Pre-Metal

S1, E1: Tracing the origins of metal is a phantasmagoric odyssey that traverses cities and countries, oceans and continents. For Sam Dunn, stop 1 on this heavy metal pilgrimage is the birthplace of Metal’s indisputable progenitor, rock ‘n’ roll: namely Memphis, Tennessee, home of Sun Studio. From there, Sam will cross the Atlantic, sketching the development of rock, uncovering the dawn of Metal’s central ingredient, the power chord, through a young band called The Kinks, with their formative smash, “You Really Got Me.” The earliest sounds of Metal will be revealed—the guitar innovators of fuzz and distortion—who played them and how these sounds were generated, while fresh and candid conversations with proto-metal icons like Pete Townshend and Jeff Beck will enlighten us every step of the way. Sam will visit the holy shrines of early Metal—Detroit’s Grande Ballroom, The Roundhouse, and The Marquee Club—temples where proto-metallers like Hendrix and Cream armed with new, more powerful Marshall stacks and P.A. systems, honed their craft before increasingly fanatical audiences desperate for an antidote to the faux-utopian ideals of the hippie ethos. But there is more to the seeds of Metal than mere rock ‘n’ roll. Sam will go back in time, to the 17th century, where Baroque composer J.S. Bach, mesmerized patrons with his spellbinding musical virtuosity, much like Metal giants Eddie Van Halen and Kirk Hammett do today. Sam will also explore the Sturm and Drang of Beethoven, Haydn and Wagner, finding parallels in the unyielding power and dynamism of Led Zeppelin, Uriah Heep, and Deep Purple. He’ll trace the life of the first “rock star,” Italian violinist Niccolo Paganini, an 18th century Jimmy Page, who, legend has it, sold his soul to the devil for money, fame and…chicks. Yes, the Devil; He has His role in the leather-clad embryo of Metal.