Metal: Headbang for Your Buck

No music genre has more proudly distanced itself from mainstream tastes and embraced any taboo within reach than heavy metal. Yet, once seen as a sure sign of the downfall of Western civilization, today metal enjoys a position of wary acceptance within the popular culture for its gonzo rebel cachet. Every time you think it's hopelessly passé or out of fashion, metal somehow reinfiltrates the mainstream and ensnares a new generation. As we speak, the Guitar Hero and Rock Band videogames are preaching the virtues of shred to millions of unsuspecting households—the genre doggedly refuses to die.

1970 With the release of Black Sabbath's self-titled debut album, heavy metal is born.

1975–80 The New Wave of British Heavy Metal hits back against the bloat of arena rock, defining metal's visual and sonic template for years to come.

1978 Van Halen releases its debut album. Unfortunately, this also gives indirect birth to the Los Angeles "hair metal" scene.

1981 In San Francisco's Bay Area, another "metal revolution" brews with the development of a fast, loud, lean sound known as thrash metal.

1984 Seminal heavy metal mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap hits theaters.

1987 With the release of Napalm Death's Scum and Death's Scream Bloody Gore, death metal is born.

1991 Metallica releases its Black Album to tremendous acclaim the same year that Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" effectively erases the hair metal genre.

1994 Albums by Mayhem, Burzum, and Emperor bring black metal to mainstream attention.

1996 Ozzy Osbourne's Ozzfest traveling festival kicks off across the United States.

For librarians wishing to build a core metal collection on a tight budget, below is a quick 'n' dirty canon of classic albums. Should patrons show interest in these titles, there is much potential for expansion in all directions. Metal has multiplied and subdivided into countless subgenres—thrash, drone, doom, crossover, power metal, death metal, black metal, gore metal, progressive metal—each with its own highlights. In no particular order of importance:

1. AC/DC. Back in Black. Sony. 2003. 1 disc. UPC 6-96998-02072-6.
   Most people wrote AC/DC off after original vocalist Bon Scott died; this near-perfect comeback with new vocalist Brian Johnson was a career high point.
2. Black Sabbath. Paranoid. Warner/WEA. 1990. 1 disc. UPC 0-75992-73272-7.
   The the definitive statement from the Ozzy Osbourne-fronted metal godfathers.
3. Guns N' Roses. Appetite for Destruction. Geffen. 1990. 1 disc. UPC 7-20642-41482-8.
   Axl Rose & Co.'s fierce amalgam of punk and glam rock blew away their Sunset Strip peers and made them a household name.
4. Iron Maiden. Number of the Beast. Sony. 2002. 1 disc. UPC 7-20642-41482-8.
   This 1982 album, Maiden's first with vocalist Bruce Dickinson, is over the top in every sense of the word but with a clutch of catchy tunes.
5. Judas Priest. British Steel. Sony. 2001. 1 disc. UPC 6-96998-57522-6.
   The British metal-ers courted mainstream success with this biker metal album chock-full of anthems like "Breaking the Law" and heavier fare.
6. Megadeth. Peace Sells...but Who's Buying? Capitol. 2004. 1 disc. UPC 7-24359-86242-2.
   Former Metallica guitarist Dave Mustaine finally came into his own on Megadeth's second disc—a smart, confident, thrash metal master class.
7. Metallica. Master of Puppets. Elektra/WEA. 1986. 1 disc. UPC 0-75596-04392-2.
   Wonder why longtime fans still hold a candle for Metallica after a string of disappointing albums? Play this.

Web Addendum

"Building Your Metal Militia"
 [...cont'd...]

8. Carcass. Necroticism: Descanting the Insalubrious. Earache. 2008. 2 discs. UPC 7-45316-42022-6. These Birmingham-based vegetarians reached their creative apex with this perfect hybrid of deathly noise and precise melody, all stitched together with lyrics that would make a CSI fan squeamish.

9. Motorhead. Ace of Spades. Sanctuary. 2001. 1 disc. UPC 0-60768-52062-2.
Gloriously loud and dumb punkish racket from this British trio. Fun fact: Motorhead mainman Lemmy taught Sid Vicious how to play bass.

10. Pantera. Vulgar Display of Power. 1992. 1 disc. UPC 0-75679-17582-3.
Pantera set the tone for heavy metal in the late 1990s—harsh screams, swaggering riffs, and plenty of tortured machismo—with this testosterone-fueled fist to the ears.

11. Queensryche. Operation: Mindcrime. 2003. 1 disc. UPC 7-24358-10682-4.
Queensryche’s 1988 concept album about drugs, fame, and politics has become a cult favorite; it’s dark, epic, and shreddy.

12. Sepultura. Roots. Roadrunner. 1996. 1 disc. UPC 0-16861-89002-5.
Through its tribal undercurrents and downtuned riffs, this Brazilian band accidentally gave birth to nu-metal and changed the face of heavy music.

13. Slayer. Reign in Blood. Sony Legacy. 2007. 1 disc. UPC 8-86971-28822-3.
Faster and more evil than anything else going at the time, this 1986 album has been a benchmark of extreme metal for over 20 years.

14. Van Halen. Van Halen. Warner/WEA. 2000. 1 disc. UPC 0-93624-77372-6.
Quite possibly the cockiest metal band of the early 1980s, but with this debut album, David Lee Roth and the Van Halen brothers walked it like they talked it.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES
Authority in this genre belongs to the fans foremost. The following web sites and periodicals are recommended for staying on top of new trends or brushing up on lost treasures:

Web Sites
Allmusic (allmusic.com)
For authoritative discographies of metal artists both large and small; the bios are objective and insightful.

Blabbermouth (blabbermouth.net)
Bills itself as the CNN of metal news; one of the best places to keep up-to-date on metal happenings.

Encyclopaedia Metallum (www.metalarchives.com)
Collaboratively updated, but closely moderated; great for capsule bios of and discographies for any metal band under the sun.

Metal Sucks (metalsucks.net)
A blog-style site covering mostly new music and updated daily with reviews, interviews, and oft-sarcastic takes on the latest metal news.

Periodicals
Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles (www.bravewords.com) and Metal Maniacs (www.metalmaniacs.com)
To keep up on new releases and where the genre is headed on a more underground level (where metal truly thrives).

Revolver (www.revolvermag.com) and Decibel (www.decibelmagazine.com)
The periodicals of record for more mainstream fare.

Terrorizer (www.terrorizer.com)
For my money, the most knowledgeable and well-produced metal magazine going today.