n the 19th century, it was slang for cannons or, in a figurative way, for brute force. In 1959, it appeared in a book by my disciple, the beatnik William Burroughs. In 1968, Steppenwolf used the expression in the anthem Born to Be Wild. But the first one to call my son by its definitive name was the music critic Lester Bangs (if you don’t know who he is, go see the movie Almost Famous) in a review of a Black Sabbath album for Creem Magazine in 1972: heavy metal. Traditionally, it is synonymous for black clothes, long hair, high audio volume, shouting, guitar solos and an enormous power of persuasion among teenagers. And my breath quickly spread descendants to continue to populate and subdue Earth.