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GOLDEN GODS HIGHLIGHTS

The 50 Heaviest Songs Before Black Sabbath: #30-21

Posted 05/27/2011 at 2:30pm | by Josh Hart, Damian Fanelli

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Guitar World counts down the heaviest songs before Black Sabbath. #50-41 | #40-31

The origin of heavy metal is a very fuzzy thing, but most historians and fans can agree that Black Sabbath’s eponymous 1970 debut was the first true metal album. Its thunderous drums, sinister riffs and downright evil lyrics left little to be debated, but what we at Guitar World wanted to know was this: What was the heaviest song before Black Sabbath?

We ranked these songs based on a variety of factors: distortion/fuzz, speed, darkness, volume and shock value. Most importantly, however, the song had to have been released before 1970. It would have been easy to list the first two Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix albums and call it a day, but we dug deep to find some hidden heavy gems from the era of peace and love.

We'll be revealing 10 songs each day until Sunday, when we reveal the heaviest song before Black Sabbath.

The Full List
The 50 Heaviest Songs Before Black Sabbath: #50-41
The 50 Heaviest Songs Before Black Sabbath: #40-31
The 50 Heaviest Songs Before Black Sabbath: #30-21
The 50 Heaviest Songs Before Black Sabbath: #20-11
The 50 Heaviest Songs Before Black Sabbath: #10-1

30 - Jimi Hendrix, "Purple Haze" (1967)
Hendrix’s calling card, “Purple Haze” brought a level of dissonance to popular music that had previously been touched on only by the free-jazz crowd. Many will credit Black Sabbath’s “Black Sabbath” as being the first use of the tritone (otherwise known as diabolus in musica), but Hendrix was tapping the dark side of music a whole three years earlier.

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h1wystr

May 02, 2013 at 2:20pm

Great job on #'s 50~21. Can't wait to see the rest.

guitarladd

September 19, 2011 at 8:44pm

All Day And All Of The Night, still remember listening to that on the car radio back then. Always thought it was better than You Really Got Me. If Van Halen had recorded it instead it would be considered the Kinks big song.

guitarladd

September 19, 2011 at 8:12pm

OK, I haven't went through the whole list but this should be number 1. Before heavy metal there was just heavy music and this was the heaviest of the heavy. I noticed Sunshine Of Your Love was number 41, should be no. 2, In-A-Gadda-Vida no. 3. I haven't seen Summertime Blues by Blue Cheer yet but surely it'll be up in the top 10. I'll give it number 4. After that, have to think about it. Purple Haze should be in the top 10. I hope Dazed & Confused is up there somewhere.