Heavy metal music before 1970

Since the dawn of rock music in the 1950s and continuing through the 1960s, various artists pushed the boundaries of the genre to emphasize speed, aggression, volume, theatricality, and other elements that became staples of the heavy metal style. In the late 1960s, this experimentation coalesced into various rock subgenres like hard rock, acid rock, and psychedelic rock, which were all influential in the development of heavy metal. These albums would later be retroactively categorised as proto-metal.

1963

 * The Yardbirds

1964

 * MC5
 * The Who

1965

 * Scorpions

1966

 * Blue Cheer
 * Cream
 * The Jimi Hendrix Experience
 * Iron Butterfly

1967

 * Blue Öyster Cult (as Soft White Underbelly)
 * Budgie
 * Steppenwolf
 * Vanilla Fudge
 * Jeff Beck Group

1968

 * Alice Cooper
 * Black Sabbath
 * Deep Purple
 * Grand Funk Railroad
 * Humble Pie
 * Led Zeppelin
 * Nazareth
 * Rush

1969

 * Hawkwind
 * Iron Claw
 * Judas Priest
 * Mountain
 * Thin Lizzy
 * UFO
 * Uriah Heep

1967

 * "Purple Haze" by The Jimi Hendrix Experience

1968

 * "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" by Iron Butterfly

1969

 * "21st Century Schizoid Man" by King Crimson
 * "The Nile Song" by Pink Floyd