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Ten Heavy Metal Documentaries

Heavy metal has an intensely loyal fan base. We voraciously devour any output from the bands we love. Liner notes and interviews offer insight into the genre but we always yearn for more. Documentaries can fill that gap. Whether you are into classic, thrash, or death metal, there is a film on this list for every metal fan. THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION PART II: THE METAL YEARS The Decline of Western Civilization famously documented the LA punk scene. By the mid-eighties, heavy metal came to dominate the Sunset Strip.…

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Trick or Treat: Heavy Metal Horror Movie (1986)

The eighties were the golden age of heavy metal and horror movies. Occasionally the two worlds collided. One such union is the 1986 film, Trick or Treat. Trick or Treat stars a metal fan named Eddie Weinbauer who goes by the nickname “Ragman.” As a freethinking outcast, Ragman endures constant torment at the hands of classmates. Heavy metal provides not only an escape from suburban hell, but instills hope in a post-high school existence. Eddie takes inspiration from rocker Sammi Curr. An alumnus of Eddie’s high school, Curr found fame…

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Metal and Punk Songs Based on Horror Movies

THE RAMONES – CHAIN SAW The Ramones released their debut album in 1976. Among songs of sniffing glue, male prostitution, and beating brats with baseball bats was a song inspired by The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. “”Chainsaw” opens with the sound of…well…a chainsaw! The line, “She’ll never get out of there,” recalls the futility of escaping from a cannibalistic house of horrors. The pervasive dark humor of The Ramones is on full display. Mispronouncing “massacre” to rhyme with “took my baby away from me,” keeps a disturbing song lighthearted and fun.…

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Animated Music Videos and Movies

Innovative musicians have long used animation to unite sight and sound. Imaginations run wild when unhindered by reality and anything is possible in a cartoon. From the sixties to the Internet age, the following videos are just a small sampling of what happens when animators interpret rock music. THE BEATLES – YELLOW SUBMARINE The union of animation and rock music dates back to 1968 with a film inspired by The Beatles. Yellow Submarine starred cartoon versions of the Fab Four along with a soundtrack of fan favorites. Yellow Submarine is set…

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The Black Sabbath Cartoon – “Lost” Clip from 1974

Imagine Black Sabbath as stars of their own Saturday morning cartoon. One clip floating around You Tube purports to be just that. Set in 1974, the show would have aired during the Sabbath Bloody Sabbath era. In the roughly three minute segment, Black Sabbath appear as animated caricatures of themselves. Bill Ward guzzles booze and talks incoherently. Ozzy is the ever-present clown, continually getting into hijinks, often without clothes. Tony and Geezer are depicted as stately rock stars that counteract the antics of their drug-addled singer and boozed up drummer.…

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Don’t Look Back: Bob Dylan vs. Donovan

D.A. Pennebaker’s documentary, Don’t Look Back, captures Bob Dylan during his 1965 tour of England. Bringing It All Back Home had peaked at number 1 in the UK. Teenage girls stalk his hotel, fans chase his limousine, and newspapers feed the frenzy with endless Bob Dylan articles. Pop singer Donovan was also enjoying a surge of popularity in 1965. Throughout the film, Dylan is preoccupied with the local press. Seemingly every time he opened the paper, Donovan’s name appeared. Our first hint of jealousy arrives early on. Dylan reads a…

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Ten Punk Rock Movies

As punk rock surfaced from the underground, representations of the genre crept into popular culture. Movie studios promptly produced cartoonish caricatures of punk rock. Invariably, the best film portrayals of punk are documentaries that take their cameras directly to bands and fans. This list features a mix of punk movies ranging from classic documentaries to the rare mainstream work that accurately mirrored the punk aesthetic. ANOTHER STATE OF MIND In 1982, the Better Youth Organization organized a 6-week tour with Youth Brigade and Social Distortion. Both bands and crew piled…

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This is Spinal Tap: Greatest Spinal Tap Moments

The “rockumentary,” This Is Spinal Tap, catches the iconic group as they release the Smell the Glove album. With cameras trailing the band at each turn, moments of triumph are captured. Unfortunately so are blunders. Join us, as we revisit the ten greatest Spinal Tap moments. GETTING LOST BACKSTAGE Early in the film we witness the exciting moments before Spinal Tap takes the stage. Chants of “Tap” echo through the arena. Filled with adrenalin, the band begins a triumphant march to their adoring audience…until it all goes hilariously wrong! Arenas…

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Heavy Metal Parking Lot: Judas Priest 1986

Judas Priest released the divisive Turbo in 1986. Despite alienating core fans with synthesizers and pop hooks, Turbo became the band’s highest charting album to date. The subsequent “Fuel For Life” tour was equally successful. Fans turned out in droves to see Priest live. Although Judas Priest filmed the tour for home video, two filmmakers provided documentation of a different sort. Armed with equipment borrowed from a cable access studio, John Heyn and Jeff Krulik interviewed tailgating fans outside the Capital Centre in Largo, Maryland. Aptly titled, Heavy Metal Parking Lot, the…

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Blue Oyster Cult: Don’t Fear the Reaper in Movies and Television

Blue Oyster Cult scored their biggest hit with “Don’t Fear the Reaper.” The macabre love song quickly transcended the music world to appear in movies and television. With a creepy riff that highlighted a lyrical embrace of death, it’s little wonder that “Reaper” first appeared in a horror film. John Carpenter set quite a precedent when using “Don’t Fear the Reaper” in Halloween. Expertly combining the song’s fixation on death with marijuana culture, he touched on two themes that future filmmakers would revisit. Even in the seventies, “Don’t Fear the…

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