[WATCHED October-November 2012] Metal Evolution
VH1 aired this series last year and I was intrigued by it but figured I had no time to watch an 11 hour series on the history of heavy metal. Of course, this being VH1, they have since re-aired the series on an almost continual loop. So, if you’re interested, you can always catch it.
This series was created by Sam Dunn, the documentary filmmaker who made the movie Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey. I had heard good things about the movie, but never saw it. After watching the series, I’m definitely interested in the movie. Dunn is a keener–A Canadian heavy metal fan who is really into his subject. He knows his stuff and he knows what he likes (heavy metal) and what he doesn’t like (glam metal, nu metal).
The sheer number of people he interviews is impressive (as are the number of locations he travels to). Part of me says “wow, I can’t believe he was able to interview X,” and then I remember, “X is really old and is nowhere near the level of fame that he once had.” Given that, the few hold-outs seem surprising–did they not want to have anything to do with VH1? Are they embarrassed at how uncool they are now? Just watch the show guys, you can’t be as low as some.
The only mild criticism I have is that the show relies a lot on the same talking heads over and over. Scott Ian from Anthrax, whom I love, is in every episode. Indeed, he may be a paid VH1 spokesman at this point. There are a few other dudes who show up a little more than they warrant, but hey, you use what you got, right?
What is impressive is the volume of music he includes with the show. I assume that he couldn’t get the rights to any studio recordings because every clip is live. This is good for fans in that we get to see some cool unfamiliar live footage, but some of it is current live footage which often doesn’t compare to the heyday. Having said that, there’s a lot of live footage from the early 80s–of bands that I never saw live anywhere. And that’s pretty awesome.
With an 11-part documentary there’s the possibility of exhaustion and overkill, but Dunn is an excellent craftsman he jumps around from old to new, talks about how the history impacts the current and, because of his own interests, he makes it personal rather than just informative. (more…)