Sound Of The Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal [Paperback]

I just finished reading this from cover to cover. Overall, it is a great read and accurate for the most part. I noticed a few factual errors that slipped through during the editing process. Examples off the top of my head are referring to Slayer's drummer as Tom Lombardo, dating Dokken's Tooth and Nail to 1987, and some other minor stuff that is probably due more to hasty writing than lack of knowledge.

I experienced the 80s scene first hand as a rabid teenage metal fan. Christe proves himself to be a knowledable insider. Unlike other 'music writers' who consider Jethro Tull and Heart to be heavy metal, Christe defines his terms very well.

His focus on Metallica is interesting and exhaustive but probably excessive. He rightfully slams the extreme silliness of hair metal excess but I would contend that lighter pop metal was more instrumental to broad acceptance of true metal than true metal bands were. He touches on the gateway theory at places in the book but does not develop the thesis.

In my opinion Def Leppard's Pyromania was the boot that kicked in the door to the mainstream for heavy metal bands of all types. Without the millions of fans that Def Leppard brought to heavy metal in 1983, there would not have been anybody to make the progression to the true metal of Iron Maiden, then Slayer, then Possessed, etc. Without being 'prepped' by pop metal first, very few people would have gone out and spent their money on an Iron Maiden tape if they were in Journey or Duran Duran. So the tape traders were undeniably responsible for getting the momentum going for Metallica but Metallica (nor Priest, Megadeth, and on down the line) never would have become as huge if not for the development of the mass metal audience by gateway bands such as Leppard, Quiet Riot and Ratt. A few thousand tape traders cannot account for millions of records sold, unless Enron was doing the audit.

Think of it. Those three bands made their best material between 1983 and 1985 and all but those in serious denial will acknowledge that those bands were once good. When their horrid sellout follow-ups were released after '85 is when Metallica and thrash exploded from the underground. So the cynical cash grab by late-80s hair metal gave rise to solid heavy metal.

Yes, pop metal imploded under the weight of its own hair by 1990. But without Pyromania in 1983, Master of Puppets would not have seen the light of day. I know. It pains me to give credit to rock-star self-parodies, but history needs to be faced as it is.

One flaw in the writing style is stacking superlatives on top of one another throughout the book. If you say Black Sabbath showed divine inspiration that does not leave much room for more intense praise later in the book without sounding like you were exaggerating earlier in the book. So Black Sabbath is pure excellence, Judas Priest is super-pure excellence, Metallica is ultra-super-pure excellence, Slayer is super-duper-ultra-super-pure excellence, Slipnot is double-super-duper-ultra-super-pure excellence and everything played on MTV [is bad]...it kind of starts to sound silly.

Well, I have gone off on a negative tangent. Despite the drawbacks this is a very good book. If you think some topic needs to be expanded upon, well, you have a computer - open up Word and get cracking.

If you want to read hundreds of pages about the history of Metallica in the US and bit about how Black Sabbath's popularity rose in the US, this is the book for you. If you wish a wider view of the genre, especially with more focus on the European bands and sub-genres than the passing, almost disrespectful, mentions in this book, you need to keep searching.

No mistake, Black Sabbath and Metallica were and are very important influences in this musical genre. This book unfortunately concentrates on them almost to exclusion of all others, including proper mentions of Led Zep and Deep Purple in the early days and the more recent European symphonic bands such Rhapsody and Finland's Nightwish.

This book may have come across better as an historical study of several key bands, such as Black Sabbath and Metallica, and their influence on the genre, rather than attempting the impossible task of providing a comprehensive history.

I would argue that Iron Maiden had a greater influence than Metallica. Ultimately, that is the problem with the book. If your favourite band isn't listed as the defining band of heavy metal, this book will disappoint.