Top Ten Most Heaviest song of the 1968- 1980

Hawkwind: Upside Down (Space Ritual) maybe?

Black Sabbath - After Forever (~though you could pick anything off Master of reality plus others like NIB, Symptom of the universe etc )

Dude- been listening to Dies Irae by Vistors from their self-titled

How come no one mentioned High Tide, their debut is the heaviest album i heard from the 60's, even preceding Black Sabbath.

The Dark Elf wrote: like that list, cstack!   I would add:   "Green Manalishi" by Fleetwood Mac (Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac)   "Megalomania" by Black Sabbath   "A Light in the Black" by Rainbow   "Stone Cold Crazy" by Queen   "Pibroch (Cap in Hand)" by Jethro Tull   "Bad Motor Scooter" by Montrose   "Motor City Madhouse" by Ted Nugent   "Too Rolling Stoned" by Robin Trower   "Hocus Pocus" by Focus   "Going Down" by The Jeff Beck Group   Frank Marino & Mahogany Rush Live ('77 - the entire damn album) - possibly the best cover of "Purple Haze" ever:

A lot of the songs listed did indeed seem heavy at the time, but for me the likes of pibroch (no lullaby would have been my pick of JT song), stone cold crazy,
motor city, bad motor etc sound pretty light by comparison to Metallica, motorhead, venom , paradise lost, type o negative , soundgarden, pantera (etc alongside loads of other 2nd and 3rd generation bands)

Whaling Storys - Procol Harum,

The Dark Elf wrote: cstack3 wrote: "Deutsch Nepal" by Amon Duul II   "Ogre Battle" by Queen "Speed King" by Deep Purple (already mentioned, great tune!) "Halo of Flies" by Alice Cooper "Larks Tongue in Aspic Part 2" and "Fracture" by King Crimson "Dancing Madly Backwards" by Captain Beyond "Master Builder" by Gong "Heaven and Hell" by Black Sabbath "Man In The Silver Mountain" by Rainbow ....those are my ten! I really like that list, cstack!   I would add:   "Green Manalishi" by Fleetwood Mac (Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac)   "Megalomania" by Black Sabbath   "A Light in the Black" by Rainbow   "Stone Cold Crazy" by Queen   "Pibroch (Cap in Hand)" by Jethro Tull   "Bad Motor Scooter" by Montrose   "Motor City Madhouse" by Ted Nugent   "Too Rolling Stoned" by Robin Trower   "Hocus Pocus" by Focus   "Going Down" by The Jeff Beck Group   Frank Marino & Mahogany Rush Live ('77 - the entire damn album) - possibly the best cover of "Purple Haze" ever:

cstack3 wrote:   OK, but the parameters were 1968-1980.  The bands you mentioned are from a different era.  It's always easier to build upon what was done before, look how many doors Black Sabbath opened with their original album....heavy metal, death metal, etc.  Amazing debut!   Instrumentation and amplification changed from the 1960's onward.....more advanced sound processing equipment, rack-mounted effects for guitarists etc. took the music to a higher level than guitarists could achieve with overdriven Marshall stacks.

Fair call.
Sabbath were (for me) the 'heaviest' of bands alongside the Dio years of Rainbow.

Sabbath all but invented the genre and listening back their early albums still sound heavy today.
Whereas (and I realsie this is just a personal view) other artists never achieved that 'heaviness'.

Robin Trower was a good shout - which makes me realise that deep, bassy blues is the undertow of heaviness that I am getting at  alongside a thumping drum sound - it doesn't have to be fast.

Some of the others mentioned may  have a heavy riff, but that is complemented and counterpointed by other instruments making the tune less 'heavy' overall.



Led Zep - Immigrant Song (How did I forget that?) is another stomping tune that (for me) defines heavy music.

Anyway - each to their own.

sagichim wrote: I don't see how The Immigrant Song is even remotely heavy as Sabbath...It has a cool riff... but no.

not in Sabbath territory but way ahead of Queen or Jethro Tull

From The Beatles "Helter Skelter" is often mentioned, but what first comes to mind for me is "I Want You (She's so Heavy)"... perhaps it isn't as heavy as other songs mentioned, but I guess it's among the earlier ones.