How Vanilla Fudge's 1967 Cover of 'You Keep Me Hanging On' Shaped Heavy Metal and Led to Their Downfall

Here's a fun piece of rock music history: one of the first proto-metal performances is by a band you may not have even heard of performing a song you almost certainly have.

In 1967, Vanilla Fudge came out with a cover of The Supremes No. 1 hit "You Keep Me Hanging On." But instead of the Motown funk found in Diana Ross' original, this version's funk was purely psychedelic. It was slower - much slower, with a 50-second instrumental intro that builds into a crescendo, reminiscent of Iron Butterfly's "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida." And just like Iron Butterfly's hit, it was long. The album version of "You Keep Me Hanging On" is over seven minutes.

It sounds like the popular psychedelic music of the era, from Jimi Hendrix to Janis Joplin to the Grateful Dead-but heavier. As such, Fudge's cover also played a pivotal role in laying the groundwork for heavy metal. Far Out called the group "one of the few American links between psychedelia and what soon became heavy metal." The group boasts on their website that they influenced everyone from Deep Purple to Yes to Led Zeppelin.

But despite their first single becoming a Top 10 hit, Vanilla Fudge ultimately became a victim of their own success.

How 'You Keep Me Hanging On' Destroyed Vanilla Fudge

Like many people who achieve instant success, Vanilla Fudge simply accomplished too much too soon. "Well, we didn't know that at the time, obviously," bassist Tim Bogert told Classic Rock. "But in retrospect, yes." He added, "We didn't know anything about anything at the time. If we had, we would never have released The Beat Goes On as our second album."

The Beat Goes On was a "sound collage," full of heavy, slowed-down covers of Elvis Presley and The Beatles. Heavy, slowed-down covers became the group's calling card, while groups they influenced like Led Zeppelin, in Fudge drummer Carmen Appice's words, "blew them off stage."

Bogart said of the first night it happened, "We came out and I said: ‘There is no way we can humanly follow this, so we're not going to try'. And we brought the guys from Zeppelin out and we all jammed for the next hour and a half. And the crowd loved it."

The group ultimately ended up disbanding in 1970, although they have since reunited and occasionally tour.

This story was originally published by Men's Journal on May 10, 2026, where it first appeared in the Entertainment section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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This story was originally published May 10, 2026 at 7:13 PM.