Sound of the Beast [UK edition] - Hardcover

Ian Christie

3.97

2,906 ratings by Goodreads

9780749083519: Sound of the Beast [UK edition]

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0749083514 ISBN 13: 9780749083519

Publisher: Allison & Busby, 2004

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Welcome, all ye who dare enter Sound of the Beast, the first definitive and highly illustrated look at the madness and mayhem of heavy metal. From its cataclysmic beginning with Black Sabbath more than thirty years ago to the hyperactive 'nu metal' bands, through to the new chart-top sensation The Darkness, heavy metal has become the dominant musical force around the globe. Yet despite selling more than a quarter-billion albums and breaking into new markets wherever it can be heard, metal has never been given a complete overview of its dark, powerful, and untamed history - until now. With hair bristling and fangs bared, Sound of the Beast is the must-read story of heavy metal for die-hard fans, fresh converts, and musical thrill seekers alike. Hear the call of the wild as this dark, 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.

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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.

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