all right so what I'm gonna do here is
I'm going to sort of lay out a roadmap
for you I'm gonna talk about ten artists
that shaped all of heavy music we're gonna
start at the beginning the foundation all
the way through where it took us and
where we're still going so let's start
at the beginning that's Chuck Berry
you hear that? that riff that riff is the
basis of all hard rock all metal all
rock and roll really all the guitar
riffs that you've ever heard in your life
began with that. we're all Chuck's children
and then... Little Richard. okay why a little
Richard does this sound heavy you
damn well better believe it does listen to that voice
I wouldn't be doing I'm doing if it weren't for Little Richard. What do we got next? Rolling Stones. You hear that? You hear that riff?
Chuck Berry man. Chuck Berry gave them that riff they stole it. but they took it someplace new
they're the rolling stones, we all know the bad
boys of rock'n'roll. you have the Beatles
and the Stones you know I can put
the beatles in here but we're talking heavy
and the stones really took it to that
place they took it to that place that
gave rise and gave birth and all the
things that we listen to that we love that
heavy thing you know that may sound tame
by today's standards but this is what it took
to make the stones so important they they
came out in the midst of of dealing with
the Beatles in saying no we're a little
bit dirtier than that we come to a place
where what's in our hearts it's just a
little bit grimier and that is where
the trajectory of heavy music really
just went someplace, and now where do we go?
all right The Who. Can't leave out The Who
Did you hear that? do you hear how dirty? see it got
dirtier with the Who and they've pushed
it even further into your face they they
wanted a louder sound they wanted a
harder sound they want you to feel what
they feel and the bass, listen to the bass
you hear that bass? see the bass really
in this band the bass is the virtuoso
and it's really the foundation. the
heaviness comes from that distorted
sound that John Entwistle was getting
and that more than anything pushed it further
into a heavy more electrified area... so what do we got next?
Jimi... Jimi Hendrix. Listen to that
the first real guitar God the first real
guitar god the guy who pushed it to
boundaries nobody had ever heard before
and he was blowing people's minds
this was heavy music this is where heavy
guitar really became HEAVY. the guitar God idea
was born right here I don't know how he
got that sound at that time
the technology, it's just barely... I mean, yeah Jim Marshall made it possible you know but..
Jimmy you know
all right all right I'm gonna stop it
right here
because when I'm gonna put on right now
for you... the band that is one of my
absolute all-time favorites
they broke doors open for me and in this
one moment, in this one moment, metal, punk,
thrash
everything along those lines was born
in that moment everything that had been
suppressed everything that the Stones
wanted to say everything that the Who
wanted to say, all these bands who had
still been holding back they've been
pushing the boundaries and they've been
pushing and they've been pushing but in
this moment the sheer rebellion the
angst the anxiety the all the doors were
shattered to smithereens in this moment
listen to it again
oh yes 1969, the MC5 their debut album recorded live. who does that? they put out their debut album LIVE. they knew they
couldn't be contained in the studio.
if you listen to their studio stuff you realize why this had to happen because something was missing in their studio stuff
this album stands as a testament to all things heavy that
ever were. punk thrash
everything was just born on this day
alright what do we got next?
Black Sabbath okay... Sabbath has to
go there they are the architects of what we
know as heavy metal the godfathers of
heavy metal. right? everybody pretty much is in agreement with that, you might have a few arguments but
Black Sabbath, you know, you had Zeppelin and you had Sabbath
Zeppelin went more bluesy these guys decided to go dark
taking those moods and those energies
that
creeped you out when you saw a horror movie
and applying it to an electrified
version of you know what these other
bands have been doing up to that point
they inadvertently
created something that hadn't existed
before it's the moment that you got it
people at that time a lot of people were
confused by it and other people were like "what is this? oh my god"
next... Deep Purple. gotta put Deep Purple on the
list because... listen to this
stupid stupid simple chords just basic chords
 who would think that a virtuoso like
Richie Blackmore would do something so simple
when these chords in the airwaves every
kid with a guitar just went "I can do
that"
this is the single greatest contribution Deep Purple
ever made and Deep Purple made a
lot of contributions... because they simplified it
they made everybody with a guitar
or an aspiration to play guitar it made that
light bulb will go off over their head
and go "I can do that" you know heavy
music can be very complicated but the
driving force is also its simplicity
this is what made that happen this is what gave
birth, it put forth the idea that you
don't have to be a virtuoso when you
play it with attitude when you mean it
it speaks volumes you can just give it
all you got and Smoke on the Water
made that happen
Alice Cooper
Alice man. You gotta hand it to Alice on every level
but this song right here School's Out
this is the beginning of arena rock
the Arena Rock anthem was born with this song
come on "school's out for summer"
every kid in the world
is waiting for this day
and Alice Cooper embodies that
entire rebellious spirit where
you can't hold us back anymore, thank god
we're outta here
and we're going crazy
this is it, the anthem was born
every feeling that we've ever had about
being oppressed
by a system that we feel is there to
just malign our very nature and take
away our individuality
is put into this song because now we're
FREE. The greatest rebellious anthem right here
because when were kids we get it but we
don't know how to express it, then Alice
comes along and says school's out
school's out forever that's what heavy
music is all about
school is out forever... FOREVER
Kiss of course Kiss is on the list because
whereas Alice Cooper gave gave us the
pivotal arena rock song the arena rock anthem Kiss
was born on that entire idea everything
we're gonna do is based on bigger
louder more bombastic more electrified
more your face
for as many people that you could
possibly pack into an arena
that's Kiss. they took that idea and ran
with it. the first line in this song takes
Alice's "School's Out" idea
and lays more on top of it with the
very first line of "Deuce"
there you go. that's the only line you need to listen too from this song because this says it all
it all
school's out yeah now guess what get your
get your grandma out here get your
parents out of here we're taking over
we're throwing a party this is our time
the Stadium rock band was
now permanently ingrained in our psyche
and then.. I almost gave it away, where are you
gonna go after that right where are you
gonna go with the pure architecture, the
blueprint of heavy music...
I mean it's pretty much all laid out and
everybody can all make assumptions about
where we should take this and we can get
creative and we can go other places with
now with we've got the foundation laid
who's next is there anybody else that we
can add to the list? fuck yes there is
Motorhead
Motorhead and this is the song. I mean
this is the one everybody plays when we talk
about Motorhead we talk about Ace of
Spades and you know they've got such an
amazing catalog that it's a shame to
boil it all down to one but you know what?
this was the one, it exalted and then put them
on the map, that made everybody go "holy shit"
right? Motorhead why? they took the same
ideas with all those artists I just mentioned, but they played it fast
they sped it up and went you know what? "this is
not revved up high enough for me" "I
need it to go faster, I need that motor
to be gunned" Motorhead. the greatest name
of any band ever for this kind of music
oh my god
cuz it says it all and they back it up
the music itself it's more distorted
the distortion off John Entwhistle's bass
the electrified raw emotion of Jimi Hendrix
the streetwise attitude of The Who, the bad boys of the Rolling Stones but it's also Chuck Berry. very everything
that Motorhead does is based off that basic
the idea of what Chuck Berry laid down in
the very first place. now the foundation
is complete the blueprint is now as
complete as it needs to be so that every
artist every musician everybody who's
got a penchant for anything heavy now is
on their own because what we got after
this was a sheer combination of all
things prior. Judas Priest, Iron Maiden,
Metallica, Marilyn Manson, all the grunge acts.
everything. it came from all of
these architects. they're the best
examples I could possibly give you of
what drove us to where we are today and
I'm just calling this you know "the road
map to heaviness" the architects who
created all things heavy because I don't
care about the different genres and it
splinters off into many different areas
thrash, hardcore, grindcore, punk, speed metal, all of it and any genre that may come up from
this point forward still is going to owe
itself to these, these ten. I'm just
distilling it down to ten artists and
that's enough I think to explain the
whole damn system.
now, what are you gonna
do with it?
