The Wicker Man - another inspiration?

permanenteddie

permanenteddie

Educated Fool
This is a subject that has been talked a lot before, the fact that the main riff has a lot of similarities with many other metal songs (since this is a very "basic" riff), specially Running Wild of Judas Priest as fas as I remember but while I was browsing a "traditional heavy metal discovery site" (just quoting what's written in the rideintoglory.com website), I found this song by a totally unknown japanese band called 44 Magnum that released this song in 1984:


Maybe they were themselves inspired by Running Wild...but as fas as I know this is the most similar one I've heard so far to the Maiden song...
 
That music video is so silly, I love it. Actually a very fun song overall.
 

Another version of that riff is also played during the verses and the solo in Futureal, which Steve wrote alone (while Blaze composed the vocal parts).

I actually think that part inspired Adrian, playing Futureal during the Ed Hunter Tour, and not the other tracks. :)
 
I feel like it is actually a basic chord progression. Most possibly Priest themselves may have been inspired by AC/DC before further influencing 44 Magnum:

There is even a Green Day song with a similar guitar lick:
 
Siddharth said:
I feel like it is actually a basic chord progression. Most possibly Priest themselves may have been inspired by AC/DC before further influencing 44 Magnum:

There is even a Green Day song with a similar guitar lick:
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Yeah I fully agree, its a very basic riff as well. Its just that not only this time its exactly the same but also the building of the song as well (intro riff used also for the verse and the rhythm is almost identical). Its more or less the same as the 2 minutes to midnight riff, Im sure there are hundreds of songs with the same one.
 
TheTalisman said:

Another version of that riff is also played during the verses and the solo in Futureal, which Steve wrote alone (while Blaze composed the vocal parts).

I actually think that part inspired Adrian, playing Futureal during the Ed Hunter Tour, and not the other tracks. :)
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but they had been to the studio before the 1999 tour working on some songs. The songs from the Virtual XI sessions (Nomad, Blood Brothers and Mercary) and The Wicker Man were done before the tour I think!
 
I think Blaze said Blood brothers was definetly not written while he was in the band, and Dream of mirrors was one of the four songs
 
Sth2112 said:
I think Blaze said Blood brothers was definetly not written while he was in the band, and Dream of mirrors was one of the four songs
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No, Blaze said that he recorded a demo of Blood Brothers in 1997 (and it was probably Steve's own recording). The Mercenary, Dream of Mirrors and The Nomad were the other tracks used. The Wicker Man on the other hand, was written by Adrian, Bruce and Steve in 1999.
 
The bridge of this song ("She's Sister Mary now, eyes as cold as ice...") is probably also among the inspirations.
 
There are 12 notes in traditional western music. Heavy Metal is very often played in the key of Em, which comes with a natural selection of chords and chord progressions. Palm muting power cords and/or ringing power chords are two of the most characteristic features of the genre. Half of the time people talk about how song Y might have/must have been inspired by song X is just two songs that have features that are derived from these facts. Not to mention, the musicians writing the songs are often busy enough with their own music than keeping up with and getting inspired by similar band's output. There are dozens of songs with palm muted E power chords riff that sound similar to The Wicker Man, Running Wild etcetera; at this point, they are stock riffs.
 
Black Bart said:
The bridge of this song ("She's Sister Mary now, eyes as cold as ice...") is probably also among the inspirations.
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Ah this bring back memories, there was an article in a french magazine a few weeks before BNW came out and the writer of the article had the chance to listen to four songs of the album, including The Wicker Man and he mentionned "Spreading the disease" as well. I almost forgot about this one.
 
Yax said:
There are 12 notes in traditional western music. Heavy Metal is very often played in the key of Em, which comes with a natural selection of chords and chord progressions. Palm muting power cords and/or ringing power chords are two of the most characteristic features of the genre. Half of the time people talk about how song Y might have/must have been inspired by song X is just two songs that have features that are derived from these facts. Not to mention, the musicians writing the songs are often busy enough with their own music than keeping up with and getting inspired by similar band's output. There are dozens of songs with palm muted E power chords riff that sound similar to The Wicker Man, Running Wild etcetera; at this point, they are stock riffs.
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Actually for me the fun fact was that I was just browsing through the website I mentionned and I just put play on that song and I was like "wahouhh, this is very similar to a song I know very well". And what is "fun" as well regarding these riffs is that when some bands just try to sue others because there are similarities here and there. Sometimes its true that is just too obvious (per example when there is an entire section with the exact same notes with the same rhythm and melody), some others are just laughable ("oh my god, they used the palm muted E string for this verse...we did it before, lets sue them"...)
 
I might be mistaken but I think Adrian spoke in his biography that first thing they did when they met up in '99 was The Wicker Man. IIRC he came with that riff and the rest of them joined and it was assembled quickly. No wonder they started with something "simple" as the riff above.
 
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