Metal --- part 1

Introduction

I was 13 years old when my mom took me and my brother on a short trip to Barcelona. There were many things in that beautiful city that I'll never forget: feeling very small when entering Camp Nou (the fabled arena of the city's – the world's!? – most famous football team), enjoying the wondrous architecture by Gaudi, the burning in my throat when the waitress at the Hard Rock Café hadn't heard the words 'not spicy' in my order of Chili Con Carne...

I still feel the flames of hell when I think of that meal.

But that dinner on the Plaça de Catalunya had left another mark on me. Something that would change my life forever. On the big screens behind the bar a live recording of Metallica's 'Master Of Puppets' was playing.

Like anyone I had heard of Metallica, but being in my pre-teens during the mid-nineties, I mostly knew of their ballad 'Nothing Else Matters' and some of their radio-friendly alternative rock. But this was different. The power, the passion, the energy. This music was alive, and I wanted in on the action.

The day after we got back home, I went to a record store and bought Metallica's four 80's classics. It was the start of an impressive – if I may say so myself – Metal catalogue.

Now, I had always been more into the rock music some of my dad's vinyl collection could produce (Queen, Dire Straits, Rolling Stones), than whatever was the hype at that moment. Sure, I'll admit having bought numerous Top 40 compilation albums, I once even bought a single by the Vengaboys (for a while I was the amateur DJ at friends' birthday parties), but that is beside the point.

Another musical moment I'll never forget happened in May 2000. I was watching TMF (Belgium's answer to MTV at the time) late at night and all the sudden the new Iron Maiden video (for the song 'The Wicker Man') aired. In that moment, I knew this was the best band in the world, and that Iron Maiden would be my favorite band for all time to come.

I can get really passionate about Hard Rock and Metal Music... So I thought, let's make the Essential Collection of Metal, chronicling its ongoing history, and providing awesome playlists along the way. I started doing this pure for my own fun, but then thought "why not share?"

So here it is. The idea is simple: This book tells the ongoing history of Heavy Metal music, through short chapters that give information and trivia about a specific subgenre or icon. Each of these chapters is accompanied by the essential playlist of said subgenre or icon.

Obviously, not every band can or should be labeled. Some bands are great at rediscovering themselves or evolving their music to stay relevant. Other bands will never change (or as Manowar said "stripes on a tiger don't wash away"). Long story short, some bands will appear in different chapters. And from time to time, a band or song might be labeled in a way the artist didn't even intend (or appreciates). Decisions were made to come to a pretty comprehensive collection. It is what it is, you can't please everyone.

The playlists are not meant to create the definitive list of greatest metal songs of all time. By including certain subgenres, obscure bands and songs will be listed, while at the same time some bigger classics just won't make the cut.

The playlist rules:

1. As a rule of thumb, 80% of a playlist is what convention tells us (basically songs one would expect on an Essential playlist), 15% are my own personal favorites, and the remaining 5% is reserved for the odd curveball (unknown bands or songs that just fit in perfectly) to keep it interesting and surprising for even the more experienced Metalhead.

2. To make it hard on myself, the playlists are limited to 80 min so old-fashioned people like me can burn them on a CD (for the younger Metalheads: those are those shiny circular thingies you can put mp3's on – for the even younger Metalheads: mp3 is that thing you save a stream as for when you expect some time in the near future to be without internet connection). This also forced me to make some tough calls, to reduce each list to its absolute essence. In some cases, that meant opting for an edited version of an originally longer piece of music. That's right Dream Theater, looking at you here!

3. A (version of a) song will only appear once. So, if Iron Maiden's 'Run To The Hills' is featured on a Best of 80's Heavy Metal collection, it cannot appear on another collection. However, an amazing live version of the same song is allowed. For example, 'Run To The Hills' appears a couple of times in this collection, in one way or another

4. Although this is the Essential Collection of Metal, there is going to be some Hard Rock and Hardcore as well. And yes, we have included much frowned upon subgenres as well. Deathcore, Nu-Metal, Kawaii Metal, you name it! Metalheads should have an open mind. Get over it.

5. Play them loud!

The title of each chapter will include a start and end year, so that the specific subgenre can easily be placed in time. Now, that doesn't (always) mean there are no great songs in said subgenre before or after this period in time (I started compiling these playlists in 2014, so if you are wondering why some contemporary playlists end in 2014, others in 2015, and then some more in 2016, it might just be as simple as that being the year the list was compiled in). Nevertheless, the essence of the genre is captured. And some chapters contain a bonus song, whose release dates are ignored.

There are a lot of bands and many more songs listed. Like a shitload of bands and songs... I hope even the most seasoned Metalheads will (re-)discover new and old music.

Heavy Metal music is never-ending, always changing, and perpetually kicking ass! This means that this book can never be the be-all end-all. Even with a hundred (and then some) chapters, I haven't covered all subgenres that make up the world of Heavy music. But that is okay, this leaves room for a second volume someday in the future!

For now, enjoy this book. Remember to support the original artists when enjoying the playlists. And always turn the volume up to 11.

Rock 'n' Roll!

Jasper