50 Years Of Heavy Metal: The Story So Far

In the beginning it was an ‘underground’ form of music, derided, ridiculed and expected to fade away quickly and be forgotten forever. Instead it has grown, branched out and blossomed into the loudest, most powerful music out there. We look at some of the movers and shakers, from its early inventors to current champions pushing it forward, who helped take metal to the masses. Including…

In the summer of 1969, an upcoming Brummie band (previously called Earth) played their first gig under the name Black Sabbath. It was the start of heavy metal as we know it. Fifty years on, we look back at the shit-kicking, amp-blowing bands that built the genre – and chart its history in 50 songs with

our Ultimate Heavy Metal Playlist.