Born to be metal

Could this be the day in history when heavy metal rock was officially born?

We haven't done much research on the topic, but our rock 'n' roll calendar lists two events on July 13, 1968 that suggest the birthing of headbanger music.  All we know for sure is that our mommas were not pleased.


Exhibit A: Steppenwolf's landmark "Born To Be Wild" is released in the U.S., where it will climb to No. 2 on the Billboard chart.  A line from the song about "heavy metal thunder" refers to motorcycles yet is credited with popularizing the term for this emerging music form. 

We were all in at this point, as Steppenwolf became a welcome addition to the music of the day with songs like "Sookie Sookie" (which didn't even chart), "Born to Be Wild" and Magic Carpet Ride" that pushed us deeper into the catatonic stages of pre-adulthood.

Exhibit B: Black Sabbath plays their first gig at a club in Birmingham, England. Can't say we really noticed them until a couple years later when their album Paranoid completely sent us over edge. As draft-age adults by now we were offended to read an article suggesting that Black Sabbath's music was targeted at 14-year-olds.

Who in hell wrote that trash?