Memories of Metal

(this was going to be just a comment in reply to a post by "Happy Frog and I" but I fear it will be even longer than usual once I hit my stride so I'll make it a post in its own right)

First a quick thank you to the brains behind Happy Frog and I for the plug.  Also I loved your most recent post, that on Heavy Metal. Very evocative. In many ways those memories could have been mine. Save for the bit about jewelry and fake tattoos and being rescued although I know similar things happened to several friends.

I remember being in just such a group at school, there were as I recall several factions, most notably the 'metals' and the 'indies'. Aside from that were no doubt goths and devotees of other musical genres and then there were the 'popular' people who were probably guided musically by radio 1 and TOTP.

It was the Indies and the Metals in particular that fought over the common room stereo and once won, would guard their prize fiercely. We thought we were unique and different, but my guess is the same thing was going on up and down the country and no doubt in other lands where Metal was king - however unlike the Germans we had little or no time for the Scorpions. In fact the guess has proved to be just so as Happy frog and I so eloquently attest

I recall that an encyclopedic knowledge of bands, their members and their origins was almost obligatory...This was at a time when Jason Newsted had just filled the gap in Metallica left by the late great Cliff Burton and opinion was very much still divided on the matter.
Somewhere from back in the dark and dusty recesses of my memory comes the image of a center spread from Metal Hammer Magazine, which although I cannot remember its title, was a Heavy Metal 'family tree' beginning with likes of Sabbath and Zeppelin and showing the lineage - bands influenced by and directly descended from. It was at the time more important than the A-levels, AS levels, or GCSE retakes that my comrades and I should have been devoting our time to. To this day I still remember more of the time spent in the common room than the class room. Whether this is a good thing or not is something I cannot possibly comment on, although I do occasionally wear a Metallica or Led Zep t-shirt to work (one of the blessings of being in a creative profession I guess)

I can recall, still, with a wry smile when Appetite For Destruction came out the headmaster mistakenly banned the playing of The Stone Roses, thus deepening the rift between the metals and the indies.

Now I enjoy a wide range of musical genres (just the other day I listened to only De La Soul and found it really rather enjoyable, whereas the day before had been an AC/DC day), it seems funny to think how closed my mind was back then to anything that strayed from the "true path of metal"™ (not easy to make the 'horns' while typing!)  I still love guitar based rock music and the bands of my youth have been etched indelibly onto my soul and most certainly my ear drums. While I am open minded to most things, until there is reason to be otherwise, there are times when only metal will do - It is hard to explain but occasionally I just HAVE to listen to the likes of Anthrax, Motörhead, Metallica, Iron Maiden or Soundgarden. Thankfully the genre is wide and diverse and I can switch to something such as Therapy? as a bit of a break. Let's not get into a heated debate about what is and what isn't metal... I mean nowadays Def Leppard isn't what you would call extreme - let's just say I like what I like and I am always right.

The lyrics of Suicidal Tendencies "You Can't Bring Me Down" sum up that period in my life and to a degree have stayed true to this day:

First off-let's take it from the start
Straight out-can't change what's in my heart
No one-can tear my beliefs apart

Just cause you don't understand what's going on don't mean it don't make no sense
And just cause you don't like it, don't mean it ain't no good

I learned last week that none other than the great Lemmy had signed up as part of a promotion for a well known beer brand to record a slowed down version of The Ace Of Spades. At first I was aghast, but soon began to think: "Hmm, might be worth a listen".

It could all have been so very different. My parents were the of the generation that were the original teenagers. Born in the war years, they never ceased to tire of telling me that they had been there and done it all before and better. They did indeed blaze the trail for us. They had the new rock n roll, it was a pioneering time without a doubt, but as with every generation of adolescents before or since, we weren't going to listen to our parents - what could they possibly know of being young... they were... old.

My aunt and uncle were just that bit younger and while mum and dad grew up on a diet of Elvis, Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochran, they had the Beatles and the Stones, Janis and Jimmi, the Doors and the Who. (They also gave me my comedy roots - my dads contribution being The Goons, Hancock and The Navy Lark to name but a few, whereas my uncle worshiped at the church of Monty Python, but that is another story for another day)

With such a start musically I could hardly go wrong, my uncle was a big fan of Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple, a bug he passed to me. But just as I was beginning to appreciate music independently of their influences my dad seemed out of nowhere and for no apparent reason to develop a liking for Country and Western (take heart Happy Frog, you are not alone, I share your pain and torment). At the time and for a long while after I was horrified and ashamed. I later understood the logic behind it - early rock n roll and country music has much in common, and without turning this into a dissertation on musical history, let's just say I understood it, but wasn't happy about it. As age has weathered and mellowed me (surely not!?!) I have even embraced certain aspects of this genre. Johnny Cash and Willy Nelson being just two exponents who's output I respect and enjoy.

Shortly before my father's death we struck a kind of musical truce. I accepted that some Country was OK, but under no circumstances was folk music to be played within my earshot (would he thank me or call me a hypocrite for playing Cat Stevens at his funeral I wonder?). To this day and because of my Dad, one of my favourite songs is 'Always On My Mind' by Willie Nelson and I can't listen to it without shedding copious tears. Elvis' version just doesn't do it for me somehow.  

I now listen to lots of different types of music, but as with "I" of the Happy Frog collaboration, Heavy Metal in its various guises from NWOBHM to thrash to grunge and most points in between, was my first serious musical relationship. I have had flings with sundry other genres and formed lasting relationships yet more still, but I will always love my precious Metal.