There have been SO MANY MORE who have shaped Metal as we know it today!!

Iron Butterfly
Jethro Tull
Hendrix
Ten years After,,,,, the list goes on...

Yes, also
Rainbow (Ritchie Blackmore from Deep Purple)
Kiss (can't forget them)
Alice Cooper (almost fogot him)
YES (to some degree)
Lynard Skydyrd (in a southern style)

Some more names that just came to me:
AC/DC
Molly Hatchet
Judas Priest
Van Halen
Iron Maiden
(but now we're getting more into straight up Heavy Metal after it was known as such.)

Some other bands that could be thought of as forefathers of Metal:
The Stones
Funkadelics
The Greatful Dead (to some degree)
The Beatles (Tell Me Helter Skelter wasn't  one of the first Metal tunes ever!)

HERE ARE A FEW....

I know that these are all known as "CLassic Rock" bands, but truly they did forge some of THE first Heavy Metal, Speed Metal and even Death Metal songs..

What say ye???? Who is the GREAT KING OF METAL?? I DON"T KNOW????

In my heart, I wanted to vote for Rush, because they are my favorate, but in all reality it come down to Zeppilen, Sabbath and Purple!!

I had to vote for Sabbath!

But you have to tip your hat to Steppenwolf who coined the phrase in the song "Born To Be Wild"; Heavy Metal Thunder! Refering to the Thunder of Harley Davidson Motor Cycles!! many consider that this very first Heavy Metal Song.

The first straight up "Death Metal song I think was Pink Floyd's "One of These Day's I'm Going to Cut You Into Little Pieces!"  

Just opinions, just for fun..

What do you all think??

Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow!!!

all things SABBATHARIAN!!!

I think Scorpions are the greatest of them all!

PINK FLOYD of course

Black Sabbath

I would have to say Sabbath. If you think of the blueprint for metal...it is Sabbath. No one else.

You know, if you really stop and think about it, two of the first bands that could be classified as metal would have been the Kinks (You Really Got Me) and the Who.  Both came out in the mid 60's and took rock to a whole 'nother level.  But then again, you also got American bands like MC5 and The Amboy Dukes to throw into the mix.

Frank

They had the beginings of the right idea, however most metal bands will trace thier roots back to Sabbath!

LED ZEPPELIN! LED ZEPPELIN!

I don't have any of their CDs, but I hear them regularly on the classic rock station.  I like their bluesy sound.  Robert Plant has one of the best voices in rock!! And I know they influenced so many 80s "big hair" bands!  

It's interesting that somebody said Parliment Funkadelic.  I would think they would be forefathers of rap!   I think they have been sampled plenty of times in the past 20 years of pop and R&B!

No offense to fans, but I can't listen to very much Rush and Pink Floyd.  They just aren't that interesting to me.  I can appreciate that they are forefathers of rock, though.

I would go with the first three bands. Sabbath being at the top of the list of course.

Gotta go with Sabbath and Judas Priest. Some folks point to Iron Butterfly as the originator of the species but I will (my opinion only of course) try to refute that. They only had 1 song anyone remembers and it was more of a psycadelic trippy acid rock song. The rest of their music(my dad had the 8track)was pretty much 60's hippy rock.(which I mostly can't stand!) I do like MC5 and the Stooges but I would point them over to the origins of punk. The first bands to drop the moogs and organs and play metal riffs that are still being played by metal bands today were Sabbath and Priest. Zeppelin were great, but I would put them in a class with classic rock groups like the Beatles. Of course this is all subjective. Not everyone has the same definition of "metal" as I do. That might be a good discussion right there. What makes a band a "metal band?"     GB

all the above metalheads have their own distinct contribution to metal scenario. they should rock their distinctivity for god.i like all the metalheads.
metal,s father is one who created music . this is the way to end this debate and use it for the father itself.

Wished more Securlar bands woyld get saved... I had a dream Def Leppard got saved... seemed so real till I woke up... then I was totally bummed.

As much as I loathe Robert Plant's vocals, I'm going to have to go with Zep.


Bendiciones,
Lia

I voted for Zep just because they I thnk got the whole thing going but i think metal as we know it comes more from Judas Priest, Ac/Dc, and maiden

Has to be Zeppelin... they got my vote!

I think most of them votes are by the Guest, lol

Black Sabbath