• Religious motives; crosses (sometimes turned upside down, see {satanism}), images from the bible etc.
• Fantasy; "dungeons and dragons", mysticism, futuristic images, more or less adequate Viking lore etc.
• Bikes, babes and booze.
• Dark imagery; the grim reaper, images of war and violence, wastelands etc.

Some bands even managed to squeeze in two or more of these categories into one picture. One prime example of this is the tasteful cover of the album Friends of Hell by Witchfinder General, which depicts the band dressed up like pirates oppressing a bunch of half-naked women. In the background is a cathedral, some tombstones and a pair of monks. Brilliant.

Not surprisingly, the images connected to certain bands are closely related to the kind of music that particular band plays. For example, you are not likely to find the same kind of picture on the cover of a {Death Metal} band's album, eg. Morbid Angel as on an album cover by, say, Bon Jovi.

Heavy Metal acts also had a tendency to turn the very text that spelled the name of the band into an important symbol more often than other bands. And indeed the names of the bands where generally in themselves more carefully chosen and provocative than others. Thus, bands like Iron Maiden, Saxon and Metallica almost without exception used the same artful typeface for their band names on all album covers, posters, tour programs etc. And most Heavy Metal bands chose names like the aforementioned or Tank or Warlock or Death or Sword or Manowar or (well, you get the picture) and were extremely unlikely to pick a name like, say, A-Teens or Sweetbox.



Ballads:
See {power ballads}.



Bay Area Thrash:
During the first half of the eighties, a neew breed of Heavy Metal was born in the so called "Bay area" in and around San Francisco in the USA. The Bay Area Thrash bands were obviously inspired by other contemporary Heavy Metal acts, but a certain amount of punk rock was also apparent in the mix. The most prominent Metal bands to come out of California at the time were arguably Metallica and Megadeth, but it is Exodus that is generally given credit for being the first true Bay Area Thrash band. Other significant Bay Area Thrash bands include Testament and Heathen.

See also {Thrash Metal}.

Breaking the Silence (164 K) by Heathen (© Music for Nations)




Black Metal:
Term apparently invented by Venom to describe the genre of music that they represented, ie. dynamic and energetic Heavy Metal spiced with {satanism} and various diabolic imagery for added effect. As opposed to this, {White Metal} is sometimes used about Christian Heavy Metal bands.

Black Metal (158 K) by Venom (© Notting Hill Music)



Boots:
The footwear of choice for many Heavy Metal artists, especially those leaning towards more polished rock, was cowboy style boots. Leather boots dominated of course, but even cooler were perhaps the snakeskin boots often worn by the likes of Yngwie Malmsteen. Among less polished bands (and fans), {sneakers} were more common.



Cartridge belts:
Cartridge belts were very popular among {metalheads}, second in popularity only to the {studded} belt. This was in keeping with the general fascination with war, violence and the darker sides of life among Heavy Metal musicians and fans.



Death Metal:
Fast and aggressive kind of Metal played by bands like Morbid Angel, Obituary and the aptly named Death. The cradle of Death Metal is widely believed to be Florida, USA, and Death was definately one of the pioneers. As the name suggests, Death Metal bands reveled in images of death, violence, occultism and darkness. The majority of Death Metal bands featured a lead singer with an extremely dark and powerful voice, and the Death Metal sound was anything but calm and pleasing; instead it expressed hatred and aggression in the extreme. About as far away from "easy listening" as you can get, in other words... Whereas the American Death Metal bands were quite Metal oriented, the English counterparts to a larger extent got their inspiration from grind and punk rock. Death Metal is closely related to {Speed Metal}.

Immortal Rites (120 K) by Morbid Angel (© Earache Records)




The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years:
In 1981, director Penelope Spheeris documented the Los Angeles punk scene in the documentary The Decline of Western Civilization. In 1988 she instead directed her attention towards the Heavy Metal/Glam Metal scene (primarily) on the American west coast in The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years. Basically consisting of a number of interviews with various people with different relations to Heavy Metal, it is regarded as one of the finest documents of the eighties Metal scene.

On one level, the viewer is given a close and fascinating peek into the lives and thoughts of fans, wannabees and full-fledged rock stars that are 100% dedicated to their music and the lifestyle that they feel comes with the bargain. On another level, however, it's hard to shake the feeling that the lasting impression after having seen the movie is that all Heavy Metal fans are complete idiots. With a few noteable exceptions (including Dave Mustaine, Ozzy Osbourne and Lemmy), all those interviewed give an extremely shallow (if not downright stupid) impression and display a complete fixation with sex and drugs (even if Spheeris later confessed that at least the scene where Ozzy Osbourne misses his glass while pouring orange juice was faked). It's especially depressing to see young school dropouts who have supposedly dedicated their entire lives to making it in the Heavy Metal scene, when it's painfully obvious that 99% of them will fail miserably. Even though many are surely exaggerating and posing in order to come across as more interesting than they really are, it's particularly sad when you know what happened to Heavy Metal just a few, short years (or months, really) later...

If you're already convinced that Heavy Metal is stupid music for stupid people, then by all means see this movie; I guarantee that you'll get plenty of wind in your sails. If you're not sure what to make of eighties Heavy Metal or just generally curious, then please don't see it; you'll be discouraged for life. If, however, you're already a Metalhead then you should be able to survive the shock, possibly be filled with feelings of nostalgia (if you're old enough) and most likely get a good laugh. I know I did. Besides, I was there (albeit not in Los Angeles) and I know that not all Metalheads were pathetic losers. In all fairness, the move changes perspective slightly towards the end, and even some of the more embarrassing interviewees actually manage to say more insightful things about the music business than "I like to get drunk and my p***s is huge".

Incidentally, Penelope Spheeris returned to the punk scene in 1998 when she made The Decline of Western Civilization Part III.




Denim:
The material of which jeans are made. Jeans were really the basic clothes item in the wardrobe of most true rockers. The traditional blue pair of pants were often complemented by black or sometimes striped pants. For added effect a scarf could be tied around the leg.

Jeans jackets were another popular garment, not least because they were ideal for holding pins and patches. See also {T-shirts}, {leather}, {spandex} etc.



Doom Metal:
A slow, dark and pompous kind of Metal played by bands like Candlemass. Doom Metal is very far from {Speed Metal} and other kinds of "fast and furious" Heavy Metal. Many compare Doom Metal to the slower and heavier songs among the early works of Black Sabbath. The lyrics were often gloomy and contemplating. Doom Metal bands often got their inspiration from religion or fantasy litterature and "dungeons and dragons".



Evil Eye, the:
Gesture made with one or both hands, where the fist is cleanched except for the index and little fingers which are left pointing (see the background image of this home page.) The Evil Eye, toghether with the plain clenched fist, were very common at Heavy Metal concerts and also appear on record covers from for example Dio. This was often taken as evidence of the alledged connection between Heavy Metal music and {satanism}.



Flying V:
Guitar manufactured by Gibson since the 1950's. The Flying V was popular among Hard Rock and Heavy Metal bands, perhaps not primarily because of it's musical qualities but rather because of it's aggressive shape.

The image shows a flying V guitar.

The Gibson Home Page.
Marc's Flying V Site.



FM Rock:
Politically correct "Mainstream Metal". Closely related to {AOR}.



Germany:
In the eighties, Germany (or Western Germany as it were) was not just any old European country. It was a virtual, gigantic Heavy Metal band factory! Accept, Helloween, Blind Guardian, Kreator, Warlock, MSG; the list of prominent eighties Heavy Metal acts from Germany goes on and on. In particular, Germany seemed to be blessed with a inexhaustible supply of falsetto singers of the kind that were often found in Heavy Metal bands of those days.



Glam Metal:
Glam Metal is basically the Heavy Metal variation of Glam Rock. Glam Rock started in England in the early seventies as a reaction to the more "serious" and introvert music of the time. Noteworthy artists included T.Rex, David Bowie and Slade. In short, Glam Rockers played quite "simple" music and performed in more or less gaudy outfits and makeup.

While Glam Metal can not be said to have stemmed directly from the Glam Rock of the seventies, it was certainly influenced by it, not least regarding the clothing and heavy use of makeup. Also, Glam Metal had its stronghold in the USA as opposed to England. The reason for this was perhaps that the Glam Metal bands were musically generally more pop oriented than most other Metal acts, and the popier, more mainstream side of Heavy Metal was always more popular in the USA. It's hard to pinpoint which bands were really Glam Metal acts, but Poison, Twisted Sister and Glam pioneers Hanoi Rocks are a few examples. Also, there was the occasional band (such as Sweet) that played bona fide, old school Glam Rock in the seventies but started flirting with Heavy Metal in the eighties.

See also {Hair Metal} and {Sleaze Metal}.



Guitar duel:
Guitar solo where two (or more...) guitarists take turn playing, often repeating the same basic pattern but gradually adding more and more complexity, thereby performing a 'duel' using their instruments as 'weapons'. Especially striking when performed live with the duellists posing back to back.

Excerpt from guitar duel (119 K) between Graham Oliver and Paul Quinn of Saxon. Taken from the track Taking Your Chances from Strong Arm of the Law (© Trigon Services)



Guitar riff:
See {riff}.



Guitar shredders:
See {shredders}.



Haircuts:
Your haircut was a very important signal. The longer your hair was, the more "rock 'n' roll" you would feel. There are no rules without exceptions, however, since for example Rob Halford, lead singer of Judas Priest, had a hairdo of very modest length. If you really wanted to wear your hair long, but your mother wouldn't let you, the {mullet} was a popular alternative.

Later in the eighties, and especially among more "polished" Hard Rock bands like Bon Jovi and Cinderella, the heavily blow-dried and spray-supported poodle haircut emerged. This haircut was looked down upon, however, by fans of less compromising and more hard-hitting Heavy Metal.



Hair Metal:
Towards the end of the eighties, more and more bands emerged that could be placed on the more pop-oriented and MTV-friendly side of the Heavy Metal scale, no doubt partly thanks to the rise of the aforementioned TV station. Sometimes they were old {Glam Metal}/{Sleaze Metal} acts such as Mötley Crüe and Ratt and sometimes they were new bands like Faster Pussycat and L.A. Guns.

Since the dawn of MTV, visual appearance in general and music videos in particular had become increasingly important, and these bands used more makeup, wore more flashy clothes and had higher hair than most. Primarilly thanks to the latter, they were collectively (slightly disparagingly) dubbed Hair Metal. Unfortunately, the more many Hair Metal bands flirted with pop and the more they focused on visual image rather than songwriting, the more apparent it became that the heydays for Heavy Metal were numbered. Sob.



Headbanging:
An activity which meant repeated rocking of the head back and forth, prefferably in time to loud music. In combination with the proper {hairstyle}, this resulted in a quite impressive visual effect, especially if practised by an entire crowd at a concert. Depending of the speed of the music and the mood of the performer, headbanging could vary from a wide, back-breaking, swooping motion almost all the way from a position behind the body down to where the hair touched the floor, to a furious, electric, whiplash-inducing shake of the head, sometimes almost reduced to a mere vibration.

Some bands, like Venom, practiced a variation of headbanging in which the head was tilted forward as if a headbanging session was about to begin, but the head was then instead spun around. This created an even more dazzling visual effect (if the hair was long enough.) Take care, however; unless you're a professional, excessive spinning of the head may result in serious dizzyness or even vomiting.



Hear 'N Aid:
In the eighties, the conscience-stricken music business suddenly felt the urge to express their deeply felt compassion for the less fortunate among the inhabitants of the earth. This resulted in a number of projects, the most well-known being Bob Geldoff's "Live Aid" (Do They Know it's Christmas?) and Michael Jackson's "USA for Africa" (We Are the World).

Apparently, Ronnie James Dio felt that the Heavy Metal community should be none the worse and consequently put together the Hear 'N Aid project. The purpose of this project is summed up on the back of the album cover:

On May 20 and 21, 1985, 40 artists from the Hard Rock music community gathered at A&M Records Studios to participate in the making of a record called "Stars", as part of a very special project known as Hear 'N Aid. The "Stars" single, coupled with the album, a a video documentary on the making of the record, and other ancillary products will raise money for famine relief efforts in Africa and around the world.
40 artists and hundreds of volunteers donated their time and talent over four months to make Hear 'N Aid a reality. "Stars" is a plea for unity in the fight against world hunger.

The song "Stars" was written by Jimmy Bain, Vivian Campbell and Ronnie James Dio, all from the band Dio. The album also contained songs by some of the participating artists. These included Don Dokken (Dokken), Geoff Tate (Queensrÿche), Yngwie Malmsteen, Rob Halford (Judas Priest), Ted Nugent, Vince Neil (Mötley Crüe), Dave Meniketti (Y & T), Dave Murray and Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden) etc etc.



Leather:
A very important material. Be it pants, jackets or boots, nothing could really beat leather in terms of coolness. Leather was also used for {stud} belts and various other items.



Lyrics:
The lyrics of Heavy Metal songs mostly deal with the same subjects as those described under {art}. There are plenty of exceptions to this rule, however, since many bands tended to deal with far more serious matters in their lyrics than you might have been fooled to believe judging from the artwork on album covers and posters etc. A band that wrote a title song (or indeed an entire album) that had nothing to do with death or violence would typically choose an album cover that was anything but tasteful in the eyes of most people and would perhaps even seem to glorify violence and war.

Two examples of this are Iron Maiden with songs like Run to the Hills and The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner and Saxon with songs like Dallas One PM and Princess of the Night. The lyrics of these songs deal with such distinctly "uncool" subjects as the genocide of the North American indians, long distance running, the assassination of president Kennedy and a steam-engine(!), respectively. The artwork on the album covers of these bands, however, especially in the case of Iron Maiden, tend to bring completely different things to mind.



Make-up:
Bar the kind of "artistic" make-up worn by bands like Kiss and Mercyful fate, make-up was never, or very rarely, seen in the early days of Heavy Metal and Hard Rock (among male practicers, that is...) As time progressed, however, more and more bands wearing increasingly more make-up appeared, especially on the more polished and mainstream end of the scale. Eventually, the members of bands like Stryper wore no less make-up than their female counterparts. This, in combination with their poodle-like {haircuts}, resulted in a distinctly androgynous appearance.



Memorabilia:
Memorabilia was very important in the everyday life of a true {metalhead}. If, for example, a Metal fan where to obtain an autographed {T-shirt} featuring his or her favourite band it would most likely be worn day and night for months without ever being taken off, let alone being washed. But sought-after items of memorabilia also included less obvious things, such as drum sticks, guitar picks, bandanas, a piece from a broken guitar (Yngwie Malmsteen alone must have smashed several thousand guitars during his live performances), well anything really, as long as it was in some remote (but more or less confirmed) way connected to a rock star.

As for myself, I never really managed to acquire anything really spectacular. A drum stick from Candlemass and... well, that's pretty much it, actually. I once attended a Deep Purple concert at which a friend of mine got Ian Gillan's harmonica, though. But that was in the nineties, come to think of it, so it doesn't count. And harmonicas are not very Heavy Metal anyway. Me, jealous? I don't know what you're talking about...

See also {art}.



Metalhead:
Common term for Heavy Metal fan, especially one that devoted significantly more time to his or her musical interest than the average person.



Monsters Of Rock:
Legendary, annual stadium tour featuring different artists each year. Most of the big names of Heavy Metal have performed on the Monsters of Rock tour on at least one occasion.



Mullet:
Haircut with long hair in the neck but the rest of the hair cut in a more or less "normal" fashion. Thus, the mullet combined the rebellious qualities of long hair with the well-adapted short haircut that your mother wanted you to have. This haircut was obviously often a compromise, and generally not considered quite as cool as "proper" long hair among {metalheads}. (In Sweden, the mullet is called "ice hockey haircut", since many hockey players used to wear it. And among hockey players from, in particular, the Czech Republic it still seems to be the hairdo of choice at the time of writing this.)

According to some sources, the mullet was invented by Czech mine workers who wanted to have long hair, but were unable to because they had to wear a hard hat at work. It may not be true, but it's a good anecdote none the less.

By the way, did you know you can get your own e-mail address at Mullet.com? No, seriously!

MulletJunky.com - If you just can't get enough of mullets.
Mullet Madness - Another one. Actually, there are more mullet sites around than you might think.




NWOBHM:
Acronym for "New Wave Of british Heavy Metal". The NWOBHM took place in the early eighties when Heavy Metal, who had had a bit of a downperiod following the initial success of early Heavy Metal acts such as Black Sabbath and Deep Purple, had a strong revival. With bands like Iron Maiden, Saxon and Judas Priest leading the way, the NWOBHM spawned a virtual explosion of new Heavy Metal and Hard Rock bands, soon spreading well outside the borders of Great Britain. In short; if it hadn't been for the NWOBHM, this home page would almost certainly not have seen the light of day (now wouldn't that be terrible...)

Run to the Hills, live (115 K) by Iron Maiden(© EMI)
And the Bands Played On (154 K) by Saxon (© Carrere)




Phenomena:
A project put together by producer Tom Galley in 1985. Apparently, Tom had a bunch of songs and an idea about putting together a "super group" of Heavy Metal artists to record a concept album about a young girl who is accidentally hooked up to an evil monster computer or something of the likes. And so he did. Originally, the project was to include "everybody" in the Metal business - including Ozzy Osbourne who agreed but couldn't find the time. In the end it didn't get that big, but nevertheless featured an impressive range of musicians, including vocalist Glenn Hughes (who knew Tom Galley from his Trapeze days) (Deep Purple), Guitarist Mel Galley (Whitesnake), Bass player Neil Murray (Whitesnake, Gary Moore) and drummer Cozy Powell (Black Sabbath, Rainbow). The original release of the album also included a richly illustrated coloured booklet.

The songs were all written by Tom Galley (except for Glenn Hughes' Still the Night) and mainly recorded and mixed in London. The resulting album was a great success with powerful but yet rather radio-friendly Hard Rock tunes such as Dance With the Devil, Hell on Wings and the ballad Phoenix Rising. In 1987 Phenomena II - Dream Runner was released, again produced by Tom Galley. Most of the musicians from the first album remained, but some new vocalists were introduced, such as John Wetton (Asia), Max Bacon and Ray Gillen (later in Badlands).

The image shows the cover of the first Phenomena album (© Bronze Records).



Poser:
A person who really, really wanted to be seen as a true {metalhead}, but didn't have much of a clue when all was said and done. See also {mullet}.



Posters:
See {art}.



Power Ballads:
Basically ordinary, greasy guitar-dominated rock ballads, but performed by Heavy Metal or Hard Rock bands and often featuring a very "fat" and powerful sound. When the popularity of Heavy Metal rapidly decreased towards the end of the eighties, many bands saw Power Ballads as a last resort. With songs like No One Like You, Holiday and Rhythm of Love Scorpions were among the forerunners in this area but Mötley Crüe's Home Sweet Home, from the album Theatre of Pain, is widely considered to be the very first "true" Power Ballad. Mötley Crüe were by no means the first Metal band to record a ballad, however. For starters, Home Sweet Home was released three years later than the aforementioned No One Like You, and the phenomenon can be traced back as far as 1971, when Led Zeppelin released their classic Stairway to Heaven.

For a couple of years towards the end of the eighties, it almost seemed like it was illegal to release a Metal album without a power ballad on it, usually released as the second single. And as far as record sales went, it worked surprisingly well. Without a doubt, this was one of the things that eventually all but killed Heavy Metal, especially when the last trace of Heaviness went out the window as some genius decided that Power Ballads would sound even better unplugged (think Mr Big and Extreme)...

Save Your Love (145 K) by Great White (© Capitol Records)




Power Metal:
As the name suggests, Power Metal was a very forceful and energetic kind of Heavy Metal. As with most genres it is very difficult to say exacly which bands were and were not Power Metal bands, but {Manowar} is perhaps the canonical example.

Carry On (171 K) by Manowar (© Atlantic)



Progressive Metal:
Progressive Metal (or Prog Metal) is a collective term used to describe elaborate, "modern" Heavy Metal, which supposedly goes beyond "normal" Heavy Metal, especially in terms of technical skill. This term is seldom used of eighties Heavy Metal bands, but Queensrÿche and Fates Warning could be two examples. It might seem strange that such a thing as "Progressive Metal" exists in the first place, considering that the rise of the Heavy Metal movement in the eighties was in part a reaction to the twenty minute instrumental eposes of the progressive rock that was popular at the time. Oh how quickly they forget...

Operation Mindcrime (117 K) by Queensrÿche (© Capitol Records)




Record covers:
See {art}.



Riff:
A short melody or section of notes, often designed to be as catchy as possible. Eighties Heavy Metal and Hard Rock was often extremely (guitar) riff-orientated. Consider, for example, the strong riffs of songs like Breaking the Law by Judas Priest, Number of the Beast by Iron Maiden, Jump by Van Halen, The Final Countdown by Europe or, for that matter, Denim and Leather by Saxon.



Satanism:
Ever since the heyday of Elvis Presley - or even Jazz - new and increasingly more aggressive genres of music have emerged. Every generation of music has tried to be more extreme and provocative than the previous, primarily in order to get attention and alienate it's fans from earlier generations (at least this was true throughout the eighties.) Heavy Metal was certainly no exception to this rule, as demonstrated by the clothes and hairstyles of it's fans etc.

Perhaps the most obvious attempt to shock earlier generations, however, was the fascination with black magic and satanism that many practicers of Heavy Metal displayed. Some bands, like Dio and Black Sabbath, went no further than to feature these kinds of pictures and symbols on their album covers and write an occational occult song, but could by no means be called "satanist" in any sense of the word. Others, like Mercyful Fate, Venom and Demon, took this much further and based their entire image on imagery of this kind. Some even declared, more or less convincingly, to be regular satan worshipers. It is certainly no exaggeration to say that in almost every case the use of satanist symbols was nothing more than an attempt to get attention, although some may argue that it was a dangerous game to play.

In contrast to this there were also Christian Heavy Metal and Hard Rock bands, eg. Stryper and Leviticus, who proclaimed and exposed their beliefs just as actively as did ever the satanist bands. Some fundamentalists believe, however, that christianity and Heavy Metal (or indeed rock music in general) are simply not compatible.

See also {Black Metal} and {White Metal}.

Christian Rock - Blessing or Blasphemy offers some thoughts on this subject from a christian point of view. The text is written by Terry Watkins of the Dial-the-Truth Ministries.




Shredders:
Solo guitarists or bands who based their sound firmly on a highly technically skilled guitarist were often reffered to as guitar shredders, or simply shredders. The most well-known shredder is perhaps Yngwie Malmsteen. Others include Steve vai, Joe Satriani and David T. Chastain.

Far Beyond the Sun (180 K) by Yngwie Malmsteen (© Polydor)




Sleaze Metal:
A variation of {Glam Metal}. Or simply another term for Glam Metal, depending on who you ask. It could be argued that Sleaze Metal acts played more "trashy" and less pop-oriented Metal than Glam Metal acts. Thus, bands like Guns n' Roses and Skid Row would be Sleaze acts whereas bands like Hanoi Rocks and Poison would be Glam Metal acts. But, again, you could also argue that there's no real difference.

Welcome to the Jungle (176 K) by Guns n' Roses (© Geffen)




Sneakers:
Sneakers are excellent for activities like {headbanging} and jumping around on stage, and were therefore very popular among {metalheads}. Many wore the same pair of sneakers for several years come rain or come shine (or snow or night or whatever...) and only considered replacing them with a new pair when they litterally fell apart, which caused much mourning.

True story: a friend of mine kept his sneakers together using heavy duty duct tape for several weeks before finally accepting the fact that they were dead.



Spandex:
Elastic material mainly used for pants. Spandex pants existed in almost every colour and pattern imaginable and allowed for advanced manouvers on stage without getting in the way.



Speed Metal:
Slow, soft Heavy Metal... Just kidding. As the name suggests, Speed Metal is a fast and aggressive kind of Heavy Metal, combining the power of Heavy Metal with the speed of punk rock. Speed Metal is closely related to {Thrash Metal}, but as the name suggests generally played faster, and as always it is hard to give an exact definition, but bands commonly categorized as Speed Metal bands range from early Metallica, Megadeth and Slayer to {Death Metal} acts. What can be said is that in Speed Metal, double bass drums are as good as compulsory.

Peace Sells (121 K) by Megadeth (© Capitol Records)



Spinal Tap:
Imaginary band from the movie This is Spinal Tap from 1984. Imitating a documentary, This is Spinal Tap told the story of an ageing British Heavy Metal band touring the USA in 1982, with very little success. The movie was directed by Rob Reiner and created such a cult following of fans that many English Heavy Metal acts wouldn't have minded - or would even have been flattered - had they been named as the real-life prototype for Spinal Tap, even though the movie was anything but flattering. The truth is probably that the Spinal Tap story borrowed bits and pieces from many different bands. However, Mr. Bruce Gaines, who used to work with Saxon for four years in the early eighties and should therefore know what he's talking about, is convinced that it was "basically based on Saxon back then". You be the judge...

The Majesty of Rock (53 K) by Spinal Tap (© MCA Records)

SpinalTapFan.com - A Spinal Tap Fan Site.




Stars:
See {Hear 'N Aid}.



Studs:
Just as with punk rockers etc., studs were important accessories for many {metalheads}, mostly in combination with {denim} and/or {leather}. Studs were common both on belts, bracelets etc. and as decorations on jackets and other garments. Although the pyramid stud was by far most common in the Heavy Metal culture, other types, such as the cone stud and the bar stud, were also seen.

On studded belts, the studs were obviously the main feature and it was the studs one wanted to show off. Hence, studded belts (especially those with pyramid studs) were more often than not buckled on the side, not in the front as most other belts. In fact, it wasn't uncommon to buckle the belts in the back in order to get that full frontal view stud look...

Pyramid studs look something like this:



Synth music:
Synth music, as played by bands like Depeche Mode and Erasure, was often seen as the very antithesis to Heavy Metal. (This, mind you, was before bands like Ministry successfully united the two genres.) Synth fans were mostly considered boring, timorous and just plain uninteresting. There were times, however, when the antagonism between synth fans and {metalheads} resulted in physical violence (though not very often). To a certain extent there were also social differences, though they should not be exaggerated, where the synth fans were considered a bit posh and stuck-up by the more down to eart and "working class" metalheads.

True story: Fans from out of town visiting a Depeche Mode concert in Stockholm were once chased by an angry mob of metalheads and were seen running head over heals back into their bus. The Depeche Mode fans got the last laugh, however, as only moments later the metalheads were chased away by the police.



Thrash Metal:
What do you get if you take a piece of Heavy Metal, speed it up a little, add a pinch of energy, spice it with some punk rock and stir gently violently?

You get Thrash Metal! Thrash Metal was first popularized when Metallica released their debut album Kill 'em All in 1983. Other prominent bands included arch rivals Megadeth, Anthrax, Sepultura and Slayer. Thrash Metal was perhaps the "alternative" form of Heavy Metal that enjoyed the most commercial success, largely owing to the success of the aforementioned Metallica and to the fact that it was relatively ingratiating, at least compared to, say, {Speed Metal} or {Death Metal}.

Motorbreath (130 K) by Metallica (© Metallica)



T-shirts:
Together with {denim} jeans, a T-shirt featuring your favourite band or artist was standard equipment for any true {metalhead}. The picture on your T-shirt was also (together with the patch on the back of your jacket, or possibly the print on the back of your satin jacket) the most important way to tell others what kind of Heavy Metal or Hard Rock you preferred.

See also {denim}, {leather}, {art}.



White Metal:
Term sometimes used to categorize Christian Heavy Metal bands like Stryper and Leviticus. Apart from being Christian and incorporating their belief in their lyrics to a larger or smaller extent, the White Metal bands didn't necessarily have anything in common, even if they could more often than not be found on the more "commercial" side of the musical scale. See also {Black Metal} and {satanism}.

Soldiers Under Command (108 K) by Stryper (© Enigma)




X-mas Project:
The unlikely album X-mas Project was a compilation of christmas carols, performed by artists from bands of the likes of Rage, Steeler, Living Death and Mekong Delta, and other acts slightly below the uppermost layer of Heavy Metal acts. Recorded in Germany (where else?) in 1985 and 1986, X-mas Project really managed to catch the essence of true christmas spirit in double bass drum and falsetto versions of White Christmas, Silent Night, Holy Night, Winter Wonderland etc. Combine this record with 220 Volt's Metal anthem Heavy Christmas, and christmas will just never be the same again...

We Wish You a Metal Christmas and a Heavy New Year!

Jingle Bells (131 K) (© Crazy Life Music)




This 100% non-commercial site is administered by Olof Sundin. E-mail: denim-and-leather@sundin.net.