A History of Heavy Metal by Andrew O'Neill

loud and thoroughly engrossing' - Alan Moore 'One of the funniest musical commentators that you will ever read. He has obviously gone to great effort to leave no plectrum unturned in the pantheon of heavy metal.- TeamRock.Paperback 'Absolutely hilarious' Neil Gaiman His chronological expedition through the ages, as seen through his own eyes, is backed up by constant witticisms and footnotes of in-jokes and opinions. O'Neill's knowledge is nothing short of impressive. a man on a righteous mission to persuade people to 'lay down your souls to the gods rock and roll', as Newcastle's Venom would have it.- The Sunday Times

This, then, is the work of a fan first and foremost, driven by his prejudices and passions.

Loud, unapologetic and full of love, Andrew O'Neill's essential and much-needed History of Heavy Metal is as funny and preposterous as this mighty music deserves.- John Higgs - author of The KLF: Chaos, Magic and the Band who Burned a Million Pounds A loud and thoroughly engrossing love-story.- Alan Moore A History of Heavy Metal is a comprehensive, landmark analysis of an enormous area of music that has been too long without such a thing, and has the massive advantage of the funny being turned up to twelve.

One of the funniest musical commentators that you will ever read. Now, in his first book, he takes us on his own very personal and hilarious journey through the history of the music, the subculture, and the characters who shaped this most misunderstood genre of music. The expansive pantheon of heavy metal musicians includes junkies, Satanists and murderers, born-again Christians and teetotallers, stadium-touring billionaires and toilet-circuit journeymen.Īward-winning comedian and life-long heavy metal obsessive Andrew O'Neill has performed his History of Heavy Metal comedy show to a huge range of audiences, from the teenage metalheads of Download festival to the broadsheet-reading theatre-goers of the Edinburgh Fringe. It is the story of a worldwide network of rabid fans escaping everyday mundanity through music, of cut-throat corporate arseholes ripping off those fans and the bands they worship to line their pockets. The history of heavy metal brings brings us extraordinary stories of larger-than-life characters living to excess, from the household names of Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy, Bruce Dickinson and Metallica (SIT DOWN, LARS!), to the brutal notoriety of the underground Norwegian black metal scene and the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal. 'As funny and preposterous as this mighty music deserve' - John Higgs 'A man on a righteous mission to persuade people to 'lay down your souls to the gods rock and roll'.' - The Sunday Times

A History of Heavy Metal by Andrew O'Neill