There has always been a longstanding debate about when the first sounds of metal came into the world. Most people would point to something like the first Black Sabbath for introducing darkness to rock, but even they would tell you that they weren’t doing anything that artists like Led Zeppelin hadn’t done before. While Zeppelin always eschewed the metal comparisons, The Beatles could claim to be the genre’s founders, and it’s not for the song that most people might be thinking of.

First of all, it’s important we establish boundaries when it comes to heavy metal and hard rock. There is a lot of shared DNA between both genres, but the main difference has more to do with what the tone of any given track is supposed to be. So, while a tune like ‘You Really Got Me’ by The Kinks could be credibly called the first true metal song, the attitude that they play it with is far closer to hard rock.

And it’s not like The Beatles didn’t have hard rock tunes under their belt, either. ‘Paperback Writer’ had one of the most distorted riffs of its time on it, and even when they weren’t writing soppy ballads, tunes like ‘Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me and My Monkey’ knew how to kick out the jams when it needed to.