Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal - Hardcover

Ian Christe

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 006052362X ISBN 13: 9780060523626

Publisher: HarperEntertainment, 2003

Synopsis

Welcome, all ye who dare enter Sound of the Beast, the first definitive look at the madness and mayhem of heavy metal. From its cataclysmic beginning with Black Sabbath over 30 years ago to the hyperactive nu metal bands ripping apart the charts today, heavy metal has become the dominant musical force around the globe. Yet despite selling over a quarter-billion albums and breaking into new markets wherever it can be heard, there has never been a complete overview of metal's dark, powerful, and untamed history -- until now.

Pieced together through countless hours of research and first-hand accounts from the masters of met al themselves, Sound of the Beast reveals the underground history to the first three decades of headbanging mania. Included here are heavy metal's primitive origins; the rise and fall of MTV hair metal; Metallica's successful quest for world domination; the devilish frenzy of Florida death metal; the church-burning fever of Scandinavia's morbid teen terrorists; and metal's return to center stage at the hands of Ozzfest and Ozzy Osbourne. Plus, readers will get:

• 20 chapters based on interviews with Black Sabbath, Metallica, Slayer, W.A.S.P., Slipknot, and over 100 of heavy metal's greatest bands
• A timeline of the most explosive happenings in metal from 1970 to 2002
• Never-before-seen color photos and over 100 images from the metal revolution
• A listing of 25 heavy metal masterpieces that changed music history
• Genre boxes breaking down dozens of metal styles, from thrash and black metal to avant-garde and beyond, including essential CDs
• Exclusive insight from Chuck D of Public Enemy, Iron Maiden artist Derek Riggs, the directors of Paradise Lost, and more

With hairs bristling and fangs bared, Sound of the Beast is the must-read story of heavy metal for die-hard fans, fresh new converts, and musical thrill-seekers alike. Hear the call of the wild as this extreme, elusive, and ear-splitting form of music finally gets its justice, and leaves everyone in its wake banging their heads and flipping the devil sign for years to come.

About this title

About the Author:

Ian Christe grew up in the metal strongholds of Switzerland, NewMexico, Indiana, Germany, and Washington. He moved to New York Cityin 1992, and has covered emerging technology and fringe culture forReuters, Wired, and Salon.com. His hundreds of articles on heavymetal have appeared in Spin, AP, CMJ, Metal Maniacs, and the Trouser Press Guide to '90s Rock and been cited by The New York Times.

From Publishers Weekly:

Few books on heavy metal music can compare to Christe's thoughtful and passionate history of the music of the beast. There is little argument that heavy metal began in earnest with Black Sabbath (though the Beatles' "Helter Skelter" is considered by some to be the first heavy metal song), and Christe holds to convention and begins his metal timeline in early 1970. Following in the jamming, bluesy tradition of the Yard Birds and Cream, Sabbath (then called Earth) wrote "Black Sabbath"-a song that changed not only the band's name, but the face of rock and roll. Black Sabbath set the pace, but bands like Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple "fleshed out the edges and gave it sex appeal." The next wave, the new wave of British heavy metal, saw the emergence of Motorhead, Saxon and Iron Maiden among many others. The movement then spread through America and found most bands cropping up out of L.A. (although many migrated from the Midwest). Van Halen, Ratt and Motley Crue grew out of the then underground club scene. Christe doesn't get bogged down in anecdotes about bands and their groupies, but instead documents the music and its different genres. Each chapter contains helpful "genre boxes" giving a brief description of the style (e.g., Power Metal, Death Metal and Nu Metal). If Christe is to be faulted, it is on the grounds of hero worship: he's a metal fan, scribe (a music writer living in Brooklyn) and practitioner (in a digital metal band called Black Noerd), and readers might wish for more critical analysis about the culture of fans. But this is a minor point in a book otherwise worthy of having its dog-eared and beer-stained pages passed among friends and placed in motel-room bedside drawers. 94 b&w photos, and 16-page color insert not seen by PW.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperEntertainment
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 006052362X
• ISBN 13: 9780060523626
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 400