Simpler times.....

[ElectricWiz]

I found this on Youtube. I actually remember this very well. It was a report on 20/20 (an American news magazine show) about Heavy Metal in the 80s. For you young folk, this was before the Internet of course, so one really relied on magazines for news about bands. Now and again something like this would come on tv, and even though this is essentially a heavy metal expose, I remember taping it just so I could see some of my favorite bands.....haha. I still had the tape until just a few years ago.

Anyway, it's in two parts, and there are some quick interviews with Bruce Dickinson (from the Somewhere in Time Tour) and some other fun nonsense. Not that things have changed that much....but I remember all to well when folks were this paranoid about metal. AND, even though Maiden is on this show, for instance, it was still a vaguely underground phenomenon. Hence the report...."What's this metal thing all about?"

This should bring back some memories for some of you.

Part I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orrgV_piHPA&mode=related&search=

Part II
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZ4PTiL1RDs&mode=related&search=

 

[Death Animal]

Haha That moshing couldn´t look any stupider.
This music is so hostil. Great video.

 

[SickBoy]

Great stuff, Wiz!
I wish I was some 10 years older so I could've lived this era throughout, there was so much brilliant things going on back then and there was a certain charm to the 80s.
It's great to see some black kids into heavy metal, I feel not as much are into it nowadays... Too bad for them, tho

 

[SoundMaster]

This was actually funny - I found myself laughing out loud a few times. The kids they interviewed couldn't have been more inarticulate.

Meanwhile, is there a band less dangerous than Iron Maiden? Dave Murray's evil, right. LOL

 

[kittybeast]

well come on.... how articulate where you at 14 or 15? One kid did say it all "it's not the music that's going to kill you....it's yourself."

I like clip 2 at the end when Bruce talks about evil men in suits.....see Sharon he's been ranting for decades!!!

 

[SoundMaster]

well come on.... how articulate where you at 14 or 15? One kid did say it all "it's not the music that's going to kill you....it's yourself."

I like clip 2 at the end when Bruce talks about evil men in suits.....see Sharon he's been ranting for decades!!!

compare the metal kids to the one 'prep' and you'll see the extraordinary difference.

 

[ElectricWiz]

This was actually funny - I found myself laughing out loud a few times. The kids they interviewed couldn't have been more inarticulate.

Meanwhile, is there a band less dangerous than Iron Maiden? Dave Murray's evil, right. LOL

Haha. I laughed too. I remember thinking even back then (and I would have been about 15 when first this aired) that these kids do NOT represent me.

Also, it's funny to try to watch that with some kind of objective view on Ozzy, since he was still largely only known to the metal world. You know, "...this Ozzy-somebody character who is so evil..." and now he's just so much more 'famous,' and non-threatening.

At the time though, people did see Maiden as this weird, midly threatening thing. Slayer and all that was happening, but all of metal was kind of scary to outsiders. Hence the story, no matter how poorly done or uninformed. Anyway, it may not have been like this everywhere, but I lived in the midwest in a small town, and at least a few people there thought I was a bit dangerous. Believe me, there could be nothing further from the truth. It was the t-shirts and hair I guess. I was even more of a dork then than I am now, and that's saying something. Haha. Oh man, the 80s.

 

[Walter_Langkowski]

Nothing was better than that Geraldo Rivera expose on the evils of heavy metal around 1988 or 89. That was awesome.


Van Halen was evil because they had that lyric in "The Best Of Both Worlds".

"You don't have to die to go to heaven
Or hang around to be born again..."




Pure evil. What a joke. And yeah, the 80's (the late 80's, as I was a bit young for anything earlier) were great for seeing all sorts of specials and warnings against the "Satanic" nature of all this music we were listening to. You just never see that sort of thing anymore...

 

[Trans-Siberian Outcast]

Ah, the 80s. My heyday! I turned 15 in 1980 so it was a perfectly timed decade for my rebellious youth. I remember many of the devout Mormon kids burning their records because they heard voices in their heads during church or seminary class. Those voices said, "rock and roll is evil, you must BURN all your evil music so it cannot corrupt you or anyone else."

So here's this bunch of mindless sheep joining around a bonfire and tossing in their copies of KISS Alive II, Back in Black, and Led Zeppelin 4. I was so torked at the absurdity of it all, that I took my Iron Maiden Number of the Beast shirt down to the local t-shirt shop and had them put LONG LIVE BACKWARD MESSAGES on the back (me and rokk, actually, whose been absent from the boards recently). Then we proudly wore it to school, hoping to piss them off.

It seems our plan worked because someone wrote an editorial in the school newspaper complaining about "certain kids" who wore satanic messages on their shirts and we should be expelled for such blasphemy.

Aah, the good old days....

 

[ElectricWiz]

Ah, the 80s. My heyday! I turned 15 in 1980 so it was a perfectly timed decade for my rebellious youth. I remember many of the devout Mormon kids burning their records because they heard voices in their heads during church or seminary class. Those voices said, "rock and roll is evil, you must BURN all your evil music so it cannot corrupt you or anyone else."

So here's this bunch of mindless sheep joining around a bonfire and tossing in their copies of KISS Alive II, Back in Black, and Led Zeppelin 4. I was so torked at the absurdity of it all, that I took my Iron Maiden Number of the Beast shirt down to the local t-shirt shop and had them put LONG LIVE BACKWARD MESSAGES on the back (me and rokk, actually, whose been absent from the boards recently). Then we proudly wore it to school, hoping to piss them off.

It seems our plan worked because someone wrote an editorial in the school newspaper complaining about "certain kids" who wore satanic messages on their shirts and we should be expelled for such blasphemy.

Aah, the good old days....

Haha, I kid you not...growing up in Missouri...I was once invited to a pizza party at a baptist church my friend went to. Hey, free pizza! Anyway, I show up, and after the pizza there is this travelling preacher who talked for three hours on the evil's rock music. He pulled out all the stops; played records backwards ("....my sweet satan..."), referred to pictures of guys holding guitars as purposely phalic, read lyrics, and right on down the line. His grand finale was to read the back of Vemon's Welcome to Hell..."We spit at the Virgin you worship...." etc. etc. I had to admit he had me there. Haha. It was ridiculous. It gave me the creeps on so many levels.

 

[rokk]

I was so torked at the absurdity of it all, that I took my Iron Maiden Number of the Beast shirt down to the local t-shirt shop and had them put LONG LIVE BACKWARD MESSAGES on the back (me and rokk, actually, whose been absent from the boards recently). Then we proudly wore it to school, hoping to piss them off.

It seems our plan worked because someone wrote an editorial in the school newspaper complaining about "certain kids" who wore satanic messages on their shirts and we should be expelled for such blasphemy.

Aah, the good old days....

And the absurd part was that everyone thought maiden was so satanic (because of the cover of the NOTB album I guess) but I always responded with " If you think Iron Maiden is Satanic then you you should try Venom! Especially "Welcome to Hell's" "In League with Satan"

And then being accused of being part of a satanic occult that kills farm animals for fun... WTF???

Funny stuff!

 

[Electronicoil]

compare the metal kids to the one 'prep' and you'll see the extraordinary difference.

I'm forced to agree here. The "prep" kid was way sharper.

Those kids are actually pretty close to my age I guess. I graduated high school a couple years before that aired (if it aired in '87).

Thanks to ElectricWiz for posting. I enjoyed it.

 

[kittybeast]

compare the metal kids to the one 'prep' and you'll see the extraordinary difference.

I completely saw the difference I won't argue that.

 

[Wyvern]

Back in the early-90's (I can't recall the exact year but was between 1990-1994) there was a nice underground movement here called "Craneo Metal" (metal skull), the common factor was their love for metal especially thrash and death and the follow up to small local bands playing those sub-genres.

Of course there was no chance in hell bands like Kreator, Destruction or Sepultura play here (that happened 10 years later) so kids and young adults were either in the underground following or playing imported albums.

At the time my friend Abraham was pretty much into the movement, he eventually played drums in one of the best (and most short lived) death metal bands in the scene: Colemesis. But before that he help a lot with logistics of the gigs, I even helped to record on video III and IV (I believe).

Anyway when V came it was held at and old empty wherehouse when the ministry of security and police (a class A motherfucker) decided to get some media coverage by going and arresting everyone at the scene (I miss it because actually no one told me about it!). Next day of course the media was banging SATANISM all across the country, music stores were raid and albums confiscated (pure fascist state) and the "criminal" albums displayed on camera (Queen, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, etc. ).

Anyone wearing a black t-shirt was immediately stop by the police that week, so I put mine and went to teach (I was professor in the University at the time). My colleagues went nuts but I stated my desdain for the ignorance and my right to teach free (is in the Constitution actually). Needless to say I didn't got many points with the department council but I did had lots of cheers from my students (metalheads or not).

Eventually the whole thing dropped, the media turned against the ministry, my friend Abraham (who spent one night in jail) became a drummer and took the band again into the media as heralds of a new age. I even brought my Cannibal Corpse t-shirt to the gym and nobody ever said anything to me.

Nowdays Dio have the cover of the major newspaper entertainment section, Kreator have played twice, Destruction, Fear Factory, Marduk, Dark Tranquility, Tierra Santa, Sepultura, Helloween (twice), Apocalyptica, Rata Blanca, Gamma Ray, Masterplan, The Misfits and more had played here. They all get reviews in the newspaper and coverage in radio and even TV.

Time have change indeed and still we are the black sheep of the family...and I drink to that

NP: Joe Satriani - 'The Meaning Of Love'

 

[Evil?]

I think it would be great fun to freak people out back in the day. I wish I could have been part of that. However it would probably piss me off enough to spoil some of the fun. Peoples ingnorance and willingness to follow with a closed mind never ceases to amaze me.

 

[poundingmetal74]

"If it's too loud, you're too old" You don't know how many times I've used that phrase.

Very cool video. It digs into the same things that Chuck Klosterman or Headbanger's Journey dwelves into. Ultimately metal is about the music and the comradery.

I think Chuck Klosterman said it best in Fargo Rock City when he said:
As a metal head, you don't fit in. But that's okay. You go home and listen to a metal band that says "we are all metal heads. We're not here to judge you We're together. We're too fast for love and heavy metal warriors.... you don't have a girlfriend and that's ok because metal is there for you".

 

[Evil?]

I just got done watching it all. As funny as it is it also pisses me off. Tipper Gore can eat shit in hell.

 

[OldScratch]

This is good fun for us old Fucks. I know a lot of it seems silly on many levels to the younger Metalheads, but it really was a whole different world in MANY ways. Satanism was genuinely, honest to shit scary to folks back then - it REALLY freaked people out, in and out of the metal scene. They would literally shit themselves to see today's "extreme" stuff like Typhus' lyrics, a Sargeist CD cover or a Watain show, that is certain. It was such an unbelievably 'innocent' time in the early to mid 80's. Given that Ozzy was all about considered the Devil incarnate - you can imagine how silly it all was.
I can also remember that unless you were lucky enough to live near one of the precious few Metal record shops(ala Rock n Roll Heaven, NY!!) or before they even existed, you would have to fish through the "Imports" bin at the Record World stores in the mall or something. In this whole, huge record store there was but one little section of about 40 albums, with shit like Hellhammer, Possessed, Venom, etc. in it!
It is sort of bizarre though, that metal still remains largely out of the mainstream, semi-underground and socially unacceptable to a point, even with the internet age in full vigor. Then again, most would agree, that is all for the best anyway!

 

[Trans-Siberian Outcast]

And the absurd part was that everyone thought maiden was so satanic (because of the cover of the NOTB album I guess) but I always responded with " If you think Iron Maiden is Satanic then you you should try Venom! Especially "Welcome to Hell's" "In League with Satan"

Exactly! The part that irked me the most was that they were burning the WRONG albums. Led Zep, AC/DC, and KISS, they weren't satanic! Neither was Maiden. Now Venom and Mercyful Fate, there they'd have something to bitch about.

And then being accused of being part of a satanic occult that kills farm animals for fun... WTF???

Funny stuff!

I still remember getting called into the principal's office and having him ask me if I had anything to do with the sudden "disappearance" of Mrs. Balbi's goat. If someone actually sacrificed that goat to the devil, I certainly wasn't part of it!

 

[rokk]

My first exposure to music that I can remember was from my parents as well. My dad was into old country like Tex Ritter, Hank Williams, Glen Miller and Johnny Horton. My mom was into the sixties radio hits and Elvis Presley. All of which I was exposed to almost dailey.

My first record player was made of all plastice and what was cool is that it also had a "neutral gear" which came in handy later for spinning the records backwards!

I had been listening to my parents stuff and about '76 I was exposed to KISS from some friends who had ALIVE II, Destroyer, and Love Gun. I was mesmerized. I would sit for hours staring at the covers and listening to the music.

Shortly after I went to the local "drug store" to purchase the newly released KISS solo albums and since Peter was my favorite I started with it. Its funny to think about it now since I put it on Layaway and it was only priced at $7.99!

I then joined the BMG and Columbia record clubs to expand my collection starting with everything I could get of KISS and then branching out. I remember seeing Judas Priest's British Steel album in the store and thinking that it must be some really good music since the cover was so cool! We bought albums all the time just because of the cover, you'd win some and you'd lose some. I remember buying Motley Crue's Too Fast for Love just because Hit Parader Magazine said it the "plaster would fall off the walls" and of course the picture of them with a pentagram

Of course about that time KISS was taking off the make-up (side note: saw the Lick it Up tour whith Queensryche and Riot opening) and so many other bands were coming and we read Hit Parader and Circus magazine religiously. They were the only information source for our heroes. Plus the only way to find out about new bands coming which seemed to be almost daily at the time. It was about this time that TSO and I started hanging out and sharing music and it was very cool to lay claim to who discovered which band.

I was so hooked on music that I used to count my money by the number of albums it could buy. For instance... If I had 100 bucks I could buy ten albums... so if you asked me how much money I had I would say ten albums worth.

A few memorable moments.

Metal Massacre Vol 1 at TSO's we listened to that tape all the time!
Metallica - Kill 'em all at Kenneth's (is there a face in the blood?)
Lita Ford - Out for Blood (kickass cover) at Budget Tapes & Records
Metallica - Master of Puppets (from a young kid who I worked with who was I amazed I had even heard of Metallica!)
Watching Headbangers Ball on MTV in the late 80's was awesome! I used to record just so I could watch over and over..

It is so cool to discover new music now that is of the same genre as the 80's metal. Thank God for band like Icarus Witch, HammerFall, Astral Doors and Wolf!