How rock became metal: psychedelic

Mike Judge did much for metal through MTV parody that broke through to TV (pinterest.com)

Before Black Sabbath: How psychedelic rock became metal

(Trash Theory) Rock ’n toll used to be the gnarliest, heaviest genre in town, one that embodied rebellion, fast cars, and the loudest guitars the late 50s had to offer.

I'm the hardest metal rocker ever, mo-fos!!!

But as the 1960s wore on, coffee and minor rebellion seemed positively childish. Popular music needed something harder and more in sync with the sex and drugs part of sex, drugs, and rock ’n roll.

Enter psychedelic rock, similar to good ol’ rock ’n roll but with mind-expanding themes and an intense interest in a girl called Lucy, who was in the Sky with Diamonds (LSD 25). If you know what he means.

But the "Summer of Love" (1967) came and went, the US War on Vietnam didn’t end despite hippie opposition and the tragic events of Altamont. The CIA-staged "Manson murders" made it so that the positivity of the movement seemed blind.

A darker sound was needed and appeared in the form of metal, the bastard child of rock ’n roll and psychedelic rock, metal was harder, heavier, and louder than anything before and became one of the most important music genres of all time. But how did we get there?

• "Summertime Blues" by Eddie Cochran
• "Misirlou" by Dick Dale & His Del-Tones
• "You're Gonna Miss Me" by The 13th Floor Elevators
• "Purple Haze" by Jimi Hendrix
• "Sunshine of Your Love" by Cream
• "Summertime Blues" by Blue Cheer
• "Born to be Wild" by Steppenwolf
• "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" by Iron Butterfly
• "Helter Skelter" by the Beatles
• "21st Century Schizoid Man" by King Crimson
• "Wicked Woman" by [actually satanic] Coven
• "Dazed and Confused" by Led Zeppelin.

How did we get from Chuck Berry's “Johnny B. Goode” to “Black Sabbath” by Black Sabbath in just 12 years? This is how psychedelic rock became metal.