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I'm hoping everyone that visits this site has at some time in their life experienced the Power of Metal, but to truly appreciate the Power you feel, you must understand it's history. As anyone one who has worn a black metal tee and has been called names like "Freak, Psycho, Stoner, Burnout" can tell you, being a metalhead can be a bumpy ride. Ironically the history of heavy metal itself is also a bumpy ride. With all these bumps and curves many two or three pages articles have been written trying to cover the history of heavy metal, but until now no full fledged history book has hit the shelves. This is were IAN CHRISTE comes into the
picture, having written articles about heavy metal in mags such
as Kerrang!, Metal Forces, and Kick*Ass Monthly,Spin, AP,
CMJ, and Metal Maniacs he was crazy enough or perhaps
true enough ( you decide! ) to try to tackle the BEAST that others
have never had the courage. Thanks to his years of experience
and dedication we now have a book like "SOUND OF THE BEAST".
If your a diehard metalhead or just a casual fan this book is
a must read. It has it all Timelines, Top 10 Lists and the facts
to back them up. Ever wonder where the "devil's sign"
started? Ever wonder how Thrash Metal started? If so read this
book and learn the answers to all your questions. |
After reading this in depth book, I just had to try to pick the brain of the guy who wrote it. Not because he was wrote a good book, but because the book was written by a metalhead and not some research journalist! As much as the mainstream tries to deny it, there are intelligent metalheads and our genre of music is just as much as an artform as "important" ones like Theater and Jazz!
Thanks to Ian Christe for writing this book and to me telling the world "you can hide us and spit on us but we are here to stay! Our history is your history!!"
Landstuhl, West Germany, when AC/DC's Back in Black came out in 1981.
Looking back, it was an intense time. There was a lot of violence
around, whether at school or from occasional terrorist bombings. I
had a lot of time to kill, so I walked around little German towns
finding Iron Maiden EPs and delving into the past records of
Scorpions, Judas Priest, and Black Sabbath.
Mercyful Fate-inspired dreams -- although it does happen. Metal has
definitely been like a constant mantra for me, but I've never been a
fiendish collector or anything. It's like a magnifier that makes all
the rest of life more intense. I feel like I've always been
surrounded by metal, trying to get other people interested in the
best music.
lives in heavy metal bands, and the millions of fans who supported
them. There has never been a full-fledged heavy metal history book
like Sound of the Beast, so since it was a wide open field I tried to
make this book as big and as expansive as possible. Of course, I
couldn't include everything, but I tried to pack the book tight with
information and stories. The early negotiations happened in 1998, and
I started writing the next summer. It took three years, but whenever
I was completely out of energy I would rediscover a Testament or
Emperor record and just keep fighting to finish!
sucked. I liked the idea of calling it something similar to "Call of
the Wild" or "Barbarians at the Gate," but those names were taken. I
wanted to call it Whiplash! for a long time, and later I said fuck
it, how about an elemental name like Blood! Fire! Death! Ultimately
we settled on Sound of the Beast, and now I can't imagine any
different.
fun at that misconception. To me, the "beast" is the wild, untamed
animal part of human nature which heavy metal reaches in a really
spectacular way. Metal is a connection between the strapped,
subjugated modern world and the untamed feral spirit inside us all. I
think of it more like a wolf howling in the night than any kind of
satanic shit. Metalheads understand and love chaos, and the world is
chaos, so...
editor Bret Witter for sticking with me even after the publisher
changed hands, and he had no reason to keep reading my hundreds of
pages about heavy metal. The original publisher, Avon Books, produced
the Satanic Bible, Necronomicon, and Cryptonomicon, but they were
acquired by HarperCollins before I finished, a major publisher that
presented huge challenge and opportunity. Yes, it was a labor of love
-- and I had to struggle to make everyone at the company understand
that. Ultimately, they supported me, as you can tell from the
finished book!
and Jess Cox as it was Dee Snider and Lars Ulrich. Some people were
difficult to find because they weren't making music any more. Others
had big star systems around them that were hard to break through. I
have to say, once I reached them everyone from Kiss to the Accused
were incredibly cool and generous with their time. Nobody was
embarrassed about their past -- I mean, Slayer were even willing to
talk about wearing make-up! -- and I have ultimate respect for the
honesty of metal musicians. One interview I could never snag was
Lemmy, because he was writing his own autobiography. I think that was
a mistake on his part, but I tried. The only person who was even
slightly a jerk was Glenn Danzig, which is interesting because he
comes from a punk background, not metal.
long ago. It was cool to delve into the pioneer period, even if
briefly. The toughest time period to capture was 1990-91, because
there were so many different forces at work: the death of glam, the
rise of Metallica, the huge surge of death metal at the time, the
appearance of White Zombie, and the changing of Pantera. The usual
boring story is that grunge killed metal, but that's bullshit. It was
a complex time, and ultimately Metallica killed Nirvana in popularity.
Yes, I was 13 when Kill 'Em All came out, so I did follow their rise
for many years with personal satisfaction. They were the band that
proved all the crazy rules of the fans could be correct -- no videos,
no hair, no bullshit. Of course, they were cardboard soldiers by the
end of the 1980s, but I still viewed their success as a good thing. I
think a lot of people felt that way. For a time, Metallica was
important to everyone: fans of doom metal, black metal, and regular
heavy metal. They have probably sold more records than all other
heavy metal bands combined, and they took heavy metal to new places
-- even if those places eventually became very sketchy. They were
also a great touchstone, and as a backbone helped organize the book
for readers who know nothing about metal. That was important to me --
I want not only every heavy metal fan but also their parents to read
this book!
fell through the cracks: Helloween, Pentagram, and Dream Theater
included. You're right -- I was looking forward throughout the book,
and after many pages on Testament, Celtic Frost, and Napalm Death in
the 1980s, there was barely room left for Helloween. There's always
one rabbit that gets away... I think the book does a good job
explaining of how a band like Helloween could develop -- the context
is all there.
Personally, I think bands like Rhapsody sound more like the old radio
AOR rock bands like Asia than heavy metal. It's very operatic, but
too much like Fellini -- I like hard-edged Pasolini metal!
metal records. In 1993, I began playing fiddle and started the
traditional Appalachian murder ballad bluegrass band Grouse Mountain
Skyride here in New York. We played with junkie rock bands like Royal
Trux, and eventually put our songs out on Kill Rock Stars and our
own. So when I first heard Emperor and Darkthrone, I could hear the
fast Norwegian folk influence. The Finnish band Ajattara is also
awesome at combining folk and metal. I think the ultimate folk metal
masterpiece still lays ahead of us -- I'm always interested to hear
folk-inspired bands.
No, I think the original hardcore rap groups that you mentioned were
revolutionary and raw. Nu metal is commercial music. Even though
bands like Korn are filled with angst, they're very calculated and
seek not to truly offend anyone. Mass media has gotten very smart at
using nudity and profanity to seem dangerous, but it's still for
sheep. That's why you'll never hear Darkthrone on Ozzfest -- too
vulnerable and dangerous. People slam Slipknot, but at least they've
gotten heavier with each album, and at least they get huge audiences
to go completely physically wild and crazy.
So let's see what you think about the following ideas.
Okay -- what do you want to know?
traditional heavy metal skills everywhere in 2003. Not just the
Haunted and Cradle of Filth, but hardcore bands like Unearth and the
godly Converge are using crazy guitar solos and traditional metal
chops. The popularity of so-called "power metal" bands I think is a
reaction to the lack of solos in aggressive metal.
Do you think we are on the verge of seeing the birth of yet another metal genre? If so who, what, and where will it come from??
violent insanity. It will come from where you least expect it --
Switzerland, French Canada, the former Czech Republic, or Morocco.
Extreme death metal with bizarre dramatic vocals has yet to be
mastered, but we need it. Everyone loves a brutal growler, but it's
important to hear the lyrics.
survive with their creativity intact will conquer. Too many bands
burn out after one or two albums.
Yes! To everyone from crusty old bangers to young greenhorns: buy
Sound of the Beast and read the fuck out of it!!! It belongs close to
the heart of all metalheads. I think there's something inside for
everyone from the most hardened veteran to the distant relatives of
headbangers. This is your story, about the music that beat the system
and sold a quarter-billion albums by appealing to the fans. Check out
http://www.soundofthebeast.com
for updates, reviews, and news on the
book.
Final comment: Don't forget about the West Memphis Three. Those kids
have been in jail for ten years now, because the prosecutors
convinced a simple-minded jury that anyone wearing a black heavy
metal T-shirt could be guilty of murder. Read the chapter in Sound of
the Beast for background, and check http:///www.wm3.org
for updates.
As far as I'm concerned, the entire heavy metal community should be
doing everything possible to set these people free.
Beast wishes, and thanks for the interview!!
IAN CHRISTE
