5 reviews
What promotes itself as a history of how rock became metal is actually more a compilation disc of bits from two live performance programs pulled together with as little commentary as possible. Using footage from Beat Club and Musik Laden, two foreign programs that featured live performances, the film traces the history of music that was first called hard rock before it changed to the term metal.
These programs featured the top acts of the day including Deep Purple, Alice Cooper and Black Sabbath when their careers were young. The audience around them is rarely seen but their performances are captured and show why these bands were the top at the time. From those early hard rockers to the glam era, all can be found here.
Those two forms later changed with the arrival of the hair bands and they too are represented. But one gets the feeling it was punk rock that changed things from rock to metal as bands like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest took over, offering more guttural growling, harder riffs and louder music.
Interspersed with the performance footage are interviews with starts that are featured performing or discussed in the film. The members of ex-Motley Crue founder Nikki Sixx new band Sixx A.M. are interviewed as are Twisted Sister's Dee Snider, Ian Gillan from Deep Purple, Ozzy Osbourne of Black Sabbath, James Hetfield of Metallica, Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, Scott Ian of Anthrax and Michael Monroe of Hanoi Rocks.
Basic information that one could find on Wikipedia is mingled with the performances and interviews. This would make the film a good primer for those unaware of much of what is offered but it will be the performances themselves that fans of the various groups will want to enjoy.
On the whole this disc will no doubt be something that fans of the rock and metal will find enjoyable enough while it doesn't add a lot new to be found with the exception of performance footage. That's not to discount the disc but to just make sure when you purchase it you know what you're getting. If you're a fan then by all means you need to add this to your collection.
These programs featured the top acts of the day including Deep Purple, Alice Cooper and Black Sabbath when their careers were young. The audience around them is rarely seen but their performances are captured and show why these bands were the top at the time. From those early hard rockers to the glam era, all can be found here.
Those two forms later changed with the arrival of the hair bands and they too are represented. But one gets the feeling it was punk rock that changed things from rock to metal as bands like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest took over, offering more guttural growling, harder riffs and louder music.
Interspersed with the performance footage are interviews with starts that are featured performing or discussed in the film. The members of ex-Motley Crue founder Nikki Sixx new band Sixx A.M. are interviewed as are Twisted Sister's Dee Snider, Ian Gillan from Deep Purple, Ozzy Osbourne of Black Sabbath, James Hetfield of Metallica, Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, Scott Ian of Anthrax and Michael Monroe of Hanoi Rocks.
Basic information that one could find on Wikipedia is mingled with the performances and interviews. This would make the film a good primer for those unaware of much of what is offered but it will be the performances themselves that fans of the various groups will want to enjoy.
On the whole this disc will no doubt be something that fans of the rock and metal will find enjoyable enough while it doesn't add a lot new to be found with the exception of performance footage. That's not to discount the disc but to just make sure when you purchase it you know what you're getting. If you're a fan then by all means you need to add this to your collection.
- kirbylee70-599-526179
- Dec 16, 2019
- Permalink
- ebabsy-60853
- Feb 12, 2021
- Permalink
This is not well done. Don't be sucked in by the 'never-before-seen-footage' and other hype. There are some mildly interesting interviews but for the most part, you get sounbbite after soundbite from guys like James Hetfield, Michael Monroe and, for some reason a LOT of screen time from lead singer from some band called Sixx A.M. None of them say anything even remotely profound or interesting. I kept expecting to see 2 soft-spoken white people to keep interrupting and saying 'Thank you for watching... if you want to see even more of this great programming here on PBS, make sure to call in, give a big donation and you'll get a wonderful tote bag with our logo'. If that DID happen, it would probably be the most interesting part of the entire 90 minutes.
- genious-35413
- Oct 21, 2019
- Permalink
Clips that didn't cost the producers much and the absolute lamest voice-over imaginable, with vast numbers of basic ideas not discussed and bands not even shown, barely cited: all of this made this lifelong metal lover recoil in embarrassment...unless the producers just wanted to make money off that horde of gullible metal fan base that will watch anything "about" metal.
Or: this could have been aimed at people who don't listen to metal, but want to understand something about it. In that sense, it's a sociological document.
The editing was atrocious: meandering, with very little idea of what the film wants to say about how "rock became metal." At the end, they say it's become evermore diverse through the years (true!), and it celebrates that diversity while also being a music about individuality, personal freedom and loyalty to a genre that's always been marginalized.
If you're a hardcore metal head, it's been a long, long, long time since you heard your favorite bands on the same radio that everyone else listens to. This is but one sense in which metal is a substitute for traditional religion among many of its followers. One must seek their favorite bands now. Sabbath/Zep/Purple have long been relegated to "classic rock", which says painfully too much, I won't even go into it here. This last idea - about metal as religion that provides community and a sense of the transcendent - is addressed for about 20 seconds...
That metal's themes and lyrics address that which society has always repressed? This gets touched upon, but only lightly before moving on. Quite superficial!
I could easily make a list of 25-30 ideas about the music that could have been addressed in a deeper way and made this film much more interesting, but that's not what this film is about: it's about producing CONTENT about metal that only takes up 90 minutes. This film reminds me of the joke about the guy who took a speed reading course, with the final exam being about War and Peace, which he read in 15 minutes and declared, "It's about Russia."
There was a short segment about Michael Schenker, one of my all-time favorite guitarists. He's speaking in German about a part of his career that is known to anybody who if a fan of his...but what is the context for someone who wants to know more about how "rock became metal"? There is no context.
This documentary casts such a wide net it's almost absurd. I'm still waiting for a well-made doc on how guitarists were always the primary movers and makers and shakers of the music, with interviews both with the great guitarists and those writers - some academics who are exceedingly articulate, knowledgable and thoughtful about the music - also weighing in. In this as-yet-unmade doc, there's a POV and the possibility of some great rhetoric and ideas about virtuosity, theatricality, genre, and gender.
Suffice to say, this ain't it. Come On Feel The Noize is for the couch-potato metalhead consumer who will watch anything having to do with metal, or for people who know nothing about it, but want to feel, after 90 minutes, like they now understand something about it. To save time, read the Wikipedia page on "heavy metal."
Or: this could have been aimed at people who don't listen to metal, but want to understand something about it. In that sense, it's a sociological document.
The editing was atrocious: meandering, with very little idea of what the film wants to say about how "rock became metal." At the end, they say it's become evermore diverse through the years (true!), and it celebrates that diversity while also being a music about individuality, personal freedom and loyalty to a genre that's always been marginalized.
If you're a hardcore metal head, it's been a long, long, long time since you heard your favorite bands on the same radio that everyone else listens to. This is but one sense in which metal is a substitute for traditional religion among many of its followers. One must seek their favorite bands now. Sabbath/Zep/Purple have long been relegated to "classic rock", which says painfully too much, I won't even go into it here. This last idea - about metal as religion that provides community and a sense of the transcendent - is addressed for about 20 seconds...
That metal's themes and lyrics address that which society has always repressed? This gets touched upon, but only lightly before moving on. Quite superficial!
I could easily make a list of 25-30 ideas about the music that could have been addressed in a deeper way and made this film much more interesting, but that's not what this film is about: it's about producing CONTENT about metal that only takes up 90 minutes. This film reminds me of the joke about the guy who took a speed reading course, with the final exam being about War and Peace, which he read in 15 minutes and declared, "It's about Russia."
There was a short segment about Michael Schenker, one of my all-time favorite guitarists. He's speaking in German about a part of his career that is known to anybody who if a fan of his...but what is the context for someone who wants to know more about how "rock became metal"? There is no context.
This documentary casts such a wide net it's almost absurd. I'm still waiting for a well-made doc on how guitarists were always the primary movers and makers and shakers of the music, with interviews both with the great guitarists and those writers - some academics who are exceedingly articulate, knowledgable and thoughtful about the music - also weighing in. In this as-yet-unmade doc, there's a POV and the possibility of some great rhetoric and ideas about virtuosity, theatricality, genre, and gender.
Suffice to say, this ain't it. Come On Feel The Noize is for the couch-potato metalhead consumer who will watch anything having to do with metal, or for people who know nothing about it, but want to feel, after 90 minutes, like they now understand something about it. To save time, read the Wikipedia page on "heavy metal."
There are several things about this documentary that are less than stellar, but the editing is the absolute worst.
While the overall story is mostly told in chronological order, there's a lot of unnecessary jumping back and forth in time. The clips of artist interviews often have nothing to do with the scenes before or after them. Album covers are shown while another artist's song plays. A few concert clips go on a little too long for the overall format of the movie. The same can be said of several interview clips.
An excessive amount of time is spent talking about punk, while many metal genres are never even mentioned. Thrash metal icons James Hetfield and Scott Ian are both interviewed but the movie doesn't delve into thrash. The movie cites Alice Cooper's (very valid) influence on glam but also give him credit for Ghost with absolutely no mention of Mercyful Fate. Sixx A. M. is included but Motley Crüe is barely mentioned. The movie is named after a Slade tune popularized by Quiet Riot but the connection is never made when Slade is shown and, as far as I recall, Quiet Riot was never even mentioned.
It's pretty much a mess and there are far better metal documentaries that put this one to shame.
While the overall story is mostly told in chronological order, there's a lot of unnecessary jumping back and forth in time. The clips of artist interviews often have nothing to do with the scenes before or after them. Album covers are shown while another artist's song plays. A few concert clips go on a little too long for the overall format of the movie. The same can be said of several interview clips.
An excessive amount of time is spent talking about punk, while many metal genres are never even mentioned. Thrash metal icons James Hetfield and Scott Ian are both interviewed but the movie doesn't delve into thrash. The movie cites Alice Cooper's (very valid) influence on glam but also give him credit for Ghost with absolutely no mention of Mercyful Fate. Sixx A. M. is included but Motley Crüe is barely mentioned. The movie is named after a Slade tune popularized by Quiet Riot but the connection is never made when Slade is shown and, as far as I recall, Quiet Riot was never even mentioned.
It's pretty much a mess and there are far better metal documentaries that put this one to shame.