9 Beatles Songs That Clearly Influenced Heavy Metal
It’s difficult to find an area of music that the Beatles didn’t influence, but their contribution to the progression of heavy metal is often overlooked. Perhaps best remembered for their psychedelic art-rock and flawless pop singles, the Fab Four could certainly let their hair down and fire off some headbangers, inspiring metal architects like Ozzy Osbourne and Gene Simmons. Plus their pioneering work with distortion, feedback, unorthodox lyrical topics, and death metal roars helped provide the building blocks of the genre.
So without further ado, in chronological order, here are nine Beatles songs that clearly helped pave the road to heavy metal.
1. “Twist And Shout,” from Please Please Me (1963)
A rock vocal to end all rock vocals, John’s performance on “Twist And Shout” is made all the more remarkable when you realize he was suffering from a terrible cold. On top of that, The Beatles were booked to record their first album in a single day, so by the time Lennon got this (his final track), he larynx was pretty shredded. “I didn’t sing the damn thing, I was just screaming,” he told Rolling Stone years later. According to studio legend, he left blood in his glass of milk after doing the take. Whether or not that’s true, his claimed his voice wasn’t quite the same for weeks—and we believe it. The death metal growl can trace it’s early DNA to this primordial party rock classic.
By: Jordan Runtagh
Source: VH1 Music
