Covering years of 1960 to 1963
Rock was about to change. We were going into a new thing called "Surf Music" (or Bubble-Gum). The bands that were going to be the leaders in the change were people like Jan & Dean, the Beach Boys, the Righteous Brothers, Dick Dale & the Delltones (Godfather of Surf music). Some of the music consisted of lyrics, but the majority of it was instrumental, and therefor allowed for the experimentation that led to Metal. This music became very prominent on the radio, to the point that it was overshadowing other previous genres (R 'n' B, Gospel).
The Change ended abruptly with the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963. For three days, the only thing that was on the radio and the TV was "Kennedy this..." and "Kennedy that...". The only music played was instrumental, or vocalling or "torch" shit. The whole nation was sad. Any musician in his right mind was going crazy.
There was going to be an invasion that would rock the music world for the next decade. The change in the atmosphere had been in the works prior to Kennedy's death. England had an explosion in the early sixties. The earlier bands that were showing up were playing in the taverns or the Underground. The change that was going to come was going to rock the world musically, financially... Just about every way you can possibly think was going to change for the next ten years because of what was going on in England up to 1963. After Kennedy's death, the Invasion broke out.
At the very end of 1963, things changed. The nation was still under the grace of mourning. Vietnam now escalated.
"President Johnson--the prick!--he fuckin' got my ass, the fuckin' asshole! I never wanted a president dead except for him, man. I hated that son-of-a-bitch so bad, you cannot believe it. If I coulda' got the bullet to him, I woulda' put the fuckin' bullet in him, man!"
You know, even the White House Chef didn't like him! What he did was that, as soon as Kennedy's body was in the coffin, on Airforce One, and Johnson was sworn into office--the first fuckin' Presidential Command that he did was fuckin' escalated the draft, right then and there. It was a military take-over! There's so many fuckin' theories on how Kennedy was wasted, but that has nothin' to do with what we're tryin' to do.
In 1963, after Kennedy's death, the explosion hit the American shores. The Beatles were the first of the First Wave of the British Invasion. There were more waves to come. It's still happenin'. That's why this is the Story of Metal--a never-ending story. It'll continue as long as there are musicians, as long as there are people that believe in the music, you know, the people that buy the albums, the record companies that put 'em out, the independents, the experimentation. As long as we have the freedom of expression and the god-given talent to express however we feel we can express ourselves the best. That's what we do. Metal will never die. It just slowly backs-off and waits for the right time. And when the right time comes, it strikes. And when it strikes, it strikes hard and it strikes fast. And it stays for a while! And during the time that it stays, there are a lot of fuckin' changes that happen in that time. That's why Metal's the story of Change.