“Breadfan” by Budgie

Welsh power trio Budgie put "Breadfan" on Never Turn Your Back on a Friend in 1973, and the title is pure street talk: bread as in cash, with the song wrestling over what to do with it. Hoard it, hand it out, blow it, or cut loose from it before it runs your life. Tony Bourge, Ray Phillips and Burke Shelley wrote it, and the band produced.

Early pressings opened on a 17-second slice of Winston Churchill's 1942 Mansion House speech, until copyright trouble got it cut. In 1973 the band's homemade promo clip plugged a gap on The Old Grey Whistle Test when a booked act never showed, then was presumed lost; it resurfaced mute, a BBC Wales technician restored the sound, and it came out with the 2004 remaster. The song is now counted among the roots of progressive metal.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.