The First Wave of Stoner Rock (1987-1994)

Pentagram, Kyuss, and Melvins Lead the Riff-Filled Way

May 15, 2009

Nearly 25 years after the release of Black Sabbath's Master of Reality album, bands began catching on to the heavy grooves and simple rocking.

It came from the desert. It came from the swamps. It came from the places where people don’t dwell. With almost nothing except the first four Black Sabbath albums and a seemingly endless supply of mind-altering substances, stoner rock emerged in the late-80s as an alternative for metalheads seeking something groovier, more mystic than thrash.

These nine albums cover the first wave of stoner rock, starting with stoner doom rockers Pentagram riffing-off on ladies and magic (exclusively) to Fu Manchu paying fuzzed-out homage ladies and cars (exclusively).

At its inception, stoner rock and early doom metal were cribbed almost exclusively from Master of Reality: guitar-centric tunes that alternate between a slow, grinding crush and an up-tempo bulldoze. On Day of Reckoning, Pentagram boil the formula down to the basics and put both sides on one coin.

They have slower albums and they have faster albums, but the fifth Saint Vitus album dials in the tempo just perfectly. Jams like “Ice Monkey” lays down a head-bobbing groove while eerie atmospheric songs like “Patra (Petra)” give listeners a needed-break to relax after the massive, vibrating stoner rock they've been hearing.

One of the first bands to form a link between punks and stoner rockers, doom godfather Scott “Wino” Weinrich left Saint Vitus to reform The Obsessed after Hellhound Records released this compilation of early Obsessed tracks. In anticipation of the doom resurgence ahead, Wino and crew mixed a punk attitude with a tossed-off, song-oriented style more akin to Blue Cheer than Black Flag.

Along with the first four bands on this list, Trouble helped carry the stoner rock torch in the 1980s when Sabbath was having an identity crisis. On their self-titled album, Trouble not only showcase chugs and grooves, but they successfully transplant the types of guitar harmonies normally found on a Thin Lizzy album into a heavier, doomier setting.

After two albums of eclectic spaz-metal, Melvins turned their Northwestern rage and turned it into Northwestern gloom. The songs on Bullhead see the band dealing with extended lengths and more traditional song structures, but in true Melvins form they still put on a song like the single-riff, eight-and-a-half minute “Boris.”

Rumor has it that Ozzy heard Sleep and thought it was an old Black Sabbath song he forgot about recording. With a rhythm section that sounds like 100 pagans throwing Bibles at couches and guitar parts that must have plodded through the darkest parts of the solar system on their way to the speakers, Sleep are one of the most uncompromising subscribers to the slow-metal aesthetic.

Whether it’s a bonehead parody of space-rock or just a bunch of guys who listened to too much Hawkwind, Monster Magnet’s debut is the equivalent of playing the Ace Frehley solo record at half the tempo: epic, joyfully-meandering solos winding in and out of riffs some dude makes up after his first guitar lesson. Add some unidentifiable noises and even less-subtle drug references and there lies Spine of God.

With the exit of bassist Nick Oliveri went the abrasive sounds found on the classic Blues for the Red Sun. In his place was former Obsessed-bassist Scott Reeder, a smoother and much more in-the-pocket player who fit perfectly with the songs on the album: ten desert-rock anthems divided up into three suites, with thick grooves that require the songs be listened to loudly and without distraction.

Towards the end of the first wave of stoner rock, major labels started to pay attention. Fuzzy riff-rockers Fu Manchu were invited to record a demo for one of these major labels, and instead of anticipating a deal, they took the demos and released them independently as their first album, No One Rides for Free. Though the stoner rock genre could get fairly dark, Fu Manchu sang about cars and women, putting their cranked-amp party music amongst the most fun in all the genre

The First Wave

Once the mid-1990s came around, the first wave of stoner rock – along with the entire musical landscape – fell into a slump, as everything began to repeat itself to a point of disinterest. It would be another five years before stoner rock gained prominence as a thriving genre, but when the amps started to rumble again, they really started to rumble.

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