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Bang Your Head: The Rise and Fall of Heavy Metal
by
David Konow
“Bang your head! Metal Health’ll drive you mad!”
— Quiet Riot
Like an episode of VH1’s Behind the Music on steroids, Bang Your Head is an epic history of every band and every performer that has proudly worn the Heavy Metal badge. Whether headbanging is your guilty pleasure or you firmly believe that this much-maligned genre has never received the respect it deserves, Bang Y...more
— Quiet Riot
Like an episode of VH1’s Behind the Music on steroids, Bang Your Head is an epic history of every band and every performer that has proudly worn the Heavy Metal badge. Whether headbanging is your guilty pleasure or you firmly believe that this much-maligned genre has never received the respect it deserves, Bang Y...more
Paperback, 496 pages
Published
February 25th 2009
by Three Rivers Press
(first published November 12th 2002)
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I am hopelessly the "80's rock chick" so when I saw this on the library shelf the other day, I had to grab it. Overall a solid overview of this underrepresented genre. The book came out in 2002, so many more chapters could be added in the near decade since. There were a few items where I had to share with my husband (stuck in the 80's with me) but nothing that really came as a shocker. If you loved it, lived it or are curious about it, this book is a good place to start, or refre...more
Lame. As history this is sorely lacking. Just check out the bands given most mentions in the index - Metallica and Black Sabbath sure, but also Kiss, Motley Crue, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, Van Halen - clearly Konow is biased towards the glammier, more "hard rock" and commercially viable segments of metal's past. He devolves into stories all too often without really getting at the glue of what put metal together.
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I LOVED THIS BOOK. VERY INFORMATIONAL WITH ALOT OF STUFF I DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT ALOT OF BANDS. RECOMMEND FOR ALL METAL HEADS WHO KNOW THEIR MUSIC KNOWLEDGE ..ALSO HAIR BAND MUSIC TOO.
Alison
added it
Highly interesting and to anyone who wants to get into the genre starting at the roots, I suggest you read this.
It's funny, it's crazy, it's entertaining... and it will make Black Sabbath have a whole new meaning for you.
It's funny, it's crazy, it's entertaining... and it will make Black Sabbath have a whole new meaning for you.
Good telling of the history of heavy metal/hard rock during its glory years of the 70s and 80s.
Terrible writing and boring historical accounts. It was so bad I quit reading after about 50 pages.
Leonardo
added it
Terrible. Basic information about the bands. Not much detail why heavy metal fell.
Another "fun" read if you ever were or still are into that music.
This was one big giant Behind the Music.
My bible.
A good and fun history of hard rock, but - my god - the writing is absolutely terrible.
fun
informative with lots of interesting anecdotes involving early metal and nwobhm. and there's an entire chapter on metallica! not as good as sound of the beast, or maybe i just thought so because i enjoyed sound of the beast's younger take on metal whereas bang your head is more for the old timers.
This book talks about random heavy metal bands in each different chapter. It talks about how they formed, or split up. The author talks to the wives of the band members, and the recording people, and really gives good detail on what they did.
Informative and well-written. Captivating. But it was a little annoying how he skipped from band to band and back again.
Great book if you want to know where heavy metal music started, what bands came first, and the main people in the bands.
Would give it a 3.5--good for the subject matter--a lot like watching a lot of "Behind the Music" episodes in a row.
Not a bad basic history of metal, but it's almost too basic. Too much time on the hair bands - yuck!
It is what it says it is. Not great, not awful. Somewhere in between (like a KISS concert).
I wanted to know more about the music Stephen listens to. It was pretty informative and cool.
Adam
marked it as to-read
Junior
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Copperdog
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Lawrence
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