Music critic who wrote Zeppelin sounded like "heavy metal being dropped on concrete" fact or fiction?

[Tainted cheese]

I am Zeppelin fan, especially of their live material and have been collecting since the early '90s when I first stumbled across a bootleg in a record/head shop in Minneapolis. I am a teacher that has kids do an in-depth research project each year on the topic of their choice. This year I have a couple boys who are researching Elvis' influence on British bands. I rattled off a story that was in the back of my mind and for the life of me cannot find anywhere on the net or in my few books, "Led Zeppelin Live" by Luis Rey . . . I could have sworn I read a blurb about some music critic (from Seattle I want to say) that wrote a blistering description after seeing them live and stated something to the effect, "their music sounded like heavy metal crashing to the ground." Is there anyone out there that has come across this, or did I garble this up from multiple stories and time periods? There are multiple people/stories about the first coining of the phrase 'Heavy metal' but have had no luck chasing this one down

My students wanted to use that quote in their project but now I cannot back it up via research.

Thanks in advance

[Strider]

I can't recall that particular phrase "heavy metal crashing to the ground" but I'll look through my review archive and see what I can find. There was a review of Jimi Hendrix that described his music as "heavy metal falling from the sky". Maybe that is what you are remembering?

As for the term "heavy metal", it came from the 1961 William Burroughs novel "The Soft Machine". Steppenwolf then used the phrase "heavy metal thunder" in its 1968 song "Born To Be Wild".

The first writer to use 'heavy metal' in reference to bands and a style of music is Metal Mike Saunders in a 1970 Rolling Stone review of Humble Pie. He then used the term again in a 1971 Creem review. I'll track down the exact articles and dates when I get home.

Edited October 13, 2022 by Strider

[Tainted cheese]

1 hour ago, Strider said:

I can't recall that particular phrase "heavy metal crashing to the ground" but I'll look through my review archive and see what I can find. There was a review of Jimi Hendrix that described his music as "heavy metal falling from the sky". Maybe that is what you are remembering?

As for the term "heavy metal", it came from the 1961 William Burroughs novel "The Soft Machine". Steppenwolf then used the phrase "heavy metal thunder" in its 1968 song "Born To Be Wild".

The first writer to use 'heavy metal' in reference to bands and a style of music is Metal Mike Saunders in a 1970 Rolling Stone review of Humble Pie. He then used the term again in a 1971 Creem review. I'll track down the exact articles and dates when I get home.

Thank you, maybe that was who that was associated with and not Zeppelin. I have been reading about those people and bands/songs you mentioned over the last few days in connection to that phrase which is interesting as well, but nothing about a music critic's concert review connected to falling metal which is funny in it's own right. Looking forward to what you find out and where from. Thanks