What was the first heavy metal song to crack the top 40?
There’s a lot of debate around the inception of heavy metal. Some quite rightly pinpoint Black Sabbath as the biggest and most significant starting point, especially when you look at the legacy of their revolutionary 1970 self-titled debut album.
However, as with most music genres across history, the beginnings of what we now consider to be heavy metal actually started a little earlier, taking root in the innovative sounds of 1960s rock ‘n’ roll pioneers. During this time, bands like The Beatles, Cream and The Kinks took the genre to places it had never been before, providing the foundations that other metal pioneers would later follow.
And if the principle of heavy metal started with the idea of making rock louder, riskier, more authentic, and a true reflection of society’s grittiest subcultures, then much of this started with bands like the Fab Four and their desire to challenge the parameters of mainstream pop music and talk about things that actually meant something to a lot of people.
Granted, The Beatles aren’t exactly anything close to what we’d now consider to be metal, but their experimentation, both sonically and lyrically, helped to pave the way for other bands embracing a more aggressive and chaotic musical direction in the years to follow. They also represented something more honest, especially in their later years, and how integrity in music was almost as important as broader commercialism.
Bands like The Kinks and songs like ‘You Really Got Me’ were also formative in the development of the genre, especially with Dave Davies’ iconic distorted riff, which is understandably considered to be one of the earliest examples of that familiar aggressive riff and distortion that many pioneers of heavy metal went on to incorporate into their own sound.
What was the first heavy metal song to crack the Top 40?
Likewise, Cream pushed rock into heavier territories, utilising loud amps, extensive guitar solos and raw, chaotic riffs in a way that inspired others to become more experimental with what they considered rock, using the extensive instrumentation and heavy sounds to push the boundaries of convention and inform their own musical direction.
And while many credit Black Sabbath with kickstarting the entire thing, the biggest turning point for heavy metal actually occurred a couple of years before their iconic 1970 debut, when a few things happened that would be crucial to the rise of the entire genre. Firstly, three major rock bands formed in ’68: Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and, of course, Sabbath.
Secondly, Steppenwolf immortalised the phrase itself by incorporating “heavy metal thunder!” into their song ‘Born to Be Wild’. And thirdly, Blue Cheer’s version of ‘Summertime Blues’ reached number 14 in the charts, marking the first heavy metal song to reach the Top 40. Co-written and recorded by Eddie Cochran when he was just 19, the song resonated for all the reasons you’d expect: because it was real, defiant, and said everything every teenager was thinking and feeling at the time.
When Blue Cheer covered it, they kept all the same themes intact but gave it a heavy, fuzz-laden proto-metal feel that significantly influenced the sound of metal, while also carrying commercial appeal. It was, for all intents and purposes, a major leap forward and a template for the genre’s future, showcasing the pace and headiness that many metal stalwarts would soon claim as their own.
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