1972 in heavy metal music

This is a timeline documenting the events of heavy metal music in the year 1972.

Bands formed

• Beck, Bogert & Appice
• Bleak House
• Bonfire (as Cacumen)
• Frankenstein
• Geordie (featuring Brian Johnson on vocals)
• The Handsome Beasts
• Heavy Metal Kids (featuring Gary Holton on vocals)
• Jerusalem
• Magnum
• Mother's Finest
• Petra
• Poobah
• Pop Mašina
• Progresiv TM
• Resurrection Band
• Tarkus
• Tempest
• The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
• Styx
• The Tubes
• Twisted Sister (as Silver Star)
• Urchin
• Van Halen (as Genesis, later Mammoth)
• West, Bruce and Laing

Bands reformed

• The Stooges

Bands disbanded

• Cactus
• Creedence Clearwater Revival
• MC5 (reformed in 1974)
• Steppenwolf (reformed in 1974)
• The Jeff Beck Group
• Van der Graaf Generator (reformed in 1975)

Albums

• Bang – Bang
• Night Sun – Mournin'
• Warpig – Warpig

January

Day	Artist	Album
	Blue Öyster Cult	Blue Öyster Cult [1]
	Lucifer's Friend	...Where the Groupies Killed the Blues

February

Day	Artist	Album
9	Scorpions	Lonesome Crow
10	Flower Travellin' Band	Made in Japan

March

Day	Artist	Album
3	Jethro Tull	Thick as a Brick
10	Thin Lizzy	Shades of a Blue Orphanage
24	Jerusalem	Jerusalem
30	Deep Purple	Machine Head [2]
	Humble Pie	Smokin'

April

Day	Artist	Album
4	ZZ Top	Rio Grande Mud
24	Mountain	Live: The Road Goes Ever On
28	Wishbone Ash	Argus [3]

May

Day	Artist	Album
19	Uriah Heep	Demons & Wizards [4]
31	James Gang	Straight Shooter

June

Day	Artist	Album
13	Alice Cooper	School's Out
16	Golden Earring	Together
	Buffalo	Dead Forever
	Tarkus	Tarkus

August

Day	Artist	Album
28	Cactus	'Ot 'n' Sweaty
	Elf	Elf

September

Day	Artist	Album
1	Budgie	Squawk
15	Grand Funk Railroad	Phoenix [5]
	Black Sabbath	Vol. 4 [6]

November

Day	Artist	Album
24	Hawkwind	Doremi Fasol Latido
	Bang	Mother / Bow to the King
	Uriah Heep	The Magician's Birthday [7]

December

Day	Artist	Album
15	Status Quo	Piledriver
22	Deep Purple	Made in Japan [8]

References

1. "Blue Öyster Cult". Allmusic . Retrieved 2008-04-25.
2. "Machine Head 50 yrs".
3. "Argus". Allmusic . Retrieved 2008-04-25.
4. "Demons and Wizards". Allmusic . Retrieved 2008-04-25.
5. "Phoenix". Allmusic . Retrieved 2006-07-02.
6. "Black Sabbath, Vol. 4". Allmusic . Retrieved 2008-04-25.
7. "The Magician's Birthday". Allmusic . Retrieved 2008-04-25.
8. "Made in Japan". Allmusic . Retrieved 2008-04-25.

Preceded by 1971

Heavy Metal Timeline 1972

Succeeded by 1973