Guitarist and producer Jimmy Page claims to have invented the effect, stating that he originally developed the method when recording the single "Ten Little Indians" with The Yardbirds in 1967.
In an interview he gave to Guitar World magazine in 1993, Page explained: During one session [with The Yardbirds], we were recording "Ten Little Indians", which was an extremely silly song that featured a truly awful brass arrangement.
[2]Despite Page's claims, an earlier example of the effect is possibly heard towards the end of the 1966 Lee Mallory single "That's the Way It's Gonna Be", produced by Curt Boettcher.
[7][8][9] Another early example is found in "Alucard" from the eponymous Gentle Giant album (1970), although usage was somewhat common throughout the 1970s, for example in “Crying to the Sky” by Be-Bop Deluxe.
Metallica used the effect in the song "Fade To Black" on James Hetfield's vocals in their 1984 album Ride The Lightning.