On the Sabbath
While many are off enjoying enjoying the NFL kickoff weekend... I channel surfed my way by VH1 and nearly shat me' pants when I saw that they were showing Metal: A Headbangers Journey at NOON!
For those not in the know, A Headbangers Journey, is a documentary about the History of Heavy Metal.
Sam Dunn, a 30 year old anthropologist and life-long metal head - put his Ph.D to good use and tries to find out why Metal has such a bad rap.
Anthropological discoveries aside... there's fucking nothing cooler than having Venom, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Slayer, Judas Priest, Morbid Angel and Celtic Frost not only discussed but having their sleeve work and music broadcasted on CABLE TV.
I heard number of good things about the documentary when it enjoyed its film festival circuit... but I wasn't within driving distance of any of the showings.
I'm about an hour into it and I'm enjoying it mightily. The production is top notch and the delivery (due greatly in part because of impeccable research) is far better than I expected. Perhaps I set the bar a little low... but we are talking about Metal here.
Admittedly, I haven't really seen any "new rocks" get turned over so far... There's going to be a bit on "Gender and Sexuality" thats about to start and I'm really curious to hear what they got to say about that. ACCEPT's "Balls to the Wall" is playing while longhaired mid-western boys are jumping on each other in Heavy Metal parking lots. I wonder if they'll explore the "boys club" and blatant homosexual aspects of the genre.
Steven Blush discussed this at length in the fabulous book (soon to be Video Documentary) American Hardcore: A Tribal History.
They're sorta dancing around the subject at the moment... perhaps it got cut short because of VH1. Hopefully it will run a little deeper on disc.
If missed it this afternoon... no worry. VH1 is going to re-broadcast it on the 14th of September at 11:00PM Eastern and at 1:00 PM EST on Friday, September 15th.
Its also available on DVD so if you have Netflix or Blockbuster, rent it there. I just put it Queue in hopes of learning about Heavy Metal after I stopped following it closely.
Edit: Dear Ronnie James Dio,
Enough with your insistence that you introduced "throwing the HORNS" to the world. You're a fabulous artist who has had a tremendous impact on me and many others... any argument on the subject of "who invented the throwing goats sign" is fucking laughable and has never been discussed amongst true metal heads. Who gives a shit? I mean, its like taking time out of your day to find out what Gary Cherone's solo project is these days.
.rollie who only looked this up to help his argument.
Update #3 : So I wrapped up my viewing of the METAL documentary a few hours ago and I've been thinking about a subject discussed before they wrapped up the documentary.
Admittedly, I stopped listening to Heavy Metal in the late 80's when my musical tastes began to expand into different genres. Had I stuck around a few more years I may have been swept away by a second wave of "Black Metal"...
Taking cues from the first wave of Black Metal, the second wave came out, replete with bleak band names, scary sleeve art and font selections that make you wonder why you even bother.
A guy discussed at length was Varg Vikernes (aka - Count Grishnackh) a guy who is currently in prison for the involuntary manslaughter of a former bandmate (Øystein Aarseth) and charged with Arson for a number of churches in Norway. All of which is very old news to those in the "know", but all very new to me.
When I was teen, my draw to Metal was the very obvious divide between it and the Church. Mind you... while I defended the genre for a number of years I sorta knew that most metal bands I listened to could never give a shit about the "satanic imagery" they bathed themselves in.
For some, simply singing about "darkside" wasn't enough so they took it to new extremes.
Church burning seems to be all the rage over there and I don't quite get it. I'll be the last person on earth to ever side with any religion but the destruction of buildings... places where people get together for communal experiences... that I just don't get.
I mean. If "church" didn't have all the hokery of virgin births and laughable miracles, I would totally be about being in a room with 40 or more people who are all about being positive about something.
The thoughtless destruction of their buildings make no sense to me.
Why not go out of your way and see that your local church loose its tax exemption?
Anyhoo... the documentary rocks VICIOUS WANG. I'm going to rent it in hopes of catching extra footage.
.666.
For those not in the know, A Headbangers Journey, is a documentary about the History of Heavy Metal.
Sam Dunn, a 30 year old anthropologist and life-long metal head - put his Ph.D to good use and tries to find out why Metal has such a bad rap.
Anthropological discoveries aside... there's fucking nothing cooler than having Venom, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Slayer, Judas Priest, Morbid Angel and Celtic Frost not only discussed but having their sleeve work and music broadcasted on CABLE TV.
I heard number of good things about the documentary when it enjoyed its film festival circuit... but I wasn't within driving distance of any of the showings.
I'm about an hour into it and I'm enjoying it mightily. The production is top notch and the delivery (due greatly in part because of impeccable research) is far better than I expected. Perhaps I set the bar a little low... but we are talking about Metal here.
Admittedly, I haven't really seen any "new rocks" get turned over so far... There's going to be a bit on "Gender and Sexuality" thats about to start and I'm really curious to hear what they got to say about that. ACCEPT's "Balls to the Wall" is playing while longhaired mid-western boys are jumping on each other in Heavy Metal parking lots. I wonder if they'll explore the "boys club" and blatant homosexual aspects of the genre.
Steven Blush discussed this at length in the fabulous book (soon to be Video Documentary) American Hardcore: A Tribal History.
They're sorta dancing around the subject at the moment... perhaps it got cut short because of VH1. Hopefully it will run a little deeper on disc.
If missed it this afternoon... no worry. VH1 is going to re-broadcast it on the 14th of September at 11:00PM Eastern and at 1:00 PM EST on Friday, September 15th.
Its also available on DVD so if you have Netflix or Blockbuster, rent it there. I just put it Queue in hopes of learning about Heavy Metal after I stopped following it closely.
Edit: Dear Ronnie James Dio,
Enough with your insistence that you introduced "throwing the HORNS" to the world. You're a fabulous artist who has had a tremendous impact on me and many others... any argument on the subject of "who invented the throwing goats sign" is fucking laughable and has never been discussed amongst true metal heads. Who gives a shit? I mean, its like taking time out of your day to find out what Gary Cherone's solo project is these days.
.rollie who only looked this up to help his argument.
Update #3 : So I wrapped up my viewing of the METAL documentary a few hours ago and I've been thinking about a subject discussed before they wrapped up the documentary.
Admittedly, I stopped listening to Heavy Metal in the late 80's when my musical tastes began to expand into different genres. Had I stuck around a few more years I may have been swept away by a second wave of "Black Metal"...
Taking cues from the first wave of Black Metal, the second wave came out, replete with bleak band names, scary sleeve art and font selections that make you wonder why you even bother.
A guy discussed at length was Varg Vikernes (aka - Count Grishnackh) a guy who is currently in prison for the involuntary manslaughter of a former bandmate (Øystein Aarseth) and charged with Arson for a number of churches in Norway. All of which is very old news to those in the "know", but all very new to me.
When I was teen, my draw to Metal was the very obvious divide between it and the Church. Mind you... while I defended the genre for a number of years I sorta knew that most metal bands I listened to could never give a shit about the "satanic imagery" they bathed themselves in.
For some, simply singing about "darkside" wasn't enough so they took it to new extremes.
Church burning seems to be all the rage over there and I don't quite get it. I'll be the last person on earth to ever side with any religion but the destruction of buildings... places where people get together for communal experiences... that I just don't get.
I mean. If "church" didn't have all the hokery of virgin births and laughable miracles, I would totally be about being in a room with 40 or more people who are all about being positive about something.
The thoughtless destruction of their buildings make no sense to me.
Why not go out of your way and see that your local church loose its tax exemption?
Anyhoo... the documentary rocks VICIOUS WANG. I'm going to rent it in hopes of catching extra footage.
.666.
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