John Lennon Called This Beatles Song the First “Heavy Metal” Record, but It’s Not the One I Would’ve Thought

“The Beatles” and “heavy metal” are largely regarded as residing on opposite ends of the musical spectrum. But every so often on a rogue 1960s track, the Venn diagram between these two phenomena became nearly circular. Songs like “Helter Skelter” and “Why Don’t We Do It In The Road” come to mind, and certainly post-Beatles songs from John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Plastic Ono Band could qualify.

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What this writer wouldn’t expect is that the song Lennon once cited as the first heavy metal record would come from their 1965 album, Help! Smack dab in the middle of the decade, we were still years away from the heavy offerings of Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and Deep Purple. Not even The Beatles were that far into their experimental, psychedelic phase by that point. But they were getting close.

And according to Lennon, “Ticket To Ride” was the band’s first foray into heavy (or, perhaps more accurately, relatively heavier) rock ‘n’ roll. The song boasts Lennon and Paul McCartney’s signature harmonies and a syncopated rhythm section with accompanying drone notes that foreshadowed their later works. But was it actually heavy metal?

According to John Lennon (And the Times), That Answer Would Be Yes

As genres evolve and intensify, it’s only natural that the “first” versions of that style become paler by comparison. Sure, “Ticket To Ride” by The Beatles doesn’t seem like heavy metal now. But as John Lennon put it in Anthology, the song was “slightly a new sound at the time. It was pretty f***ing heavy for then, if you go and look in the charts for what other music people were making. You hear it now, and it doesn’t sound too bad. It’s a heavy record, and the drums are heavy, too. That’s why I like it.”

If we’re to believe one of the stories that Lennon told about the origins of “Ticket To Ride”, The Beatles track might also qualify as heavy metal in subject matter alone. Per journalist Don Short in Steve Turner’s A Hard Day’s Write, Lennon told Short that the titular “ticket” was referencing the cards that Hamburg prostitutes used to carry to prove that they had a clean bill of health. To “take a ride” was a British euphemism for sex, thus, a “Ticket To Ride”. Of course, cheeky humor was Lennon’s M.O., so it’s hard to say whether he was just pulling Short’s leg.

For whatever it’s worth, Paul McCartney had a much tamer explanation, saying that “ride” was a play on Ryde, which was a town he and Lennon traveled to on the Isle of Wight. In any case and no matter the meaning (or genre), The Beatles’ so-called heavy metal record was a hit, becoming their seventh No. 1 hit in their native United Kingdom and third No. 1 hit in the States.

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