MetalSucks

Last week, Ozzy & Judas Priest were on trial for spreading suicide-inducing messages in their music.  How then were they able to escape liability for their actions? For simplicity, I’ll only refer to Ozzy’s trial. (For those of you interested in reading the full opinion, it can be found at McCollum v. CBS, Inc., 202 Cal. App. 3d 989. )

The court in Ozzy’s case rejected the McCollums’ claim on two different grounds.  First, the First Amendment provided an absolute bar to the claim.  Second, even if the McCollums could have gotten past the First Amendment bar, they could not have proven the foreseeability element of their negligence claim.

The First Amendment is a pretty amazing thing.  In case you forgot what it says, here it is:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or  prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Rather than trying to have the government control what could and could not be said, they washed their hands of the whole mess by granting free speech to all.  Until that time, England had only protected freedom of speech for Parliamentary debates, and France had recently enacted legislation similar to our First Amendment.  I don’t know all of the history here, so if you do, please edify the rest of us in the comments.

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If the you young ‘uns don’t know Stryper, well, they were like the Underoath or Demon Hunter of their day. Which is to say, they played Christian metal. Their songs had names like “To Hell with the Devil,” and “Calling On You,” and for their 1985 album, they even covered “Battle Hymn of the Republic (Glory, Glory, Hallelujah),” which may still be the single lamest metal cover of a non-metal song ever, which is really saying something.

Now the band is working on a covers album, which will include their take on songs by the homos in Judas Priest, the blasphemous, drug addled guys in Black Sabbath, and the Jews in Kiss.

I don’t really have much else to say about this… it just made me laugh. Fingers crossed that they add a song by Slayer or Mayhem to the mix…

-AR

On October 26, 1984, John McCollum killed himself after having listened to Ozzy Osbourne’s Blizzard of Ozz, Diary of a Madman, and Speak of the Devil.  While playing the latter, McCollum put a gun to his temple and killed himself. Two years later, his parents filed suit in California against Ozzy and his label, CBS Records. His parents claimed that Ozzy’s music, in particular the lyrics from “Suicide Solution” on Blizzard of Ozz, caused their son to commit suicide.

Judas Priest was involved in a similar trial in 1990.  On December 23, 1985, James Vance and Raymond Belknap shot themselves after allegedly listening Judas Priest.  While Belknap died instantly, Vance survived for three years before finally succumbing to his injuries.  Their parents alleged that subliminal messages placed in “Better By You, Better Than Me” were responsible for their sons’ actions.

In both cases, families filed suit against the bands because their music had the effect of pushing their sons over the edge, resulting in the deaths of the three young men. The various causes of action brought in both cases were based on the notion that the music of both bands was negligently produced, and that the music encouraged the self-destructive behavior that resulted in the three suicides.

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In case you’re the one person in the world who hasn’t seen it:

Now, on the one hand, I would never advocate hitting a woman outside the realm of Cannibal Corpse or Pig Destroyer lyrics; on the other hand, holy shit that Snooki girl from Jersey Shore is fucking irritating.

Why are we talking about all of this? ‘Cause for some reason Snooki just interviewed Judas Priest’s Rob Halford and Scott Travis for MTV, and despite the fact that she is so brazenly a waste of space, Halford and Travis manage to get through the entire thing without being total douchebags and punching her. That’s called “self-control,” kids.

Watch the interview after the jump. It’s actually pretty funny.

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I didn’t watch the Grammys last night, and judging by Metal Injection’s report on the event, it doesn’t sound like I missed anything. For one thing, the award Best Metal Performance wasn’t even televised, because, well, metal heads know better than to watch this stupid show and the t.v. people want ratings, not goodwill. (Judas Priest won, in case you care; AC/DC won Best Hard Rock Performance.)

Worse, though, was a butchering of the legendary solo from “November Rain” by Slash (real name: Saul Hudson), Jaime Foxx (real name: Eric Marlon Bishop), T-Pain (real name: Faheem Rasheed Najm) and Doug E. Fresh (real name: Douglas E. Davis). Not just because the song needs hip-hop shenanigans like I need nut cancer; not just because some thought they had better put Slash’s name in big letters on the screen behind him when he came on stage, in case anyone was confused by the top hat, Les Paul, curly hair, and people yelling “SLASH!”; but really because Slash only sounds marginally better than Dj Ashba.

The funniest part? If Axl Rose is to be believed, getting Slash to even agree to record “November Rain” was like pulling teeth. I can’t wait to see what kind of shit I’ll do someday in the name of making my mortgage payments.

-AR

Did you know that if you eat before you start slamming shots, you’ll get a little less drunk, but you’ll also have something to vomit up later? It’s true. Also, sometimes when you smoke weed, you get the munchies. These are just two great reasons why you should care about Hellbent for Cooking: The Heavy Metal Cookbook by Annick “Morbid Chef” Giroux. Showcasing “a varied menu of over a hundred recipes from thirty countries,” Hellbent for Cooking features recipes by members of Accept, Anthrax, Anvil, Armored Saint, Brutal Truth, Death, Electric Wizard, Eyehategod, Gwar, Judas Priest, Kreator, Mayhem, Melechesh, Nuclear Assault, Obituary, Repulsion, Saint Vitus, Sepultura, Sigh, S.O.D., Slough Feg, Thin Lizzy, Toxic Holocaust, and about a trillion others (you can get a complete list of contributing bands here).

MetalSucks is teaming up with Bazillion Points Publishing to give away three (3) copies of Hellbent for Cooking. All you have to do to win is create a picture that somehow connects metal to food and post a link to someplace we can view said picture in the comments section below. Use Photoshop to create an image of Lemmy eating a hot dog, use MS Paint to do a portrait of Metallica as the pepperonis on a pizza, whatever you want – it just has to be both food and metal related, and it has to amuse us. Vince and I will choose the three pics that make us laugh the hardest and those pics’ creators win the book.

This contest will end at midnight EST on Monday, December 14. Please note that this contest is open to U.S. residents only, as shipping costs are a bitch. And if you’re too lazy to participate, you can always just order a copy of the book here.

Good luck, and good eats…

-AR

So the nominations for the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards have been announced. The nominees for “Best Metal Performance” are slightly less embarrassing than usual – I’m assuming because the popularity of metal is on the rise, so some bands with actual talent are enjoying the spotlight. Here they are:

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And on that note, I’m done for the day. See ya tomorrow.

-AR

In no particular order…

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Yeah, tomorrow is Halloween. And sure, you’re all excited to dress up as that dude from Watchmen or a slutty nurse/secretary/schoolgirl/turd and probably not thinking about Christmas just yet. Since it’s less than two months away, I can’t think of a more miserable way to honor/desecrate Jesus’ birthday than with some good ol’ fashioned holiday music performed by Judas Priest’s Rob Halford. That’s right: ROB HALFORD HAS A FUCKING CHRISTMAS ALBUM OUT. Here’s the single “Christmas Comes For Everyone”:

God, this is awful. If you’re a masochist, then go ahead and download the single for free at Halford’s website.

I’m buying this album for all of my MetalSucks colleagues for Hannukah, because I hate them.

-GS

[Gary Suarez is baking you a fruitcake. He usually manages the consistently off-topic No Yoko No. Say, why don't you follow him on Twitter?]

If I had a biological clock, I’d worry that’s it’s ticking. Because this is my second story about little kids today.

Reign in Blonde has made the awesome discovery of Jonah Rocks, who is a) the only four year old I’ve ever seen that can play the drums, and b) the only four year old I’m aware of that already has a stage name. He also seems to have an endorsement deal with Vic Firth. Holy poop.

For reasons that are totally beyond me, the videos of this lil’ tyke rockin’ out are not embeddable, but if you go here, you can watch Jonah play “Harvester of Sorrow” with more skill and passion than Lars Ulrich has displayed in years.

After the jump are some more links to Jonah playing. Some of these videos were made when he was only three years old!!!

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As Vince already mentioned, we spent Friday night at the annual San Gennaro festival in Little Italy. Prior to that, though, we had warm-up drinks at Arrow Bar, where our bro-bro Bram Teitelman from Metal Insider was spinnin’. The last song he played before we headed out for Little Italy was “Painkiller,” which, needless to say, got stuck in my head for the rest of the night, and part of the next morning. It wasn’t even the whole song – it was just the chorus. It was like Halford was trying to drill his way out of my brain. Every time there was a lull in the conversation, I found myself almost involuntarily adopting that eunuch voice, screeching the chorus aloud. I’m sure I annoyed the ever-lovin’ shit outta everyone around me.

But there are way worse songs to have stuck in your head.

-AR

So I’ve been living in the UK for about four months now, and have managed to take in quite a lot of this “culture” thing they’re so fond of over here. I’ve been to nine countries, eight major metal festivals, and a handful of cities in Ol’ Blighty itself; I’ve gate-crashed hotel parties in Norway with the drummer of Swallow the Sun, stage-dived into a sea of muddy grind freaks in the Czech Republic, gotten roaring drunk with Wolves in the Throne Room in the Netherlands, met Gaahl’s boyfriend in France, gotten lost in Rome, watched Electric Wizard blow an amp in Manchester, lost my mind to Eyehategod at Hellfest, seen Manowar (‘nuff said there) – and that was just the first couple months. Between all the metal, mud, bruises, whiskey, calimocho, hard cider, and terrifying Czech liquor (Becherovka and Fernet are no fucking joke, even if it is Kevin Sharp and Danny Herrera pouring you a shot), I realized that, somehow, something was still missing.

To my immense chagrin, I had yet to take that all-too-necessary pilgrimage up through the Black Country and into the Unholy Land itself – to Birmingham, England. Every metaller worth his leather (and several million other music fans besides) knows exactly why this unimpressive, coal-smudged city matters so much. Birmingham is the ancestral home of heavy metal. Everything – whether it be doom, black metal, powerviolence, or even the plague that is deathcore – everything came from here. The famed Mermaid Pub provided a fertile breeding ground for extreme metal, nestled as it was in a dodgy part of town where the cops ignored the punkers and longhairs milling around out front as the early rumblings of a deadly new sound thundered away upstairs The city itself was the original stomping ground of the dirty sexy hard rock’n’roll of Led Zeppelin, the NWOBHM gods in Judas Priest, the crusty proto-grind of Sore Throat, the scummy grindcore forefathers of Napalm Death, the industrial noise terror of Godflesh, and the one and only BLACK FUCKING SABBATH.

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As a part of goth metal OGs Type O Negative, drummer Johnny Kelley’s talents are often overshadowed by the low end sultriness and antics of bassist/frontman/nude model Peter Steele. But his graceful stickwork has been holding the band together since 1995’s October Rust, and the string of Type O albums that have come out since have stood shoulder to shoulder with the band’s prior material. Along with being Danzig’s drummer, Kelly plays in Seventh Void, a stoner/trad metal outfit with Type O Negative guitarist Kenny Hickey. The latter band released their debut on Vinnie Paul’s Big Vin Records in April. In an interview with MetalSucks, Kelly discusses Type O Negative’s future, working with Glenn Danzig, and his thoughts on modern drummers.

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There’s plenty of room to argue about the Best Metal Albums of the 21st Century. But then there’s Judas Fucking Priest.

As undoubtedly one of the best metal bands… well, EVER, we are beyond thrilled to offer you the exclusive world premier, full album stream of the brand new Judas Priest live record A Touch of Evil – Live. Recorded during the band’s 2005 and 2008 world tours, A Touch of Evil – Live focuses primarily on fan-revered album cuts (all previously unreleased in live form on CD) as well as two tracks from the band’s 2008 concept opus Nostradamus.

Stream it right here until 11:59pm EDT on the night before the album’s official release date of July 14th! If ya like, pre-order A Touch of Evil – Live here.

[UPDATE: This promotion has now ended. Sorry.]

Steve Stamopoulos sent us this video of Rob Halford performing the Judas Priest classic “Delivering the Goods” with Skid Row on MTV. I remember watching this when it first aired, on whatever MTV’s equivalent of TRL was back in the day. The show was hosted by future ex-The Panic Channel vocalist, Steve Isaacs, who was maybe the last (only) cool VJ in the channel’s history.

There’s a studio version of this on the Skids’ most forgettable covers EP, B-Side Ourselves. It’s fun to watch this video, though, ’cause a) the song rocks and b) Halford is dressed like trailer trash.

-AR

What I like about White Wizzard, Earache Records’ latest signees, is that there’s no bullshit involved in their music. These are dudes who lived and died by their Maiden, Priest and Dio records back in the day and without a doubt still jam these records all the time. Perhaps best of all, there is not an ounce of irony here; though the dudes certainly have a sense of humor and, methinks, would categorize their music as “fun,” don’t expect them to try to out-shred anyone like a certain band or to pull any ironic “we have 15 singers” crap like another certain band. White Wizzard just like their “classic, traditional metal” (their own self-categorization), therefore that is what the play. Quite well, I might add.

Take their video for “High Speed GTO,” posted below. It’s got wizards and witches, sorcerers, general bad-assery and a storyline you’d expect from a classic Dio video, not a metal video in 2009. But the video doesn’t have these things because they think “ha ha, the ’80s were funny, let’s make fun of them!” like most of the poser rehash bands of today. No, these dudes actually think (and rightly so!) “wouldn’t it be fucking awesome if we had a video with wizards and witches and sorcerers??! that’d be fucking bad-ass!!!” It’s a fine line, kiddies.

After the jump, check out a recent EPK video featuring interviews and live footage of the band, including ex-Overloaded guitarist Erik Kluiber who recently joined White Wizzard as their second guitarist. Erik’s a talented axeman that longtime MetalSucks Maniacs will remember as commenter “ERiK.” Expect a “mini-album” (whatever that is) called High Speed GTO from White Wizzard on July 13th in the entire world. hello, Earache, it’s called “the Internet!” in Europe, and a full-length later in the year.

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A few years ago Slayer performed Reign in Blood in its entirety, a year later Metallica did Master of Puppets, and now Exodus are gonna do Bonded by Blood, Judas Priest are doing British Steel, Motley Crue are doing Dr. Feelgood, Ratt are doing Out of the Cellar, Aerosmith are doing Toys in the Attic, Melvins are doing Houdini, etc. What does the MetalSucks Haterade Mafia think; is this trend lame, or is it cool?

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Swine flu got you down? Don’t get too scared, it was always part of the plan. Here’s a headline you should be much more concerned about: “ROB HALFORD UNVEILS NEW LINE OF SUPER CRAPPY T-SHIRTS“. WTF?? As if that isn’t horrifying enough in and of itself, the shirts look like they were designed by people with down syndrome that just couldn’t quite make the cut over at Affliction (as though Affliction Clothing isn’t bad enough). Jesus. If you want to get massively bummed out, head over to Halford’s new t-shirt line website, “Metal God Apparel” and grab yourself a sweet tee for a cool $54.99. Cheap!!

I see tons of douchebags trolling around Los Angeles in shitty shirts that look dangerously similar to these. It’s pretty sad. It’s a pandemic for sure. And there’s not really much we can do at this point. It seems even the Boston Red Sox have been struck with this “affliction” (pictured right). I hate all of you.

-MC

[Read more from Mike Conte at http://www.whiplashwhiplashwhiplash.com/]

Greg Mottola’s one of those filmmakers you know even if you don’t know you know him: he’s directed episodes of Freaks and Geeks and Arrested Development, and his feature film credits include Superbad and, now, the coming of age dramedy Adventureland.

In all seriousness: I think Adventureland is the only movie I’ve seen this year that hasn’t made me wanna tear my eyes out and carpet bomb Hollywood. Maybe it just hit that right sentimental spot for me, but it feels like such an honest, hilarious, and heartbreaking portrayal of that age when you think you have it all figured out, and you quickly realize you don’t know jack shit about jack shit.

It also has a fantastic soundtrack. In addition to some awesome non-metal acts (The Replacements, The New York Dolls, Lou Reed, etc.), it has a chase scene set to Judas Priest’s “Breaking the Law” which is pretty much the best possible cinematic use of that song I could ever imagine. Couple with Mottola’s superb exploitation of “Panama” in Superbad, I have reached the conclusion that he would be a really, really awesome dude to hang with.

Here’s Priest doing “Breaking the Law” in 1982:

-AR