Top 10: Proto-Thrashers

Yesterday, as I was spinning Accept’s Restless and Wild to commemorate its 40th anniversary, the idea for this Top 10 popped in my head. Specifically, it was when the album’s opening track, “Fast as a Shark”, was playing. With each passing year, it blows my mind that such a raw, aggressive neck-snapper of a song existed a year before Metallica and Slayer released their debut LPs. Then it occurred to me: Accept were not alone in pushing the boundaries of speed and extremity. Today, we break down our Top 10 Proto-Thrashers: Metal songs that played a key role in the development of thrash metal. So lace up your high tops and get ready to thrash. If you didn’t think you could mosh to 70s metal, prepare to be schooled!

10. Queen – “Stone Cold Crazy” (Sheer Heart Attack, 1974)

Kicking off our list at #10 is the song that many consider singlehandedly invented thrash, “Stone Cold Crazy” by Queen. While I won’t go that far, there’s no denying its importance in sowing the seeds for what was to come, with its fierce riffing and frenzied drumming. After all, Metallica covered it. That speaks for itself. If anything, “Stone Cold Crazy” shouldn’t just be reflective of Queen’s influence on thrash, but should serve as one of many examples of Queen’s influence on metal in general. It’s nothing short of criminal that thanks to ignorant revisionism and normie America co-opting the band’s poppier fare (“Another One Bites the Dust”, “Radio Gaga”, “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”), Queen has all but been erased from the annals of metal history. They haven’t been forgotten here, and as far as I’m concerned, their first 3 albums bridge the gap between Sabbath and Priest. I said what I said.

9. Discharge – “Protest and Survive” (Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing, 1982)

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: No punk band was more important to metal than Discharge. While their peers The Exploited and GBH maintained some of the rowdy street punk tendencies of the late 70s, Discharge sounded like nothing anyone had ever heard before. It was as if some half punk, half metal hybrid emerged from the ashes of a nuclear holocaust, covered in a layer of crust and filth from the fallout. The end result was their revolutionary debut full length, Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing. I could’ve picked any number of songs from this groundbreaking release, but I had to go with “Protest and Survive”. Its lead riff sounds closer to a textbook thrash mosh riff than anything else released beforehand. Having influenced everyone from Metallica and Slayer to Bathory and Celtic Frost, there’s no telling where metal would be today without Discharge.

8. Saxon – “20,000 Feet” (Strong Arm of the Law, 1980)

Although Saxon wasn’t known for being on the cutting edge of speed metal, they sure were when they wanted to be. There always seemed to be a couple songs on each of those early albums that went toe to toe with Motörhead and the ilk. On Strong Arm of the Law, it was “20,000 Feet”. The lead riff on here isn’t too far removed from that of Brian May’s on “Stone Cold Crazy” in terms of speed and delivery. Furthermore, Pete Gill’s drum pattern sounds eerily similar to what would become known as the d-beat, popularized by the band above, Discharge (hence the name). Despite being an age where metalheads and punks were segregated as ever, I refuse to believe Discharge and the rest of the UK82 crop weren’t paying attention to the NWOBHM.

7. Raven – “Faster than the Speed of Light” (Wiped Out, 1982)

Raven’s thrash credentials have long been cemented. Whether it be taking Metallica out on their first ever tour or releasing a few thrash oriented albums themselves, they’ve essentially been co-opted by thrashers far and wide as forefathers of the scene, and rightfully so. Their first few albums, a high energy amalgamation of English steel and full tilt boogie at maximum speed, boast some proto-thrash classics, with none being more proto-thrash than the aptly titled “Faster than the Speed of Light”. This is one of 3 songs from ’82 on this list that, if you wanted to pinpoint it as “the birth of thrash metal”, I wouldn’t get mad. The speed of the riffing and drumming is absolutely off the charts, laying down a template that would be heard on the early releases of Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, Overkill, and so forth. I feel bad for anyone who had to share the stage with Raven in these salad days. They stood no chance.

6. Deep Purple – “Fireball” (Fireball, 1971)

“What? A proto-thrash song that predates “Stone Cold Crazy”?” You bet your ass. Although “Fireball” wasn’t the first Deep Purple song to break the speed limit (“Speed King”, “Flight of the Rat”), and it wouldn’t be the last (“Highway Star”, “Burn”), it is, in my humble opinion, the definitive Purple proto-thrasher, if only for Ian Paice’s double bass drumming. Yes, Carmine Appice’s performance on Cactus’s “Parchman Farm” can arguably be pinned down as the first example of double bass in metal. However, it’s Paice’s maniacal timekeeping and jazzy flourishes, coupled with Ritchie Blackmore’s no nonsense riffing, that lie much closer to the classic works of Slayer and Dark Angel than the wasted down-home boogie metal of “Parchman Farm”.

5. Sweet – “Set Me Free” (Sweet Fanny Adams, 1974)

The same year Queen took the UK by storm with “Stone Cold Crazy”, another English act of a glammier disposition decided to push the envelope. That band was Sweet. In hindsight, Sweet was all about pushing the envelope. Their lyrics were filthy and filled to the brim with innuendo. Their live shows drew outrage thanks to pornographic projections and neo-fascist fashion statements. It only made sense they’d push the envelope musically too, and they did with “Set Me Free”. Something tells me this proto-thrasher caused quite a few “Ballroom Blitzes” in its day, and how could it not? The guitars go for the jugular, as does the pounding rhythm section. Add to that some wicked lyrics (“Call me a saint, that’s what I ain’t.”) and you’ve got a song tailormade for the 80s metal crowd, covered by Saxon, Heathen, and everyone in between.

4. Motörhead – “Overkill” (Overkill, 1979)

Much like Purple’s “Fireball”, here’s a proto-thrasher in which the most important component is the drumming. Motörhead had already established themselves as “the world’s loudest band” with their 1977 self titled debut, perhaps the first amalgamation of metal and punk. Yet nobody could’ve expected them to up the ante tenfold with their 1979 follow up, Overkill. The album’s opening title track wastes no time getting down to business, thanks to Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor’s double bass blitz that bursts out of your stereo like a freight train. Whereas Paice throws in the occasional fill for posterity’s sake, Taylor bulldozes his way through all 5 minutes and 12 seconds of this punishing cut, never once relenting. Add Lemmy’s filthy bass and “Fast” Eddie Clarke’s grinding guitar and you’ve got thrash before thrash!

3. Venom – “Black Metal” (Black Metal, 1982)

What Discharge was to punk, Venom was to metal. In the early 80s, no metal band was more primal, raw, or extreme than Venom. They took the Motörhead metalpunk formula, made it even grimier, and added an evil aesthetic to boot. The result was the unintentional birth of black metal on their debut album, Welcome to Hell (1981). Unsurprisingly, Venom proved to be a massive influence, both lyrically and musically, on the burgeoning thrash crop. However, no Venom song lies closer to the spirit of thrash than “Black Metal”. It’s as if we’re being treated to the speed of Metallica’s Kill ‘Em All (1983) and the darkness of Slayer’s Haunting the Chapel (1984) early. Again, this is one many would consider to be thrash outright, and while I don’t agree, I wouldn’t contest it either.

2. Judas Priest – “Exciter” (Stained Class, 1978)

As we go through this proto-thrash journey, one thing is for certain: Thrash is one of those metal subgenres in which the drumming is equally as important as the riffing. Having already tackled “Fireball” and “Overkill”, no proto-thrash list would be complete without Judas Priest’s “Exciter”. Like Purple, Priest were familiar with fast tempos prior to the release of “Exciter” (i.e. “Let Us Prey / Call for the Priest”). Yet like any true creative evolution, “Exciter” saw the band pushing themselves to their musical limit. It’s the show-stopping double bass drumming of Les Binks that lead the way, emphasized by Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing’s fiery riffs and glorious twin solos, as well as Halford’s scorching vocals. You can thank “Exciter” for the traditionally inclined thrash fare of bands like Metal Church, Flotsam and Jetsam, and Heathen.

1. Accept – “Fast as a Shark” (Restless and Wild, 1982)

While every song on this list is a stone cold classic and all had a hand in the advent of thrash, no song played a greater role than Accept’s “Fast as a Shark”. At its core, one could simply say it’s a traditional metal song played extremely fast, and maybe there’s some truth to that. After all, Udo Dirkschneider’s vocals have much more in common with the traditional metal singers/screamers of the era than the chanting and shouting that constitutes (most) thrash vocals. That said, almost every musical component here is identical to those on Kill ‘Em All, Show No Mercy, or any other first wave thrash release. The only thing missing is a mosh worthy breakdown, and there’d be no shortage of those throughout the remainder of the 80s. For this reason, “Fast as a Shark” is the greatest proto-thrasher of all time, still a “surprise attack” after all these years!