Think Black Sabbath Invented Heavy Metal? These British Bands Want You To Think Again

With their sinister lyrical imagery, sludgy guitar riffs, and powerful rhythm section, it’s easy to see why Black Sabbath has long been heralded as the founding fathers of heavy metal music. But if you were to ask two other British bands that were dominating the rock ‘n’ roll airwaves at the same time, a different band got to it first.

Videos by American Songwriter

Who? Yeah, them.

The Real Inventors of Heavy Metal, per Deep Purple

In a 2025 interview on the Metal Sticks podcast (via Ultimate Guitar), Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice argued that even with genre-defining hit tracks like “Smoke On The Water” and “Highway Star”, he still wouldn’t call his band (or, inadvertently, Black Sabbath) the first heavy metal band. That distinction, he argued, belonged to fellow English rock ‘n’ rollers The Who. As far as Paice was concerned, Deep Purple and other bands of the 1970s were the “second coming” of a musical movement that The Who had already started.

“The Who did it before everybody,” the drummer said. “They were the first on the big amp, they were the first to push rock ‘n’ roll beyond pretty little pop songs—let’s not forget the importance of The Who.”

“They just changed everything for kids who wanted to do something a little more violently. [Pete] Townshend’s notion on stage, [Roger] Daltrey’s aggressive singing, and then the control of John Entwistle, and the madness of Keith [Moon]. I mean, the whole thing should have never worked. The Who were so important. People tend to forget them because they’ve been around for so long. But that was a big spark.”

Unsurprisingly, The Who Would Have to Agree

While there was an undeniable industrial quality to Black Sabbath, coming from the steel industry of Birmingham, there is something to be said for the music The Who was putting out in the years that led up to Black Sabbath’s debut album. Unsurprisingly, Who vocalist Roger Daltrey was more than willing to accept Ian Piace’s take.

“We were just different than everybody else,” Daltrey later told Rolling Stone. “Americans don’t really know The Who from the early Sixties. But…we were the first heavy metal band. Jim Marshall invented the 4×12, 100-watt stack for Pete Townshend. All the guitar smashing that Jimi Hendrix became famous for, in his style, was basically copied from Pete Townshend, first of all. And the first rock opera, of course. We elevated rock to be maybe up its own a** in a way. We were doing it before anyone.” But, Daltrey added, almost as an afterthought, “It’s not important in the long run.”

Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images