10 Greatest Pre-Metal Metal Songs

A lot of the hard rock acts of the time were usually coming from England. Even though acts like the Byrds and the Beach Boys may have had huge hits over in America, much of the heavier side of rock tended to be imported from overseas rather than coming from home soil. At a time when only psychedelic rock reigned supreme, the Stooges surfaced out in the wild and brought chaos back into rock and roll.

Up until that point, all of the heavier acts still had the same rock foundation, from the Rolling Stones' tight Satisfaction to the foreboding story in the Animals' House of the Rising Sun. You won't be getting such construction with the Stooges though, as 1969 plods along without having any real endpoint. It's clear from the first second that this starts playing that everyone is subservient to the riff, whose off-kilter nature is almost primal in its simplicity.

That's before you even get to the singing though, as Iggy Pop gives a firm update of what the rockstar frontman is supposed to be. From the way he spits out his words to the loose tone in his voice, this is a man who has clearly gone to the Jim Morrison school of rock singer, where the notes don't matter nearly as much as the attitude. While rock had been slowly inching towards something darker, this was the quantum leap that started punk, metal, and all heavy rock that would follow.