Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal

Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal
by Ian Christe

Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal
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Book Summary Information

Author: Ian Christe
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-02-17
ISBN: 0380811278
Number of pages: 416
Publisher: It Books

Book Reviews of Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal

Book Review: Treats metal like its own genre
Summary: 5 Stars

There can never be a metal history to satisfy everyone, but Ian Christe tracks the development of the genre from an offshoot of rock into its own artistic movement.

Unlike most metal writers, Christe shows us how the historical events and social background of each time influenced the music as it developed. While he gets criticized for too much focus on Metallica, it's important to note that this band rocketed the underground punk-influenced metal sound into the mainstream, and inspired the even deeper underground of death metal and black metal to build on the technique and style of gluing riffs together into complex song structures that Metallica pioneered.

It's important not to read this book expecting your favorite artists will be at the forefront. No book can do that for you, and no metal history can. If the author had tried to chronicle all of metal, this book would be a Tolstoy-esque 4,000 page volume and you'd still all complain. What this is instead is a good top-down explanation of why heavy metal is what it is, and how it has grown into that idea, maturing in death metal and black metal.

Christe's prose resounds with metaphor and the kind of exciting detail that functions as a simile, showing us the world of metal through its tiniest parts reflecting the whole. Meticulously researched, and obviously a labor of love, this book shows us the metal genre as it functions as a subset of our society, and metal fans and metal detractors alike are culturally richer for it.

Summary of Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal

The definitive history of the first 30 years of heavy metal, containing over 100 interviews with members of Black Sabbath, Metallica, Judas Priest, Twisted Sister, Slipknot, Kiss, Megadeth, Public Enemy, Napalm Death, and more.

More than 30 years after Black Sabbath released the first complete heavy metal album, its founder, Ozzy Osbourne, is the star of The Osbournes, TV's favourite new reality show. Contrary to popular belief, headbangers and the music they love are more alive than ever. Yet there has never been a comprehensive book on the history of heavy metal - until now. Featuring interviews with members of the biggest bands in the genre, Sound of the Beast gives an overview of the past 30-plus years of heavy metal, delving into the personalities of those who created it. Everything is here, from the bootlegging beginnings of fans like Lars Ulrich (future founder of Metallica) to the sold-out stadiums and personal excesses of the biggest groups. From heavy metal's roots in the work of breakthrough groups such as Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin to MTV hair metal, courtroom controversies, black metal murderers and Ozzfest, Sound of the Beast offers the final word on this elusive, extreme, and far-reaching form of music.

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