Sweet Leaf — the Rise of Stoner Metal

Part 5 of The Beginner’s Guide to Heavy Metal

Photo by Kym MacKinnon on Unsplash

Welcome to Part 5 in this series which aims to provide an insight into heavy metal, its origins, and the development of various sub-genres over the past 50 years or so.

In Part 1, I gave a basic introduction to the genre for, as the title suggests, the absolute beginner. I then welcomed my friend

Charles in San Francisco

to contribute Part 2, where he questioned assumptions about metal and examined some artists pushing the boundaries. In my absence, Charles also prepared Part 3 and Part 4. Thanks so much to Charles and other friends at The Riff for their kind words over the past couple of months.

Part 5 presents an overview of the origin of doom metal and, in particular, the development of the broad church that is stoner doom, stoner metal and stoner rock.

Remember, these pieces are not comprehensive; they have been prepared to give one a taste of the music styles. Treat each as a signposting exercise and follow your nose down the paths before you.

Black Sabbath, arguably the greatest heavy band of all time, created the doom metal prototype in their self-titled song from their self-titled album.

Ozzy Osbourne, in his book I Am Ozzy, recalls how the band decided to follow the…