Heavy metal's birthplace. - Paul Merry Blues and Rock.

Birmingham v London

Here are the facts, without prejudice.

In 1966, a love of black American blues prompted the groundbreaking white British band, Cream, to change the course of rock music. Made up of two London musicians, guitarist Eric Clapton and drummer Ginger Baker, with Scotland’s Jack Bruce on bass, Cream were the hard-rock trio who pioneered ultra-heavy riff-driven blues-rock.

When Cream disbanded in 1968, London’s Jeff Beck Group stepped into the void, closely followed by Led Zeppelin. Beck’s group was, at first, the more successful in America, but broke up due to internal pressures. They were guitarist Beck, vocalist Rod Stewart, bassist Ron Wood, all from London, and various drummers, the first being Liverpool’s Aynsley Dunbar.

Amazingly, the guitarists of all three pioneering hard rock groups – Clapton, Beck and Page – were born within a 12-mile radius near London.

For those interested in investigating the above trio’s birthplaces further, please check the post below. Perhaps skip all the historic blues stuff at the beginning to get right into it.

Three blues guitar greats born 12 miles apart.

The make-up of Led Zeppelin, of course, was guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist John Paul Jones from London, plus drummer John Bonham and singer Robert Plant, both from near Birmingham.

*Classic Zeppelin: two Londoners and two from Birmingham.*

The composition of those first three heavy metal pioneers – Cream, Jeff Beck Group and Led Zeppelin – works out at seven musicians from London, two from Birmingham, and one each from Scotland and Liverpool. For the sake of the exercise, we won’t include secondary metal pioneers like London’s the Yardbirds (featuring both Beck and Page) or the Jimmy Hendrix Experience (guitarist Jimi being from America, bassist Noel Redding from Kent and drummer Mitch Mitchel from London).

By 1967, the adjective ‘heavy’ was beginning to enter the rock music vernacular. Says the world’s oldest English language encyclopaedia, Britannica, under ‘Heavy Metal’:

“Mid-1960s British bands such as Cream, the Yardbirds, and the Jeff Beck Group, along with Jimi Hendrix are generally credited with developing the heavier drums, bass, and distorted guitar sounds that differentiate heavy metal from other blues-based rock. The new sound was codified in the 1970s by Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath with the release of ‘Led Zeppelin II’, ‘Deep Purple in Rock’, and ‘Paranoid’, respectively, which featured heavy riffs, distorted power chords, mystical lyrics, guitar and drum solos, and vocal styles that ranged from the wails of Zeppelin’s Robert Plant to the whines of Sabbath’s Ozzy Osbourne.”

In the wake of Led Zeppelin’s success, London’s Deep Purple and Birmingham’s Black Sabbath both entered the British pop charts in September, 1970.

*Deep Purple’s lineup in 1971. Left to right: Jon Lord, Roger Glover, Ian Gillan, Ritchie Blackmore and Ian Paice.*

Deep Purple’s ‘Black Night’ went in at 32, peaking at number two. Black Sabbath’s ‘Paranoid’ entered at 47, reaching number four. Chart success meant heavy metal was now part of the British mainstream. Incidentally, I helped promote ‘Black Night’. Said Joel McIver in his 2006 book, ‘Black Sabbath: Sabbath Bloody Sabbath’.

“Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin were the unholy trinity of hard rock and heavy metal in the early to mid-1970s.”

Then followed, amongst Britain’s other heavy blues-rock pioneers: London’s Free and Uriah Heep (whom I also worked with), Nottingham’s Ten Years After and Taste, from Cork, Ireland.

Totalling up that founding “unholy trinity of hard rock and heavy metal” trio, we have two musicians from London and two from Birmingham in Led Zeppelin. Four are from Birmingham in Black Sabbath: Ozzy Osbourne (vocals), Tony Iommi (guitar), Geezer Butler (bass) and Bill Ward (drums). And three are from London in Deep Purple: guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, singer Ian Gillan and bassist Roger Glover. Deep Purple’s other two members were both Midlanders: organist John Lord from Leicester and drummer Ian Paice from Nottingham. Both are not far from Birmingham.

Adding the geographic origins of Cream and Jeff Beck Group members to those making up Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin, we have ten original metal pioneers from London, six from Birmingham and one each from Leicester, Liverpool, Nottingham and Scotland. This means London just has the edge over Birmingham. That said, my next post is about Birmingham’s original heavy metal midwife, early American blues promoter, musician and lots more, Black Sabbath’s first manager, Jim Simpson.