Into the roots of heavy metal:
When music isn’t just for the ears but for your life and soul...
Black Sabbath
 Formed in Birmingham, England in 1968, Black Sabbath is considered as
the father of pure heavy metal, the original lineup of the band being
Tony Iommi (guitar), Ozzy Osbourne (vocals), Terry “Geezer” Butler
(bass) and Bill Ward (drums). After forming as a heavy blues band
calling themselves the “Polka Tulk Blues Band”, in 1969 the band
standing against the norms and the popular music at the time, started
creating a sound unique only to them with a heavy, dark flavour for the
first time around that era changing the band name into “Black Sabbath”.
Starting with their self titled album “Black Sabbath” in 1970, the
band has released 18 studio albums so far selling millions and millions
of copies around the world.
Along with the album successes with many multi platinum records,
Sabbath has also done tours and concerts around the world. This band has
been placed second in the list “100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock” of
VH1 and has been ranked as the “Greatest Metal Band” of all time by the
MTV.
Along with that, Black Sabbath has also been named as “the
heavy-metal kings of the 70s” by the Rolling Stone magazine. Thus the
first root of heavy metal sunk slowly into the hearts and minds of
millions of people whose remedy for the soul was music.
Led Zeppelin
 In 1968, four guys namely Jimmy Page (guitar), Robert Plant (vocals),
John Paul Jones (bass), and John Bonham (drums) joined together in order
to form a band in a room below a record store in London, England calling
themselves “The Yardbirds”. They came out as the new lineup of the band
of that name which Page was involved in before, marking the beginning of
the future formation of “Led Zeppelin”.
Later on as the band realized that they did not want to play under
the name of “The Yardbirds”, they changed it into “Led Zeppelin”. The
first studio track where all four members of Zeppelin were featured was
“Jim’s Blues” under the name of “The Yardbirds”. Their debut album named
“Led Zeppelin” was then released during their first US tour in 1969.
This was the beginning of the second root along with Black Sabbath,
further defining the genre which came to be known as “heavy metal”.
After many tours, concerts and albums, in 1980 with a US tour coming
ahead after three years, the drummer John Bonham passed away which led
to the disbanding of Zeppelin. Being described as “the biggest band of
the 70s” and “the heaviest band of all time” by the Rolling Stone
magazine and listed 1st in the VH1’s “100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock”
placing black Sabbath 2nd in the list, during the years of Zeppelin,
they had performed for crowds which included over 100,000 people and had
released 9 studio albums which have sold over 200 million copies around
the world.
Deep Purple
 In 1967, as an idea of Chris Curtis-the former drummer of the
“Searchers”- the search for members for a band which was going to be
named the “Roundabout” began. Soon Jon Lord and Ritchie Blackmore became
a part of the project.
Though Chris Curtis left after that, the other two were eager to
carry on. As a result, soon a complete lineup was formed which included
Ritchie Blackmore (guitar), Jon Lord (keyboards), Nick Simper (bass),
Ian Paice (drums) and Rod Evans (vocals) and in 1968, as suggested by
Ritchie Blackmore the band name was changed into “Deep Purple”.
Three albums were released with the same lineup before Nick Simper
and Rod Evans were replaced by Roger Glover and Ian Gillan. This line up
is considered as the classic Deep Purple. Albums such as “In Rock”,
“Fireball” and “Machine Head” were recorded with this lineup. Altogether
Deep Purple has had eight different lineup changes over the years.
Hailing from Hertford, England, Deep Purple has done 25 world tours
through the years excluding the upcoming 2010 tour and has released 18
studio albums and 34 live albums selling over 100 million copies around
the globe. Deep Purple has also been listed as the “World’s loudest
band” in the Guinness Book of World Records.
Judas Priest
 The founding members of the band being K. K. Downing and Ian Hill who
had known each other from childhood days, they had initially been
playing as a power trio with the drummer John Ellis when Al Atkins, the
lead vocalist of an ensemble named “Judas Priest”, approached them after
the splitting up of the ensemble to be the vocalist of the band. As K.
K. Downing was a fan of the original band, the band name was changed in
to “Judas Priest” shortly after the Atkins involvement.
Thus in 1969, in Birmingham, England Judas Priest was formed. Since
then the band has been involved with several drummers till the year 1989
where Scott Travis joined Priest. In 1973, after Atkins and the drummer
involved at the time had left, Bob Halford who later became widely known
as Rob Halford and the drummer John Hinch joined the band. With a few
other lineup changes over the years, Judas Priest has made a revolution
in the history of metal. Having sold over 35 million albums worldwide,
they have earned the name “metal Gods” in the metal industry. They have
also been named as the second most important band in heavy metal by
MTV.com, the first being Black Sabbath.
Apart from this, the band also deserves credit for the
revolutionizing of the heavy metal fashion. Priest has released 16
studio albums and 5 live albums through the years and has been on over
25 tours.
If you are someone who admires and craves the depth and the beauty of
the music of the people, then these bands should be on the top of your
“must listen” list. May this be a spark to light the fire in your soul
to go forth and fathom the beauty of this music.
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