Headbangers rejoice, because this fantastically illustrated encyclopedia includes all things Metal, from influential bands such as Led Zeppelin, Blue Cheer, Iron Butterfly, Kiss, and Queen, to Mötley Crue, Black Sabbath (before Ozzy became a family sitcom star), Deep Purple, Twisted Sister, and Aerosmith, right up to Jane's Addiction, Las Cruces, Limp Bizkit, and today's most extreme death metal bands. Not a single sub-genre or band goes uncovered. Well-researched and fact-filled, the witty text befits the raucous bands that push musical-and all other-boundaries. From obscure groups like Armored Saint and Norway's Mayhem to pioneers Grand Funk Railroad and Iron Maiden to megastars like Ozzy Osbourne, Alice Cooper, Lita Ford, Van Halen, Joan Jett, and Marilyn Manson, each entry contains vital statistics: a description of the band's history and sound; an essential discography; the most current, comprehensive, popular compilations; and much more. Special features cover such important details as "Metal Fashion" and the various metal genres. Def Leppard, Faith No More, Guns n' Roses, Judas Priest, Metallica, AC/DC, Nine-Inch Nails, Poison, Rage Against the Machine, and Japan's Loudness: all of the favorite (and not so favorite) adrenaline-pumped, bizarre bands that make heavy metal the unique form it is appear in all their glory.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
From Abdullah to Zebra,
By
This review is from: The Encyclopedia of Heavy Metal (Paperback)
I saw Daniel Bukszpan's Encyclopedia of Heavy Metal in a book store and was intrigued by the cover. I skimmed through it and saw the tons of glossy color photos of metal bands and memorabilia (many I had not seen before). When I saw a photo of Judas Priest roller skating in Central Park, I knew I had to have this book. It is a very entertaining guide to tons of bands with side info on such things as metal magazines, metal genres, and top ten lists of metal albums, songs, controversial album covers, etc. The author includes symbols by each artist entry to indicate such things as excessive drug use, death in the band, musical content (satanic, political, fantasy, violent, sexual, etc.). The sexual symbol is two sets of feet facing each other (although, for some bands, they may need to be turned around). Symbols for metal genre next to each metal act would have been helpful. The entries are informative and often funny ("...when [Rob] Halford came out of the proverbial closet. His revelation surprised possibly as many as six people in the entire world..."). Bukszpan even includes some humorous captions under the photos. A photo of Grandfunk Railroad laying in caskets sports the caption: "Where most rock critics wanted to see GFR end up.") The book has a forward by Ronnie James Dio and, when you read the entry on Dio, you will detect some butt kissing on the part of the author, but that's OK because Dio rocks.
There will always be controversy regarding which bands are included in a heavy metal encyclopedia (Bad Company? Kid Rock?) and which bands are left off (where's Keel? where's Annihilator? where's Meliah Rage? where's Death Angel?). But here's who made it: Abdullah, Accept, AC/DC, Acid King, Aerosmith, Alice in Chains, Anthrax, Anvil, Armored Saint, The Atomic Bitchwax, Atomic Rooster, Bad Company, Biohazard, Black Sabbath, Blue Cheer, Blue Oyster Cult, Body Count, Bon Jovi, Budgie, Candlemass, Cannibal Corpse, Carcass, Carnivore, Cathedral, Celtic Frost, Cheap Trick, Cinderella, Cirith Ungol, Alice Cooper, Corrosion of Conformity, Cycle Sluts From Hell, Danzig, Dark Angel, Darkthrone, Death, Deep Purple, Def Leppard, The Deftones, Deicide, Diamond Head, Dio, Dokken, D.R.I., Dust, Electric Wizard, Emperor, Entombed, Exciter, Exodus, Extreme, Eyehategod, Faith No More, Faster Pussycat, Fastway, Fates Warning, Fear Factory, Flotsam & Jetsam, Lita Ford, Fu Manchu, Goatsnake, Godflesh, Grand Funk Railroad, Granicus, Grave Digger, Grim Reaper, Guns n' Roses, GWAR, Hallow's Eve, Hammerfall, Hanoi Rocks, Helloween, Helmet, Jimi Hendrix, Holocaust, Iced Earth, Immortal, Insane Clown Posse, Iron Butterfly, Iron Maiden, Iron Man, Jag Panzer, Jane's Addiction, Joan Jett, Judas Priest, Katatonia, Kid Rock, King Diamond, King's X, KISS, Korn, Kreator, Krokus, Kyuss, L7, L.A. Guns, Lard, Las Cruces, Led Zeppelin, Limp Bizkit, Living Colour, Loudness, Yngwie Malmsteen, Manilla Road, Manowar, Marilyn Manson, Mayhem, The MC5, Megadeth, The Melvins, Memento Mori, The Mentors, Mercyful Fate, Metal Church, Metallica, Monster Magnet, Morbid Angel, Motley Crue, Motorhead, Mr. Bungle, My Dying Bride, Napalm Death, Natas, Nebula, Neurosis, Nine Inch Nails, Nuclear Assault, Ted Nugent, Obituary, The Obsessed, Opeth, Ozzy Osbourne, Overkill, Pantera, Paradise Lost, Penance, Pentagram, Place of Skulls, Poison, Possessed, Prong, Queen, Queens of the Stone Age, Queensrych, Quiet Riot, Rage Against the Machine, Rainbow, Rammstein, Ratt, Raven, Riot, Rose Tattoo, The Runaways, Running Wild, Rush, Sacred Reich, Saint Vitus, Samson, Joe Satriani, Savatage, Saxon, The Scorpions, Sepultura, Sir Lord Baltimore, Skid Row, Slade, Slayer, Sleep, Slipknot, Slow Horse, Sodom, Solitude Aeturnus, Soundgarden, Spinal Tap, Spirit Caravan, Stormtroopers of Death, Stryper, Suicidal Tendencies, The Sweet, The Tea Party, Terra Firma, Tesla, Testament, Therapy?, Thin Lizzy, Tool, Trouble, Twisted Sister, Tygers of Pan Tang, Type O Negative, U.F.O, Unorthodox, Uriah Heep, Steve Vai, Van Halen, Venom, Vixen, Voivod, Warhorse, Warlock, Warlord, Warrant, W.A.S.P., Whitesnake, White Zombie, Winter, Witchfinder General, Y & T, and Zebra. Of course powerhouses like KISS and Judas Priest are going to get many more pages and photos than a lesser known group like Cirith Ungol (who receive no photos) but it is near impossible to find any info on some of these more obscure bands. The photos are amazing and are worth the price of the book alone.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Delivering the goods... at last!,
By
This review is from: The Encyclopedia of Heavy Metal (Paperback)
Originally posted on NadaMucho.com, irreverent but ultimately humbling authority on all things ROCK...<Stop reading this, get off the damned Internet, go to the nearest Barnes & Noble, find Daniel Bukszpan's "The Encyclopedia Of Heavy Metal", plop down twenty bucks and buy it. I don't care if you don't listen to loud, heavy music. I don't care if you can't appreciate lots of color photos of garishly dressed, longhaired white folks in really silly poses, grimacing. It's a safe bet you know somebody who does, and the holidays - as they say - are "right around the corner". This is quite simply the greatest bathroom book since "The Book of Lists 2". Why? Gather around and I'll tell ya... Throughout my adolescent fascination with hard rock music, I sought out and read every cheap bio, slick gossip rag and "authoritative" reference book I could find on the subject. My collection of Circus magazines could (and often did) completely cover the floor of my room. The common thread connecting virtually all of this literature was the piss-poor "journalism" involved in producing the even worse "writing" of these pieces. Inconsistencies, contradictions, unsubstantiated hearsay and downright stupidity all seemed to be necessary evils to get a book about heavy metal published. This must have bothered Daniel Bukszpan in his youth as well, because he's just churned out 300 pages of the funniest, most intelligent rock writing this side of Justin Vela: "When it comes to German power metal bands who dress like pirates, there can be little disagreement that Running Wild is hands down the finest example. Anyone who would attempt to dispute this truism doubtless has their own German power-metal band in which the members dress like pirates, and is seeking, truculently, to defame their betters in the hopes of advancing their own career." There are lots of fun facts, too: "In a somewhat unorthodox quest to find closure, (Mayhem's spectacularly deceased lead singer's) band mates used the many available shards of his skull to make necklaces." And the photos! Hundreds of `em! You'll even find an outtake from Soundgarden's infamous "lily pad" photo shoot for Charles Peterson's October 1988 cover of The Rocket newspaper. Handwritten lyrics, backstage passes, jacket patches and other memorabilia round out the book's overall design, and the effect is impressive. Doom metal, black metal, death metal, prog, thrash, shred, NWOBHM, glam, stoner rock... it's all represented here, from Uriah Heep to Sleep. There's even a foreword by Ronnie James Dio, wherein he confesses his unholy love for Paul Rodgers from Bad Company! The book is not without a few missteps. Bukszpan fails to explain why an entry for the power pop group Cheap Trick is included in a book named "The Encyclopedia Of Heavy Metal", and a few of the band photos are reversed (making correct identification of the members impossible). But when one of the photos in question is a great 1979 shot of Judas Priest roller-skating merrily through Central Park, these sins are forgivable. Whether you can't remember what year Pantera's Metal Magic album came out (1983) or you just want to finally read an honest assessment of Living Colour's career (one without the common but erroneous label of "funk metal" applied to a band who were similar to the true metallic funkateers Fishbone in pigment alone), or hell, even if you merely like making fun of really bad hairstyles, this is the book to buy. Just make sure you have a shelf in your bathroom big enough to hold it.>
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
For those about to rock - READ THIS BOOK!!!,
By
This review is from: The Encyclopedia of Heavy Metal (Paperback)
Do you like good writing? Do you like heavy metal music? Do you like interesting musical tidbits & facts alongside glorious live rock photos? Then pick up this book NOW...NOW...NOW!
I think this is one of the best written books on the subject of METAL music you will ever find. The author is a diehard fan and musician himself who isn't discussing the subject matter as a uninformed spectator, but as someone who has lived and breathed the metal scene for many years. I love curling up on the couch and poring thru this MASSIVE catalog of bands, getting lost within the depths of Led Zeppelin or the chaos of Aerosmith. Plus, you get to hear about other bands you might NEVER see mentioned in Rolling Stone ( Cycle Sluts From Hell, Goatsnake, Atomic Bitchwax ) Trust me. You will not be disappointed. Tell them Dio sent you.
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