There has always been a longstanding debate about when the first sounds of metal came into the world. Most people would point to something like the first Black Sabbath for introducing darkness to rock, but even they would tell you that they weren’t doing anything that artists like Led Zeppelin hadn’t done before. While Zeppelin always eschewed the metal comparisons, The Beatles could claim to be the genre’s founders, and it’s not for the song that most people might be thinking of.
First of all, it’s important we establish boundaries when it comes to heavy metal and hard rock. There is a lot of shared DNA between both genres, but the main difference has more to do with what the tone of any given track is supposed to be. So, while a tune like ‘You Really Got Me’ by The Kinks could be credibly called the first true metal song, the attitude that they play it with is far closer to hard rock.
And it’s not like The Beatles didn’t have hard rock tunes under their belt, either. ‘Paperback Writer’ had one of the most distorted riffs of its time on it, and even when they weren’t writing soppy ballads, tunes like ‘Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me and My Monkey’ knew how to kick out the jams when it needed to.
But, whereas most people consider ‘Helter Skelter’ to be the first true metal song, it doesn’t feel like a metal song from skin to core. Yes, Paul McCartney’s screams and electrified guitar work does sound like someone losing their mind in the studio, but every subsequent rendition of the track falls more in line with hard rock than anything that Metallica would ever put out.
No, the true metal song would have to wait until Abbey Road with ‘I Want You (She’s So Heavy)’. Although John Lennon conceived of the tune as an exercise in minimalism, the bluesy sound of the track falls more in line with what a lighthearted version of Sabbath might have done on their later albums. That is until you reach the final few minutes.
Whereas ‘Helter Skelter’ has all of the pent-up energy of a metal tune, hearing that plodding instrumental riff at the end of Lennon’s tune set a precedent for what doom metal riffs would sound like. Even with half a century removed from its release, it still manages to sound like the kind of riff that Tool could have jammed on during their Lateralus or maybe served as the inspiration for every single subsequent Sleep project. As a matter of fact, are we sure that Dopesmoker isn’t a clever way of adapting this riff for the duration of one album?
For all of the songs they made about love, this final section of the tune feels like getting a front-row seat for the apocalypse, especially when the gritty low-lead guitar takes over the mix on the final loops. And when everything comes to a screeching halt, it’s enough to stop someone’s heart much faster than any Iron Maiden album could hope to do.
While the track is fine the way it is, the true magic came when Giles Martin got ahold of the tune for the Love album, where he interpolated the riff and added in McCartney’s screams from ‘Helter Skelter’. Although that one section could have made a good case for the first metal song had it been released in the 1960s, ‘I Want You (She’s So Heavy)’ is a better indicator of what metal would sound like. Because for as much as McCartney could channel Little Richard when he screamed, there’s a guttural feeling when Lennon sings that sounds like he’s about to rip his throat out, and metal wouldn’t have it any other way.
