Indeed. that was just me guessing - that's true.

Some facts as examples: Kerrang! magazine was calling ACDC heavy metal in the early 80s. Ditto Rolling Stone with BackIn Black. Sir Lord Baltimore were called heavy metal when their first records came out. Deep Purple were called heavy metal by the press when Machine Head was release d. Live in Japan was called a "metal monster" when it was released. Blue Öyster Cult were one of the first bands to be called heavy metal by the press. Van Halen were called a "heavy metal bomb" in 1984. Samson was on one of the Metal for Muthas comps. There is evidence from the time for all ofthis.

Sure there was some interchangeability with the term heavymetal and hard rock/ heavy rock/ rock - (even AOR in some cases). the Monsters of Rock festival for example from the 80s - but it was initially advertised as "exclusively" a heavy metal festival.

The point is this -there is evidence that these kinds of bands were routinely called heavy metal at the time. If this isn't the case, then let's see the evidence.

^ True! I'll end this on my 11th edit! Thats a good number. Never only listened to metal until other genres became more boring and metal became more interesting. (around the time of first Speed Kills) Tried to post only metal albums where possible but as long I can headbang to it its metal !

It was very important for fans too. There was another huge schism between the newer thrash/ death fans and the older classic band fans. Genres tightened up more and more to mean very specific things. It's only gotten narrower and narrower as well - that Canadian Headbangers Journey guy codifies and charts made-up stuff like "blackened death" on youtube for aliving now.

You also failed to mention that Humble Pie were in fact the first band to be labelled as heavy metal by the media rob. Can I assume that you will now be labelling them as metal?

To be perfectly honest everything you've said here only goes to further prove that your point is completely irrelevant. No one is claiming that these bands weren't called metal back in the 70's but the fact is that most of us weren't around to remember that & highlighting the use of the term 40 years ago doesn't make your point any more valid. I was born in 1975 & got into metal in around 1987 when there was already a fairly clear distinction between genuine metal & hard rock. That means that we're talking about more than 30 years since real music fans stopped calling Led Zeppelin, Alice Cooper, Van Halen or KISS a metal band. I simply don't think it matters who labelled which band what back in the days when the genre was still being defined. It's completely irrelevant when the subgenres WERE defined properly a short time afterwards.

For example, back in the early-to-mid 80's people called Detroit techno "house music". It wasn't until the late 80's that Juan Atkins started trying to distance himself from that term & created his own new label to describe his music. Does that then mean that we should continue to call all Detroit techno house music? That would appear to be madness to me. The very same can be said of the early days of trance.

We're on the internet arguing on a pretty near defunct music forum. Everything we're saying is irrelevant.

The fact remains that heavy metal basically started,developed and peaked in the 70s and 80s. What the genre was - & what bands represented the style - all developed then too. And there is a mountain of evidence forthis.

These days people might think that Sabaton or Lamb of God or Nightwish or whoever are what metal is and that Saxon or Deep Purple aren't. But that's just not enough. I'm sure for them that it really does seem true - but it just isnt.

I was going to post something along these lines yesterday but didn't. Good job! I definitely agree.

The same argument is used about black metal as well, and I just don't buy it. A genre becomes a genre when it has features that can be locked down and verbally articulated.

Deep Purple are generally referred to as a rock band, because that's precisely what they are. The fact that they influenced some metal bands isn't the point.

When I was growing up, Deep Purple were generally called Heavy Metal in the rock press (Kerrang! and Metal Hammer, basically) but labelled a Rock/Heavy Rock/Hard Rock band in the mainstream press (but even then, the tabloids would still occasionally refer to them as Heavy Metal). Tommy Vance from The Friday Rock Show would describe them as either depending on which way the wind was blowing.

In short, in my eyes, Purple are both Heavy Metal and Hard/Heavy Rock and I don't give a shit what anyone else refers to them as now. These days, Ozzy, Maiden, Anthrax and Metallica seem to have been rebranded Classic Rock in many corners, so fuck categories and call them what you like, because basically everybody's right and it doesn't even matter.

I don't give a fuck how anyone else defines metal, and here's my list:

1970: Black Sabbath - Paranoid
1971: Alice Cooper - Killer
1972: Deep Purple - Machine Head
1973: Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies
1974: Deep Purple - Burn
1975: AC/DC - TNT
1976: AC/DC - Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
1977: Ted Nugent - Cat Scratch Fever
1978: Rose Tattoo - Rose Tattoo
1979: Motorhead - Overkill
1980: Motorhead - Ace of Spades

1981: Iron Maiden - Killers
1982: Twisted Sister - Under The Blade
1983: Slayer - Show No Mercy
1984: Bathory - Bathory
1985: S.O.D. - Speak English Or Die
1986: Dark Angel - Darkness Descends
1987: Carnivore - Retaliation
1988: Slayer - South of Heaven
1989: Sepultura - Beneath The Remains
1990: Exhorder - Slaughter in the Vatican

1991: Entombed - Clandestine
1992: Carcass - Necroticism: Descanting the Insalubious
1993: Metallica - Live Shit: Binge & Purge
1994: Nailbomb - Point Blank
1995: Strapping Young Lad - Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing
1996: The Exploited - Beat the Bastards
1997: Emperor - Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk
1998: Nile - Amongst The Catacombs Of Nephren-Ka
1999: Brutal Truth - Goodbye Cruel World
2000: Macabre - Dahmer

2001: Arch Enemy - Wages of Sin
2002: 8 Foot Sativa - Hate Made Me
2003: Apocalyptica - Reflections
2004: Usurper - Cryptobeast
2005: Kreator - Enemy of God
2006: Celtic Frost - Monotheist
2007: Blood Duster - Lyden Na
2008: Zimmers Hole - When You Were Shouting At The Devil...We Were In League With Satan
2009: Steel Panther - Feel the Steel
2010: Melechesh - The Epigenesis

2011: Fleshgod Apocalypse - Agony
2012: Terrorizer - Hordes of Zombies
2013: Carcass - Surgical Steel
2014: Devilskin - We Rise
2015: Texas Toast Chainsaw Massacre - Til Death Do Us Party
2016: Wormrot - Voices
2017 (so far) : Sepultura - Machine Messiah