This is not bragging. It is an admission of guilt, probably indictable. I'm coming (going?) clean because I get asked about it a lot.

I appear to be the one who coined the term "heavy metal." I did this while serving as first rock critic of The New York Times. In a 1971 review of the band Steppenwolf, I referred to their "unique hard rock, heavy and metallic." A year later I referred to "heavy metal music." I was thinking not only of the music, but of the increasing number of bands with names such as Led Zeppelin, Iron Butterfly, and Grand Funk Railroad. (No more "Strawberry Alarm Clock," and a good thing, too.)

Steppenwolf did, of course, use the phrase "heavy metal thunder," in reference to mechanized transport of some sort, in their song "Born to be Wild." So they were the logical jumping off point for my coinage. I merely applied the notion to a form of music which, by the way, Steppenwolf didn't play.

I thought that this feat would win me a lifetime supply of hairspray and leather pants. It didn't, but alas, I no longer have use for either.

Mike Jahn

leather pants ain't all they're cracked up to be anyway...

I saw a concert during which Keith Emerson tried to jump back on stage while wearing leather pants. the crowd found his failure very funny. he still managed to blow us all away...

welcome to the board, mike.

You're forgiven, Mike. It was a dirty job, but someone had to do it.


And thank you for this (from your web site): ...in the words of the National Writers Union, "Metaphors be with you."

Welcome Mike. Have you met Musick? You will have lots to talk about! Looking forward to the byplay.

Welcome ABoard, mike. If you wish to shrive yourself of your guilt, I might suggest visiting this message board: <http://pub122.ezboard.com/bwordoriginsorg>

Don't put forth your claim of inventing it, just ask after the origin.

FWIW, my JunkDrawerMemory® has a faded note in it suggesting that "heavy metal" was a translation of a French graphic novel genre better translated as "screaming metal". The date on the note, if I can read it aright, is in the early '60s.

Welcome to our liguistic cauldron, Mike.

I recently had this discussion with someone 15yrs my junior about what constitutes the style of "heavy metal". Since, as you know, it has been around so long and undergone a number of media driven definition changes, I found the closest band that we could agree that fits the label was Metalica. It's good to hear that actually® fits the *original usage requirements, however, she was under the impression that Metalica is the 'definition' of heavy metal. If one thinks about it as describing the thickness and musical weight of the sounds used, well she's correct... and it is, indeed, even heavier than Led Zeppelin - which I understood (as you described) was one of the first to which the term was applied. She has excellent aural capacity and quickly pointed out Zeppelins "folk music"(as you and I might call it) flavor which she claimed didn't make it metalic enough.

To paraphrase an analogy I made to her- "Just because we kept finding new/more complex molecular structures that fit science's definition of metal, it didn't make the more *simple metals any less 'metalic'.

Absolution is available, but only to the repentant.

the repentant

like, dude, who was the lead singer in that band?

The punishment included being beaten up on by Margaret Mead and James Baldwin on the David Frost Show. I still have the bruises.

Never met him/her/whatever. Looking forward to it.

could be. as well all know, nothing is original. My coinage was simply combining thoughts about a musical shift away from psychedelic and all it involved, to a music much heavier and thundering, and the change in band names toward the similar. Previously, there were a lot of silly and/or zoologic band names (Beatles, Byrds, Turtles, Fish, Animals ... I can't think of them all)

The punishment included being beaten up on by Margaret Mead and James Baldwin on the David Frost Show. I still have the bruises.

Given that Margaret Mead was a good Episcopalian and that David Frost is God (see below), we shall consider you shriven.

------

A General once lived named de Gaulle,
Five hundred years old, ten yards tall.
He thought he was God,
Which was really quite odd,
For God's David Frost, if at all.
~author unknown

I never thought of Led Zeppelin or Iron Butterfly as being what became heavy metal. I simply noted the names. Yes, Metallica fits the bill very well. As does, of course, the fictional epitome of the genre, the unforgettable Spinal Tap.

To me, the first band that sounded like what came to be known as heavy metal was MC5 playing its anthem "Kick Out the Jams." There is/was a documentary about them released/withdrawn with the past two weeks.

I can't go into what they meant by "jams" in polite company.


am my replies winding up online someplace? I intend them to, but am ignorant about the technology, among many other things. I've never done this before.

John Kay. Don't know what became of him.

Re hip jargon, I recently found a copy of the NY Times Magazine article I wrote in 1971 called "If you Think It's Groovy to Rap, You're Shucking." It was rather tongue in cheeky (damn, I like the way that sounds). It was a compendium of rock/hip/hippie jargon of the time. It's way too long to post, so as soon as I scan it I'll put it up on my rock site, Tales of the Ancient Rocker (www.geocities.com/theancientrocker). It's one of two sites I have, the other being Michael Jahn's New York, which goes into my mystery novels (written as Michael Jahn), the last of which being "Murder in Coney Island."

I do all this for fun, by the way. It's a break from the medical editing/website content management I do to pay the bills.

So, you got beaten up by Margaret Mead and James Baldwin AND you didn't get your hairspray and leather pants. I'd say you've pretty much paid your debt to society.

Mind you, not getting the leather pants was probably a blessing in disguise...I know very little men on which leather pants look good, on most men, they’re kinda like those speedo bathing suits – Peter and the Bobsy twins are all you see.

>I know very little men on which leather pants look good

Well, I'm a (very) little man, and I shudder to think of wearing leather pants.

Takes a very big man to admit that max

Good to see you on, Mike. Stick around.

Hell, I played in bands for 25 years, the first 15 of them in "heavy-ish" bands. I never did like the "metal" part of the "heavy metal" expression, since it only appeared to fit a few bands, mostly as discussed above. "Heavy Rock" was what I called it, and still do. Not that I'm accusing you of anything, Mike. It's amazing what takes and what doesn't.

Spinal Tap had to be the ultimate expression of HM, didn't it? I have the DVD and watch it regularly when I need a good laugh. I also have the book and giggle my way through a few pages from time to time. I was rather fortunate to have a brother-in-law who was an amplifier genius (and part-time thief; he managed to lay his hands on Marshall circuits way back when). He rebuilt my amp for me and it went to 11/10, although it wasn't on the dial.

I only have a v-amp now, so no one else has to suffer ...

Led Zep was never HM. Never!

I began referring to "heavy rock" in the Times one or two years before the "metal" part crept in. I was writing about "heavy bottom," i.e., prominent bass and deep chords, then "Iron Butt" slipped into my sentences as a logical addendum to the "heavy bottom" thought, then the "iron" from Iron Butterfly and the Led from you-know-who got tossed into the mix. Steppenwolf came along with "heavy metal thunder," referring to a vehicle, and one thing led, as it so often does, to another; the phrase "heavy metal" emerged.

Further, "heavy bottom" was a term I heard from rock musicians in the late 60s. Such-and-such a band "has a heavy bottom."

Not to be confused with the Spinal Tap song, "Big Bottom" (I'm sure, on a scale of one to 11).

This is a cultural, medical, and ironic addendum to the discussion.

In my teenage years I was a good tennis player and a very good ... competitive on a national level ... sailboat racer. I spent a lot of time in the sun, without benefit substantial clothing or chemical protection.

In my twenties and thirties my lifestyle changed a tad. I spent a lot of time indoors, all night, with rock, jazz, and r&b musicians, on occasion ... not when I was working for the Times, which frowned on it ... engaged in some of the vices associated with the era, some of them chemical.

So here I am at 60 and guess which of the two lifestyles has risen up with a threat to kill me?

Not a very serious threat so far, thankfully. Just enough to set off a Code Orange irony alert.

My understanding has been that the name Led Zeppelin came about as a reaction to someone's comment that their music would go over like a lead balloon.

Yep, that's pretty much the story as I understand it. But, believe it or not, I can check. One of the guys I work with drinks with Jimmy Page from time to time. I'll prime him to find out and report back!

Great, Pfranz. I hate to be carrying ULs around in my JDM®. Not that finding out will get it out; it'll just get a UL stamp on it.

maybe it was the same guy ... the guitarist, what's his name, from Ten Years After, who told Ozzie Osborne that his band wouldn't go very far named Black Sabbath.

You mean Alvin Lee?

Ozzie's latterday resurgence of meta-fame is rather getting on my wick. Black Sabbath was never one of my favourite groups ...

...led a band called Love, didn't he?

Hey, Mike: have you posted "heavy metal" yet on the wordorigins board, cited by Faldage above? That's a fine collection of etymologists and usage mavens.

Welcome aBoard, Mike. Can you show a copy of your review? If so, perhaps you might want to send it to these people:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_metal_music

Click on or scroll down to: Origins of "heavy metal".

Alvin Lee led Love? (jeez, that array of words hurt). I forget which Lee was which. The Love Lee was the guy ... currently in jail, I think, who was a black guy singing like a white guy (Jagger) who was singing like a black guy.

The Ten Years After Lee ... I should get off my butt and look this up, or call my rock marketing wiz son who knows everything about music, was the one cited in Mojo recently as having told Ozzie that he would never amount to anything using the name Black Sabbath.

Wait ... perhaps Arthur Lee was Love and Alvin Lee was Ten Years After. In any event, the Love Lee was American and black and the other one white and British. Does that help?

I'm more confused than ever, which was considerable.

About Ozzie ...

Two interesting things. One is that I'm amused by how the mainstream press is treating Ozzie as being so unusual. I spent a lot of time with a lot of rock stars and can state with absolute certainty that so many of them can't find their way to the bathroom that you come to understand the need for frequent costume changes. Ozzie's being unable to find a liner for the dustbin is far from unusual. Further yet, the fame of "The Osbourns" -- I'm sure spelling it wrong -- is amusing because the show in essence is the latest iteration of a half-century-old cliche of American (and perhaps British as well) popular television comedy. And that is -- 1) inept, bumbling, but loveable dad; 2) strong, willful, caring wife; 3) wacky kids.

In short, there is absolutely nothing unique about avuncular Ozzie or his family beyond the bleeped ****s.

did I post my heavy metal stuff? I did on one word/phrase origins site, but will check out the others. Thanks for the tip.

about the wikipedia tip, thanks. I'll send them my recollections on the matter. That's an interesting site. I had forgotten about the Burroughs use of "heavy metal" in another context.

A lot of things coalesced in 1968, as the light optimism (in some quarters, anyway) of 1967 crashed and burned during heavy, doom-and-gloom 1968. No wonder that a corresponding musical style and the name for it evolved rapidly. Early in 1968 I wandered past the door to the East Village Other NYC underground newspaper and noted he door a sign reading "flower power is dead. Long live firepower."

That's the one who led Love: thanks, Mike, I was having a senior moment, which my mom refers to as an intellectual interlude.

Mike, if you get a chance, read "Tips for Newcomers" in the Q&A forum. Not all of us read in threaded mode, and sometimes it's hard to figure out who you're responding to. I am one of the many who prefer the flat mode (you can configure that in your settings).

Jeez, ASp, I had to read the liner notes on the album to make sure that I had the right Lee, and since I'd never heard of the other Lee, I couldn't see how I could have got them mixed up. It was Alvin, Alvin, Alvin! Ten Years After was one of the worst bands thrown up by the sixties IMHO; all flash and no substance. I wouldn't have anything by them at all if I hadn't been given the album by a doting but misguided friend of the female persuasion, and I've had it out so often that I can't even remember the title ... wait, yes I do, it was Undead. Live and with very little class at all ...

Led Zep was never HM. Never!

"Kashmir" is my favorite of thiers because of its weight, but they (Zep) don't get heavier than that, really.

Jeez, ASp, I had to read the liner notes on the album to make sure that I had the right Lee, and since I'd never heard of the other Lee, I couldn't see how I could have got them mixed up. It was Alvin, Alvin, Alvin! Ten Years After was one of the worst bands thrown up by the sixties IMHO;...

Jeez, Pfranz, I'm sorry you never heard Arthur Lee and Love. One of the best "underground" bands of the late 60s.

Oh, I'd heard of the band. Just not the personnel.

TYA were ok at Woodstock though, weren't they. And I still can't quite understand what Forever Changes is about. Sounds semi-profound, though.

And thanks, Mike, for all the history.

cheer

the sunshine warrior