A difficult case

On March 21, the Luzhniki DS will perform the self -proclaimed “Lords of Steel” and “The Gods of the War” - the Manowar group as part of the world tour with the loud name “Kings of Metal MMXIV”. In this regard, Denis Kryukov, editor -in -chief of the newspaper “Leisure in Moscow”, recalls the best days of heavy metal, returning his true greatness to representatives.

This is one of the few texts that is not ashamed to start with the word "for example." So, for example, in our Maryina grove, the name of the Mötyy Crüe group was completely seriously translated as “motley syphilis”. (Which, by the way, best conveys the essence of the group’s work - figuratively.) What stories went about the rest of the metallists, it is better not to remember. Then the stories disappeared. And later, in general, they began to talk about metallists with some kind of humiliating condescension.

About twenty years ago, a colossus called “Hevi-Metal” suddenly and really heavy and in the minds of normal people to the waist fell into the grave, about which representatives of this genre sang for so long. Adherents of a truly heavy sound dug nearby, in subcultural catacombs, and HMR disappeared from the charts forever. God with them, with charts, was refused recognition as a significant cultural unit of the past. (Breakdance, for example, who was much less popular in the 1980s, now and there, and there.) The person who is listening to the “metal” in our time, appears exclusively as a hairy core with a prophashina, such as the hero of Mickey Rurrka in the film “Wrestler”. (This character, by the way, very accurately described the situation: “And then this cobane came and ruined everything”- “ The that Cobain Pussy Had to Come Around & Ruin it all.” ) The concerts of metallists-veterans seem to normal children some dense orgia “either samomo wrestlers on an ice floe, or old cars”. Moreover, if you suddenly come to them someday, it turns out that they look like this. Concerts of the ex-goddess of metal are not perceived even as an exotic branch of the “disco of the 80s”, although many themselves 20 years ago rotated by Herer under the “cruise”. Metalists could not crawl out of the 80s even in the 90s.

And because of this mysterious loss of potency, no less mysterious stereotype was created: as if Hevi-Metal and then was a delusional hobby of the mass unconscious, like the series “Santa Barbara”. "Imagine, I was a metal meter at school." - “Well, nothing with whom it happens” or “Yes, my brother, too. But nothing, it seems normal grew up. ” It is worth looking at the perhydric curls of Di Snyder, the vocalist of the Twisted Sister group (not the most strange group in the genre reserve) to think just like this:

In fact, the collective memory in the case of the "Metal" changes more than ever. Hevi-metal for the 80s was the same as the rave was for the 90s. In general, it was his prototype. Metalists, of course, had a certain curvature of consciousness (which, by the way, was quite appropriate against the backdrop of Reagan and Tatcher economies), but they were not brutal hobbits, as it seems now. They were the most progressive representatives of the Massquult of that time, the most fashionable girls went to their concerts, intellectuals supported them in every possible way. In addition, metallists subtly sensed the political and economic situation and skillfully monetized. The KISS group, for example, which began its triumphal procession back in the 70s, went down in history as almost the first rock team using merchandising, and certainly most actively: products with the KISS logo have more than 3,000 categories-from condoms to zippo lighters. Alice Cooper openly warned against perceiving Hevi-metal as inspired gloom: “It was hippie who wanted peace and love. We need Ferrari , blondes and stroke knives. ”

This hippy wanted peace and love. We need Ferrari, blondes and stroke knives.

No wonder the popular techno-meja Ricardo Willobos admits his love for Kiss , and Lady Gaga calls her beloved Iron Maiden group. God knows what they really love there, but these characters are definitely well versed in “movement”, and the “move” of the metallists had something. The curves here go hand in hand with hellish advancedness. The song of the founders of the Teutonic Metal AcCept “ Balls to the Wall” managed to get into two lists of VH1 channels: “40 greatest metal tracks” and “40 worst metal tracks”.

With all the canonical idiots and obscurantism of Iron Maiden, it should be noted that they are not alien to the political satire: their family monster Eddie , for example, on the covers of the Sanctuary and Women in Uniform singles, fights the system that Margaret Thatcher personizes . Well, you can’t ignore the completely refined history of the emergence of an unchanged Iron Maiden logo. It is believed that it is borrowed from the poster of the cult for the intellectuals of the film by Nicholas Rogue “The Man who fell to the ground” with David Bowie in the lead role.

In the mid-80s of the already mentioned Snyader from Twisted Sister , who regularly mocked in his clips of teachers and parents, Parents Music Resource Center called for testimony to the Senate. There, Di Snyder in excellent English convinced those present that he was an exemplary family man and an honest citizen. Obviously, initially the parent committee was outraged not by the use of infernal theme and non -normative vocabulary, but by the fact that it submitted a system of classical education exclusively in a comic manner. And, I suspect, I achieved great results in this than Pink Floyd and Alan Parker combined.

The true mastodons of heavy rock Judas Priest were also involved in the trial. Two teenagers, armed with shotgun, arranged shooting on the street, and then smashed their heads out of them. One of them did this not very skillfully and then managed to say that they committed this act under the impression of listening to the track “Better by You, Better than Me” . Imagine this scene - at the trial they naturally scroll the plate in the opposite direction, trying to find an encrypted satanic message and an evil flower. Not found. (In fact, they were not looking for. It is known that the limited edition of the single “Breaking the Law” / “Metal Gods” was sold with the real blade included.) In our context, another story associated with the group is more curious. It was Rob Halford, the vocalist of Judas Priest , who introduced a leather tight clothing as a mandatory attribute for metallists. Then it somehow never occurred to anyone that he borrowed this outfit from sex shops, and a certain orientation. Already much later, in the 90s, Halford made his public coming out . Thus, without suspecting that, metallists made the 80s more for LGBT moves than the homosexuals themselves.

And finally, once again coming to us, the Manowar group. It is believed that they worked in their own style - True Metal . They often honored from the stage of their colleagues in the metal workshop, and the phrase “Death to false metallists” served as working maxims. Later, a similar scheme, based on a certain truth, successfully commercialized rappers with the eternal confrontation of the eastern and western coasts. Manowar went down in history by signing an agreement with a blood studio, strengthened the drum installation with welding - otherwise the drummer broke it, fell into the Guinness Book of Records as the most loud group and supported the cult of force based on Scandinavian mythology. (That is why the New York group sings with such a terrible German accent.) Usually, the famous “Flight of the Bumblebee” is used as evidence of Manowar involvement in high culture, but the fact that Orson Wells participated in the group ( 1 , 2 ) participated in the group’s records. Moreover, twice and on two different albums.

Yes, indeed, the Manowar vocalist almost always has some kind of funny nonsense on a piser . But on the other hand, he and all the other metallists had a real movement, albeit completely entered by the sand of the time. And we have Facebook - that’s the whole movement. For example.