The legend goes that the blast beat, the flagship drum beat of death metal, was invented in 1985 by Mick Harris of Napalm Death. But after some research I found that this might not be the case.
Tom Sawada
Mick Harris invented it, right?
Let’s get this straight from the beginning: Mick Harris from the English band Napalm Death did invent the name “blast beat”. He was describing what he was playing: fast single strokes on the snare and bass drum. Great, but was in Napalm Death’s 1987 album ‘Scum’ the first time the world heard a blast beat?
Mick Harris
In his book “Swedish Death Metal” author Daniel Ekeroth claims that the Swedish hardcore band ‘Asocial’ came up with the original blast beat in their 1982 demo called, ‘“How Could Hardcore Be Any Worse?”. Ekeroth writes:
Daniel Ekeroth
“The guys obviously got the idea that they should play as fast as possible on this recording, and they really got sick with it. The intense drum beat was unheard of - they called it the ‘one-beat’ -, because the snare got hit constantly. This ‘one-beat” was what would later be called the ‘blast beat’, but in 1982 nobody knew anything about that.”
Charlie Benante says he invented it
On the other side of the ocean, Charlie Benante, drummer for Anthrax and currently on tour with Pantera, says that his band Stormtroopers of Death played and recorded the first ever "blast beat" back in 1985. The song was ‘Milk’. And to his credit, if you listen to the song, he’s playing a blast beat, no question about it.
Stormtroopers of Death - ‘Milk’ (1985)
That 70’s show?
But some have gone so far as saying that the inventor is jazz legend Tony Williams in 1979. For Thom Jurek of AllMusic, Williams plays a blast beat on the song ‘Dark Prince’ in the The Trio of Doom Live album. In my opinion, although it is some impressive drumming by Tony - as always -, it sounds like really fast jazz comping, more than a blast beat.
Or, we can even go further back in time, to 1970. There are historians who claim that the first blast beat, or at least an early version of it, appeared for the first time in Emerson Lake & Palmer’s song "The Barbarian” (around the 3 minute and 40 second mark). In this song Palmer plays an early version of a blast-beat. The same goes for King Crimson's "The Devil's Triangle", also from 1970. And, you might even find that some mention Bill Ward of Black Sabbath playing a blast beat in some live versions of ‘War Pigs’.
The 70’s were exploration, but it definitely happened in the 80’s
In my opinion, it makes sense that the blast beat came from punk and hardcore music, and then made its way to metal music.
One thing is for certain, back in the early to mid 80’s music was boiling up for a change. In the days of super fast guitar players like Eddie Van Halen and Yngwie Malmsteen, it was expected that in the drum department there would be a revolution coming up.
And that’s what the blast beat is: the last proper innovation in drum beats. Something that pushed the music to another level of speed and complexity.
Is there a single inventor? I think not
Charlie Benante says that he had never heard a blast beat before he played it in 1985. If that’s the case, it’s an amazing coincidence. Maybe it was invented in Sweden in 1982, but how would that demo - that most people never heard of - inspire drummers from other countries?
To me it sounds like a Zeitgeist or “spirit of the age”, where different musicians from different parts of the world were pushing towards the same goal. So if they are all saying that they are the inventors, in a way, I believe they are all correct.
Additional reading if you’re interested:
- Mudrian, Albert (2004). Choosing Death - The Improbable History of Death Metal & Grindcore. Feral House.
- Sharpe-Young, Garry (2007). Metal: The Definitive Guide. Jawbone.
