1970 in heavy metal music

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This is a timeline documenting the events of heavy metal in the year 1970.

Bands formed

In the November 12, 1970 issue of Rolling Stone magazine, music journalist Mike Saunders coined the term "heavy metal" while reviewing Humble Pie's debut album, As Safe as Yesterday Is.
Vocalist Klaus Meine and guitarist Michael Schenker, younger brother of Rudolf Schenker, joined Scorpions.

Day	Artist	Album
15	MC5	Back in the USA
	The Guess Who	American Woman

Day	Artist	Album
13	Black Sabbath	Black Sabbath^[1]
	Van der Graaf Generator	The Least We Can Do Is Wave to Each Other

Day	Artist	Album
11	The Who	Live at Leeds
15	King Crimson	In the Wake of Poseidon

Day	Artist	Album
1	Cactus	Cactus
7	The Stooges	Fun House
8	Creedence Clearwater Revival	Cosmo's Factory
24	Yes	Time and a Word
	Humble Pie	Humble Pie
	James Gang	James Gang Rides Again

Day	Artist	Album
13	Iron Butterfly	Metamorphosis
14	Hawkwind	Hawkwind^[4]

Day	Artist	Album
18	Black Sabbath	Paranoid^[4]
	Blue Cheer	The Original Human Being

Day	Artist	Album
16	Grand Funk Railroad	Live Album
20	Emerson, Lake & Palmer	Emerson, Lake & Palmer
27	The Kinks	Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One
	Lucifer's Friend	Lucifer's Friend
	Slade	Play It Loud
	Steppenwolf	Steppenwolf 7

Day	Artist	Album
4	Wishbone Ash	Wishbone Ash
9	Creedence Clearwater Revival	Pendulum
11	King Crimson	Lizard
	Free	Highway
	Sir Lord Baltimore	Kingdom Come^[6]
	Van der Graaf Generator	H to He, Who Am the Only One

Preceded by 1969	Heavy Metal Timeline 1970	Succeeded by 1971