Original subtitles

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I

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got oh my God

what we did

we exciting

stsh

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heavy of British heavy metal

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briy

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I yes I am sing it man

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yes I

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am

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for PL

destruction Sorcerer of death

Construction

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by the end of the 1970s the Old Guard of

British Hard Rock were in you a fair

amount of trouble lead Zeppelin were

well past their best they were M and

drugs Deep Purple had split up Black

Sabbath seemed very much on their last

legs Aussie Osborne was on his way out

so there was a kind of vacancy for

something

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Saxon vardis Diamond Head de leard Raven

Tigers of pantang girls schol Angel

witch Iron Maiden praying mentis

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Samson we were all working we all had

day jobs I was a car mechanic I bought

the white Flying V with my money uh I

bought an amp you know uh so it was

always a case of one day I will become a

musician or a rock star or whatever I my

first job I was a joiner a carpenter but

um the coal mine paid more money that

was the key that to work as little as

possible for the most amount of money so

I used to work the night shift and I

would take my base guitar there and play

at the best guitar in the late' 70s uh

we decided Ed to form Girls School uh

and start writing our own material so I

said to my dad you know the bank of mom

and dad I said I need a guitar I need a

marshall stack and he said well if

you're serious about this he said I'll

lend you the money but you have to get a

job and you pay me back 50 a week or

something whatever it was until you pay

it off and then I'll take you seriously

and then not so cool had to get a job in

a bank for a year to pay my dad back the

money yeah

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anist am

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I really like Punk the enthusiasm the

energy but we didn't want to be a punk

rock band we all had long hair we wanted

to be let Zeppelin or something so we

kind of mixed the two we wanted to be

big and we wanted to write epics but we

took some of the vibe and the speed from

the punk bands and then when punk came

anyone could try so I tried and it

seemed to work that was the great thing

about the punk era was that anybody

could get up and do whatever they wanted

to do and it gave a lot of people

confidence to like especially us you

know cuz we thought you know oh well we

we can do anything sort of thing you

know in the 70s it was still a little

bit hippie you know and people just sit

cross legs or sit in their seat and

watch the band it doesn't mean to say

that they uh didn't like the band you

know I mean I used I sit down and watch

bands sometimes but you know we seen the

punk bands were getting this reaction

from the audience you know going crazy

and uh we like that and I think we took

that on

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board

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2 you know better

grandma oh yeah it sounds very very

different from kind of traditional

polished hard rock or heavy Rock really

it's kind of earthier it's more

primitive it genuinely feels like

anybody can make this

music it doesn't mean that these people

can't play their instruments because

they can but unlike a Jimmy pig or for

instance a Richie Blackmore you don't

have to be a virtuoso they took the

blues out of bands like Leed Zeppelin

Deep Purple so instead of you're have

going to have to forgive me making

noises here so instead of it going Dum D

Dum it

went you me without

S I try to roll with your

punes but keep laying them down you feel

be a hard time

let me lose my

mind me

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a

men's bands were forced to playing in

these places which really didn't care

two Hoops for music sharing a stage with

local Comedians and all the children

greet him as he patrols his

beat meanwhile down south most publicans

didn't like long hair you know we're not

oh we're not having that greasy long a

lot in here those geers that ride

motorbikes bring the taste of the place

down

rock music got a particularly rough deal

back then new bands were crying out for

somewhere to play the first gig we ever

played was a school just on the

outskirts of Sheffield called Westfield

school that was back in July

1978 and a teacher gave us five quid out

of his pocket the second gig we played

was in a field and it went dark so two

cars parked in front of and turn their

headlights on we got paid £3 for that

then the next gig we did was that

actually almost normal we played the

limit club which is now closed down and

we didn't get paid at all cuz it was a

free concert

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we had the Friday night Rock Show on

radio one with Tommy Vance for four

hours once a week and that was it

something had to be

done necessarily

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it's full of kids who are just going

there to literally hear him play records

he just played heavy Rock all he played

and that's where people from around

London started to this one's called

hellbent for Lea Neil K was DJ was

absolutely fantastic mental case um it's

just a great place to go out over the

weekend

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ACDC F lizy UFO Judas Priest motohead

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you've also got some ridiculous moments

that are happening down there it's like

it's like kids turn up with homemade

cardboard guitars literally with with

with C cut out cardboard

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guitars he's out there on the floor he

he's playing a cardboard guitar so well

it looks like he's actually playing it I

thought my God you know what is going on

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here living after midnight the Judas

Priest

they were basically the legend that made

up the soundhouse nation as I called

them the soundhouse nation we were a

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family Jeff bonal

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magazine I just put an advert in saying

that the bandwagon is now on the live

circuit and welcomes de demo tapes to be

sent to this address and from them I

will uh select bands with to get gigs at

the bandwagon but hundreds came tapes

from everywhere and the sound house from

then on was very much the it was the the

gig that everyone wanted on their way up

and every band wanted to play at the

soundhouse two young men from East

London walked into the bandwagon they

came up to me and they said we'd like

you to hear our tape and we'd like to

try and get some gigs here at the

bandwagon I put his tape in the cassette

player in my house and I was absolutely

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flawed my skin went all crazy and these

little bumps all over it the songs were

incredible key changes speed changes

melodic cord progressions in

vocals choruses to die for and a hard

Resolute never Tobe beaten message Iron

Maiden is going to get you no matter how

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far we find out completely different to

all the other rock bands no one was like

us because uh it was quite fast but

quite complicated with come change music

um but with a punk

singer and we that that's what made us

unique no one would like us at all so it

was great

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I and Maiden were a band who'd actually

been knocking around for several years

already but they'd only been playing

around East London so the music press

didn't notice

them IR maen as we know them only really

came together in 1979 when Paul Dio

joined a singer until then they were

just a band who were trying to find

their

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identity it was Neil K who brought Iron

Maiden to the the attention of the

world Iron Maiden stayed close to Their

audience their success has been based up

till now on small gigs in pubs and clubs

rather than the large venues of the

previous generation lead singer Paul Dio

regards this as an important part of the

band's attitude I like the smaller

venues anyway um I've I've always agreed

with that and the band's always done it

since we ever started

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thund stick Angel witch Ando black sabat

Iron Maiden

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between Jeff Barton and Alan Lewis who

was the editor of sound Allan is

probably the man who coined the phrase

the new wave of britsh heavy metal

because he felt that everything that

Jeff was writing about needed a name if

people could identify with that name

then they would continue to go into the

music itself it was just a way

describing a new batch of heavy metal

bands in the UK and lumping them all

together uh and and creating a scene

just to put us in the little niche

alongside all the other bands and it's

kind of worked he was writing about it

with a lot of enthusiasm uh and you know

in in order to get people excited and

get behind it and there's me uh in

starbridge in 1979 thinking oh that's

exciting cuz I'm in a heavy metal band

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we did five songs on this four track

demo uh and we sent one to sound to Jeff

Barton and then sure enough it appeared

in his playlist Diamond Head demo tape

and we was like

oh exciting stuff

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de leopard wrote begging letter after

begging letter to Jeff Barton asking him

to come and watch them and he finally

did in mid 1979 him and the sounds

photographer Ross Halen went up to

Sheffield and de leopard were playing at

Crooks working men's club that night Joe

Elliot picked Jeff Barton up from the

station took him to the show got them

drunk on cheap beer because it was a

working men's club and the beer was

cheap and Jeff Bon wrote a glowing

two-page spread about them and that

attracted so much attention to De

leopard they instantly became one of the

leaders of the

movement saw you the other

day Budd it couldn't be you cuz you had

nothing to

say he going the way they told I'm AF

friend now we I can here to the misery

end Wast wasting my time was shooting

the line was I'm out of my head Wast I

wish I

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dead new wave of British heavy metal

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the new way of British heavy metal got

the world's clumsiest acronym n wob BHM

which became a word Noam in this country

though we call it

Noam because it's the abbreviation but

everywhere else like it doesn't make any

sense what is Noam what does it mean for

a French person or a German person or

Japanese person doesn't mean anything

it's just these kind of random

letters i

heads

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Headbangers I was very much a loner and

music up through the the 70s and then

ultimately the new wave of British heavy

metal gave me a sense of belonging to

something and made me

feel alive and made me feel like I was a

part of something that was much bigger

than myself from a Fan's perspective it

unites it unites a generation of people

how can we tell that we are united we

can tell very simply we dress a certain

way if you go wearing a su or a toxy

that's going to be ridiculous people

like to wear their air long and that we

lever it's more comfortable you know

it's easy easy going and if you get

messy you know someone to beer over yet

you don't have an argument you say okay

you know sorry about that I thought

you're fine you can go to a punk gig and

they're all got Spar air and people see

us and they know straight away that you

every work is right most of these bands

were dressed like the fans and most of

the fans were dressed like the bands it

was jeans and leather jackets and denim

jackets they look like uh me

like I am now Den jacket or leather

jacket jacket

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the song that really encapsulates the

whole new wave of British heavy metal

and the spirit and the togetherness of

the fans is is is a Saxon tune called

Denim and Leather the song Denim and

Leather is about the new we Bri s met

that that's what it's about that group

of bands and that group of you know fans

and audience that came from that our

uniform was Denim and Leather so that's

what I'm singing about where were you in

79 when the dam began to burst where

were you in 79 when the dam began to did

you check us out down at the L

show are youing

Den did you R down to the front did you

for your ticket through the

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ice together it was you that

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the at the time I was a member of the

Saxon fan club which was known as the

Saxon militia guard um and I got a

letter that said can you come to the

studio to to do some backing vocals

we're inviting fans to do backing vocals

on this song that we've got and that

song was Denim and Leather So the voices

that you hear on the chorus are the

voices of real fans and the tragedy for

me on a very personal level was the day

of that studio session I was away on

holiday with my parents and I have to

say I've never forgiven them because I

could have been on a Saxon record and

here I am talking to you instead

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well let's ask this lady here I mean

you're a heavy metal fan you got tiger

of panang badge you don't think it's

sexist then no I don't I don't think

it's any more sexist than any other for

of

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girl the reason we ended up as an old

female band was the simple reason that

no boys wanted to play with us you know

they just didn't want to know we started

to get recognition from um newspapers

and all the when they heard about this

female band let's go

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we suddenly thought then we're not

stupid we thought wow this old girl

thing you know it's not too bad so the

boys they didn't want us well we don't

want you anymore you know

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we've had sisters we've had Mo red with

TTS which is like you

know you know honestly

um really and yeah we've had all these

sort of things you know um but you know

we just take everything with a pinch of

salt we don't we don't care

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he I came back with like the cut million

pound offer which was fantastic to be on

the same label as Queen Kate Bush Cliff

Richard pink Floy we're like wow this

ising amazing they all they was all

scared of us they kept away but uh yeah

it was great The Perfect Storm was

coming together we thought we made it

basically because we got a record deal

and we're in the Studio making an album

everything was being paid

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forsh heavy magazine sa iron

menen Tigers of

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Pang we were trying to get somebody to

sign Diamond Head you know each as I say

each time a band got signed like girl

school like Saxon uh like tigers of pan

tank you feel we got to get on with it

you know we had amateur management who

didn't really know what to do and I

think they thought diamonded you know

the best band in the world and they

could hold out for a big record deal

like a five album deal and a bit and it

was possibly a bit

unrealistic for Iron Maiden

top of the

pops music was dead they come from West

Ham their name is Iron Maiden and they

got something which they're doing live

in the studio for you it's called

Running

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Free I Maiden was the first band to play

live on top of the pops since the H in

the late 60s and for us it it's like

that's our moment our band are on a

national TV show that is

unbelievable we out of money out of love

I got

nowhere hit the gas here I goe

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slaugh the moing religion hat night

I have no

one when Derek Riggs actually done the

very first Eddy from the first

album we was like whoa this is what we

want you don't have to have listened to

an Iron Maiden record because you can

see Eddie and when you see Eddie you

know what that means even if you don't

know what the music sounds like when

you're going through the record stores

and you're going through the records you

this go right in your face yeah right

that will do my first reaction when I

saw that wasn't isn't that a bit

ridiculous my reaction was like oh cool

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when Angel witch writing songs about

Gorgons and white witches and stuff like

that we don't really think oh isn't that

just a bit silly we know it is but we

really accept it because we go yeah it's

a bit Dar but so what you know what am I

faced with you know I'm faced with the

everyday reality of going to school the

country's in a mess there's been real

political and social misery in the UK at

that time so alongside all of this stuff

that you've got running you know I'm

really at home to the idea of telling me

that there's there's a white witch who

lives down the road you know it's kind

of funny you

know Monsters of Rock where have you all

come from uh to from Paris and two from

to just for the festival yeah just none

of us and none of my mates went to that

first Donnington because we were too

young but man we really wanted to be

there and and and it creates something

where it's like oh what so heavy metal

can have its own

Festival it's uh an original advertising

poster of the seminal first Monsters of

Rock Festival that I compared in Castle

dunnington in

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1980 when we walked on stage we probably

sold 100,000 records in the UK at that

time so we were we were The Underdogs we

were like the new the new the new guys

you know the newer music so we were the

audience's favorite on that there think

I was set right up on the front of the

stage stage right and all I could see

for the first five rows was fans all

from the bandwagon they all came

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Judas Priest absolutely embraced the

concept of being heavy metal we Define

ourselves as heavy metal we will dress

like heavy metal we will sound like

heavy metal everything we will do is

heavy metal and that tied them in

absolutely completely with the NOA

movement I it made them almost you

standard pars for it they were both

influencers of it and influenced by it

at the same

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time Jud

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I think Jud PR one of the first ones I

saw in spandex uh you know but everybody

had it it was quite uniform for the

metal bands you know maybe ours were a

little bit tighter than theirs maybe I

don't know so there's this sense of

larger than life kind of behavior that

exists in the new wave of British heavy

metal there's this kind of idea that you

want to amplify what you're doing Maiden

do it brilliantly but even other bands

do that in the way in which they dress

they start wearing Spandex they start

looking a certain way but the Pinnacle

of it is when Venom

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arriv their photo shoots involve scar s

they involve like dry ice they involve

all as if they are the biggest band in

the world and of course they're not

they're not they the three guys from you

know the north of England signed to an

independent label

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heavy metal started spreading

internationally too you know word of it

got around um people in America or in

Switzerland or in Scandinavia who were

getting copies of sounds on import all

the rock press at that time I think was

very important with keeping this thing

going supporting the bands you know put

putting it out there here we go

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Diamond Head have released all their own

records up until that point they are a

cult band They genuinely have done it

themselves in the minds of us the F they

are huge there's 10 or 15 of their songs

that

are among the very very best not just

new waiver British heavy metal songs but

heavy metal songs in general

period

either I got to set

all got to make it

man I grew up in Copenhagen Denmark

then we ended up uh my family and I

ended up moving to Los Angeles in the

summer of

1980 those years it was a

very uh lonely and autonomous experience

being a um being a new wer British heavy

metal fan for me because I was

everywhere except in

England so by the time I saved up money

uh and made my first trip to England in

uh I landed in ear early July of

1981 uh at London's heo and went

straight from the um from the airport to

see Diamond Head who were playing uh at

the woolage Odon he was the only person

that ever flown over from the stage to

see the band and so we were very

impressed with this 17-year-old guy who

is full of enthusiasm and loved the band

and and we gave him a lift in the car

and he stopped at my house for a week he

slept on the floor in the sleeping bag I

would probably not be sitting here being

interviewed by you about this music

movement it is wasn't if it wasn't for

Diamond Head because they're one of the

significant reasons that I wanted to

play music and start a band

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everybody wanted to go to America there

was this a lur of of going to America

and to crack America people are going

how are you going to break America

you're going to have to get on the radio

and maybe try and make a video cuz

people are starting to really access

videos what was going on in America was

very much based on you know MTV had

started uh was very much about image and

look and

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atics Steve Harris

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Le getting Bruce Dickinson meant that

the compositional opportunities for iron

maen were much wider um Paul diano was

often identified as a Punky singer um

Bruce Dickinson is almost operatic in

his approach there is a quality that

Bruce has as a singer that is going to

go somewhere else so I Maiden it's a

Natural Choice so they recruit him and

then they never look back it's always

there the evil face that twist my mind

and brings me to the

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SP the number of the Beast

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this wheel just some kind

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of the band that break all that and do

it a million times better than anyone

else is De leopard and they just explode

and and they conquer America they get

played on the

radio they are put on heavy rotation on

MTV and they Define a specific sound and

a specific

era hi this is Rick Savage and Joe

Elliot from De leopard oh

bollocks all

right rock and roll

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wow

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Pyromania was so successful in

America that other labels and other

managements and other bands looked at

and thought we need to have a go at that

a lot of major labels feel that they

have to have a slice of

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this the record compan they wanted this

and they wanted that they wanted a hit

single they wanted us to get on the

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radio all to me this is no game that I

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play but what they do is they write some

songs that suddenly are just like Bland

and a bit crap and and and everyone that

liked him in the first place goes what

is this rubbish oh call me

baby call

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me fizzled out kind of fairly quickly we

didn't become Queen so everybody was

like oh God you know and panicked a bit

and then once you dropped nobody else

will touch you so unless you're

successful and we won't

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of schools of bands tried it uh they

tried to be more commercial they tried

they put a bit of mascara they put some

blonde streaks in their hair they tried

to make themselves look a bit prettier

when um everybody started to get more

produced the records started sounding a

bit more polished possibly then I

suppose then the movement probably

changed a bit yeah everything Fades

eventually you know you can't keep up

that

momentum forever

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suddenly you've got a bunch of people

who look at motly crew or wasp or any of

the hair bands from Sunset Strip and

they go oh man I wish I was on the

Sunset Strip I wish I was riding a

Harley and I had a girl on the back seat

I grew up in South London that idea

makes me feel sick I think it's [ __ ]

so I'm sitting there going who are these

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idiots

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for we started out as a cover band

playing four you know four or five of

their songs we just thought wow L's band

have covered the Diamond dead song the

first band ever to cover a diamond Dead

song and so it was very flattering we

had no idea that Metallica were going to

become the biggest heavy metal band of

all time

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hair

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metal what that poser aspect does is it

spawns another scene and that scene is

thrash metal and and and what thrash

metal is is a generation of guys who are

going we want the purity of that early

New Wave of British heavy metal sound

but we want it faster

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evil the Diamond

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Head what happens with Noam is that as

an attitude it never really

dies L is a casing point he was a fan

but everything that Metallica have done

has been based on the spirit of the new

W of British heavy me

I didn't have to go back to work my main

source of income is the royalties that

I've been receiving from Metalica for 30

years so that's been just a

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godsend yes I am sing it

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yes I am the new wave of British heavy

metal really is a concentrated Scene It

affects how fans behave it affects what

happens in the media it affects what

happens in in terms of concert promotion

it affects the presentation of the music

it affects every every

aspect culturally in a way that had not

existed before and that I think is the

Triumph of the new wave of British heavy

metal

now of course it's going all these years

later we go wow you know I mean it's

quite a legacy really I mean it's it's

it's so brilliant to be part of a

longlasting

thing you know so I don't even know what

the young bands now are being called the

new new new new new W fresh heavy metal

who knows

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a

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