recall the term 'metal' being used for bands like Sabbath, Purple, Heep etc., at least not in The Netherlands. It was all 'hard rock', I think.
It could be because I never was into metal/hard rock very much, apart from the early 70's, I guess.
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Re: Metal Bands of the 70s

Postby Matt Wilson » 22 Jul 2022, 23:00

There was a Creem magazine with "Is Heavy Metal Dead?" on the cover with shots of Aerosmith, Heart, Boston, Nugent, Kiss, Van Halen, Queen (they're another quasi-metal band), etc. on the cover.

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Re: Metal Bands of the 70s

Postby mudshark » 23 Jul 2022, 00:13

Must have been some strange article. I always figured hard rock to be more melodic than metal, but I'm probably wrong.
For me, the hard rock genre I liked died when with Rainbow's first album.
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Re: Metal Bands of the 70s

Postby Matt Wilson » 23 Jul 2022, 01:42

Image

This is from 1979.

Image

Here's one from '81.

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Re: Metal Bands of the 70s

Postby never/ever » 23 Jul 2022, 02:17

Blackfoot
Blue Oyster Cult
UFO
Mahogany Rush
Scorpions
Montrose
Cheap Trick
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Re: Metal Bands of the 70s

Postby mudshark » 23 Jul 2022, 02:19

What does this list represent for you?
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Re: Metal Bands of the 70s

Postby never/ever » 23 Jul 2022, 02:24

mudshark wrote:What does this list represent for you?


Precursors to what became heavy metal later. The eighties supercharged everything, it became faster and louder but most of the grounding came from the blues-rock roots of these bands, couples with great individual musicians that themselves were templates for the big metal bands of the 80s/90s.
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Re: Metal Bands of the 70s

Postby Limpin' Jez McKenzie » 23 Jul 2022, 04:46

AC/DC


Queen were never really heavy metal, though they did get included in some of those mags as noted above.
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Re: Metal Bands of the 70s

Postby fange » 23 Jul 2022, 05:21

Positive passion wrote:AC/DC


I don't hear AC/DC as heavy metal; too indebted to the blues and rock and roll, like a fuel-injected drag car version of Chuck Berry. Hard rock, certainly, but not HM.
Last edited by fange on 23 Jul 2022, 05:32, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Metal Bands of the 70s

Postby Limpin' Jez McKenzie » 23 Jul 2022, 05:26

fange wrote:
Positive passion wrote:AC/DC
/quote]
I don't hear AC/DC as heavy metal; too indebted to the blues and rock and roll, like a fuel-injected drag car version of Chuck Berry. Hard rock, certainly, but not HM.


:D Fair enough.
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