Classic songs: ‘Helter Skelter’ by The Beatles.

The origins of heavy metal date back to the late 1960s and early 1970s. Often both Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath are credited as the first pioneers of this new genre. But ask legendary guitarist Pete Townsend who he believes invented heavy metal music and he would say The Who, of course, in 1970. Townsend was once quoted as saying, “We sort of invented heavy metal with [our first live album] Live At Leeds.” His claim might be to some a little tongue-in-cheek, but the controversial musician definitely insists, “We were copied by so many bands.” That said, he also regrettably acknowledges some of them did it far better than they did. But The Who can at least still lay claim to once famously breaking the record for the loudest concert at The Valley venue in London in 1976. 

Often overlooked as metal pioneers because of their pop sound were The Beatles. And while the Beatles have never seriously been considered heavy metal, the fab four were nonetheless famous for their innovation and they dabbled in experimentation all the time. But did The Beatles create heavy metal? The short answer is no, but McCartney can be credited to writing a really good proto-heavy metal song for the genre called Helter Skelter. In context of the time which it came out in 1968, Helter Skelter can seriously be regarded as one of the heaviest sounding song with elements of metal’s heavy drums, bass and lead guitar. It is truly one of McCartney’s wildest tracks. Listen to the guitars. Listen to McCartney’s unhinged vocals. Listen to Ringo’s drums as it builds, and ends with him famously wailing “I got blisters on my fingers.” Even the false ending is as cool as f#%k!

Helter Skelter was first recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London on July 18, 1968. Three seperate takes were originally recorded with Take 3 an epic twenty-seven minutes brutal blistering jam session. While The Beatles loved that last take they soon realised it was far too long and decided to re-record it a few months later. The version that appears on The White Album interestingly features John Lennon on bass and sax. 

Some say it feels like the Beatles played that song almost as a novelty. It didn’t really make them change their style but McCartney has said the sound distortion you hear on Helter Shelter was employed in many of their tracks during the recording of The White Album. Standouts include Back In The U.S.S.R, Birthday, Revolution and Happiness Is A Warm Gun. And while heavy will never be your first description of The Beatles that same loud and dirty style continued on the album Abbey Road (1969) with Come Together and I Want You (She’s So Heavy).

The inspiration for Helter Skelter can in many ways be credited to Pete Townshend and his big mouth. In McCartney’s book The Lyrics he points out, “Pete Townsend had been talking in the music press about how The Who had just recorded the loudest, the dirtiest, the rockiest thing ever. I loved the description, so I came into the studio and said to the guys, “Let’s  just see how loud we can get and how raucous. Let’s try to make the meters peak.” 

Later McCartney would reflect upon what Townsend said, “Maybe it was ‘I Can See for Miles’. The loudest, the dirtiest, the rockiest thing ever? I never heard anything by The Who that was as loud and dirty as it was in my imagining of it.”

Townsend’s claims (of sort) of inventing heavy metal seems almost laughable stacked up against McCartney’s observation. Interestingly, ask John Lennon the same question and he’ll tell you the first heavy metal record ever made was 1965’s Ticket To Ride. “It’s a heavy record, and the drums are heavy too”, Lennon once proposed in 1970. Later in his Playboy interview with David Sheff in 1980, he also added “That was one of the earliest heavy-metal records made. Paul’s contribution was the way Ringo played the drums.”

It’s definitely an extraordinary claim but one only needs to hear the outro of Ticket To Ride to make sense of Lennon’s claim. It might even be a stretch to say that Day Tripper for instance released in late 1965 with its hypnotic riff and drums has metal overtures. Interestingly, even further back The Kinks 1964 classic You Really Got Me is also occasionally still referred to as the very first heavy metal song.

Sometimes the best ideas start out as happy creative accidents, and so it was with Helter-Skelter thanks to Townsend. While many pundits remember Helter-Skelter as McCartney “loud” song, the demented cult figure Charles Manson would hijack the song for his own depraved beliefs unintentionally twisting our perception of what the song was about. Originally McCartney envisaged the idea of an amusement ride as a metaphor for the ups and downs of life. Some of the narrative is also overtly sexual with lines like “She’s coming down fast” and “You may be a lover but you ain’t no dancer”. This of course was nothing new to John and Paul’s innovative approach to songwriting. But Manson skewed Helter Skelter’s lyrics and its meaning to predict a bloody, apocalyptic race war. The Sharon Tate murders were a direct result of Manson’s demented web of deceit which upset the members of The Beatles. McCartney even stopped playing Helter Skelter live for a while in the years after that. The initial decision to retire it was definitely justified. And it’s probably safe to say McCartney has since reclaimed it.