What is the origin of heavy metal? Many will point to the arrival of Black Sabbath . Others might say that Led Zeppelin made the music heavier. But there's another name to consider. Pete Townshend , of The Who , said that the band "kind of invented heavy metal."
In an interview with the Toronto Sun, Townshend compared the band's old sound to that of the new album Who . "It doesn't sound like we sounded in our early heavy metal days. We kind of invented heavy metal with our (live album) Live at Leeds ," he said.
“We were copied by so many bands, especially Led Zeppelin. You know: heavy drums, heavy bass, heavy rhythm guitar,” he argued. “Many of those bands, like Jimi Hendrix , for example, did much better than us. Cream , with Eric Clapton , Jack Bruce , and Ginger Baker , came out in 1967, the same year as Jimi Hendrix. And they kind of stole our mantle, in a way.”
He also said that, despite playing heavier music at the time, that was never his interest. "It's not something we can really do today," he said. "Even if we wanted to, that was never my desire."
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