>I was planning on taking a detour from the FIVE series and doing an old fashioned album review but the Lord of Blogs Turner requested Heavy Metal so I am obliged to oblige him. As you will be familiar with from my previous desperate efforts to save face my choices come with a large caveat; Heavy Metal is extremely vague. I think Hard Rock is generally a better category but less exciting sounding. The reason for my caution is that Heavy Metal as a genre is extremely hard to define. Does there need to be a certain percentage of satanism for bands to qualify? Surely Alice Cooper is HM or is he more glam? Thin Lizzy are loud enough but does Phil Lynott’s flair for small town lyricism exile them from the grandiose paganism of Osbourne et al? Can Guns N Roses be pigeon holed as metal when they seem the anti-thesis of so much of its early proponents? I don’t have an answer to these questions but I simply propose that the very fact I have raised them be enough for you to forgive any controversy my selections raise.
Heavy Metal
Run to the Hills by Iron Maiden
I certainly feel my opening track to be at home in the genre and quite frankly there are few better at show-casing the uncontrollable adrenalin rush that make this style of music so appealing. As a History teacher I even admire the shamefully hyperbolic interpretation of the consequences of wide-scale population migration in the American West. I would suspect that much of the global sympathy for the Sioux Indians originates from sweaty, long haired metallers. Historical contribution aside, the simple drum beat that starts the track is guaranteed to inspire palpable excitement amongst groups of men all over the planet. When the guitar comes in and Bruce begins any plans you had for the next four minutes can be put on hold.
ListenwithDanger 