Expert: Roy Davies - 11/9/2001

Question
Hi Roy,

In what year did Heavy Metal music start "filtering" into the States..and who were the acts?
Where many (some) Americans listening to Motorhead in the mid to late 70s? Was Black Sabbath popular with American audiences in the mid to late 70s? How about Judas Priest...would they have had at least a small contingent of American fans in 1977?
(I'm a novelist doing research..thanks so much for your help)

Best,

Bernie Schallehn
NY  

Answer
Bernie,
Thanks for asking the question. 'Heavy metal' means so many different things to different people, but in the strictest sense of the word you could say The Kinks' 'You really got me' was the first HM single, so the mid 60's things started to evolve.UK bands like Sabbath are credited with formulating the traditional HM sound, though this is over simplistic- US groups like Blue Cheer, Iron Butterfly and Amboy Dukes all had obvious metal leanings in the late 60's. Hendrix had a profound effect on many guitarists too, not least the ones who later  took his direction to a more extreme degree- I guess that definitely by 1970-71 Deep Purple, Sabbath and Led Zep were in the vanguard of the new movement. In 1974 Purple were officially the highest selling group in the US that year with 14 million units sold.Bands like Foghat were also popular, as were Bad Company 1974-9.  
As for Motorhead, Lemmy did'nt leave Hawkwind until 1975, so it wasn't until the 'Ace of Spades' LP in 1980 that the group launched a serious assault on world (&US) markets.
Sabbath by contrast were if anything on the wane slightly by the late 70s, a poor set of albums, Ozzys departure, etc. meant things didn't pick up until the 'Heaven & Hell' in 1980. Priest first visited the US in 1978,(their CBS LPs would have been on import only). The heavy touring thru '79-82 laid the groundwork for huge success with 'Screaming for Vengeance' in 1982.
Hope this helps, good luck with the novel- anything else just ask!.