Running Free

As I mentioned in a previous post, growing up in Southern California in the early 80’s there was a very sharp dividing line between punk/new wave music, which was considered cool, and heavy metal music, which was considered so uncool it didn’t even register on the social scale.  New wave music was the music of the rich kids, the college bound kids, the beach/surfer crowd, while heavy metal was the purview of the poorer kids, the inland kids.  In fact, being an ‘inlander’ was one of the worst insults you could throw at someone.  Other towns in America have townies and gownies, or there is a big divide between the town/city kids and the country/rural kids; in Southern California it was how near or far you were from the ocean that delineated cool from uncool.  In Long Beach, where I was raised, Wilson High school was the closest one to the beach and we therefore looked down at every other high school in the city as a bunch of “inlanders”.   

The social divide between beach/new wave kids and inlanders/heavy metal was even made literal and geographical:  Seal Beach, a local beach community (which the heavy metal kids called “Squeal Beach” for reasons I could never determine) was divided between the “rocker” side, where the metal kids would congregate on weekends in their Def Leppard and Ratt t-shirts (having taken the “Landshark” bus from inland to get there), and the “new wave” side, where the local kids and other beach town kids would hang out. 

I therefore grew up with only the most rudimentary knowledge of heavy metal.  Obviously I’d heard of metal pioneers like Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, etc. in the 70’s, but I hadn’t grown up listening to them like most kids had.   My only real exposure to anything that was going on in the metal world came sporadically through occasional videos shown on the seminal Southern California music video program MV3.

It’s interesting though, with hindsight to see that at the very same time that one revolution was underway, another was just beginning.  Even while the very first peak of the punk wave was cresting in England and post-punk and new wave were gaining ground, another revolution was bubbling up from underground.  This was of course the New Wave of British Heavy Metal or NWOBHM (occasionally known as NWOBM, the “heavy” being understood).  Heavy metal, of course grew out of the heavy, psychedelic blues explorations in the late 60’s by such bands as Cream, the Who, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, the Yardbirds, Jeff Beck Group, Humble Pie, and Led Zeppelin.  As the 70’s wore on, the music became louder, less obviously blues-influenced, the guitars more prominent, and heavy metal started to become a more recognizable genre.  The first wave of what might be considered true heavy metal bands was epitomized by Black Sabbath, Deep Purple,  Judas Priest, and the Scorpions, while other bands, including Grand Funk Railroad, Budgie, Nazareth, Blue Oyster Cult, UFO, and Uriah Heep also helped define the harder, heavier sound of the emerging genre.

By the late 70’s, however, metal was in decline, forced underground by the three-pronged attack of punk, disco, and the California/country/feel good music of bands like Fleetwood Mac, the Eagles, and Linda Ronstadt.  Moreover, most of the top metal acts were huge stadium stars who were not making music that seemed particularly vital to the average fan on the street.  So, much like punk was a revival of an earlier musical form (the pre-Beatles rock and roll single), heavy metal began as a groundswell of young artists wishing to recapture the energy and passion of the earliest forms of the music.   Many of these artists therefore infused their music, which sonically, lyrically, and structurally was heavy metal through and through, with the roughness and naked emotion of punk. 

Perhaps no band better epitomized this than Iron Maiden.  Formed in 1975 by bassist Steve Harris, Maiden went through several lineup changes and even disbanded on a couple of occasions but in 1978 vocalist Paul Di’Anno joined the band and they began to develop a rabid following.  Most of their fans were lower middle class males who found the politics and bombast of punk to be uninspiring—mostly there were kids who simply wants to ROCK, and bands like Iron Maiden and others quickly filled this void. 

Listening to Iron Maiden’s first two albums, Iron Maiden and Killers, is interesting now with the tincture of time.   On the one hand, it’s obvious that Maiden is taking what Judas Priest and the Scorpions were doing, and pushing it even farther into what would be heavy metal and eventually speed metal—the guitar riffs are faster, tighter, more technical, the solos longer and more elaborate, more head banging.  Even at this early point, the dual guitars, the guitar harmonies, and the technicality of the riffing makes this music hearken to an almost classical rock sound.  But on the other hand, there’s a roughness, a crudeness to their sound that evokes the rawness of punk, and Paul Di’Anno’s vocals are not the high pitched caterwaul of so many Robert Plant imitators to come after but often have a roughness more in line with punk.  For these reasons I’ve come to enjoy songs like “The Prowler”, “Sanctuary”, “Running Free”, “Wrathchild”, “Killers”, and “Murders in the Rue Morgue”.

However, after Killers, Di’Anno was asked to leave as his substance abuse began to adversely affect his ability to perform, and Bruce Dickinson stepped in.  Dickinson’s operatic range (his falsetto took Robert Plant’s and Rob Halford’s to the next level) and theatrical personality kicked Maiden to another level entirely; they left much of the rough, punkish feel of their early days behind but in the process became arguably the greatest metal band that ever existed.  Their third album, Number of the Beast, literally defined the genre for all time (for better or worse).  The title track is an anthemic, galloping blast of energy as moving and emotional and exciting as “New Rose” by the Damned.  This is by no means thinking man’s music—already we see a fixation with, almost an obsession with, themes of mysticism and evil worship lifted directly from Zep and Sabbath—but the music is so compelling—fast, tight, crisp, and furious—that it overcomes the severe limitations of the lyrical content.  The other huge hit off this record is of course “Run to the Hills”, another speed of light metal assault that is also catchy and irresistible as hell, with lyrics with a little more heft that decry the devastation of the Indian nations by white settlers in pioneer America.  This music was never my music, and will never speak to me as deeply as punk, powerpop, and new wave will, but I can’t deny that these are outstanding , passionate songs excellently written, performed, and recorded. 

Maiden of course went on to be one of the most successful recording and touring metal artists of all time, releasing endless popular albums (though personally I feel like they started to lose steam after Seventh Son of a Seventh Son).  Another hugely popular band to emerge from the NWOBHM scene was Def Leppard, who were just as influential in establishing the more melodic or pop side of heavy metal, which was dominant throughout the 80’s.  Strangely, their albums are not available on iTunes or Rhapsody but are available through Walmart.com, can be found on Last.com, and VH1’s web page shows their videos.  Of course like everyone I like “Photograph” and “Rock of Ages”, but my favorite songs come off their first couple of albums, before their sound became more overtly pop and still has a pretty hard edge.  “Rocks Off”, from their first album On Through the Night, has a repetitive riff that sounds very similar to work by Iron Maiden at around the same time, and the vocals are low key.  “Let It Go” off their second album High N’ Dry has a fantastically catchy opening riff by guitarist Phil Collen and singer Joe Elliot’s voice has an almost angry timber, starting from a low murmur and building to a shriek, furious crescendo.  The title track also has a catchy riff that hints at the pop direction they would take on future tracks like “Photograph”, but the chorus sounds like classic AC/DC-driven hard rock.  “Bringin’ On the Heartbreak is their first big ballad, and again their future success can be glimpsed early on.

Iron Maiden and Def Leppard became international superstars.  Most other NWOBHM bands did not achieve nearly the same level of success, but a couple actually did develop substantial followings within the metal realm.  One of these was Saxon, who played a stripped down biker-influenced hard rock that was closer to the music of AC/DC and Thin Lizzy.  My favorite songs of theirs are “Wheels of Steel”, “Motorcycle Man”, “Machine Gun”, “Watching the Sky”, “Crusader”, and of course my all-time favorite, “Denim and Leather”, which is a paean to their fans and early supporters and which sports one of the biggest, heaviest, most head banging riffs ever.  This is actually one of my favorite metal songs of all time, because I love any song that celebrates rock, and a particular genre, itself; to me this song is a metal counterpart to “Promises Promises” by Generation X, which similarly sought to winnow the poseurs from the committed.

Several NWOBHM bands achieved notoriety much later for the direct influence they had on the band that would become the most successful proponent of heavy metal in America, Metallica.  Drummer Lars Ulrich has always been very vocal about Metallica’s massive musical debt to the NWOBHM scene, and Metallica has released a large number of covers of songs by these bands.  Its interesting in this respect to listen to these songs and hear the echo of future Metallica songs.  One obvious inspiration was “Heavy Metal Mania” by the Scottish NWOBHM band Holocaust, which starts with a guitar-driven intro almost identical to “For Whom the Bell Tolls” off Metallica’s second album, Ride the Lightning.  Vocalist James Hetfield also clearly based much of his angry, evil delivery (particularly on early work such as Kill ‘Em All) on that of Holocaust vocalist Gary Lettice’s on this and other songs such as “Smokin’ Valves” and “Mavrock”.  A casual fan might even be forgiven for mistaking these three songs for long lost Metallica demos or something, they sound so much like material off Kill ‘Em All.

Another huge influence on Metallica was Leicester band Blitzkrieg.  Metallica covered their song “Blitzkrieg” on the Creeping Death EP.  Their song “Buried Alive” sounds like it was a clear inspiration for Metallica’s “Creeping Death”, having a similar structure and tempo.  “Night Howl” is another song that falls midway between Kill ‘Em All and Ride the Lightning era Metallica.

A third NWOBHM band that hugely influenced Metallica was Diamond Head.  Metallica has covered no fewer than four Diamond Head songs: “The Prince”, “Am I Evil?”, “Its Electric”, and “Helpless”.  Diamond Head always reminded me of Thin Lizzy in their crunchy, catchy, twin guitar attack, which pulls as much from hard rock as it does from heavy metal, and in Nick Tart’s almost quavery vocals.  “Its Electric” is my favorite song by them, with its driving rhythm and soaring chorus.  “Play It Loud” is a close second, however; again, Tart’s wavering, breaking vocals provide this fast, driving, punchy song with a tension that makes it compelling listening.  “Lightning to the Nations” has accents of the light speed riffing of Metallica’s “Whiplash” but builds to a soaring chorus rather than Hetfield’s barked ‘WHIPLASH!”  Many of these Diamond Head songs are available on iTunes, but nothing by Holocaust and only two recent albums by Blitzkrieg are available there.  A band who had a similar sound and feel were Angel Witch; Lars Ulrich has often mentioned them by name but to my knowledge Metallica has never covered them; their eponymous song “Angel Witch”, however, has an early Metallica feel.

Another NWOBHM band which evokes the supersonic riff onslaught of early Metallica is Chateaux.  “White Steel” off their 1984 album Firepower starts with such a blistering blast of ultrafast riffing that it will blow your socks clean off.  This song to me evokes the song “See You In Hell” by Grim Reaper (who, perhaps not coincidentally, were labelmates to Chateaux during this time; vocalist Steve Grimmett eventually left Chateaux and joined Reaper and went on to bigger success).  “Rock and Roll Thunder” has the blazing tempo of “Whiplash”.  Anyone who likes early Metallica should check these guys out; both songs are posted on YouTube.  Similar to this is “Red Light” by Black Axe; Metallica never covered this but it’s a sure thing that they listened to this as it sounds similar to their own light-themed song, “Hit the Lights”.

Another heavy rock outfit from the NWOBHM movement were Savage (not to be confused with another NWOBHM band, Sweet Savage).  “Cry Wolf” off 1983’s Loose N’ Lethal is rough, sloppy, heavy slabs of metal organized around singer Kevin Osborn’s operatic vocals, but their best known song is “Let It Loose” off the same album, which has the same raw, street level metal feel. 

I can’t find much information about the Handsome Beasts except that they were perhaps one of the most ironically named bands of the NWOBHM movement; singer Gary Galway was notoriously overweight (even appearing with a pig on the band’s 1981 Beastiality album).  Their sound is midway between Motorhead and Thin Lizzy, with Galway’s high pitched vocals.  “Sweeties” has a catchy riff and a singalong chorus, while “Breaker” has a heavier, gloomier feel more like Sabbath.  Both are posted on YouTube along with a couple other songs.

Working closer to the realm of AC/DC is Dedringer; “Direct Line” has a simple but soaring guitar sound and vocalist John Hoyle (who was later replaced by Neil Garfitt) sounds like late era Bon Scott.  “Hot Lady” has a more prog rock-ish Deep Purple sound.  Both are available on YouTube for your listening pleasure.   Another hard rock/boogie outfit was the wonderfully named biker outfit Dumpy’s Rusty Nuts.  Their “Hot Lover” has the simplicity of early Motorhead or AC/DC.

Several NWOBHM bands produced more melodic approach more in line with the work of Def Leppard.  “Don’t Ever Want to Lose Ya” by Bronz is an upbeat blast of pop metal with slick vocal melodies and soaring guitar harmonies.  One band that should have been way bigger were Gaskin (named after singer and lead guitarist Paul Gaskin); “Sweet Dream Maker” is wonderful pop metal with the catchy riffs and propulsive beat of early Metallica but the sweet soaring vocal harmonies of Def Leppard; its hands down one of the best NWOBHM songs ever written.  “I’m No Fool” is a little harder (it sounds a bit like Holocaust but with smoother vocals) but still contains a catchy chorus; “High Crime Zone” has a prog rock edge but also evokes Paul Di’Anno era Iron Maiden, “Sanctuary” for example.   One of the earliest NWOBHM bands to release an album was Mythra; their 1979 single “Death and Destiny” is another excellent song that has the heavy rocking metal element but also has a catchy chorus and melodic hooks throughout that make it a complete package.  “Overlord” is faster and less melodic but still worth checking out.  Most of these songs are also available on YouTube.

Samson was famous for being the band that Bruce Dickinson smartly left to join Iron Maiden; “Hard Times” has a pulsing bass and Dickinson’s characteristic operatic vocals, and anyone interested in Dickinson’s pre-Maiden work should check it out.  Big on guitar harmonies is “Cheated” by Praying Mantis, who pursued a sound midway between the melodic hard rock of Def Lep and the metal guitar histrionics of Maiden.   Chrome Molly also created some catchy Lep-inspired music, including “Too Far Gone”, though this song is louder and messier than anything Lep ever recorded.  Another act that never made it big but had big catchy melodic songs were Tygers of Pan Tang; “The Story So Far” is excellent in this regard, as is “Take It”.  However, their earlier work, such as on their debut album Wild Cat (which featured a different vocalist and guitarist), is much more raw; songs like “Killers” and “Slave To Freedom” are technically sound but have that same punk era crudity as Iron Maiden’s first two albums. 

Several NWOBHM bands mined deeply from the evil/Satanic imagery of Black Sabbath, including the similarly named Witchfinder General and Witchfynde.  Both made sludgy metal that could also be surprisingly catchy; “Free Country” by Witchfinder General and “Give ‘Em Hell” by Witchfynde both have memorable riffs similar to “Paranoid” by Sabbath.   And of course the band who took this fascination with the occult and devil worship the farthest (at least at that time), Venom, created an entire genre which would be known as black metal.

At the same time this metal revolution was fomenting in England during the late 70’s and early 80’s a similar movement was gathering steam in America.  At least initially most American metal would focus more on the melodic side of metal, which they combined with the feminized glam look of the New York Dolls, which would eventually result in the hair or pop metal movement of bands like Poison and Warrant in the late 80’s.  Early on, bands like Motley Crue, Quiet Riot and Ratt would make some excellent music before their imitators drowned the entire movement in mediocrity. 

I honestly believe that the hair metal explosion of the late 80’s was one of the nadirs in the history of rock music.  Every musical movement eventually gets glutted with johnny-come-latelies and mediocrity, but I truly believe that the hair metal movement had more bad bands than good, and I can’t say that about punk, new wave, grunge, or any other movement of the past 60 years.  I probably have fewer songs by hair metal bands than I do of any other genre. 

But the metal explosion in the 80’s definitely had positive side effects on rock as well.  In Los Angeles, a number of bands began to incorporate elements of classic 70’s heavy metal artists such as Black Sabbath as well as other 70’s influences into their punk inspired music, most notably Black Flag and other bands affiliated with the SST record label.  In Seattle, several bands started playing slower, heavier, sludgier music that in the fullness of time would morph into what would be known as grunge.  And the aforementioned Metallica as well as other American bands would take up the banner created by NWOBHM and create speed metal and/or thrash, a melding of the speed and technical riffing of metal with the fury and intensity of punk.  Hardcore punk itself would start incorporating more of the elements of metal and would converge toward thrash to form crossover.    Ultimately the line between metal and punk would become so blurred that it would almost cease to exist, and as a result new and different sub-strains of rock would be formed.