Heavy metal

Posted by Masakim on September 22, 2002

In Reply to: Heavy metal posted by Ed Stansell on September 22, 2002

: I do believe if you ask one of the early heavy metal bands where the term originated they will tell you that it comes from the Steppenwolf recording "Born To Be Wild". In it they say "I like smoke and lightning, heavy metal thunder" a heavy metal guitarist once had his day job working for me. He said that was the origin. I have heard that same thing mentioned on the TV and radio in interviews with heavy metal artist. One of which was the one who named his style heavy metal. They asked him where he got that term. He said that he liked the sound of "heavy metal thunder" and shortened it to describe the sound of his music.

: As for the other terms using"heavy metal. it refers to metals such as lead, mercury and the like. What military books refer to heavy artillery or tanks as heavy metal?
: ES

Heavy Metal (The Term)
First use of Heavy Metal (The Term) in our popular vernacular is often credited to the band Steppenwolf, who included the line "Heavy Metal thunder" in their biggest hit "Born To Be Wild". It is also thought (though perhaps not as frequently) to have originated with the great Rock critic Lester Bangs while he was employed by Creem magazine. It actually came to use, non-scientifically, via William S. Burroughs in his novel Naked Lunch. Ironically, even the most devout of Metalheads has never read Naked Lunch, nor do they even know who William S. Burroughs is. Also ironically, Mr. Burroughs was a homosexual (see Blatant Homosexual Overtones below). Heavy metals, as some of you know, are usually quite poisonous. This provided individuals like Tipper Gore with ample ammunition in her crusade that Heavy Metal music was "poisoning" the youth of America (see P.M.R.C. below). The band Styx had a really awful song called "Heavy Metal Poisoning" on their album Kilroy Was Here, which played on the term's two connotations.
From Encyclopedia Metallica at
www.sectionm.com/ mag_articles/extra/E_M.html