Steel plant in Birmingham, UK.It has been three decades, but it yet remains a task for a documentary maker to properly reflect the rise, the glory and the fall of New Wave of British Heavy Metal to the screens. Seems an improbable task, in this age of commercial music. But nevertheless, history cannot be erased: NWOBHM was there, it affected a whole generation, transformed music and gave metal the edge, the direction and the raw power that many acts today still feed from - whether they are aware or not...
NWOBHM, though heavily influenced by punk, was also a reaction against 'commercialized punk,' as much as it was a rebellion against the "soulless virtuosity" that great bands such as Deep Purple were venturing into with overly complex rhythms and "half-hour-long" solos. That episode in history, when ideas collide in musical form, should be a lesson for the future, as similar - but never the same - collisions occured, and still occur, periodically. Thrash metal, a genre which this writer is proud to be part of, was heavily influenced by NWOBHM, while also raising the "flag of hate" against commercialized pop-metal. It drew a thick line between exploiting young anger and feeding from it; by being true to its listeners, thrash became to be our answer to the world. And yes, we learned NWOBHM "through" thrash, just like many kids who are hopefully learning thrash through today's modern metal acts.
Having said all these, this writer understands the musical importance of both Deep Purple and of Mötley Crüe, but what NWOBHM, thrash and today death metal embody go far deeper. They are the essence of metal, and that essence is definitely not only about music. The essence is of empowerment, organization, coordination, action, unity, all related to being part of something much bigger than a single individual. All those are reflexes and reflections of an oppressed but creative class. Tony Iommi's and Biff Byford's lost fingers still testify to what that class is.... So, long live New Wave of British Heavy Metal!
By the way, you might want to check the article on The Guardian on the genre...
NWOBHM, though heavily influenced by punk, was also a reaction against 'commercialized punk,' as much as it was a rebellion against the "soulless virtuosity" that great bands such as Deep Purple were venturing into with overly complex rhythms and "half-hour-long" solos. That episode in history, when ideas collide in musical form, should be a lesson for the future, as similar - but never the same - collisions occured, and still occur, periodically. Thrash metal, a genre which this writer is proud to be part of, was heavily influenced by NWOBHM, while also raising the "flag of hate" against commercialized pop-metal. It drew a thick line between exploiting young anger and feeding from it; by being true to its listeners, thrash became to be our answer to the world. And yes, we learned NWOBHM "through" thrash, just like many kids who are hopefully learning thrash through today's modern metal acts.
Having said all these, this writer understands the musical importance of both Deep Purple and of Mötley Crüe, but what NWOBHM, thrash and today death metal embody go far deeper. They are the essence of metal, and that essence is definitely not only about music. The essence is of empowerment, organization, coordination, action, unity, all related to being part of something much bigger than a single individual. All those are reflexes and reflections of an oppressed but creative class. Tony Iommi's and Biff Byford's lost fingers still testify to what that class is.... So, long live New Wave of British Heavy Metal!
By the way, you might want to check the article on The Guardian on the genre...
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