Heavy Metal – Before It Was Heavy Metal Toward the end of the 60s, a louder, more discordant, fuzzed-out electric-guitar dominated propulsion of sound emerged from the haze: The ear-splitting shock wave of what was labeled psychedelic rock, acid rock, or the more nebulous hard rock was a fresh hell for many of the older generation, who were just getting over the Beatles and the Stones. Beginning around 1970, some of these bands developed a sound that would later crystalize into what came to be known as heavy metal. The term existed at the time, but was used by rock