Paul McCartney, instead of the path he ultimately chose, could have been one of the major pioneers of heavy metal.  He did, after all, write and perform Helter Skelter in 1968.

1968.  The same year Steppenwolf debuted with Born To Be Wild, which contained the line heavy metal thunder, and that line alone gives Steppenwolf a notch in the genre.  

1969.  Led Zeppelin I and Led Zeppelin II.

1970.  Black Sabbath

But Macca came first.  Had Paul decided to pursue that path, he could have trumped Zeppelin and Sabbath.  Once "Abbey Road" was finished, if Paul was of a mind, he could have just went wild.

What we got instead was, like it or not, Soft Rock.  To an extent, Lennon was right about Paul when he sang How Do You Sleep.  

Despite his success in the 70's, he was obviously criticized for his music.  McCartney never went with the genre of the moment.  Yes, he defined the genre in the 1960's, but by the 1970's, even the Beatles would have had to change with the times.  Punk rock; heavy metal; disco; soft rock.  Those were your basic choices of music in the 1970's, and Paul chose 'soft rock.'  Obviously that's what Paul liked, and that's what he played.  I suppose you can't fault him for it, but a part of me wonders what might have been if Paul decided to choose 'heavy metal' or even 'punk rock.'  He himself could have changed the face of music during that decade.

Instead, you got "granny songs," as Lennon dubbed them.  But Lennon, well, that's another story for another forum.  

Black Sabbath formed in Birmingham, England in 1968 under the name Polka Tulk Blues Company (soon shortened to "Polka Tulk"), and later were called Earth, playing blues rock and hard rock.

Guitarist Tony Iommi was greatly influenced both by Hank Marvin's heavy guitar performances in the band Cliff Richard and the Shadows, and by jazz guitar, particularly that of Django Reinhardt. Iommi left Earth for a short time to tour with Jethro Tull. Iommi's efforts can be seen, albeit miming skills, on the film The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus. Ward has also expressed a fondness for jazz music, especially drummers like Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa. Geezer Butler cites bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce of British blues band Cream as a major influence on him: “He was the first player I ever saw who bent the strings and played the bass as a totally independent instrument”. Early versions of Black Sabbath merged elements of blues, jazz, and rock and paid their dues playing cover versions of songs by heavy rock acts including Jimi Hendrix, Blue Cheer, and Cream. Osbourne says he was deeply influenced by The Beatles and his favourite album of all time is Revolver.

Earth moved in a darker direction when their bassist, Geezer Butler, a fan of the black magic novels of Dennis Wheatley, started to dabble in the occult. "Geezer Butler wrote the song Black Sabbath after he was given an occult book in Latin and Butler had a vision of a black hooded figure standing at the foot of his bed and told Osbourne about the vision. (from VH1 Black Sabbath Documentary)". In early 1969, when the band found themselves being confused with another local band called Earth, they adopted the song title as their new band name.

you need to watch what you except as fact for it maybe be friction fiction......

There were alot proto punk acts in the 60s that were doing heavy metal before it had a name: Iggy and the Stooges for one. Not to mention Hendrix, the Who, the Stones, the Kinks early stuff, Jeff Beck, Cream.  I think Paul was exploiting an already established style rather than creating one.  

Shoot, you can go to "You Really Got Me" or "Purple Haze" as UR-Metal hits.

Not to mention The Velvet Underground--the first and second albums.

Quoted from adamzero

There were alot proto punk acts in the 60s that were doing heavy metal before it had a name: Iggy and the Stooges for one. Not to mention Hendrix, the Who, the Stones, the Kinks early stuff, Jeff Beck, Cream.  I think Paul was exploiting an already established style rather than creating one.  

Shoot, you can go to "You Really Got Me" or "Purple Haze" as UR-Metal hits.

Not to mention The Velvet Underground--the first and second albums.

Agree John's Children were one of the first proto punk bands . In April 1967 they toured Germany with The Who and caused a full scale riot with there trash metal set .
Marc Bolan was on guitar .





A shot of the band brawl on stage , Keith Moon learned how to smash up a stage from this band



They are one of the greatest  Trash/Metal bands ever  

DaveRam

Quoted from Buttmunker

What we got instead was, like it or not, Soft Rock.  To an extent, Lennon was right about Paul when he sang How Do You Sleep.  

???????? Sorry - this is one of the silliest things I have ever read.
How are Band On The Run or Venus and Mars (as an example) softer than Mind Games or Walls and Bridges? Do you call Lennon a Soft Rock act?  That's ridicolous.
Paul wrote Helter Skelter in response to The Who.
He also wrote Ob La Di Ob La Da. By your logic Paul could have gone on and been a reggae star? He wrote Got To Get You Into My Life. Why didn't he become a major soul act? Or Rocky Racoon - why didn't Paul become a country star? Or a crooner? Or a bluesman?
Paul delighted in his ability to hear a genre of music and be able to reproduce it, often better than the original. Diversity is what Macca does. To say he could have been a metal act is just plain ludicrous.

you sounded like wayne there at the end corporate man....

Quoted from Buttmunker

.  Punk rock; heavy metal; disco; soft rock.  Those were your basic choices of music in the 1970's, and Paul chose 'soft rock.'    

In which of these catagories would you place Pink Floyd, The Stones, John Lennon, The Eagles, Neil Young, Fleetwood Mac, Meatloaf, David Bowie, Elton John, Roxy Music, Dylan, Clapton, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Who...