headbanging of old
I went to a housewarming for Molly and Carlos a few months ago. Carlos is a tattoo artist in the East Village, and he was 
teasing me about the shamrock tattoo I’ve been talking about getting for years, when Metal Militia from Kill ‘Em All came on. I happened to look at Carlos and we both shared a nostalgic smile, he said, “Remember when metal bands used to just sing about metal? How friggin’ weird was that?” This resulted in a rather lengthy conversation, pondering the concept of metal’s golden age.
Back in the 80’s, I was an awkward teenager trying to figure myself out, emotionally, socially, and yes, musically. There was a point when I started paying attention to music on my own terms – not the AM-radio fare my parents played in their car, and not just listening to whatever was churned out, but actually developing taste of my own. Since I had a penchant for pushing the envelope, random noise, fantasy-science fiction films, I was drawn toward heavy metal.
My first metal album and I suspect the same is true for a lot of people, was Metallica’s Master of Puppets. It is one of the seminal works in the history of metal that takes you in, knocks your head around a couple of times and spits you back out. Then you do it again. You have no idea how my parents freaked when I played the album and helped along by the Tipper Gore crowd, they were convinced that I was lost to hell forever – which in fact may be the case, but don’t blame it on the music.
I soon consumed all the Metallica albums available at the time (even getting a rare UK cut-out, which made me feel like a real expert somehow). From there I moved to Megadeth, and it became kind of a journey, as I was keen on listening to everything I could find. And what interested me the most was how they got the instruments to make noises that were so unfamiliar at the time – it really revolutionized how we perceive music.
One could probably argue that the best period of metal can be traced using Metallica’s career arc from 1983–1991. Those were the years metal was prime – in fact, 1986 was probably the apex of metal’s heyday, and when I was all in. Headbanger’s Ball (remember that?) became a salvation for us who had to suffer through cheesy poseur metal like Whitesnake and later Winger, which is really pure awful.
I am painfully aware of the feminist issues surrounding the lyrics and album cover art, and want to note that it was always about the sound — perhaps as a women it should have been a consideration and it certainly would be now, but I was a kid then, so don’t hassle me. Beyond that, it wasn’t easy being a girl metal fan – most thought it was a ploy to “get” a guy, or assumed I was easy and/or brainless – when in fact, at the time I probably knew more about the genre than most. Sure, I would soon discover punk rock and hardcore music, but metal was my first foray into music on my own. Even though my tastes have wandered elsewhere, and I still have as much fondness for metal as it will allow.
