Best Proto Speed/Thrash Metal Songs
Highway Star (1972) is way better but this one came out earlier (1970) and for this reason I don't mind seeing Hard Lovin' Man higher.
First raw metal song. Pure power, brutal song. Epic purple. Why they didn't made more of this style?
Super fast, no one played faster at the time, Amazing rhythms!
First really aggressive Metal song
This song came out in 1976 but this is a developed metal song. Everything is metal here - riff, solos, drumming, vocals. Also its speed, length (>8 min) and the instrumental section in the middle, which is very technical. Sometimes I think Ritchie Blackmore's best solo is here - fast, long, technical, intense.
For me this is the most developed metal song of the 70s.
That scream at the beginning...
Best vocals ever
Deep Puple started the gallops (Hard Lovin' Man, 1970), Judas Priest mastered them and Iron Maiden popularized them. Now gallops are everywhere in metal (see my list "Best Metal Songs With Galloping Rhythm").
One of the first speed metal bands (Exciter) was named after this song. This song isn't 100% metal but it's mainly metal.
The main task of the bands attempting metal in the 70s was to get rid of the blues and psychedelic elements. It wasn't easy because the blues idiom was very popular so any song with less blues was an achievement. One of the biggest contributions of Ritchie Blackmore was that he moved the mindset away from the hackneyed blues idiom in the heavier rock music and replaced it with classical (now known as heavy metal).
I think this was the first power metal song. Totally underrated band.
I wouldn't count this song because it's basically a ripoff of "Flight of the Rat" by Deep Purple. Check out the song sample to Flight of the Rat and you will understand.
This song was released in 1980 and I wouldn't call it "proto". It's a very Deep Purple-ish song, with a part in the middle that is very similar to Child In Time.
