Been to many a "metal board", and yet to find anyone that agrees with me (been called lots of names, also). Am I the only one in the world who believes that Robert Johnson is the founder of all that is metal. Is metal simply a style of music, or something deeper? I could really to into why I believe this, but typing on my iPhone and pulling 40 tons just isn't good. Safety first.

Blues =/= Metal

Not a single person here will agree with you unless you go in depth about your belief.

This is a silly question. Just because Robert Johnson was supposed to be possessed by the devil and played the blues doesn't make him the "founder of all that is metal" at all. Although trad. heavy metal borrowed lots from the blues, there are enough differences in style and songwriting to set the two genres apart.


"Is metal simply a style of music, or something deeper?" Metal is music ; use your ears and a bit of judgment.

Note: I am forced to make several assumptions about why you might think Robert Johnson is the founder of all things metal due to your skint OP.

If this is what the OP was referring to, then he should check out Paganini.

Absolutely, although I don't think that was the OP's only point about Robert Johnson (again, I am making assumptions until the OP is improved and clarified).

At a truck stop now, so I'll try to explain. Forgive me if I'm not to eloquint, been up for 28 hours.

While it's true that RJ wasn't the first bluesman to come out of that era, in my opinion he was the first to bring something ....primal.... out of his music. To me that's what metal is, in any form. Those base emotions and instincts that we are told from birth to keep hidden. When a guitarist strikes those certain notes, you can feel it. The magic, the tingling on the back of your skull that something more that simple strumming is happening.

His legend of selling his soul to the devil, while being just a story, shows that from that point on music has entered a darker time. Folks needing to spin a yarn to express there fears of what his music brought forth in them. Passion, anger, an otherworldly connection that didn't come from the Christian churches that dominated the region.

Thats metal to me. He lived his life with one foot in the grave and all his "darkness" came out in his music. Along with the pure beauty. He came to a tragic end but influence can be heard in everything from Johnny Cash to Type O to Danzig and beyond. To list his influences would take a whole mother thread.

Pick up a cd, put it in and listen. Listen to the primal moans and wails that causes you to shiver. Then put in one of your favorate cd's and you'll be astonished that you can here RJ in them.

We'll see. I'm actually sort of looking forward to the possibility of seeing some resemblance.

Being primal is what metal is? Any support for that claim? And I'm pretty sure that the first music on earth would have sounded much more primal than any of the modern forms of music. Besides, the "magic" thing is pretty irrelevant (I personally don't even feel it, though I'm sure some may).

Devil legend -> see Paganini, who lived more than a 100 years before Robert Johnson. And I bet that there were countless musicians throughout history who were rumored to have sold their soul to the devil.

And being influential doesn't make the musician himself metal.

Eh, I like Robert Johnson but he didn't play metal. His lyric themes and sound might have been 'dark' at the time but the sound just isn't metal

There's a bit of classical (read: old music with strings, not just the classical era) that explores various primal themes, besides, I'm sure there were a lot of leud pub tunes and whatnot years/centuries before RJ came around.

And honestly, having had a RJ cd for a while and giving it a heap of listen, I don't really see him as primal or whatnot. It's just a dude singing with an acoustic; it's about as threatening as Good Charlotte. I mean come on, "woo woo, baby don't you want to go. from the land of california to my sweet home, chicago." <-- yeah, that's some primal, evil stuff right there.

It was an interesting read but what I found disturbing is the picture in wikipedia they used



Does any one else fucking see it, its big and quite plain of day to me.

Is it that crap on the wall that looks vaguely like a skull?

Edit: Actually, I don't see anything.

That did kind of give me the chills, considering the whole devil story surrounding him. Probably a coincidence, though. Hopefully...

Why do you hope it is a coincidence and not a photoshop editing? I don't see any harm either way.

The way the light goes on his left hand really makes it look...odd, reminds me of an alien's hand (from movies). I find that more interesting than a spot in the wall.

just to clarify he wasn't Possessed the legend surrounding him came from a period of 6 months where he disappeared from the stage as a mediocre bluesman and then returned as a truly fantastic player. They claimed he met the Devil at a crossroads and sold his soul for musical talent. The crossroads idea isn't unique to Robert Johnson its a pretty common concept in voodoo legends.

There does appear somethin that looks like a skull on that picture...a play of light maybe? Tres creepy all the same.

Led Zeppelin is the only band I can hear Robert Johnson-isms.
Especially since they stole the line Squeeze my lemon until the juice runs down my leg from his "Traveling Riverside Blues"

I don't agree that metal really owes much to Robert Johnson, metal is not synonymous with Satanism to me, it's just a choice pairing. But it's an interesting thought.

Keep on truckin'!

Topic opener: Rest assured you are not the only one to see the [Hellhound] trail from Mr. Johnson to the darkness and emotional rawness of metal.
Years ago, it became obvious to myself and a friend of mine.
Obviously it's the sum of all things Johnson and all things metal that matters, but not anyone can see it clear - though it's a matter of personal opinion, of course.

Maybe I'm an asshole, but I was never really that impressed with Robert Johnson's guitar playing. Sure, he's got some talent, but if he inded sold his soul to the devil for guitar playing skills, the devil must have used some very careful phrasing...

Robert Johnson was a great blues player, but blues took heavy influence from folk music all over the world, so to limit metals founders to just ol' Rob isn't fair. Besides, most of the early metal bands were all over seas.

If you really wanted to name a father of metal why not Beetovan or one of the other great classical composers?

As much as I adore Robert Johnson, he really wasn't the first to bring that primal darkness to the blues. Charley Patton and Son House both predated him, as well as any number of obscure one-shot bluesmen, and the devil legend was applied to Tommy Johnson (no relation) first, and he claimed it himself. Ironically, a bluesman who did pre-empt almost-metal vocals 60 years early, was Blind Willie Johnson, who was a preacer. His singing on something like "I know his Blood can make me Whole" is so harsh and guttural.

The whole "devil" story has been applied to musicians and composers for hundreds of years. Also, for the record, there are 5th century Greek folk songs that sound more primal than any blues recording ever has.