h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

True Heavy Metal was not founded by, or Follows suit to the stereotypical comments
already written in this article and it's previous discussions.
Heavy Metal originated in Birmingham England in 1969, invented by four (then)
kids by the names of Frank Iommi, John Osbounre, Terrence Butler and Bill Ward,
whom did by no means dress alike, or pierce their nipples. Instead, the formed a
band known as Black Sabbath. Yes they did originate playing metal loud, but the reason for
this was they were sick of people in the pups chit-chating durring their perfomances.
Tony Iommi said, "Lets turn up real loud...they'll have to listen". Also, contrary to
popular belife, Black Sabbath was NOT a satanic band. While some of there songs
delt with demonics, It was the fear of them, not the worship of. Even the Notorious
N.I.B. was not about one's soul being taken over by the devil, but rather was written
as satan falling in love with a mortal and not knowing what to do.
Subsequent bands like motor head and the like do not fit the stereotypical
flavor set here, which seems to more accutatly describe the "gimmick rock" of
KISS, and the followers of that school of thinking. With that, it's back to the Phone Box with me...

I believe it was the late great William Burroughs who coined the term 'Heavy Metal music'.
He always wore a suit and tie and was very neatly turned out. He had no piercings or tattoos.
He did however shoot his wife in the head one day when he was pretending to be William Tell.
Ye cannae get more metal than that.

Is anyone else around here greatly disappointed with what passes for ROCK these days? The kids just don't know about good music anymore.

I used to have a crush on Lemmy but thankfully I grew out of it.

Yeah, he sounds like a pretty f****d up guy. A friend of me always qoute him, something like "nothing is true, everthing is allowed" (close?). I heard that he tried almost all the drugs there is (from alcohol to heroin) and managed to stay alive until he was 90 or something? Never heard any connection about him and rock n' roll, thats cool - have to read some of his books, you got any tips?

I must warn you that his books tend to turn you into a pretty warped, cracked psycho; but seeing as you're already on h2g2 I'll take that as a given

The best book to start with is probably "Exterminator", a series of short stories that will acquaint you with Burroughs' singular vision of the world (and the ever present underworld beneath it's skin), or you could try "Interzone" (more short stories, but a good intro to his 'weirder' writing style).
But the book you really should read is "The Naked Lunch", not because it's the easiest to read (it isn't), just because it is such a classic and one of those books they ought to make people read at school (if only to embarass the f**k out of English Lit teachers.)
It is a DIFFICULT book to read, but only if you approach reading it like you would a 'normal' book. It has a plot of sorts, drug-taking guy is forced from US to Tangiers in search of somewhere where he can take loads more drugs with impunity then stumbles upon a place called Interzone where there is a battle between freedom and the control of society. But the best way to read the book I've found is to dip into it at random and read until you lose it completely. Then leave it for a while, dip in somewhere else. Eventually you'll have read the whole book and ONLY THEN should you attempt reading it from cover to cover IMHO.
If you've ever tried reading James Joyce "Finnegans Wake" or "Ulysses", or any J.P.Sartre, or Samuel Beckett, then this book is very similar in that it is very stream of consciousness. Except it is the stream of semi-conciousness of a f**ked up smackhead genius.
For a more regular narrative, you may wish to read "Junky" which tells of the drug underground of 50's America or "Queer" about a homosexual junkie relationship.
Also worth getting are tapes / 'audio books' which are abridged versions of his works read by the man himself. These help you understand his narrative voice and really help bring out the dynamic of his writing i.e. some sentences are to be drawled and lingered on, others fly by in manic scatter-gun bursts where the delivery is more important than the content.
If you read one Burroughs book and 'get it', you'll end up reading all of them because there is no-one who writes like him or about the stuff he writes about. You'll also never, ever want to try heroin or trust a junkie - which is no bad thing.

The thing is, the origins of heavy metal are deeply rooted in Blues, and this is what Sabbath started out playing, and you can hear the influence in some of Iommi's guitar solos. You are right, Geezer Butler was very fascinated by satanism, but his fascination came from fear, not religious interest.

You never hear a Black Sabbath song that says Satan, or demons are good, they are always portrayed in a scary way.

The thing is with Heavy Metal, is people who comment on it dont know about it.

They would be horrified to see how much of it is just Blues riffs, or classical pieces played very fast and very loud, just the way they should be!

Long live Heavy Metal.

Heavy Metal was born out of a fit of marketing genius. The members of Black Sabbath took a look at the amazing popularity of horror films and literature, and asked themselves if it could be done in rock music. It was all about creating that same reaction. But of course, the entire thing got misunderstood by the religious types, and Mr. Osbourne's habits of peeing on national monuments and biting into live animals didn't help the image too much.

Is there anything else comparable to Sabbath -I know there is a lot of old Death-Metal like Slayer (Reign in Blood (sic?) is a favourite), but I haven't heard anything like Sabbath.

As an aside, you oughta hear what kind of crap music they foist on us here in Canada -I bet all this wimpy stuff is the main cause of trafic jams -nobody will get enough blood up to hit the gas.

When Sabbath were in Vancouver (Oz-fest?), the local police did their best to screw that up as well -I believe they actually had dogs smelling people for drugs. Before you know it, all heavy metal will have to be played on a Hammond Organ.

1984 was the wrong year to pick as the title for the book, but it can't be much longer now.

It's not all bad, unemployment is down (as they have invented a new word for it). Sound familiar?

Whats the new word for unemployment? In canada the word is "job sharing" or "part-time" (ie if you earn $6/hr a few hours per month you are employed).