1969. The year it all began, with the birth of the almighty Black Sabbath and rumblings from Coven.

As four mates from Birmingham decided on a band name and went to change history, the seeds for heavy metal were being sown across the rock’n’roll landscape…

For heavy metal, 1969 was year Zero. after initially coming together as a formulaic blues-rock act called the Pulka tulk Blues Band, then becoming earth, this was the year that would see Black Sabbath pick their final moniker and begin transforming music forever. their self-titled debut was soon written, eventually released early the following year, many since saying that everything metal has to offer began with its opening track – the song Black Sabbath itself. the desolate wind, rain and thunder, a distant peel of church bells, tony Iommi’s gut-wrenching, chilling opening riff, and ozzy’s terrified cry of: ‘Oh no, no, please God help me!’

But across the pond, Chicagoan occultists Coven were ahead of the curve. the first band to bring true diabolism – and, according to singer Jinx Dawson, the devil horns – into the rock arena, they took the dying rays of the summer of love and forged 1969’s still-startling album, Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls. Between its opening track,

Black Sabbath (yes, really), and its closing, Satanic Mass, its psychedelic fervour caused scandal and lit a beacon that occult-minded metallers have navigated by ever since.

the final album from power-trio supergroup Cream represented another landmark, as blues rock mutated into heavier, more downtuned sounds. even if drummer Ginger Baker once famously stated that should Cream’s highvoltage antics have had anything to do with the birth of heavy metal, he would have suggested an abortion.

the year 1969 also gave us led Zeppelin’s debut, the eponymously-titled first offering recorded in 36 hours for just £1,782. Unveiled a fortnight after the final live performance of the Beatles, who had instigated the switch from singles to albums, its arrival symbolised a passing of the torch.

looking back, 1969 also spawned important records from Iron Butterfly, the mC5, vanilla Fudge, the Jeff Beck Group, Blue Cheer, mountain’s leslie West, the Stooges and humble Pie, each of which played a part in shaping the style that 50 years afterwards we know and love so well. yeah, it was one hell of a year.