Appice first came to notoriety as the skin basher for Vanilla Fudge, a pioneering heavy metal band that merged blue-eyed soul and psychedelic music. The Fudge had a number of hits with covers of contemporary pop hits of that period, such as The Supremes' "Keep Me Hanging On," Sonny & Cher's "Bang Bang," and Trade Martin's "Take Me For A Little While."
When the Fudge began to fade in 1970, Appice and Fudge bassist Tim Bogart regrouped with a new blues/rock/boogie band called Cactus. From there he and Bogart formed a power trio with Jeff Beck, before Appice went to work for Rod Stewart.