Capsule are after folks to volunteer their time to put together a ‘people’s archive’ celebrating Birmingham and the West Mids as the home of heavy metal:
I spoke to Jenny from Capsule about this last week and she made the point that discussions about the Birmingham music scene (or lack of) tend not to mention Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Godflesh, Napalm Death and Led Zep’s Robert Plant – all of whom had a huge impact on a massive, international musical genre.
If you want to get involved go to Capsule’s Home of Metal page.
Incidentally, Capsule have got a few more events lined up, the next one being Pelican & Torche at the Factory Club on 17 September. See the Capsule event page for details.
Heavy Metal and Birmingham ? – see MOTOR CITY MUSIC YEARS, made in 1992 for Carlton and Channel 4. This was a three part series about the city and its pop music heritage. Part two is about Heavy Metal, and includes interviews with Judas Priest and Black Sabbath, along with other bands. An absolute cert for anyone wanting to mull this topic over. It was made by the Bham production company Independents Birmingham, which was run by
me, Roger Shannon, and Jonnie Turpie. I produced the series and Jonnie Turpie directed. It’s as far as I know the only televisual ‘hommage’ to Bham and its pop music legacy. Parts one and three are also well worth looking at.
Roger Shanon
Any idea where a copy of that could be had?
There was also the 4th episode in the “7 Ages of Rock” series (on BBC2 I think). I seem to remember them mentioning Birmingham/West Mids a fair bit in that.
There’s a mention of the video in the National Archive, there’s a copy at Walsall Local History Centre apparently although there must be an easier way to get a copy.
There’s an interesting academic article that looks at the neglect of Heavy Metal as a subject for cultural theorists. It kind of reinforces Capsule’s point about the neglect of Metal.
‘Heavy Metal and Subcultural Theory: A Paradigmatic Case of Neglect?’
Dave
A copy can be got from me; and I’ve let Capsule know that, so hopefully they’ll be in touch.
(Chris – you can probably get a copy from Jonnie Turpie).
The programme on heavy metal, like the other two in the series, MOTOR CITY MUSIC YEARS, is narrated by Brummie and ex TUBE researcher Chris Phipps, whose commentary places, socio cultutally, heavy metal within the prevailing ‘metal bashing’ industries in the west midlands. (In this context it’s not surprising that the director of the FRANKENSTEIN movies, James Whale, came originally from Dudley. The movie GODS AND MONSTERS about James Whale clearly associates his upbringing in a metal bashing environment with the look, design and ‘metal bashed’ image of FRANKENSTEIN).
Part three of the series MOTOR CITY MUSIC YEARS includes terrific stuff from John Mostyn and – possibly – the best interview ever with UB40. Oh ! and Steel Pulse, Joan Armatrading, Duran Duran, Black Sabbath, Roy Wood inter alia.
Made in 1992, transmitted once by Carlton, a regional one, and once by Channel 4 nationally.
Roger Shannon
Thanks Dave and Roger for your input, keep stuff coming, all help is appreciated!
The article from the New Statesman from our symposium is a good read and talks about the economic impact of Metal.You can find a link on our website. I’m also hoping to put the sound files up from those talks as well as the essays we commissioned.
Chris – just to point out our next gig, Pelican + Torche is at the Factory club, not the Hare & Hounds
Good grief – sorry Lisa, you know it’s only Capsule-related posts I make mistakes in?
Some might think its a conspiracy:)
We’re (Rhubarb Radio) up for this too Lisa- feel free to shout if there’s anything you need (editing kit, mic’s, voices, etc)
It’s funny that, as the article Dave points us to accurately describes – metal is neglected in studies of youth subculture when the study of youth subcultures itself was (like metal) pretty much born in Birmingham – Cohen and Willis of CCCS being the youth subcultural studies equivalents of Priest and Sabbath.
The good thing about the neglect of metal in youth subcultural studies though is that it makes it possible to look at the broader trends described in work on mods or whatever and see if they hold up against observations of metalers – a good way of testing theories.