Budgie - Guts

Think back to that first magical moment you heard a heavy metal song. Depending on your generation, that could be anything from poring over records in your local store to hearing the “Golden Oldies” section on Classic Rock Radio. In public, because no one actively chooses to listen to the radio anymore. 

I imagine that many of the biggest heavy metal bands that have ever walked the stage have that feeling about Budgie. The Welsh outfit might have started out in 1967, a decade that unsurprisingly goes missing from the “Top Decades for Heavy Metal” listicles on the internet, but they did not start out lightly. While their self-titled was generally a much more blues-adjacent rock affair, it took them very little time to get the wheels turning on what we know more traditionally as heavy metal today – starting with several tracks on that same record. Which, given that it came out in 1971(!), shows Budgie exactly for what they are – the forerunners of heavy metal and, arguably, the first to do it at all. When Metallica and Anthrax are covering your songs, you know you’ve put a remarkable boot imprint in the brain of rock and metal history. 

With motifs that the very best of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal would soon appropriate and an opening bass riff to groove yourself silly to, we’re running Guts up the flagpole as our Rock Song of the Week pick and we expect all present to salute it. Not just for its historic impact on the genre – but simply because it is an awesome track by its own merits. Tune in and experience something that gave your favourite artists something to think about, and we’ll see you next week with more.