20 years of Satanic verses, forgotten pioneers and moster riffs.
METAL THE OLD TESTAMENT
The Story of Metal
THE BIRTH • The early days and stumbling footsteps…
THE LOST PIONEERS OF HEAVY METAL • Forget Sabbath, Cream and Led Zep; heavy metal was invented by bands now lost in the mists of time. Classic Rock tracks down members of Iron Butterfly, Bloodrock, Leaf Hound and the JPT Scare Band to get the lowdown on the birth of very loud music…
BLUE CHEER LSD REHAB WHISKY FIGHTS • …And in their spare time they invented heavy metal. Blue Cheer leaders Peterson, Whaley tell their twisted tale.
HEAVY METAL THUNDER • Four bands without whom metal music as we know it would not exist.
THE LORD’S PRAYER • Sir Lord Baltimore toured with Black Sabbath and were a core influence on the stoner rock movement. Singer/drummer John Garner looks back at the drugs, dysfunction and dirty deeds that doomed them and also sealed their legend.
The Wild bunch • Having urged freedom rockers and those just Born To Be Wild to ‘Get your motor runnin’’ for the past 40 years, John Kay explains why Steppenwolf are about to head out on the highway for the last time.
The psychedelic breakfast
TO INFINITY AND BEYOND! • They were the pioneers of stoner rock, a supergroup who should have been super-massive. But somehow Captain Beyond managed to throw away all that promise.
THE SONGS THAT FORGED METAL 1964-1976 • Some of the classic touchstones–and obscure gems–that changed heavy music
THE BIRTH OF HEAVY
DRAMATIS PERSONAE • The main players in The Birth Of Heavy.
MOTHERS’ PRIDE • How a former ballroom in Birmingham helped shape British rock.
OUT, DEMONS, OUT! • Need a bit of controversy? Try black magic and on-stage naked sacrifices.
IRON MEN • It was the end of the 60s. Flower power, blues rock and psychedelia ruled the airwaves. But four lads from Birmingham were making sounds that reflected their lives. Darker, heavier and, like, metaller. In just one day, they recorded an album that would change the face of music forever. This is Black Sabbath…
Mountain Nantucket Sleighride (To Owen Coffin) • A fictional account of a frightening real-life event, the sprawling title track of their 1971 album, it now holds bitter-sweet memories for surviving members of the band.
THE 10 BEST JUDAS PRIEST SONGS 1974-1984 • Ten reasons why Ugly Kid Joe frontman Whitfield Crane loves Judas Priest. Probably more than life itself.
SURVIVAL INSTINCT • Whether it’s thinking about changing their name to Stalingrad, titling their album Virgin Killer or filling their big hit single with lots of whistling, there’s always a sting in the Scorpions’ tale. But against the odds the veteran German band are back on the blitzkrieg once more.
Whistle while you work • Je t’aime les Scorpions.
Pump’ up the volume • “Ja! Ve haf some very crazy freunde…”
Motörhead Motorhead • Speeding off his tits in a Hollywood hotel room during Hawkwind’s 1974 US tour, bassist Lemmy Kilmister writes the song that will change his life forever.
“We’re a rock’n’roll band and we’re gonna be big!” • In the early 70s there wasn’t really any such thing as heavy metal–but there were bands like The Godz who were willing to take things to the limit, even if it cost them their lives…
THE EXPLOSION • The new wave–redefined and uncontainable.
The Birth Of The NWOBHM • In the late 70s, rock music was given a steel-booted kick up the backside by a new breed of band. The New Wave Of British Heavy Metal would go on to rule Britannia–and the world.
DRAMATIS PERSONAE • The main players in the birth of the NWOBHM.
THE SONGS THAT FORGED METAL 1977-1982 • Influential 80s...