Various - Headbangers' Bible

  by Matt Williams

published: 19 / 4 / 2005

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Review

Headbanger : noun {C} 1- someone, especially a boy or young man, who enjoys listening to loud, energetic rock music I’m not sure if I was a true headbanger. Having tried it a number of times in the late 80’s I realised very quickly that anyone with short hair looked stupid throwing their head back and forth whilst their body remained motionless below. I also tired of waking up on Sunday morning feeling like I’d been involved in a car accident and wondering, in my paranoid state, whether a trip to A&E to have my whiplash diagnosed and acquire a prescription neck brace for the remainder of the week would be the best course of action. This is the first review I’ve, however, been able to write without listening to the album. Being in my early 30’s and having had an excellent grounding in rock music (all thanks to my good uncle) I am familiar with all of the tunes on this triple CD compilation, proving that at some point I was indeed a "young man who enjoyed listening to loud energetic rock music." We are treated to ’45 megatons of metal mayhem’ ranging from the late 60’s to the present day. There are all the classics you would expect to hear; Steppenwolf, Alice Cooper, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Motorhead; we have a number of Sunday paper free CD standards; Bad Company, Rainbow, Boston, Yes, Status Quo, A smattering of some of the finest 80’s cock rock; Van Halen, Mr Big, Skid Row, Poison, And a number of curve balls; the Cult, the Wildhearts, Faith No More, who represent the plethora of sub-genres that make up Metal. The moment of genius comes in the form of David Lee Roth’s 'Yankee Rose' purely for his opening dialogue in which he converses with Steve Vai’s talking guitar. Along with other guitar great Eddie Van Halen, these boys defined what mainstream 80’s metal was really about. To be a true 80’s metal band the guitarist had to have the ability to steal the show from the singer. I recently saw Velvet Revolver in London and it was clearly apparent that Slash had cut his teeth in the 80’s with a front man persona, as he talked through his guitar and stole the limelight from Scott Weiland. Absent are any of the 80’s Thrash Metal acts (Metallica, Slayer, Napalm Death), anything from the 90’s (Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Red Hot Chilli Peppers), and nowt from the 00’s with the exception of the Darkness whom it might be claimed have introduced a younger audience to the metal joys of the last 30 years. There are huge gaps. Metal for me reinstated itself at the start of the new millennium. We’d had five years of average sounding Brit Pop when a fresh generation of Metal bands exploded onto the scene ranging from screaming mask wearing acts (Slipknot) to chart friendly rockers (Papa Roach, Limp Bizkit) all giving a fresh expression of angst and anger to a generation of baggy trouser wearing youths. As with all compilations we only have an introduction into the rock timeline that bought us to where we are today. A true Metal Bible would till your 60gb iPod but then when would you realistically have time to listen to a 15000 chronologically positioned songs and I argue that most of the fun is in discovering music you love for yourself. All in all this triple CD treat acts as a fantastic reference point from which I encourage you to research the individual artists and then familiarise yourself with their back catalogues, their influences and side projects.

Track Listing:-

1 Queen- Killer Queen
2 Deep Purple- Black Night
3 ZZ Top- Gimme All Your Lovin'
4 Van Halen- Panama
5 Black Sabbath- Paranoid
6 Motörhead- Ace Of Spades
7 Alice Cooper- School's Out
8 Jo Jo Gunne- Run Run Run
9 Steppenwolf- Born To Be Wild
10 Joe Walsh- Rocky Mountain Way
11 Brownsville Station- Smokin' In The Boy's Room
12 Golden Earring- Radar Love
13 Grand Funk Railroad- The Locomotion
14 Free- All Right Now
15 Boston- More Than A Feeling
16 The Darkness- I Believe In A Thing Called Love
17 Rush- Summertime Blues
18 Thin Lizzy- Rosalie
19 Faith No More -From Out Of Nowhere
20 Judas Priest- Breaking The Law
21 Alice Cooper- Poison
22 Skid Row- Youth Gone Wild
23 The Wildhearts- Sick Of Drugs
24 Montrose- Space Station #5
25 Gary Moore- Rocking And Rolling
26 Headgirl- Please Don't Touch
27 ZZ Top- Legs
28 David Lee Roth- Just Like Paradise
29 Ugly Kid Joe- Everything About You
30 Bad Company- Fell Like Makin' Love
31 The Cult- She Sells Sanctuary
32 Gary Moore- Out In The Fields
33 Rainbow- All Night Long
34 Status Quo- Down Down
35 UFO- Doctor Doctor
36 Van Halen- Jump
37 Poison- Unskinny Bop
38 David Lee Roth- Yanke Rose
39 Mr. Big- Addicted To That Rush
40 Motörhead- Overkill
41 Girlschool- Race With The Devil
42 Georgia Satellites- Battleship Chains
43 Yes- Owner Of A Lonely Heart
44 Ted Nugent- Cat Scratch Fever
45 Argent- God Gave Rock'n'Roll To You