Review: Sound of the Beast

Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal
Author: Ian Christie
Re-Released: 2004/Harper Entertainment

This book is for anyone who ever loved music, for anyone who ever turned on the radio and sang along at the top of their lungs. As for anyone who ever traded a tape or downloaded an mp3 off Napster or who remembers MTV when Adam Curry was the heart throb and Bret Michaels was all the rage (the first time around) they should consider this book required reading for life and they cannot die until they have committed the lyricism of this text not only to memory, but to heart and soul.

From the opening paragraph: In the beginning there was just a shadowy expanse of night sky and unknown. There in disquieting oblivion whirled the unanswered secrets of history, animated by forces as ancient as civilization itself - everything smoking, silvery, religious, and dark. These strong currents often lay forgotten and docile, until the opportunities of war, crisis, and anguish called forth their awful powers. They had no sound or definition of their own until trapped and subjugated by the epiphany of Black Sabbath - the wise innocents, the originators of heavy metal. To the last, As of 2003, the term "headbanger" has even been awarded its place in the English lexicon, introduced and defined in the eleventh edition of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary as a noun arising in 1979 to mean: "a musician who performs hard rock" or "a fan of hard rock." For the record, the missing term here - "heavy metal" - was introduced previously, defined rather loosely as: "Energetic and highly amplified electronic rock music having a hard beat." Thus, imperfectly defined, heavy metal remains mysterious and very much alive, a search for truth in a storm of folly.. This history of possibly the most important musical movement of all time is alive with vivid details and does not shirk on defining, maligning, or praising any and all sub-genres of the misunderstood art form.

Unabashed and unashamed of the genre of which it is clear Christie is a fan (note: he is also a musician), the book is an encyclopedia of knowledge, giving definitions of each sub-genre and the albums and artists that most defined it. While the casual metal fan might feel that Christie's focus on Metallica's rise and fall in the eyes of the metal culture leaves out other defining bands of the time, it is important for that casual fan to remember that without Metallica, it is quite possible that metal would have stayed across the sea and never truly gained a following in the United States. As the history reaches the present, he too is critical of their rush to side with Napster despite the tape trading and bootleg base the Metallica structure is built upon.

Aside from the history that Metallica wrote on the fabric of American society, Christie's lengthy coverage of everything from why Heavy Metal could begin nowhere but England to the truth behind the Norwegian Black Metal violence to why it is that hip-hop and metal are the best of all marriages, clearly shows a love and respect for the culture that is still too easily maligned in mainstream society. How many have been followed by cops simply for wearing black band t-shirts? How many have looked up at concerts to see the police gang patrols not where they should be but instead watching the mosh pit? He is unforgiving in his criticism of mainstream society's treatment of metal culture - from the PMRC debacle of the 1980's to the sentencing to death of the "West Memphis 3" he dares society to look beyond it's fear of the shadows.

It's too bad that only historians and metal heads will get the message.

The point Christie is making throughout the entire book is that Heavy Metal, more than any other genre, demands attention from its audience. It demands conscious thought. The songs are ripped from philosophy and literature. They force us to face not only our corrupt politicians and religious leaders, but our own corrupt selves. It is meant to be intense, heart wrenching, and yet also fun. It is experimental and it is ever changing. And it is not over yet. With the music banned in many countries and the possession of metal albums punishable by death the underground grows and grows. Girls in headscarves in Afghanistan take to the mosh pits while boys in Cairo dare to wear their band shirts in public. In Russia, China, Korea, the Middle East, the Pacific Rim, in places where we often do not think that Metal has a foothold, the movement is strong and means more to these kids who risk their lives for it than we in America will ever know. Christie demands we respect all musicians who risk their lives to simply shred a guitar whether they are here in the States or in the underground clubs overseas.