Book Review: Louder Than Hell: The Definitive Oral History of Heavy Metal by Jon Wiederhorn and Katheine Turman

Louder Than Hell: The Definitive Oral History of Metal 
Jon Wiederhorn and Katherine Turman
736 pages
IT Books/HarperCollins

Louder Than Hell is the ultimate heavy metal reference book, as told through the musicians themselves, plus assorted managers, journalists, roadies, groupies and hangers-on. Divided into thirteen chapters that cover all metal genres including proto-metal (Stooges, Blue, Cheer, Steppenwolf), New Wave of British Heavy Metal (Ironmaiden, Def Leppard, etc.), mainstream “hair” metal, thrash metal, death metal,  black metal and even industrial, which is often left out of journalism on the subject.

Compiled from over 400 interviews and other research conducted by veteran rock journalists Jon Wiederhorn (senior writer for metal mag Revolver) and Katherine Turman, producer of Alice Cooper’s Nights with Alice Cooper, syndicated radio show, Louder Than Hell is a first-hand account of the good, bad and ugly of heavy metal history.

Everything’s here, from tales of the lean days eating Ramen and working telemarketing jobs to the drug and alcohol addictions that almost ended bands - and lives.

All the sex, drugs, alcohol, infighting, and violence are included in detail. So you get to hear everything you’ve always wanted to know (and even some TMI stuff) from the participants themselves.

Interviewees included Lemmy. Alice Cooper, Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, Rob Halford, Ozzy Osbourne, Axl Rose, Slash, Rob Zombie, Trent Reznor, Vince Neil, Lars Ulrich, Lita Ford, Courtney Love, Josh Homme, Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Dave Mustaine, Tony Iommi, Dee Snider, Ronnie James Dio, Phil Anselmo, Eddie Van Halen, Dave Grohl, Daryl Jenifer, Mike Muir, et al.

 Here’s just a sample of some of the revelations:

 -The proto-metal chapter examines the origin of the phrase "heavy metal" as applied to music. In Chapter 2 Masters of Reality, we find out the great lengths Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi went to create fake fingertips so he could continue playing the guitar after several of his fingertips were chopped off in a factory accident.

-Sweet Connie (of Grand Funk’s “It’s an American Band” fame) is a trip “I’ve (blown) Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson, but I have not had Neil Peart. That I regret, but Peart doesn’t give it up very easily.” 

- Did Ozzy really bite the head off a dove? What really happened to the chicken a fan threw onstage at an Alice Cooper concert? Ozzy and Alice reveal the truth behind these notorious events.

- Pussy passes did exist. They’re not an urban legend. (Said passes were issued to girls who serviced the road crew and/or others in order to get backstage).

Once the happy-go-lucky hedonism of hair metal waned, violence and the occult took top billing in the metal scene. The post ‘80s genres are full of brutal stories, including the murder of black metal musician Euronymous by Count Grishnakh, another Norwegian black metal musician, various deaths and disfigurements in the mosh pits and the addition of raw meat as a stage show prop (Type O-Negative, Deicide). This is not to say thrash and crossover/hardcore bands didn’t have groupies. Evan Seinfeld showed Gene Simmons his groupie porn photo album and Gene’s face was “somewhere between shock, disbelief, envy and disgust all at the same time.”

Those tidbits barely scratch the surface. Louder than Hell is required reading for metal fans. It’s available on Amazon in Kindle and hardcover editions.

You Can't Get it on DVD, Made for TV Edition: House on Greenapple Road

The Quinn Martin produced House on Greenapple Road demonstrates three of the made for TV genre’s strong points at their finest. - great acting, tight script and cinematography that adds to the emotional as well as visceral quality of the story.  

Greenapple Road is a detective thriller that will keep you riveted to the screen because you want to find out “who done it.” It will keep you and your friends debating the murderer’s identity throughout the entire movie – and there’s a good chance you’ll keep changing your mind a few times during the film.

In The House on Greenapple Road, the search for a missing mother and housewife in a small California town called Santa Luisa exposes an extramarital affair, doomed love and a woman’s search for eternal youth. The housewife in question, Marian Ord, is played by Psycho star Janet Leigh. Marian's character doesn’t do much for most of the film, which is told in flashback. She wears a one-piece bathing suit, calls out her disrespectful lovers, and looks doe-eyed into the camera. Marian isn't the stereotypical promiscuous housewife, as her affairs never seem to bring her much joy or relieve her fear of getting older.

The film begins with Marian’s daughter ( the Brady Bunch’s Eve Plumb) returning home after a day at school to find no sign of her mom and one messed-up, bloody kitchen. She runs next door to seek comfort with her Aunt Leona  (Julie Harris).

Detective Dan August (Christopher George) and his partner Charles Wiltenz (Keenan Wynn) arrive on the scene. The murder scene has a lotta blood for a 1970 movie. August and Wiltenz even discuss the number of pints of blood in the human body, surmising that no one could have survived such a brutal attack. The detectives schlep around the kitchen procuring evidence without latex gloves. Watch out for those bloody pieces of china! Cops didn’t handle crime scenes delicately circa 1970, on film or in real life.

After a little snooping around in the bedroom, August finds some photos of Marian’s paramours hidden under a dresser drawer. And so the murder investigation begins, with Marian’s secret lovers and her long-suffering husband as the primary suspects. 

There’s the lifeguard turned gas station attendant (Burr DeBenning), who  plays Benjamin to Marion’s Mrs. Robinson, the rich sports club bigwig (William Windom) and his suspicious wife (Joanne Linville),  the leader of a New Age type church, and a  locally-infamous con artist (Peter Mark Richman), who has previously  crossed paths with Detective August.

Her milquetoast husband George (Tim O’ Connor), a salesman, is away most of the time, leaving Marian to seek affection elsewhere. George is the most obvious suspect to everyone except August, who sees much more than a case of cuckolded husband and cheating wife. When one of his alibis doesn’t check out, the investigation spins in a new direction. 

August and Wilteenz encounter a salty old sailor (Paul Fix) and a pot-smoking receptionist played by Christopher George’s wife, billed here as Lynda-Day. After retrieving Day’s character at a pot-smoking party at Big Bear, Wynn’s character, comments “The drive back took 3 hours and she’s still lit up.” (That musta been some good grass!) Greenapple’s cast included Walter Pidgeon as Santa Luisa’s mayor, and Ed Asner as a publicity hungry Sheriff who is only interested in apprehending the murderer quickly, with or without sufficient evidence. 

Based on a novel by Harold R. Daniels, Greenapple Road was so well-received it spawned into the short-lived Dan August TV series. The 1970-71 CBS series starred Burt Reynolds, since George was too busy with other projects at the time. 

The few violent scenes in Greenapple Road are intense for a 1970 made for TV movie. Some sources say the  film was originally shot as a theatrical feature, so that may explain some of the graphic subject matter. Although a tightly-woven detective thriller, the movie has little blips dealing with racism, sexual hypocrisy and child predators.

 House on Greenapple Road is available on You Tube, and from a few Intenet sellers of rare videos.  A nail-biting whodunit with many surprise twists and turns, it t will keep you hooked until the final scene. House on Greenapple Road was broadcast as an ABC Movie of the Week on January 11th, 1970.

Music Review: Dime Runner: Race to Nowhere

Race to Nowhere
Dime Runner
Uh-Oh Records

Race to Nowhere is the latest album from Orange County, California punkers Dime Runner. This collection of  11 old-school punk songs combine  the spirit of ’77 with supercharged OC punk attitude.

There’s hardly a breather from the CD's opening riffs, as the title track barrels into your consciousness, the thumping bassline underscoring it all. This CD is 25 minutes of ultra-fast Ramones riffing, but there’s melody underneath - it’s not just a wall of rrrrwarrr. “It’s an Emergency” has a frenetic edge, obviously a result of influences like Broken Bottles and the Stitches.  Crisp, razor-fast guitar and snotty vocals abound through cuts like” Party Song”, the hardcore chant of “No Money, No Home”  and the dizzying amphetamine rush of “Tell Me What You Want.”    Race to Nowhere ends with an unexpected choice - a tasty cover of Joy Division's “Warsaw”.

Dime Runner formed in February 2011. This Fullerton-based band consists of  Brian Schickling (vocals), Rocky Rigs (guitar) Danny Drumkiller (drums, what else?) and Ryan Page (bass). They've  played gigs with Duane Peters’ Gunfight, Throw Rag and Guttermouth, and performed at the Punk Rock Picnic (on the same bill with Fear & Jello Biafra) Dime Runner has a bright future in the OC punk rock scene and beyond. The band's songs might be uber-short but they give you a lot to listen to. - and they’re designed to keep you moving, whether you’re at the club or listening at home.

Dime Runner is playing with the Darlings and the Blackerbys at Alex’s Bar on April 4th

Dime Runner's Facebook page

 

From the Archives: A Bang, Not a Whimper: Marilyn Manson/Monster Magnet Concert Review, 1999

This review was published on Suite101.com in 2000. Funny, in 1999, I thought I was too old to go to rock concerts & now it's 2013 and I'm still going to concerts - well, maybe they're a tad more sedate than this one. Just a tad.


When you reach the age where you are, as Jethro Tull once espoused, you are too old to rock 'n' roll and too young to die what can you do? I say, if you're going out,waving the white flag, passing "Smoky Joe's Cafe" on the way to a reviewing a rock concert and thinking, sadly, that you'd rather be at a Broadway show (this actually happened) than at a concert, you know you're finally....old. I say, if you gotta go out, if you gotta cop to your geriatric status, go out with a BANG, not a whimper.

 Nashville Pussy/Monster Magnet/Marilyn Manson Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, N.Y. April 7,1999

 I'm at the age now where I feel stupid inviting people my age (39) to see bands that I really like - the music I listen to is just too bizarre-or LOUD-- for every person over 30 except me. It's kinda awkward to drag along the accountant I dated last week to a concert so he can have a heart attack when one of the performers (allegedly) commits some onstage atrocity. I don't have time to for a trip to the emergency room. The most overwhelming element of the night was the underwhelming amount of fans in attendance. What genius decided that two local NY arenas could be filled by said bands!! And this was announced when Hole was on the bill. There was nobody there. Not a soul in the balcony. A half filled main floor. Empty spaces in the mezzanine. It was pretty pathetic. You'd never ever guess this from all the Satan's minions publicity that actual, lauded music was involved- that two albums that had occupied many rock critics' Top Ten lists for 1998 ..pseudo Ziggy Stardust concept (MM #1) and old school hard rock more popular in Europe than America (MM #2) Even Nashville Pussy, the opening band, ( 2 girls, 2 guys, hyper-rock with a lot of dirty words) was nominated for a Grammy this year!

At the purist end of the spectrum, we have Monster Magnet, an Old School sex and drugs and rock n' roll biker band. Eschewing flashiness in favor of straight ahead rock, this New Jersey based band features guitarists who attack their instruments fervently, a singer with an attitude in black leather pants, strippers onstage for the final song, etc. If you were to leave samples of stoner rock in a time capsule for aliens and all eternity, this would be one of the representatives. This is what rock n' roll was like when I was sneaking Peppermint Schnapps into concerts at the "Arrogant Brawlroom" in Chicago...this is how it should be done more often.

So here we are-Marilyn Manson,the most vilified rock star/group in recent memory-in the South, local politicians go to great lengths to cancel impending concerts, one town even sponsoring an ordinance to ban him from the premises. Is MM really the pied piper for all things malevolent?

No, but he and his bandmates put on a helluva show. A concert of this magnitude is truly a cathartic experience. Once in awhile, it's fun to feel complete joy and abandonment at something insulting to the proper world, to indulge in a Beavis & Butthead moment, such as "He's on a cross and its.made of TV sets!. Look at.that mosquito outfit - it's so cool.". Costume changes in abundance,glitter, lights, fireworks, and fierce, non-stop riffs-you name it, our boy had it Although I spent half the show obsessed with the rumor that lip syncing was a definite possibility and that Brian-er-Marilyn isn't actually singing. But even if that's true, his raison d'etre is as a performer, not as an accomplished musician. And though his music is rarely discussed in the general media, (why talk about music when you can interview the latest protesting politician/religiouso and get a good sound bite for the ten o clock news?) the Mechanical Animals CD has some fantastic songs on it including one anti-drug song Coma White and I Don't Like The Drugs (But The Drugs Like Me) Of course, we have to see his bare butt at every concert. Does anybody really want to see this EVER? Keyboards were roughed up-but no  major carnage occurred during this performance. Not to say that Marilyn, Twiggy,  etc. are Boy Scouts. A droll,smartass comment such as,. "In my world, Special K is a breakfast cereal. I will not be hanging out with the band", may be inserted here; however, these guys are way too smart to provide obituary fodder or write for the Betty Ford Clinic Newsletter anytime soon.


"Paging Satan. Satan, pick up the white courtesy telephone in the lobby". Paging Satan Satan was not in attendance at this event. Maybe it was a slow night.. or maybe I don't have the observational gifts of a rural Mississippi preacher.And where are the evil, disenfranchised youth? Don't seem much different to me than when I was a kid, just a bunch of polite suburban kids in Goth garb. And there was less pot smoking than when I was in high school. I bet the copious security detail had more problems with stockbrokers at the hockey game the next night. Hey, it's not a rock band getting drunk and defecating on a drink cart in First Class...its your friendly neighborhood banker.* Some people might consider a guy on a cross (even one made of TV sets) blasphemous,or find it inappropriate for strippers to appear in front of mostly high school kids (see video below) or blanch at "motherf***er" being the most repeated word of the evening..So what do you consider satanic. Porno? The media? Bad Chinese take-out? It's like Mr. Manson himself says in one of his lyrics "Shock is all in your head..."

*This was an infamous news story at the time.

This encore of Spine of God that night was like a dream come true for me....a nightmare for sane people, perhaps, but a dream for moi.

Book Review: Mary Wells: The Tumultuous Life of Motown's First Superstar

Mary Wells: The Tumultuous Life of Motown’s First Superstar
By Peter Benjaminson
Chicago Review Press

Mary Wells, best known for her 1964 hit My Guy, was Motown’s first female superstar. Long before Diana Ross and the Supremes graced magazine covers and TV specials, Wells broke ground with her playful voice and good looks, before a serious of wrong turns dimmed her star.

Peter Benjaminson’s entertaining and thoroughly researched “Mary Wells: The Tumultuous Life of Motown’s First Superstar” (Chicago Review Press) details the Motown great’s life through archival research, interviews with her associates, friends, lovers-and, most notably, four hours of interviews recorded by journalist Steve Bergsman shortly before her death. Benjaminson, the author of two other books about Motown (“The Lost Supreme: The Life of Dreamgirl Florence Ballard” and “The Story of Motown”), handles Wells’ story with compassion. Despite all the twists and turns of her life, (including relationships with two of the Womack brothers), her post-Motown travails turn out to be as fascinating as her ascent to stardom.

Born into an impoverished Detroit family in 1943, Mary hardly knew her father. (She later said he was Sicilian, a claim that was never substantiated.) She sang in several local groups before cornering Berry Gordy at a club with her song Bye Bye Baby., which she wrote her for Jackie Wilson to sing. Gordy, however, was so impressed by her voice he had her record the song instead, and her career at Motown swung into full gear.

Competition from the Shirelles and other early ‘60s girl groups couldn’t end her reign. She held a firm grasp onto the Billboard pop and R & B charts between 1960 and 1964 with You Beat Me to the Punch, Two Lovers, The One Who Really Loves You and other catchy hits, many of them penned by Smokey Robinson. She recorded an album of duets with a newcomer named Marvin Gaye. The Temptations and Supremes occasionally sang backup for her and she traveled with an entourage.

“She stood for all the courage and perseverance that any female should need to enter into show business and have a place in it,” Martha Reeves of Martha and the Vandellas notes in the book’s opening chapter. Mary achieved stardom without the help of later Motown mainstays such as their charm school for performers. She had an English teacher correcting her girly “ummms” and “aah”s, and received little publicity from Motown. They did take time to issue a press release the girl who beat the Beatles when in early 1964 when My Guy eclipsed the Beatles’ long winning streak, replacing them at #1. When Mary opened for the Beatles in the UK; the lads became big fans of hers, standing by the side of the stage watching her perform. She even recorded an album of Beatles songs for 20th Century Fox, but the album didn’t chart.

The first half of the book deals with Wells’ climb to stardom at Motown, and the second half with what happened after Mary left Motown in 1964 after a dispute with Berry Gordy. He implored her to stay, but newly-formed 20th Century Fox Records offered her a $250,000 advance and promised her a movie career. Wells was at the top of her game when she left Motown, but her first husband Herman Griffith encouraged her to accept the offer. “Herman Griffith, her first husband, certainly misled her by urging her to leave Motown.” Benjaminson said in a phone interview, “Of course that’s Monday morning quarterbacking. She knew that other stars of her stature were getting paid more she also knew that the first record she recorded was a hit, it was a top 100 Billboard hit as far as she was concerned it wasn’t the company making the hits. It was her showing up.”

Wells’ love life alone could fuel a daytime soap opera. She married Cecil Womack in 1966 and had three children with him and divorced him in 1977 to live with his brother Curtis. (They had a daughter named Sugar.) She also had dated Jackie Wilson, Otis Williams of the Temptations and Wilson Pickett. Wells never abandoned songwriting or performing, but her success waned after she left Motown for a number of reasons. Always tenacious in her career, she suffered setbacks due to lack of promotion from her post-Motown record companies and bad personal decisions. But this isn’t your usual tale of an artist hitting hard times. Mary’s descent differed from many fallen stars in that her desire to make music never wavered despite the turmoil. “Yes, that’s one of the things that intrigued me about her”, Benjaminson says, “She was totally determined. Apparently that was her personality. She was crippled and in the hospital for two years with spinal meningitis. Then she got tuberculous, which started again in her early twenties after she left Motown. She went to school – junior high, high school, even though she was two years behind. She started looking for a job in the music industry and more or less forced herself on Berry Gordy. There’s a person with a purposeful gait in life. She always wanted to move forward and moved right through her life like that. She made mistakes, obviously, but even at the end on her deathbed she was telling the doctors what she would sing on her next tour. She was always a determined person and I admire people like that.”

Wells smoked two packs of cigarettes a day most of her life, and continued performing even when her voice gave out. Even some of the odder events in her life (including a faked kidnapping and a hotel room shooting) endear the reader to her – at least that was my response.

Bruce Springsteen, Anita Baker, Rod Stewart and Robert DeNiro, among other celebrities, donated money towards Mary’s medical care when she developed throat cancer. She received an undisclosed amount of money from Gordy to make up for alleged underpayment at Motown, but didn’t have much time to enjoy it. She died of throat cancer on July 26, 1992. Gordy paid for the funeral, and Smokey Robinson, Little Richard and Stevie Wonder delivered eulogies at her funeral.

“Mary Wells: The Tumultuous Life of Motown’s First Superstar” is a portrait of a flawed but intriguing musical star. Benjaminson has a background in investigative reporting, and it certainly helped him piece together the twists and turns of Wells’ life. This biography presents a balanced but empathic view of Mary Wells’ life. It humanizes a singer known only to most people as “the girl that sang My Guy.“

This review first appeared on Entertainmenttoday.net

You Can't Get It on DVD : Made for TV Edition : The Neon Ceiling

Most made for TV movies in the early 1970s were either kooky romances ( The Feminist and the Fuzz, The Girl Who Came Gift Wrapped), or horror/suspense (Trilogy of Terror, When a Stranger Calls) , but an occasional slice of life drama/social commentary made its way onto the ABC Movie of the Week. The Neon Ceiling, a drama/romance about a woman escaping a bad marriage, starred Lee Grant and Gig Young and received good reviews when it was broadcast in 1971.

Carrie Miller (Lee Grant) is a sensitive, free-spirited housewife married to a humorless dentist (William Smithers). Their precocious 12 year old daughter Paula (Denise Nickerson) carries around a book on relationship advice for married couples, and is constantly quoting it and asking questions far too advanced for her tender years. Her father is able to deal with Paula’s rambunctious attitude, but not her frail mother, who is unable to keep her mind on cooking dinner properly, much less sparring with a smart-mouthed pre-teen.  Her husband pours out his dissatisfaction about their marriage to Carrie one night, but concludes, “I can’t divorce you. You don’t know how to take care of yourself.”

After the Doctor falls asleep, Carrie wakes Paula up, and they get in the car and ride out into the desert, toward no destination in particular. Later in the film, we discover that this isn’t the first time Carrie and Paula have taken an impromptu road trip.  Away from the confines of suburbia, mother and daughter talk a lot more, though it’s apparent that Paula’s strong will and Carrie’s “hothouse flower” personality don’t mesh. Carrie’s persona is similar to that of Mabel in Cassavetes’ A Woman Under the Influence, although Carrie stifles her pain rather than act out as Mabel does. 

The car sputters out by desert diner/filling station inhabited by   Jones (Gig Young), a grizzled loner who lets Carrie & Paula take up residence in the diner. (He sleeps in a trailer on the property.) The trio become friends/verbal sparring partners. Nickerson (who later went on to play Violet in Willy Wonka) steals the movie in the pivotal role as Paula. Jones teaches her how to drive his truck, and she zooms all over the property while Jones and Carrie watch. The adults begin a friendship that slowly develops into something deeper, as the outgoing Jones draws Carrie out of her shell.

The neon ceiling referred to in the title is a collection of road signs and neon art  in the diner basement. Jones has collected and fashioned these signs through the years. Carrie and Paula are enchanted by the neon, and stay in the desert for several weeks. Paula even talks the way into working as a waitress in the diner while her mother develops a joy for living she lacked back home.

Directed by Frank Pierson ( who wrote Dog Day Afternoon and Cool Hand Luke ) and written by Carol Sobieski based on one of her short stories, The Neon Ceiling is one of those blink and you miss it movies that lives only in the memory of those who watched it in its initial TV run. Viewers have fond, nostalgic memories of it; there are several positive user reviews on IMDB from mostly female viewers who remember it vividly from its original airing. That’s unusual for a TV movie that hasn’t been screened anywhere (to my knowledge) since the early 1970s.

Lee Grant won an Emmy for her portrayal of Carrie Miller. Gig Young was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role, and the film was also nominated for Best Editing and Cinematography. The Neon Ceiling is a good time capsule of the social and moral climate of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s.  Some the dialogue is wince-worthy in 2012, though, such as the scene where a family doctor wonders why Carrie and her hubby only have one child. The film isn’t a good candidate for DVD release, but it’s currently available on YouTube (see video below), along with other ABC Movies of the Week.

CD Review: The Crazy Squeeze

The 13 songs on The Crazy Squeeze self-titled debut CD (Vinyl Dog) are pure and rowdy rock ‘n’ roll  This L.A. band blasts its way through  a blend of glam and punk, alternatively drawing inspiration from Eddie and the Hot Rods, the New York Dolls, Mott the Hoople and the Boys.

Boozy rockers like Little Girl, All Lies and Outta My Head are on tap here from start to finish. Younger Girl and C’mon and Dance bring to mind the buoyant pop sounds of ‘60s AM radio hits. Every song on this CD is a winner, right down to covers of the Boys' Terminal Love and Cock Sparrer’s I Need a Witness For great glampunk songs with swagger & personality, check out The Crazy Squeeze.

The lineup: Johnny Witmer (Stitches, guitars/vocals), Frankie Delmane (ex-Teenage Frames, guitar/vocals) Johnny Sleeper (ex-Superbees, drums/vocals)  Bass on the album provided by Chris B – the current live band features Dat Ngo on bass.

The Crazy Squeeze is also available on vinyl from Wanda Records (Germany) and Vinyl Dog (U.S.)

Order CD here