The History of Heavy Podcast

Between 1970 and 1975 Black Sabbath made six nearly perfect albums, each filled with multiple all-time Sabbath classics. Along the way they invented a genre and inspired scores of copy cats to follow their lead. In 1976 they released their seventh LP which was a long way from perfect. It found them exhausted, drug & alcohol riddled and grasping at sonic straws in an attempt to keep up with the popular acts of the day rather than continuing to blaze the heavy, riff laden trail they had previously laid. Critics and fans alike derided the album as an artistic mess, forever marking Technical Ecstasy as one of the worst entires in their catalog. But is it really? We reevaluate its eight tracks, weigh the record against its hard rock contemporaries at the time and ultimately answer our age old question: Is it heavy? HHP Spotify Playlist https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2qkURdYib8hLz8s20D9yTC?si=1526168526854a62 HHP on TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@the.history.of.hea?_t=ZP-8z7me40bcbu&_r=1 HHP Instagram https://instagram.com/the_history_of_heavy @historyofheavy

The Sex Pistols were patient zero for British punk and their first single, "Anarchy in the U.K.", released in November of 1976 was its big bang, setting the template for what punk was supposed to look and sound like. Unlike the Ramones, the Pistols had no interest in humor or camp, replacing the former's trash-culture, girl-group inspired lovability with snarling anger and a call for political and cultural upheaval. As a result, the Pistols fit as snuggly into our chronology of heavy as a pair of used bondage pants. HHP Spotify Playlist https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2qkURdYib8hLz8s20D9yTC?si=1526168526854a62 HHP on TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@the.history.of.hea?_t=ZP-8z7me40bcbu&_r=1 HHP Instagram https://instagram.com/the_history_of_heavy @historyofheavy

The Ramones invented a genre by combining their love of the Beach Boys, the Ronettes and the Stooges, adopting a fake surname, sharing a leather jacket, jeans & t-shirt uniform, adding a large dose of adolescent humor, mixed with a trash culture sensibility and then amping up the tempo in 2 minute sonic outbursts. They were groundbreaking, hilarious and massively influential; but we still have to ask: were they heavy? HHP Spotify Playlist https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2qkURdYib8hLz8s20D9yTC?si=1526168526854a62 HHP on TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@the.history.of.hea?_t=ZP-8z7me40bcbu&_r=1 HHP Instagram https://instagram.com/the_history_of_heavy @historyofheavy

No two words are more synonymous with heavy metal than Judas Priest. Yes, Sabbath had invented the genre several years prior to Priest's formation and later Iron Maiden and Metallica would both take the genre into stadiums but it's Priest's leather and studs image, the twin lead guitar attack of Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing and the iconic wail of Rob Halford that would come to define what the layperson would understand to be stereotypically metal. That all begins in 1976 on their second LP The Sad Wings of Destiny and is no better sonically represented than on that albums centerpiece, "Victim of Changes." HHP Spotify Playlist https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2qkURdYib8hLz8s20D9yTC?si=1526168526854a62 HHP on TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@the.history.of.hea?_t=ZP-8z7me40bcbu&_r=1 HHP Instagram https://instagram.com/the_history_of_heavy @historyofheavy

You would be hard pressed to find a more controversial or polarizing figure in the world of music or anywhere else than Ted Nugent. His views on politics, the environment, women, or any other subject are extreme to say the least and we could not disagree with every one of them more. However, his impact on hard rock is undeniable. From an incredible run that began with The Amboy Dukes in the late sixties and continued into a solo career that ran the entire decade of the 1970's, no chronology of heavy music would be complete without the Motor City Madman. We've chosen the title track of his sophomore LP from 1976 as the centerpiece of our conversation about his music but spend a good majority of this episode trying to answer the question: is it possible to separate the art from the artist? HHP Spotify Playlist https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2qkURdYib8hLz8s20D9yTC?si=1526168526854a62 HHP on TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@the.history.of.hea?_t=ZP-8z7me40bcbu&_r=1 HHP Instagram https://instagram.com/the_history_of_heavy @historyofheavy

Fela Kuti recorded more than 60 albums, is regarded as the principal innovator of the Afrobeat genre, was an outspoken political voice for the oppressed people of Nigeria and one of the most important figures in the history of world music. But how does he fit into our chronology of heavy? Mike & Dave break it down. Recommended Listening, Watching & Reading Miriam Makeba https://open.spotify.com/artist/18RkLKfeoUgZflWv9os25W?si=3UX0R-PDSGSrhXbhO3Xtlw Bobi Wine https://open.spotify.com/artist/6d7TH1WmN4YI15WAygkuMR?si=hrEGxnDxS_qj4JUM-leazA HHP Spotify Playlist https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2qkURdYib8hLz8s20D9yTC?si=1526168526854a62 HHP on TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@the.history.of.hea?_t=ZP-8z7me40bcbu&_r=1 HHP Instagram https://instagram.com/the_history_of_heavy @historyofheavy

The proto-punk/garage rock band Death (not the Florida Death metallers) formed in 1971, released one independent single in 1976, broke up in 1977 and then were essentially completely forgotten about. That is until record collectors, seeking rare artifacts began to unearth the 500 copies of that record in the early 2000s. It eventually made its way to Drag City Records who released Death's first full length LP …For All the World To See in 2009. In 2014 the feature length documentary A Band Called Death was released and finally, some forty years after the fact, Death were recognized as the ground breaking, genre bending talent that they were. With the benefit hindsight, we discuss where they fit in our chronology of heavy. RIP Clive Davis Recommended Listening, Watching & Reading A Band Called Death https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpmfsnfMHMc HHP Spotify Playlist https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2qkURdYib8hLz8s20D9yTC?si=1526168526854a62 HHP on TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@the.history.of.hea?_t=ZP-8z7me40bcbu&_r=1 HHP Instagram https://instagram.com/the_history_of_heavy @historyofheavy

1975 saw the last of six consecutive, nearly perfect studio albums from the classic lineup of Osbourne, Iommi, Butler and Ward. Sabotage continued the cocaine fueled, high energy experimentation of Vol 4. and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath while adding a new found rage to the formula, brought on by the embittered legal dispute that they were in at the time with their former manager. The resulting intensity of tracks like "Hole in the Sky," "The Writ" and of course "Symptom of the Universe," (which essentially invents thrash metal) makes the album an essential listen in their truly essential catalog. HHP Spotify Playlist https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2qkURdYib8hLz8s20D9yTC?si=1526168526854a62 HHP on TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@the.history.of.hea?_t=ZP-8z7me40bcbu&_r=1 HHP Instagram https://instagram.com/the_history_of_heavy @historyofheavy

RCA Records had to halt distribution of Metal Machine Music just weeks after its release in 1975, due to customer complaints about its cacophonous, atonal noise . It was so widely derided that it damaged Reed's reputation for years to come and it still sits firmly on many Worst Albums of All-Time lists. However, now with decades of hindsight and hundreds of experimental musicians inspired by his fearlessness behind us, its impact is undeniable. Traces of these structureless, rhythmless "songs" can be found in artists as far reaching as Sonic Youth, Einstürzende Neubauten, PiL, and William Basinski. But does that make it any good? HHP Spotify Playlist https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2qkURdYib8hLz8s20D9yTC?si=1526168526854a62 HHP on TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@the.history.of.hea?_t=ZP-8z7me40bcbu&_r=1 HHP Instagram https://instagram.com/the_history_of_heavy @historyofheavy

Miles Davis is one of the most important and influential musicians in music history. He was an extremely talented trumpeter, bandleader and composer. He was at the forefront of the bebop, cool jazz, modal jazz, avant-garde jazz and fusion movements. He helped discover and develop massive talents including John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock and Ron Carter. But what were Miles' contributions to "heavy?" What was heavy about his style, and his approach? What was sonically heavy about his music and what heavy artists did he influence across genres? We attempt to unpack it all. RIP Sonny Rollins RIP Rob Base HHP Spotify Playlist https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2qkURdYib8hLz8s20D9yTC?si=1526168526854a62 HHP on TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@the.history.of.hea?_t=ZP-8z7me40bcbu&_r=1 HHP Instagram https://instagram.com/the_history_of_heavy @historyofheavy