The year was 1968, the Summer of Love has come and gone. Hippies were still very much rampat and they weren't going anywhere. Music of the times was Rolling Stones, The Beatles relase The White Album , The MaMa's and the PaPa's, Jefferson Airplane, Pink Floyd had jst released thier 2nd album (A Saurcerful of Secrets) and David Gilmore replaces Syd Barrett on vocals for them, Jimi Hendrix has had 2 albums out on the US charts ( Are You Expierenced? & Axis: Bold & Love), Johnny Cash performs the famous Folsum Prison concert. Deep Purple Releases thier first album Shades of Deep Purple .

The mainstream at the time was primarily Country, Motown, Blues, Pop, Folk & psychodelic rock. Another metamorphisis was on the horizon.



In July of 1968, The Yarbirds disbanded. Guitarist Jimmy Page goes out and forms a new bad called Led Zepplin . This unknown English band is perhaps the very first Heavy Metal groups. Thier music was a combined Blues, Folk, Regge, Funk, Rockabilly, Classical, Indian, Celtic, Arabic, Pop, Latin and Country. Led Zepplin made thier live debut at the University of Surrey in Gilforn, England on Oct 1, 1968. This was followed by a US concert debut on December 26th in Denver, CO then moved onto LA & San Fransisco.

1969

In January, Led Zepplin released thier debut album which was self titled - Led Zepplin. The cover art had a little controversy as it depicted the Hindenburg airship. The image refers to the origin of the band's name itself: as the story goes, when Page, Jeff Beck and The Who's Keith Moon and John Entwistle were discussing the idea of forming a group, Moon joked, "It would probably go over like a lead balloon". To which Entwistle allegedly replied, "...a Lead Zeppelin!" The album's back cover features a photograph of the band taken by former-Yardbird Chris Dreja. The entire design of the album's sleeve was coordinated by George Hardie, with whom the band would continue to collaborate for future sleeves. Tracks off of the First album were: Good Times Bad Times , You Shook Me , Dazed and Confused and Communication Breakdown . The album's blend of blues, folk and eastern influences with distorted amplification made it one of the pivotal records in the creation of heavy metal music. However, Plant has commented that it is unfair for people to typecast the band as heavy metal, since about a third of their music was acoustic but that didn't stop anyone from crediting them as such.

Personally, Led Zepplin was just more popular than the true first heavy metal group - Iron Butterfly. In 1968, Iron Butterfly came out with thier 2nd and probably most popular albums In-a-gadda-da-vidda The main song was also named In-a-gadda-da-vidda. Vocalist Doug Ingle is reported to have said the title was an alcohol-slurred version of "In the Garden of Eden". The ironic twist - Led Zepplin had originally opend for Iron Butterfly but however, a year to the day laster, Iron Butterfly opened for Led Zepplin.

August 15-17 - The Woodstock Music and Art Festival was held at Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, near Woodstock, New York. Performers included Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Joan Baez, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Jefferson Airplane, Santana, Country Joe and the Fish, Ten Years After, and Sly & the Family Stone.

Also in August of 1969, Alice Cooper releases his first album called Pretties For You. Alice Cooper is best known to be the first Glam Rock/Shock Rock artist. His concerts often feature the guillotine, stage horror & electric chairs. One night, at a gig at a Venice club called The Cheetah where the band managed to scare the entire room of patrons empty after playing just 10 minutes, they were approached and enlisted by manager Shep Gordon, who ironically saw the band's seemingly negative impact that night as a power that could be steered towards a more positive direction. Shep then managed to strike an audition for the band with composer and renowned record producer Frank Zappa, who was looking to sign up bizarre music acts for his new record label, Straight Records. For the audition, Zappa told them to come to his house "at 7 o'clock," and the band mistakenly assumed he meant 7:00 AM. Waking Zappa up from his slumber, a band that was willing to play that particular brand of psychedelic rock at 7 in the morning, a time unbeknownst to most in the rock music world, impressed him enough to sign them to a three-album deal. Alice Cooper's first album Pretties for You was released in 1969 and, though it touched the US charts for one week at #193, was ultimately met with critical and commercial failure.

Even though the band incorporated theatrics into their stage act from the outset, they were also influenced by another Zappa-signed act, the all-female GTOs. After an unrehearsed stage routine involving Cooper and a live chicken garnered some attention from the press, the band decided to capitalize on tabloid sensationalism, creating a new subgenre, shock rock. Cooper claims that the "Chicken Incident", which took place at the Toronto Rock 'n Roll Revival concert in September 1969, was in fact an accident. A chicken somehow made its way on stage during Alice Cooper's performance. Not having any experience around livestock, Cooper thought, "Chickens have wings, so they must be able to fly." He picked it up and threw it out over the crowd, expecting the chicken to fly away. The bird plummeted into the crowd and was reportedly ripped to shreds by the rowdy audience.

Consequently in August, The group Black Sabbath forms. The original lineup included Ozzy Ozbourne (vocals), Tony Iommi (guitar), Bill Ward (Drums) and Geezer Butler (bass). Unlike anything else, this band had a very dark & ominus tune. The band took the name from an old Boris Karloff movie of the same name (Black Sabbath). Making use of the musical tritone, also known as "The Devil's Interval", the songs ominous sound and dark lyrics pushed the band in a darker direction, a stark contrast to the popular music of the late 1960s, which was dominated by flower power, folk music, and hippie culture. Inspired by the new sound, the band changed their name, and made the decision to focus writing similar material, in an attempt to create the musical equivalent of horror films.

September 24 - Deep Purple and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra perform the Concerto for Group and Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall in London, in the first elaborate collaboration between a rock band and an orchestra.

October 22 - Led Zepplin releases thier 2nd album Led Zepplin II. Commercially, Led Zeppelin II was the band's first album to hit #1 in the U.S., temporarily knocking The Beatles' Abbey Road from the top spot. It also yielded Led Zeppelin's biggest hit, with the track Whole Lotta Love. This song reached #4 on the Billboard Top 100 in January 1970, after Atlantic Records went against the group's wishes by releasing a shorter version on 45. The single's B-side, "Living Loving Maid (She's Just a Woman)", also hit the Billboard chart, peaking at #65 in April 1970. The commercial success of this album also brought with it as with their debut album accusations of plagiarism (e.g. Willie Dixon's claim to the lyrics for "Whole Lotta Love").

December 6 - At a Rolling Stones concert in Altamont, California, a fan was stabbed to death by Hells Angels, a biker gang that had been hired to provide security for the event. In retrospect, some commentators have concluded that the violence signaled the end of the "hippie" movement, which espoused an ethos of free love and peace.

Date unknown - The band Judas Priest forms in Birmingham, Engand. Original lineup includes Rob Halford (vocals), K.K. Downing (guitar), Ian Hill (Bass), Glenn Tipton (guitar) & John Pattridge (drums). While they formed here in 1969, they didn't come out with thier first record until 1974.

Date unknown - The band Thin Lizzy forms. The band was originally led by bassist, songwriter and singer Phil Lynott. They are best known for their songs "Whiskey in the Jar", "Jailbreak", "The Boys Are Back in Town" and "Bad Reputation", all major international hits still played regularly on hard rock and classic rock radio stations. Critic for allmusic.com John Dugan has written that "As the band's creative force, Lynott was a more insightful and intelligent writer than many of his ilk, preferring slice-of-life working-class dramas of love and hate influenced by Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Bruce Springsteen, and virtually all of the Irish literary tradition.

Van Morrison was a major influence as revealed in an interview with Phil Lynott in the movie Thin Lizzy the Rocker: A Portrait of Phillip Lynott. American groups Little Feat and Bob Seger also influenced Lizzy. Their music covered much territory (including hints of country and traditional folk music), but is generally classified as traditional hard rock or heavy metal. Though others had earlier used similar techniques, Thin Lizzy is widely recognised as one of the first hard rock bands to employ double lead guitar harmony (the twin guitar clash) - a technique pioneered by Wishbone Ash in the UK, whilst independently in the USA by Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Allman Brothers Band. This style was later refined and popularised by bands of the emerging New Wave of British Heavy Metal, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden especially. The latter group in particular has praised Thin Lizzy extensively and even covered the song "Massacre" from Lizzy's popular Live and Dangerous album. Examples of this dual guitar harmony technique include "The Boys Are Back in Town" and "Cowboy Song" from Jailbreak. Brian Robertson's unconventional use of the wah-pedal as an extension of the instrument during soloing rather than as a purely rhythmic effect, as described in the Total Accuracy video "Still in Love with the Blues" (featuring Brian Robertson & Stuart Bull), is a distinctive and influential sound. Lynott is one of the few black men to achieve significant success in hard rock. As well as being a multiracial band, members were drawn from both sides of the Irish border and from both Catholic and Protestant communities.

Febuary Friday the 13th, Black Sabbath releases thier 1st album named Black Sabbath. Songs on the album include Black Sabbath , The Wizard & Behind the Walls of Sleep. By these new sounds that the world was exposed to, it was clear that the hippie movement was near it's end. The album cover features a depiction of Mapledurham Watermill. The original release had a gatefold sleeve and generic Vertigo 'swirl' inner bag. The inside of the sleeve featured the words "Black Sabbath" on the left side (spilling over slightly onto the right side) and on the right side, an inverted cross with a poem written inside of it. Vertigo was allegedly responsible for adding the cross; the band was upset when they found out about this, as it fed into many allegations hurled at the group regarding elements of the occult and Satanism.

February 28 - Led Zeppelin performs in Copenhagen under the pseudonym The Nobs, due to threats of lawsuits from Count Eva von Zeppelin, descendant of airship designer Ferdinand von Zeppelin.

June - Alice Cooper releases his 2nd album Easy Action. The title comes from a line in the musical film West Side Story, which was one of the band's favorite films. Drummer Neal Smith later said of the record producer David Briggs: "David hated our music and us. I recall the term that he used, referring to our music, was "Psychedelic Shit". I think Easy Action sounded too dry, more like a TV or radio commercial and he did not help with song arrangement or positive input in any way."

September 18 - Black Sabbath releases their 2nd album of this year titled Paranoid. This album had a couple of modern day classics like War Pigs, Paranoid, Iron Man & Electric Funeral.

Also in September, Deep Purple releases Deep Purple in Rock. It was their fourth studio album, and the first with the classic Mk II lineup. Deep Purple In Rock was their breakthrough album in Europe and would peak at #4 in the UK, remaining in the charts for months. Their earlier work ranged from psychedelic hard rock to orchestra-driven tracks and covers that ranged from The Beatles to Neil Diamond, among others, but on this record all tracks are credited to the five members of the band. Speed King and Flight of the Rat are hard rock songs, and the 10-minute epic Child in Time is perhaps the most famous song from this record, and would be a concert staple for years to come

October 5 - Led Zepplin releases Led Zepplin III. Probably the most famous song off of this album is the Immigrant Song which features Robert Plant with a high pitch scream at the beginning.

1971

Febuary - Alice Cooper releases the album Love it to Death. Hits include Ballad of Dwight Fry, Is it My Body , and one of Cooper's trademark songs, I'm Eighteen. This was the album that brought the Alice Cooper band to the mainstream. Much credit is generally given to producer Bob Ezrin, cleaning up the band's sound with fresh ideas and making it more accessible, most notably the track, 'I'm Eighteen'. It originally was a much longer song, and in more of a psychedelic vein like the band's first two albums, which contained several longer songs. The album cover caused much controversy at the time of its release, leading Warner Brothers to censor it (four different versions of the front cover exist on LP). Alice Cooper's middle finger is clearly airbrushed out on censored versions.

July - Deep Purple releases Fireball. This was the bands 5th album. It would become the first of the band's three UK #1 albums. The hit single (Number 8 in the UK) from the album sessions was the boogie-inspired "Strange Kind of Woman", which appeared on the U.S and Japanese version of the album in place of "Demon's Eye". "Strange Kind of Woman" became a staple of the live set up until the present day, and "Fireball" has made a few appearances, mainly as encores. Strange Kind of Woman and The Mule appear on the classic 1973 live album Made in Japan, with the latter morphing into an Ian Paice drum solo. Apart from Ian Gillan, the rest of the band don't consider the album a classic. However, even he has said that the inclusion of Anyone's Daughter on the album was "A good bit of fun, but a mistake". The original vinyl release was in a gatefold sleeve, with a generic Harvest LP-bag and a lyric-insert. On an interesting side note, this was the first album owned by Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich, and had a profound impact and influence on him musically.

July 21 - Black Sabbath releases Masters of Reality. On this album, guitarist Tony Iommi began de-tuning his guitar down three semi-tones (or one and a half steps, or C#) to reduce tension in the strings, making it easier to play with his injured fingers. This led to a lower, sludgier sound that became the Master of Reality trademark. The lyrical themes include: drugs, solitude, war and theology. After Forever is credited lyrically to Iommi (the only Sabbath lyrics solely credited to him thus far) and is heavily Christian-themed. On original US pressings of the album, several songs had subtitles given to segments, making it appear that there were more songs on the album than there actually were: the coda of Children of the Grave was given the title "The Haunting," the intro to Lord of This World was titled "Step Up," and the intro to Into the Void called "Deathmask." (Subtitles were also provided to several songs on the US releases of the first two Black Sabbath albums.) Also, the album's title was incorrectly listed as Masters of Reality on the labels of original Warner Bros. (green-label) US pressings. Subsequent pressings corrected the album's title on the label, and removed the three subtitles. In the UK the album reached #5. Initial pressings came in an embossed 'envelope sleeve', which contained a poster of the band and the generic Vertigo inner bag, although for this album the 'swirl' was white-on-black, rather than black-on-white. This was the first Black Sabbath sleeve on which the lyrics were reproduced, being on the rear of the sleeve.

November 8 - Led Zepplin releases Led Zepplin IV. It has no official title printed anywhere on the album, but is called Led Zeppelin IV after the band's previous three albums. Atlantic Records catalogues have used the names Four Symbols and The Fourth Album. Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page frequently refers to the album in interviews as Led Zeppelin IV, while singer Robert Plant thinks of it as "the fourth album, that's it". It is one of the best-selling albums in history, with over 23 million units sold in the United States alone. Hits off of this album include Black Dog , When the Levee Breaks and maybe the most famous song of all time in Stairway to Heaven.

December - Alice Cooper releases the album Killer. Perhaps the most popular song off of this album was the song Under My Wheels.

1972

Febuary 13 - February 13 - Led Zeppelin's concert in Singapore is canceled when government officials won't let them off the airplane because of their long hair.

May - Deep Purple releases the album Machine Head. This album is credited with bieng the most influential in the development of heavy metal music. This is Deep Purple's most successful recording, topping the charts in several countries following its release. Probably the most recognized songs off of this album is Smoke on the Water. You cannot mistake those 7 chords with anything then or even today. Another great song off of this album is the song Space Truckin'.

June - Alice Cooper releases the album School's Out. The album's title track School's Out, has remained a staple song in Alice Cooper's live setlist and receives regular airplay on many "Classic Rock" radio stations. The original album cover (designed by Craig Braun) had the sleeve opening in the manner of an old school desk. The vinyl record inside was wrapped in a pair of girl's panties.

August - Although originally formed in 1965, the group Scorpions (from Hanover, Germany), release thier debut album titled Lonesome Crow. Some of the songs off of this album are: I'm Going Mad, Inheritance and It All Depends. This was the only album the band released on which Michael Schenker was a full-time member of the group - he'd leave not long after to join UFO. He would be replaced by Ulrich Jon Roth on later albums. Michael Schenker, however, would make guest appearances on later Scorpions releases.

September 25 - Black Sabbath releases thier 4th album Vol 4. The album was originally to be titled Snowblind, after one of several tracks referring to cocaine use. The album was recorded in California, the first time Sabbath had recorded a studio album outside the United Kingdom. Sabbath recorded several songs explicitly about drugs, including "Fairies Wear Boots", "Sweet Leaf", and "Hand of Doom". Black Sabbath, Vol 4 was originally intended to be called Snowblind, but was retitled by the record company, possibly to avoid controversy in the American market since the term is a reference to cocaine. Snowblind had to be re-recorded because in the original Ozzy yells the word cocaine after each verse. On the released version, "cocaine" is whispered quite audibly after the first verse (approximately 41 seconds into the song). In live performances, Ozzy typically shouted "cocaine!" during the song; this can be heard on their live albums. In the liner notes of Vol 4, Black Sabbath thank "the great COKE-Cola Company," a barely-hidden drug reference. Also during the Vol 4 era, bassist Geezer Butler sported a sticker on his white bass that said "Enjoy CoCaine", a takeoff on the slogan "Enjoy CocaCola."

December - Deep Purple releases thier live album Made In Japan. The album was recorded live over three nights during 15-17 August 1972 in Osaka and Tokyo, Japan, hence the name of the album. The tracks mostly come from their studio effort, Machine Head.

1973

In January, one of the most popular and definately a huge influence of heavy metal music bands is formed. The name of the group is Kiss. Easily identified by their trademark face paint and stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid-1970s on the basis of their elaborate live performances, which featured fire-breathing, blood spitting, smoking guitars, and pyrotechnics. Kiss has been awarded 24 gold albums to date. The group's worldwide sales exceed 90 million albums. The original lineup of Paul Stanley (rhythm guitar and lead vocals), Gene Simmons (bass and lead vocals), Ace Frehley (lead guitar and vocals), and Peter Criss (drums and vocals) is the most successful and identifiable. With their makeup and costumes, they took on the personae of comic book-style characters: The Demon (Simmons), Starchild (Stanley), Space Ace (Frehley), and The Catman (Criss). The band explains that the fans were the ones who ultimately chose their makeup designs. The "Demon" makeup reflected Gene's cynicism and dark elements. Paul Stanley became the "Starchild" due to his tendency to be referred to as the "starry-eyed lover" and "hopeless romantic." Ace Frehley's "Space Ace" makeup was a reflection of him always being "spaced-out," and supposedly being from another planet. Peter Criss' "Catman" makeup was in accordance with the belief that Peter had nine lives due to his rough childhood in Brooklyn.

Kiss traces its roots to Wicked Lester, a New York City-based rock and roll band led by co-founders Gene Simmons (born Chaim Witz in Haifa, Israel on August 25, 1949) and Paul Stanley (born Stanley Harvey Eisen in Queens, New York City on January 20, 1952). Wicked Lester, with their eclectic mixture of musical styles, never achieved any success. They recorded one album, which was shelved by Epic Records, and played a handful of live shows. Simmons and Stanley, feeling that a new musical direction was needed, abandoned Wicked Lester in 1972 and began forming a new group.

In late 1972, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley came across an ad in Rolling Stone placed by Peter Criss, a veteran drummer from the New York club scene, who was previously in bands called "Lips" and "Chelsea". Criss (born George Peter John Criscuola on December 20, 1945 in Brooklyn, New York City) auditioned for and joined the new version of Wicked Lester. The trio focused on a much harder style of rock than Wicked Lester played. Inspired by the theatrics of the New York Dolls, they also began experimenting with their image by wearing makeup and various outfits. In November 1972, the trio played a showcase for Epic Records A&R director Don Ellis, in an effort to secure a record deal. Although the performance went well, Ellis hated the group's image and music. On top of that, as he was leaving, he was vomited on by Criss's brother.

In January 1973, the group added lead guitarist Paul "Ace" Frehley (born April 27, 1951 in the Bronx, New York City). According to the book Kiss & Tell by Ace Frehley's former best-friends, Gordon G.G. Gebert and Bob McAdams (who accompanied Ace Frehley to the audition) the eccentric Frehley impressed the group with his first audition, although he showed up wearing two different sneakers (one red and one orange) and began warming up on his guitar while another guitarist (Bob Kulick) was being auditioned by the band. A few weeks after Frehley joined, the Wicked Lester name was dropped and the band became Kiss.

The Kiss logoStanley came up with the name (taken from the New York Dolls song "Looking for a Kiss"), and Frehley created the now-iconic logo (making the "SS" look like lightning bolts). The runic letters happened to look similar to the insignia of the Nazi SS, or Waffen-SS, a symbol that is now illegal to display in Germany. Therefore, in Germany, after 1979, all of the band's album covers and merchandise used a modified version of the logo, in which the "SS" looks like a backwards "ZZ." The band's name has been rumored to have many hidden meanings, among them an acronym for Knights In Satan's Service or acronym for Keep It Simple Stupid. None of these rumors have any basis in fact, and the band has consistently denied them.

March - Alice Cooper releases Billion Dollar Babies. It is widely praised as one of the best Alice Cooper albums, and showcased the group at their artistic and commercial peak. Many songs from it remain staples of Alice Cooper's live act to this day: in particular, "I Love the Dead" is usually associated with Cooper's mock-execution, while Elected is often used as an encore. Billion Dollar Babies peaked at #1 on Billboard's Pop Albums chart. Four singles were released from the album: "Elected" (which peaked at #26 on the Pop Singles chart); Hello, Hooray; No More Mr. Nice Guy (US #25); and the song Billion Dollar Babies.

March 28 - Led Zepplin releases Houses of the Holy. The album title is a dedication by the band to their fans who appeared at venues they dubbed "Houses of the Holy." It was the first Led Zeppelin album to not be, at least unofficially, titled after the band. A couple of the songs off of this album are The Song Remains the Same & No Quarter.

November - Alice Cooper releases Muscle of Love. It was the last studio album recorded by the original Alice Cooper band, and is a concept album about teenage angst, life on the streets of New York City, and, it is implied, male prostitution. In place of the usual jacket, the original LP was packaged in a shallow corrugated cardboard carton, as if the carton contained something other than a record, with a "stain" intentionally printed along the bottom. The track "Man with the Golden Gun" was originally going to be the title song to the James Bond film of the same name, until the producers changed their minds. A couple of the songs off of this album are Muscle of Love and Teenage Lament '74.

December 1 - Black Sabbath releases Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath. Sabbath expanded upon their slow, crunching style of music and added synthesizers and orchestral arrangements. After the recording of their previous album, Black Sabbath, Vol. 4, the band hit a dry spell and could not come up with any songs for their new album. After locking themselves away to focus and come up with new ideas, guitarist Tony Iommi stumbled upon the riff to the title track, which has been called "the riff that saved Black Sabbath." After this song was completed, the others flowed freely. A big difference between Sabbath Bloody Sabbath and its predecessors is the songwriting style. The album begins with the heavy riff of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath and ends with the string-laden, Spiral Architect. Some fans felt the new style signaled the beginning of the end for the band while others felt that Black Sabbath were simply expanding their sound which had been relatively unchanged through their first 4 albums.

Unknown date - Australia gets into the new breed of music known as Heavy Metal. This new group is called AC/DC. Formed by brothers Angus and Malcolm Young. The band are considered pioneers of hard rock and heavy metal, alongside bands such as Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. Its members, however, have always classified their music as "rock 'n' roll". Angus and Malcolm Young developed the idea for the band's name after seeing the acronym "AC/DC" on the back of a sewing machine owned by their sister, Margaret. "AC/DC" is an abbreviation for "alternating current/direct current", which indicates that an electrical device can use either type of power. The brothers felt that this name symbolised the band's raw energy and power-driven performances, and the name stuck.

In some cultures, "AC/DC" is a slang term for bisexuality; the band have said that they were not aware of this usage until it was brought to their attention by a taxi driver one night after a concert early in their career. Some religious figures have suggested that the name stands for "Anti-Christ/Devil's Child(ren)", "Anti-Christ/Death to Christ" and "After Christ/Devil Comes". "AC/DC" is pronounced one letter at a time, though the band are popularly known as "Acca Dacca" in Australia. The name has inspired tribute bands, including BC/DC from the province of British Columbia, Canada; AC/DShe, An all-female group from San Francisco; and Hayseed Dixie, an Appalachian band specialising in bluegrass covers.

1974

Febuary 8 - Kiss Relases thier first album which is self titled Kiss. When it was released, Kiss had been a band for little more than one year. Much of the material on the album was written by Gene Simmons and/or Paul Stanley, as members of their pre-Kiss band, Wicked Lester. Simmons estimated that the entire process of recording and mixing took three weeks, while co-producer Richie Wise claimed it took just thirteen days. The album was recorded at Bell Sound Studios in New York City, which was owned by the company that owned Buddah Records. Neil Bogart, founder of Casablanca Records, was an executive at Buddah prior to forming Casablanca.

Casablanca Records held a party at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles to celebrate the West Coast release of Kiss (February 18) and to introduce the record company to the press and other record industry executives. In keeping with the Casablanca theme, the party included palm trees and a Humphrey Bogart lookalike. Kiss performed their usual loud and bombastic stage show, which turned Warner Bros. Records (Casablanca's record distributor) against the group.

Soon after the show, Warner Bros. Records contacted Neil Bogart and threatened to end their deal with Casablanca if Kiss didn't remove their makeup. With manager Bill Aucoin's backing, Kiss refused. Shortly after the release of Kiss, Warner Bros. released Casablanca from their contract. Kiss sold approximately 75,000 copies after its initial release, without the presence of a hit single. The album was re-released in 1997 (along with most of Kiss' earlier albums) in a remastered version. It was certified Gold on June 8, 1977, when it sold 500,000 copies.

September 6 - Judas Priest releases thier debut album called Rocka Rolla. It was produced by Rodger Bain, who had made a name for himself as the producer of Black Sabbath's first three albums. This album was played entirely "live" (i.e. all musicians playing simultaneously as in a concert, vs. the more popular method of each musician's parts being recorded separately and then mixing them).

According to the band there were technical problems in the studio, resulting in poor sound quality and a hiss through the album. The band further claims that the producer had too much control over track selection, and omitted their more popular stage classics. These songs were eventually included on their next album. Many of the songs were written before Rob Halford joined the band. The track "Caviar and Meths" was originally a 14-minute epic penned by Halford's predecessor, Al Atkins, but due to time constraints, only the intro is recorded for the album. A longer version of the song appears on original vocalist Al Atkins's 1998 album Victim of Changes. Though not the full-length version, it is notably longer at seven minutes. The album also contains covers of the songs "Winter" and "Never Satisfied".

At this point of the band's career, they had not yet developed their signature look of leather and studs. They had appeared on a British television programme called The Old Grey Whistle Test in 1975, and their wardrobe was very "hippified" as journalist Malcolm Dome put it. In addition, the album has some slight progressive rock influences that would be abandoned in later releases.

October 22 - Kiss releases thier second album Hotter Than Hell.

November - The Scorpions release Fly to the Rainbow. It was the first album to feature Ulrich Jon Roth on lead guitar.

1975

January 6 - Approximately 1000 Led Zeppelin fans cause an estimated $30,000 in damage to the lobby of the Boston Garden. The fans had been waiting for tickets to go on sale for Led Zeppelin's February 4 concert. The fans reportedly broke chairs and doors and caused other damage to the building. Boston Mayor Kevin White cancels the upcoming show.

January 8 - Three Led Zeppelin concerts at Madison Square Garden sell out in a record four hours.

Sometime in January - Alice Cooper kicks off the Welcome to My Nightmare concert which becomes the largest stage spectacle of the decade.

Febuary 17 - AC/DC releases thier debut album High Voltage.

Febuary 24 - Led Zepplin releases Physical Graffiti. Tracks off of here include Kashmir & Ten Years Gone.

March 8 - Alice Cooper releases his first solo album Welcome to My Nigtmare (all previous Alice Cooper releases were band efforts). Tracks off of this album include the title song Welcome to My Nightmare along with Only Women Bleed and Department of Youth.

March 19 - Kiss releases the album Dressed to Kill. The cover for this album features Kiss in full makeup wearing suites.

April 18 - Alice Cooper's first television special, Welcome To My Nightmare: The Making Of A Record Album airs.

July 28 - Black Sabbath releases thier 6th album called Sabotage. Singer Ozzy Osbourne has often complained in interviews over the years that this album marked the beginning of what he described as guitarist Tony Iommi's studio production obsession. It took considerably longer to record and produce than each of the preceding albums, making it the most costly Sabbath album to that point (the first album only took a few hundred pounds and a couple of days). In regard to sound, the album continues a trend that began with the previous album. With Sabotage, Iommi brought in more use of keyboards and "orchestral"-sounding songwriting and oddities (for Sabbath) like choral arrangements ("Supertzar"). On some of the first vinyl/cassette releases (and all of the remastered versions of the album) there is a short, 23 second hidden track titled "Blow on a Jug" at the end of "The Writ". Recorded at very low volume, it contains Ozzy and Bill Ward goofing around in the studio.

December 25 - The heavy metal group Iron Maiden form by bassist Steve Harris, shortly after he left his previous group, Smiler. Harris attributes the band name to a movie adaptation of The Man in the Iron Mask, which he saw around that time, and so the group was christened after the purported torture device. Steve Harris and guitarist Dave Murray, remain the longest-surviving members of Iron Maiden to this day. Original vocalist Paul Day was fired as he lacked "energy or charisma onstage". He was replaced by Dennis Wilcock, a Kiss fan who utilised fire, make-up and fake blood during live performances. Wilcock's friend, Dave Murray, was invited to join, to the frustration of guitarists Dave Sullivan and Terry Rance. This fueled Harris to temporarily split the band in 1976, though the group reformed soon after with Murray as sole guitarist.

Iron Maiden recruited another guitarist in 1977, Bob Sawyer, who caused a rift between Murray and Wilcock, prompting Harris to fire both Murray and Sawyer. A poor gig at the Bridgehouse in November 1977, with a makeshift line-up including Tony Moore on keyboards, Terry Wapram on guitar, and drummer Barry Purkis resulted in Harris firing the entire band. Dave Murray was reinstated and Doug Sampson was hired as drummer.

Date not given - Scorpions release the album In Trace which features the title song In Trance.

Unknown date - The British heavy metal band Motörhead is formed in by bassist, singer and songwriter Lemmy, who has remained the sole constant member. Usually a power trio, Motörhead had particular success in the early 1980s with several successful singles in the UK Top 40 chart. The albums Overkill, its follow on, Bomber, Ace of Spades, and particularly No Sleep 'til Hammersmith, cemented Motörhead's reputation as one of Britain's foremost heavy metal groups. More recent exposure has included providing wrestler Triple H's entrance music, and performing live at WrestleMania events; and in 2004, contributing the song, "You Better Swim", to the soundtrack of The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. In 2005 the band received their first Grammy.

While Motörhead are typically classified as heavy metal, speed metal or thrash metal (and often regarded as a foundational influence on the latter two styles); Lemmy dislikes such labels, preferring to describe the band's music simply as "rock n' roll". Motörhead's approach has remained the same over the band's career, preferring to play what they enjoy and do best, their like for the early rock and roll is reflected in some of their occasional cover songs. Motörhead's lyrics typically cover such topics as war, good versus evil, abuse of power, promiscuous sex, substance abuse, and 'life on the road'. The band's distinctive fanged face logo was created by artist Joe Petagno in 1977 for the cover of the Motörhead album and has appeared in many variations on covers of ensuing albums.

1976

Febuary 20 - Kiss has their footprints added to the sidewalk outside Hollywood's Grauman's Chinese Theater.

March 15 - Kiss releases the album Destroyer.

March 23 - Judas Priest releases thier 2nd album; Sad Wings of Destiny. It was the album that would establish the band as a major force in the heavy metal scene and ultimately moved them closer to commercial success. Alongside later albums such as British Steel, Screaming for Vengeance, and Painkiller, Sad Wings of Destiny is a favorite album amongst Judas Priest fans.It is considered by fans and critics alike to be one of the most important and influential heavy metal albums since Black Sabbath's self-titled debut in 1970. Whilst the album contained some of the band's early stage material (for instance, "Victim of Changes" dated back to 1972, and was originally titled "Whiskey Woman"), it was a definite progression in style from their debut album Rocka Rolla. It was also a step forward from the style of early British heavy metal, especially on tracks such as "The Ripper", "Tyrant" and "Genocide".

The cover art for the album, titled "Fallen Angels," was illustrated Patrick Woodroffe. It is best known for introducing the pitchfork-like symbol known as the "Judas Priest Cross," as worn by the angel. The album was the only one by Judas Priest not to feature a title track up until 1980's British Steel (counting "Sinner" as the title track of 1977's Sin After Sin). However, when vocalist Rob Halford left to form his solo band Halford, the band's debut album featured a song named "Sad Wings" as a bonus track. During the chorus of the song, Halford sang the words "Sad Wings of Destiny". However, it is unlikely that the song had any other relations to Judas Priest, as it was credited to being written by the band's guitarists, Patrick Lachman and Mike Chlasciak, rather than any Judas Priest members.

Sad Wings of Destiny was Priest's last studio recording under Gull Records. Despite critical success, the band was struggling financially due to lack of support by the record label. Shortly after changing management, the band severed their ties with Gull and signed with Columbia Records. Consequently, Priest lost all rights to their first two albums and all demo recordings made during the sessions.

March 31 - Led Zepplin releases the album Presence.

May - The album T.N.T. by AC/DC is released internationally. Orginally, this album was released in December of 1975 but only in Australia.

Also in May - AC/DC releases the album High Voltage.

June - Alice Cooper releases the album Alice Cooper Goes to Hell. It was the sequel to his previous album Welcome to My Nightmare. Written almost exclusively by Alice with guitar player Dick Wagner and producer Bob Ezrin, this comically chilling concept album continued Cooper's legend of perverse, provocative brilliance. With the success of "Only Women Bleed" from his first solo effort, Alice continued with the rock ballads on this album. "I Never Cry" was written about the matter of Alice's drinking situation, which would in one year send the performer into re-hab. As quoted by Cooper, the song was "an alcoholic confession".

September 25 - Technical Ecstasy is released by Black Sabbath. Technical Ecstasy continued the band's separation from its signature doom and darkness that had been such a trademark of the band's early career. While the album's lyrics dealt with topics such as drug dealers, prostitution, and transvestites, the music itself was seldom dark, and tracks like "Rock 'n' Roll Doctor" and "It's Alright" (sung by drummer Bill Ward (a decision supported by Ozzy Osbourne), were very different from Black Sabbath's earlier recordings. Also, the band continued experimenting with keyboards and synthesizers more so than previous albums. The track "She's Gone" features orchestrations. Osbourne left the band briefly following the release of the album. He would eventually rejoin for the follow-up album, Never Say Die!. The cover art is designed by Hipgnosis and is meant to represent two robots having sex. Osbourne once described it as "two robots screwing on an escalator." The UK release had a two-sided lyric/credit-insert. "Gypsy", "Dirty Women", "Rock 'n' Roll Doctor" and (briefly) "All Moving Parts (Stand Still)" were played live on the supporting tour."It's Alright" was often covered live by Guns N' Roses, and included in that band's Live Era: '87-'93 album.

September - AC/DC releases the album Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap. Of all of AC/DC most infamous songs, 2 were off of this album: Dirty Deeds and Big Balls.

November 11 - Kiss releases the album Rock and Roll Over.

Date not given - The group Diamond Head is formed Stourbridge, England. They were one of the leading members of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) and are acknowledged by later bands like Metallica and Megadeth as an important early influence.

Date not given - The group Deep Purple disbands.

1977

January 26 - Alice Cooper enters rehab for his alcoholism, after ten years of drinking a 6 pack of beer a day.

Febuary - Scorpions releases the album Virgin Killers. It had a controversial cover showing a naked prepubescent girl. Later pressings of the album had an alternate cover showing a group shot of the band. Band member Klaus Meine acknowledged that he was shocked when he saw the original album cover, but was pressed by the record company to do something controversial.

March - Alice Cooper releases the album Lace and Whiskey. After many years of portraying the same dark and sinister persona, Alice decided to try something new. The album showcases Cooper's love for the musicians that recorded music in this vein, Frank Sinatra even went on to sing the smash hit "You And Me", a compliment that Alice still appreciates. While many consider this and Cooper's previous album, Alice Cooper Goes To Hell, to be the beginning of a downfall for Alice's career, it undoubtedly features some of the musician's most well-written lyrics.

April - Judas Priest releases thier 3rd album called Sin After Sin.It was the band's first album released by Columbia Records after terminating their contract with Gull Records. (Consequently, Priest lost all rights to Rocka Rolla and Sad Wings of Destiny, and any other demo recordings made during the production of the two albums.) This album featured the drum work of a very young and upcoming session drummer, Simon Phillips, who was only 19 at the time of recording. The record features a cover of Joan Baez's "Diamonds & Rust", a track that would become a live favourite from then onwards. The album was remastered in 2001, with two bonus tracks added. One of the bonus tracks "Race With The Devil" was at first intended to take the place of "Diamonds & Rust" but their producer, Roger Glover, wanted them to switch to "Diamonds & Rust", saying that "It would fit along with the rest of the album better." It is said that this album was supposed to be called "Island of Domination" after the song on "Sad Wings of Destiny" with a re-made version of "Island of Domination" as the title track, but they decided to call it "Sin After Sin" because of the popularity of the song "Sinner". The words "Sin After Sin" appear in the lyrics of a song featured on Sad Wings of Destiny called Genocide: "Sin after sin, I have endured... Yet the wounds I bear, are the wounds of love". In 1988, Slayer covered the song "Dissident Aggressor" on their critically acclaimed South of Heaven album. Arch Enemy covered the song "Starbreaker", which was eventually released as a bonus track on the Wages of Sin album.

June 23 - AC/DC releases the album Let There Be Rock.

June 30 - Kiss releases the album Love Gun. Love Gun is notable for being the first Kiss album to feature a lead vocal performance from lead guitarist Ace Frehley. This makes Love Gun the first Kiss album to feature lead vocal performances from all four band members. It was also the last album to feature the entire original lineup of Kiss on every track, as drummer Peter Criss began to be replaced by session drummer Anton Fig on 1979's Dynasty. Even though none of the band members attended a cast session, the song "Plaster Caster" was inspired by Cynthia Plaster Caster, a former groupie who is infamous for casting penises of famous rock musicians like Jimi Hendrix, as well as breasts of female music artists. The album includes "Then She Kissed Me", a gender-reversed cover of The Crystals' 1960's pop classic "Then He Kissed Me". The title song, "Love Gun", has been played on every Kiss tour since its release. Singer and writer Paul Stanley has cited it as one of his favorite Kiss songs. A cardboard "Love Gun" (assembly required) was included inside the album. The album also came with a Kiss merchandise order form. It was certified Platinum on September 15, 1977 when it sold 1,000,000 copies

July 24 - Led Zeppelin performs in Oakland at their last ever concert in the United States.

September - Motorhead releases thier debut album Motorhead. On April 1, 1977, after a few unsuccessful years of toiling in obscurity hoping for a record deal, Motörhead decided to perform their last show at the London Marquee Club. They asked Ted Carroll, head of Chiswick Records, to record the show for posterity. Instead of recording it, he offered a chance for the band to record a single. This being their last chance, they recorded 13 backing tracks in just two days, impressing Carroll enough for him to offer them further studio time to complete the tracks. Eight of these tracks were released on this eponymous debut album. The album did well enough to ensure the band would remain together, but it was their next album, 1979's Overkill, that was their real breakthrough.

The band had earlier recorded their debut album On Parole for United Artists Records, but the record company was stalling on its release, unsure of its commercial viability. For this album, the band chose to re-record that album in almost its entirety, only "Fools" and "Leaving Here" weren't re-recorded at these sessions. In addition two new self-penned compositions were added in "White Line Fever" and "Keep Us on the Road", as well as a cover of "Train Kept A-Rollin'".

The title track "Motorhead" was coupled with the non-album track "City Kids" for release as 7" and 12" singles. The four remaining tracks from the session were shelved until 1980, when they were released on the Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers EP. Later the B-side and the EP were added as bonus tracks to remastered CD releases.The sleeve artwork featured Snaggletooth, the fanged face that became an icon of the band, created by artist Joe Petagno. The inner sleeve featured old and new photographs of the band and friends, plus letters of thanks from Lemmy, Eddie and Phil. The advertisements for the album, single and tour bore the words "Achtung! This Band Takes No Prisoners"

November 28 - Kiss releases the live album Alive II.

December - Alice Cooper releases the live album The Alice Cooper Show.