Sweet Leaf — the Rise of Stoner Metal

Part 5 of The Beginner’s Guide to Heavy Metal

Welcome to Part 5 in this series which aims to provide an insight into heavy metal, its origins, and the development of various sub-genres over the past 50 years or so.

In Part 1, I gave a basic introduction to the genre for, as the title suggests, the absolute beginner. I then welcomed my friend Charles in San Francisco to contribute Part 2, where he questioned assumptions about metal and examined some artists pushing the boundaries. In my absence, Charles also prepared Part 3 and Part 4. Thanks so much to Charles and other friends at The Riff for their kind words over the past couple of months.

Part 5 presents an overview of the origin of doom metal and, in particular, the development of the broad church that is stoner doom, stoner metal and stoner rock.

Remember, these pieces are not comprehensive; they have been prepared to give one a taste of the music styles. Treat each as a signposting exercise and follow your nose down the paths before you.

Black Sabbath, arguably the greatest heavy band of all time, created the doom metal prototype in their self-titled song from their self-titled album.

Ozzy Osbourne, in his book I Am Ozzy, recalls how the band decided to follow the ‘evil’ path:

There was a cinema called The Orient outside the community centre where we rehearsed in Six Ways, and whenever it showed a horror film the queue would go all the way down the street and around the corner. “Isn’t it strange how people will pay money to frighten themselves?” I remember Tony [Iommi] saying one day. “Maybe we should stop doing blues and write scary music instead.”

And so songs like Black Sabbath and NIB came into being. Even the debut album’s cover is disconcerting. Many suspect or assume that there was just a hint of the industrial bleakness of the band’s hometown, Birmingham, that influenced their sound, too.

Doom metal was born, with multiple bands in the doom genre years later citing Black Sabbath as the pioneer and main influence. The bleak outlook, slow tempos, and down-tuned instruments all became signatures of doom metal. Bands like Candlemass, Pentagram, Cathedral, Saint Vitus, and Trouble built upon the foundation those four lads from Birmingham originally laid.

The traditional doom metal genre and its multiple subgenres might be the focus of a separate piece in this series.

For now, we focus on stoner doom/metal/rock!!

Hail to the weed

Black Sabbath released their second album, Paranoid, in September 1970, just seven months after their debut release. A stunning follow-up that is considered one of the greatest and most influential heavy metal albums of all time.

However, it is the group’s third album, Master of Reality, that is regarded as the work of genius that gave rise to the stoner genre.

The album starts with a brief, fading-in, loop recording of Tony Iommi having a decent cough. Iommi and Ozzy Osbourne were sharing a joint in the studio when the coughing incident happened, and the tape machine happened to be running at the time. The immortalised cough leads straight into the song Sweet Leaf, itself a homage to marijuana.

There is nothing really that subtle about the band’s love of the weed. The clever lyrics (well, somewhat, we know it’s not exactly Dylan-esque) are reproduced below, sans the “oh yeah” bits:

When I first met you, didn’t realise I can’t forget you or your surprise You introduced me to my mind And left me wanting you and your kind

My life was empty, forever on a down Until you took me, showed me around My life is free now, my life is clear I love you sweet leaf, though you can’t hear

Straight people don’t know what you’re about They put you down and shut you out You gave to me a new belief And soon the world will love you sweet leaf

The warm, thick tone of guitar and bass and the instantly memorable riff became the reference point for all stoner rock.

Tony Iommi first used down tuning (and subsequently slacker strings) on this album to give his damaged fingers a bit of respite. Iommi famously lost a couple of fingertips in a work accident. He gave himself some tips to protect those fingers, but the circumstances forced him to change his playing style. Where would heavy metal be today without that course of events??

The Australian band Buffalo recorded what is considered by some to be the first great stoner rock record. Volcanic Rock, released in 1973, features astounding guitar playing from John Baxter and hypnotic bass work from Peter Wells (later, the slide guitarist for Rose Tattoo). Get into this album, and go straight to track two, Freedom, at 4:55 in the video below.

Cannabis culture is embraced wholeheartedly by some artists, whether in their lifestyle, band names, album titles, or all of the above!

Many bands fall into the stoner metal genre. As an example, a person runs a Bandcamp account called Weedian — they produce compilations of bands from around the world. In 2023, Weedian released 21 compilations featuring 805 bands!

Below, I briefly profile a small number of bands that are considered cornerstones of the stoner genre.

English stoner legends Electric Wizard took their name from two Black Sabbath songs, Electric Funeral and The Wizard. The trio of reprobates released the dense, filthy Dopethrone in 2000. The cover features the devil having taken a hit from a bong. The album is highly regarded in the doom and stoner world and features on several ‘all time’ lists. It is quite good. Have a listen to the three-part epic Weird Tales (starts at the 11:50 mark) to get a feel for the album.

Hailing from San Jose, California, Sleep have been described as the epitome of stoner metal and regarded for their unabashed Black Sabbath worship.

The band’s second album, Sleep’s Holy Mountain, released in 1992, is regarded as the seminal album in the evolution of stoner metal and hugely influential. The album kicks off with the song Dragonaut, which gives one an idea of the band’s sound.

Sleep went on to record their next album in 1996 for the label London Records. It was a single song with a running time of 63 minutes. The song, Dopesmoker, commences with a single riff, then runs off on a tangent, only to return to the riff. Multiple times. It is a masterpiece of epic proportions. Unsurprisingly, the label refused to release it. Tension between band and label saw the band chuck in the towel. The album finally saw a release in 2003 (an edited version called Jerusalem was released in 1999). One really needs to listen to the whole thing — go on, take a trip!

Kyuss developed a fierce reputation in the early 90s for their live sound. From Palm Desert, California, the band became known for hosting generator parties — they would play on a private property in the desert to their friends.

The band managed to capture that sound on their second album, the stoner rock classic Blues For The Red Sun. With lyrics described as “stoned immaculate phrases” and heavy grooves galore, the album became a template for the stoner rock genre.

Kyuss went on to create the stunning Welcome To Sky Valley, which somehow bettered their previous effort. It is an extraordinary album and is on my all-time top 20 list.

A fourth album and Kyuss were done. However, the various members have gone on to form or play in Queens of the Stone Age, Screaming Trees, Eagles of Death Metal, Them Crooked Vultures, Vista Chino, Hermano, Unida, Slo Burn, Fu Manchu, Dwarves, and Mondo Generator.

Interestingly, some members of Kyuss never associated themselves with the whole dope smoking and Black Sabbath thing. However, the short-lived band had undoubtedly cemented its place in stoner rock lore.

I hope this brief overview has provided some insight into the evolution of the stoner branch of the heavy metal tree. Comments are always welcome!

Again, a big thank you to my friends for their support. It’s good to be back on the keys.

I trust you have all been enjoying your festive seasons, and I wish you all the best for a happy, safe, and prosperous 2024.

Thanks for reading.