Book Review: Bang Your Head - The Rise and Fall of Heavy Metal: no comments

Bang Your Head: The Rise and Fall of Heavy Metal, David Konow, Three Rivers Press, 2002.

I always have been fascinated with both music and history and a book about the history of a particular music is just like killing two birds with one stone. I have read a few books about the history of heavy metal and Bang Your Head is the least elevating one. Of course it was a fun read, but all Rock n Roll books are fun to read. The only thing that made me bought this book is the fact that I have yet to find a book about the rise and fall of the 80’s Cock Rock (Malaysian equivalent to Rock Kapak) scene, and this book, although not as comprehensive and thorough as I hoped it should, contained some murky information about the craze, the 80’s world wide fad, which helped launch MTV to a gainful and profitable broadcast.

Towering hairs and cans of hair sprays, fishnets and spandexes, groupies and backstage passes and the unforgettable Power Ballads and yes, the bands. Bands in the likes of Motley Crue, Guns N Roses, Quiet Riot and Poison took the world by storm. It made its way to the Malaysian shores and before you know it, Search, Wings, Lefthanded and May, just to name a few, became Sunset strip’s little ambassadors.

The book is 496 page thick and the front cover depicts the dullest book cover I have ever seen. Being a person who normally judges a book by its cover (literally), it would have been better if the publisher opted to coat the front cover black and print the title somewhere in the middle white, I would have bought the book right there and then. The cover was sort of a cut and pastes assemble, with zerox quality coloration that I believe for the purpose of going after the old school fanzine feel.

The story telling was light; it gave a good bird’s eye view of the cock rock scene back in the early 80’s; the book was a fun read nonetheless but it could have been better though. Besides the lack of depth, the book was also in short of photos. You do not write a book about Rock N Roll, describe the glorious vista of the legendary Sunset Strip, illustrate hundreds of crazy ass bands and have just a couple of photos in it!

I bought this one Frinday last week. Got it from Kinokuniya, KLCC and it costs me RM60.

Editors Note: Original article was taken from Metaforakami, my personal blog.

Book Review: Lords of Chaos - The Bloody Rise of The Satanic Metal Underground: no comments

Lords of Chaos – The Bloody Rise of The Satanic Metal Underground, Micheal Moynihan and Didrik Soderlind, Feral House, 1998

I bought this book a few months ago and managed to finish it a few days after buying it. It was an intense but a good read altogether although the approach, the style of writing is quite academic, necessary, from my point of view, for a book which chronicled the world’s most notorious music since the formation of the hexachord system by Guido of Arezzo, which spurred the unearthing of the satanic chords (diabolus in musica) way back in the 18th century, to be taken seriously. The music they call Black Metal. It requires a tune so that people will take the book seriously.

I have been listening to this kind of tune since primary school and the one accountable for introducing me to this music was not any of my friends or older relatives, but a local Malaysian tabloid. Untarnished still in my hazy remembrance, I was quite captivated by this diabolical music through an article in that particular tabloid that did a 2-page special report on the subject, complete with cool pictures and band logos. They even listed all these so called satanic rock bands for my trouble-free reference. And that was in 1995 if my memory serves me correctly. I was very inquisitive and very much the curious cat. It was like a giant whirlpool sucking me in and there were no ways for me to escape these enthralling madness of sorrow, supremacy and extreme aggressiveness. I got to try this, I said to myself. It took me no more than 5 second to convert myself from a nerd into a metal and hard rock listening nerd. Still a nerd but a different kind of nerd. It took me no more than the next week later for me to buy my first record. Talk about ultra influential. I have been a devoted fan and an avid listener ever since. I live happily ever after and my life has never been the same again.

Enough about my metal fairy tale and lets check this book out. Since the orientation of this book is quite academic, the read was quite deep, hectic and more often than not, quite tiring since the authors have widened their extent of investigation beyond the musician and its miniature circle. This includes outsiders who were directly involved with the satanic scene. Thus giving the reader more elaborative facts from different perspectives and distinguished angles. Although there are several general issues covered and discussed by the authors, I can see that the reason for the publication of this book was more towards exploiting the notoriety of the Norwegian Black Metal scene, the birthplace of what was known to be as the second wave of Black Metal (Mayhem, Burzum, Dark Throne, Immortal, Emperor, Enslaved are all Norwegian bands). A chunk of pages was dedicated to its early inception, the power struggle, suicide, the murders and the church burnings, which all in fact happened in Norway. In case you do not know, Black Metal was once Norway’s main export. Black metal bands being nominated in the Norwegian Grammy is quite normal there. I would like to see that kind of openness here.

Two of the most important individuals, highly influential to the early inception of Satanic Black Metal in Norway, Oysten Aarseth aka Euronymous and Varg Vikernes aka Count Grishnackh, were heavily dealt with in one of its chapters. Besides touching on the history or the early development of the Black Metal sound, the book also features interviews with who’s who from the scene (the infamous members of the Inner Circle. the Black Metal Mafia as the Norwegian press called it) and quite elaborative on the music’s influence through out the world.

It is a good read, highly recommended to those who really want to dig deep into the music judging the music by its cover, since Malaysia had (still having) her fair share of controversy (known worldwide, even Ian Christe mentioned the conservativeness of Malaysia in his book, Sound of the Beast. Maybe we do live on trees) with regard to this highly intolerable form of entertainment (yes, entertainment. Intolerable but still entertainment). At the peak of the second wave of the so-called Black Metal controversy, instigated, by the way, by the very same tabloid responsible for introducing me to this wonderful music 18 years earlier, I found a book about Black Metal written by one Ann Wan Seng, a local muslim author, published somewhere in 2007, simply titled Kesesatan Black Metal (the deviousness of Black Metal) which was totally crappy and nauseating. That guy just copy pasted some crap about Satanism from wikipedia, got some pictures from the net (anything with goats, five down-pointed stars and inverted crosses) and name the book Kesesatan Black Metal to get some extra money for coffee. Pathetic.

Anyway, I got this one from Kinokunia, KLCC, with 394 pages and it costs me RM75.80. My copy was the second edition and was published in 2003.

Editors Note: Original article was taken from Metaforakami, my personal blog.

Book Review: Anvil - The Story of Anvil: no comments

Anvil!: The Story of Anvil, Steve “Lips” Kudlow and Robb Reiner with Robert Uhlig, Bantam Press, 2009.

I do not know why I had not lifted this one of the bookshelf earlier. Since that day, I made it a mission to get my hands on this book as soon as possible and 2 days ago, I finally got it. Anvil! The Story of Anvil is one hell of a read. I spent one whole day finishing this one. Anvil is a Canadian heavy metal band and many considered them the first few bands whose music paved the way for the entire genre of Speed and Thrash Metal, among those in agreement are the likes of Scott Ian of Anthrax and Lars Ulrich of Metallica.

Basically this book illustrates the journey of two friends, Lips and Robbo, childhood friends who made a vow when they were fourteen years old to rock together, for ever and they meant it. It was an emotional journey. They toured with all the greatest bands ever lived. You name it, Whitesnake, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, Scorpions and all of these bands sold millions and millions of records around the world except Anvil.

It depicts a story of staying true to yourself, staying true to your dreams, not losing hope and to do things not for the sake of doing it but for the love it. When they first stormed the scene back in the late 70’s and early 80’s, everybody thought that Anvil was the band that will turn the world upside down with their brand of fast and odd timing heavy metal. Though most of the lyrics are kind of sleazy, but musically they were revolutionaries, ahead of their time. They should have made it big.

Anvil remained obscure. Nobody knows about them. But they were true to their dream to become rock stars and to become successful. They kept releasing albums and do small tours. They lived for music. It takes a heart of a lion to have that kind of dedication, my friend. This also a story about friendship, a story of two heavy metal brothers staying true to each other despite their ups and downs of life. Fighting personal demons in the shape of drugs and what not. It is an emotional read. Whether they finally achieve that dream or not, that you must find out on your own if you choose to read this book.

This book came in support of the movie, a documentary made about them which goes by the same name. I have yet to watch the movie, but judging by the power of this book and the trailer I just watched recently, I know it is a must that I go and see the movie. Even by watching the trailer almost made me cry. I am a fan.

I got my copy from Kinokuniya KLCC. Bought it when I was on my way for a meeting. This book is 313 pages thick and it cost me RM123.90. Worth ever penny spent.

Editors Note: Original article was taken from Metaforakami, my personal blog.