“That track was about as metal as it gets!”: Robert Fripp argues that this King Crimson track laid the foundations of heavy metal
Black Sabbath’s 1970 self-titled debut famously changed the face of metal forever. Without it, we wouldn’t have heavy metal – but, if you look further back, other artists were also beginning to explore heavier sounds. In fact, Robert Fripp believes that King Crimson’s 1969 debut helped lay the foundations of metal’s heavier sibling.
In a new interview with Guitar World, Fripp notes that King Crimson’s influence on heavy metal is often ignored. He argues that the band’s In the Court of the Crimson King record, and particularly the track 21st Century Schizoid Man, was “about as metal as it gets”.
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“I saw a recent video on YouTube on the 10 precursors to heavy metal, and 21st Century Schizoid Man wasn’t among them,” Fripp says. “That’s absurd!”
While Crimson are often branded as a prog unit, the essence of metal has always rumbled beneath the surface. “The powerful, metallic element has always been there in Crimson,” the guitarist insists. “For me, it became increasingly articulated in the simple question: What would Jimi Hendrix have sounded like playing a Béla Bartók string quartet?”
“In other words, the sheer power and spirit of the American blues‐rock tradition speaking through Hendrix’s Foxy Lady or Purple Haze,” he adds.
Don’t just take Fripp’s word for it – even the Prince of Darkness himself paid tribute to the track 20 years ago. Ozzy Osbourne’s cover of 21st Century Schizoid Man features on his 2005 solo record, Under Cover, and is comfortably suits Osbourne’s heavy metal edge. “[Ozzy] was always generous enough to acknowledge Crimson,” Fripp notes.
Elsewhere, The Who’s Pete Townshend also acknowledged the track’s heavier textures back in 1969. “21st Century Schizoid Man is everything multitracked a billion times, and when you listen, you get a billion times the impact,” he wrote in a teaser ad prior to the release of Court of the Crimson King [via Rolling Stone].
“Has to be the heaviest riff that has been middle frequencied onto that black vinyl disc since Mahler’s Symphony No. 8,” he added.
While Crimson’s experimental sound has taken on many forms, Fripp argues that the band’s “metal voice” can be found everywhere. From their debut, to 1973’s Larks’ Tongues in Aspic, metal has always played a small part in the Crimson formula.
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