I don’t think anyone would actually equate Matt Pike’s recent good-vibe poolside interview to the famous so-sad-it’s-not-even-funny pool interview with W.A.S.P.’s Chris Holmes, but I definitely got flashes of the latter in this highly entertaining clip from Soundwave T.V. For one, Matt Pike seems to generally love life and be stoked on just about everything as opposed to being a pathetic sad-sack, and Pike strikes me as a much more down-to-earth working man than Holmes was. But this is MetalSucks, so you be the judge:
There are a lot of metal and metal-related movies out there. There are classics like This is Spinal Tap, which I’ve introduced to countless people, all of whom eventually admitted to loving it. And of course, every metalhead worth his or her Woolite Dark knows the answer to the question “Who’d win in a wrestling match, Lemmy or God?” Detroit Rock City is one of my favorite movies, which is a little odd, because I don’t particularly like KISS, although I do enjoy fire and explosions. And no account of metal movies would be complete without the celluoid genocide that was Rockstar. No matter how god-awful that movie was (though it’s still one of my top “bad” movies to watch), every single person in the civilized world knows the words to “Stand Up and Shout” — and I don’t mean the Dio song. They play it at my alma mater’s hockey games.
And on top of those films, there are the documentary explorations of the genre, which gave us such memorable moments like Chris Holmes from W.A.S.P. chugging vodka in a pool while is mom watches miserably in Decline of Western Civilization Part II.
I am here to add another illustrious title to this collection of cinemetal classics. I will show you exactly how Cool As Ice is a metal movie, and not a rap one, as everyone assumes. And I have various degrees in film, so you know my word is truth.
Wednesday, November 24th, 2010 at 11:00am by Vince Neilstein
So I get this email with the above headline as the subject from Metal Sludge’s Stevie Rachelle yesterday and I’m thinking to myself, “Woah, a Top Ten list from Metal Sludge? What, it has to have been like 8 or 9 years since they’ve done one of these! Say it’s so!” Then I click the link (duh), and lo and behold: “We have not done one of these TOP 10 lists in oh, about 8-9 years. So it’s way past due. Metal Sludge’s official Top 10 Drunkest (Living) Rock Stars of All Time!” Alright! Party time! The Sludge is back!
And it’s just like the good ol’ days on Metal Sludge, rife with barbed insults, no punches pulled. Obviously most of the choices are pretty predictable — Vince “Skating Falling with the Stars” Neil is a drunkard, whodathunkit? and Perennial Sad Sack Steven Adler makes a nice showing for himself – but I don’t wanna ruin the rankings for you. Naturally W.A.S.P.’s Chris Holmes’ famous poolside interview, above, makes the cut too. Mandatory watching for those who haven’t seen it.
Hey kids: the tone and wit of Metal Sludge were a huge inspiration for this here metal blog, so do yer homework!
As much as I love (most) hair metal and loathe (most) nu-metal, I do have to admit that there seems to be some unspoken ongoing competition between the two genres – not to see which one can sell the most records (I suspect that hair metal wins in that regard, given that those bands’ reign lasted longer, and occurred in a purely pre-internet error), but, rather, which genre can ultimately embarrass itself more. And while you’d think that any genre that routinely invited DJs in the fold would pretty much win in a cakewalk, some days I really do think that, nope, hair metal has more idiots.
For example: remember when some former members of Snot tried to re-form that group even though Lynn Strait is dead, and then, when that didn’t work out, they decided to reform under the name “Tons,” which, all you Einsteins will surely notice, is just “Snot” spelled backwards? That was pretty dumb, right? It would be hard to imagine a stupider scenario in which former members of a famous band try to re-form under a different name, but are sure to choose one that lets everyone know their point of origin.
But if you can’t imagine a stupider scenario, it’s not because you’re lacking in creativity; it’s simply because you’re not stupid enough. But Chris Holmes is stupid enough. He some other former members of W.A.S.P. have formed Where Angels Suffer, or – yep yep! – W.A.S.
They named their band “W.A.S.” Just let that sink in for a minute.
I almost feel bad for these dudes who are so desperately clinging to the glories of their past just to put food on the table, but then again, this:
Thanks to our bro-bros at Metal Injection for bringing to our attention that one of the greatest metal documentaries of all time, Penelope Spheeris’ The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years, is now available online, in its entirety, absolutely free (And FYI, in case ya didn’t know – Spheeris would go on to direct another classic of cinemetal, the original Wayne’s World.).
For some reason this 1988 classic – which includes amazing interviews with Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy, Steven Tyler, Taime Down, Riki Rachtman, Bill Gazzarri, members of Poison, Kiss, and Armored Saint, and, most infamously, a very, very, very drunk Chris Holmes of W.A.S.P. – isn’t available on DVD, and I honestly don’t even know anyone who owns a VHS player anymore. So if for some reason you’ve never seen this film, you MUST watch it now – especially since I’m fairly certain that this is not a legal rip. Watch it now before the lawyers take it down.
