Metal: A Headbanger's Journey
Metal: A Headbanger's Journey is a 2005 documentary film directed by Sam Dunn with Scot McFadyen and Jessica Wise. The film follows 31-year-old Dunn, a Canadian anthropologist, who has been a heavy metal fan since the age of 12. Dunn sets out across the world to uncover the various opinions on heavy metal music, including its origins, culture, controversy, and the reasons it is loved by so many people. The film made its debut at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival, and was released as a two-disc special edition DVD in the US on 19 September 2006.
A follow-up to the film titled Global Metal premiered at the Bergen International Film Festival on 17 October 2007, and saw limited release in theatres in June 2008. Dunn has also elaborated upon his "Heavy Metal Family Tree" in the VH1 series Metal Evolution, which focuses on one subgenre per episode.
Contents
The film discusses the traits and originators of some of metal's many subgenres, including the new wave of British heavy metal, power metal, nu metal, glam metal, thrash metal, black metal, and death metal. Dunn uses a family-tree-type flowchart to document some of the most popular metal subgenres. The film also explores various aspects of heavy metal culture. Notable segments include Dunn taking a trip to the Wacken Open Air festival, an interview with Dee Snider providing an analysis of the PMRC attack on heavy metal music, and an interview with several Norwegian black metal bands.Interviews
The most insightful information given in the film comes from candid interviews with popular artists from metal's past and present. Notable interviews come from:Non-musicians
- Bob Ezrin, record producer
- Deena Weinstein, sociologist
- Robert Walser, musicologist
- Malcolm Dome, journalist, writer, DJ
- Mike Guitor
- Sam Guitor, fan
- Joe Bottiglieri, fan
- Chuck Klosterman, writer
- Eric Bryan, fan, bass player
- Robert Kampf, founder of Century Media
- Joey Severance, tour manager
- Eddie Trunk, DJ
- Rob Jones, DJ
- Pamela Des Barres, groupie, writer, author of I'm With The Band
- Donna Gaines, sociologist
- Gavin Baddeley, writer
- Monte Conner, senior VP A&R – Roadrunner Records
- Rolf Rasmussen, assistant minister of the Åsane church
- Brian Slagel, owner/CEO of Metal Blade Records
- Rose Dyson, writer
- Keith Kahn-Harris, writer
Soundtrack
- Accept – "Balls to the Wall"
- Arch Enemy – "Silent Wars" (live)
- Blue Cheer – "Summertime Blues"
- Burn to Black – "Winter Rancid Skies"
- Burn to Black – "Into Shadow"
- Burn to Black – "Microcosmic"
- Burn to Black – "Hellspell"
- Cannibal Corpse – "Decency Defied"
- Children of Bodom – "Needled 24/7"
- David MacDonaldson – "Partita In C Minor – Chorale"
- Diamond Head – "Am I Evil?"
- Dio – "Heaven and Hell"
- Emperor – "Inno a Satana"
- Enslaved – "Return to Yggdrasil"
- Enslaved – "Havenless"
- Girlschool – "C'Mon Let's Go"
- Iron Maiden – "Run to the Hills"
- Iron Maiden – "The Number of the Beast"
- Lamb of God – "Laid to Rest"
- Metallica – "Master of Puppets"
- Metallica – "Fight Fire With Fire"
- Mötley Crüe – "Girls, Girls, Girls"
- Motörhead – "Ace of Spades"
- Motörhead – "Killed by Death"
- Rage Against the Machine – "Killing in the Name"
- Richard Wagner – "Faust Overture"
- Rush – "Working Man"
- Sepultura – "Arise"
- Sepultura – "Beneath the Remains"
- Slayer – "Disciple"
- Slipknot – "(Sic)"
- Tim Renwick and Andy Caine – "Ain't Got a Pot To..."
- Twisted Sister – "We're Not Gonna Take It"
- Van Halen – "Eruption"
- Venom – "Bloodlust"
"Definitive metal family tree"
The chart from the film documents Dunn's view on the progression of subgenres of metal that have spawned over time as well as other styles of rock that have influence these styles of metal, while also attempting to list the prime examples of bands that fall into each category. Below is a typed version of that chart, which can be found on the second disc of the film's special edition DVD package. A new version was presented in the related TV series Metal Evolution which included a new "Pre-Metal" field that listed non-metal bands that had an influence on heavy metal and also listed additional bands as examples of the various subgenres.- Early Metal
- Shock Rock
- Progressive Metal
- Glam Metal
- Original Hard Rock
- Early Punk
- Power Metal
- Pop Metal
- New wave of British heavy metal
- Original Hardcore
- First wave of black metal
- Doom Metal
- Thrash Metal
- Death Metal
- Metalcore
- Hard Alternative
- Grindcore
- Industrial Metal
- Grunge
- Norwegian black metal
- Swedish Death Metal
- Goth Metal
- Nu Metal
- '''New wave of American metal '''
Timeline
ImageSize = width:1200 height:auto barincrement:20
PlotArea = left:130 bottom:100 top:10 right:20
Alignbars = justify
DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy
Period = from:01/01/1966 till:12/01/2017
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy
Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:1
ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:1966
ScaleMinor = increment:2 start:1967
Colors =
id:Past value:red legend:Past
id:Current value:green legend:Current
id:Time value:black legend:Decades
LineData =
at:01/01/1970 color:black layer:back
at:01/01/1980 color:black layer:back
at:01/01/1990 color:black layer:back
at:01/01/2000 color:black layer:back
at:01/01/2010 color:black layer:back
BarData =
bar:Metal text:"Early Metal"
bar:Shock text:"Shock Rock"
bar:Progressive text:"Progressive Metal"
bar:Glam text:"Glam Metal"
bar:Rock text:"Original Hard Rock"
bar:Punk text:"Early Punk"
bar:Power text:"Power Metal"
bar:Pop text:"Pop Metal"
bar:British text:"NWOBHM"
bar:Hardcore text:"Original Hardcore"
bar:Black text:"First Wave of Black Metal"
bar:Doom text:"Doom Metal"
bar:Thrash text:"Thrash Metal"
bar:Death text:"Death Metal"
bar:Core text:"Metalcore"
bar:Alternative text:"Hard Alternative"
bar:Grind text:"Grindcore"
bar:Industrial text:"Industrial Metal"
bar:G text:"Grunge"
bar:Norwegian text:"Norwegian Black Metal"
bar:Swedish text:"Swedish Death Metal"
bar:Goth text:"Goth Metal"
bar:Nu text:"Nu Metal"
bar:American text:"NWOAHM"
bar: Revival text:"Nu Metal Revival"
bar: Kawaii text:"Kawaii Metal"
PlotData=
width:10 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:
bar:Metal from:01/01/1966 till:01/01/1971 color:Past
bar:Rock from:01/01/1974 till:01/01/1979 color:Past
bar:Shock from:01/01/1968 till:01/01/1983 color:Past
bar:Punk from:01/01/1976 till:05/01/1979 color:Past
bar:Power from:03/23/1976 till:end color:Current
bar:British from:05/01/1979 till:01/01/1983 color:Past
bar:Progressive from:01/01/1970 till:end color:Current
bar:Glam from:01/01/1973 till:01/01/1990 color:Past
bar:Pop from:01/01/1978 till:end color:Current
bar:Doom from:01/01/1982 till:end color:Current
bar:Hardcore from:01/01/1980 till:01/01/1986 color:Past
bar:Thrash from:07/01/1983 till:end color:Current
bar:Black from:08/01/1981 till:01/01/1986 color:Past
bar:Norwegian from:01/01/1990 till:end color:Current
bar:Grind from:01/01/1987 till:end color:Current
bar:Death from:01/01/1985 till:end color:Current
bar:Swedish from:01/01/1990 till:end color:Current
bar:Goth from:01/01/1990 till:end color:Current
bar:Core from:01/01/1985 till:end color:Current
bar:G from:06/01/1988 till:04/08/1994 color:Past
bar:Industrial from:10/11/1988 till:end color:Current
bar:Alternative from:11/01/1985 till:end color:Current
bar:Nu from:10/11/1994 till:12/31/2003 color:Past
bar:American from:01/01/2000 till:end color:Current
bar: Revival from: 07/13/2010 till:end color:Current
Reception
The film received mostly positive reviews. It currently holds a 90% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 6.9/10 and the critical consensus being: "Made by a metalhead, this documentary of the musical genre both informs and entertains with its range of interviewees."Some brief controversy arose over the film's depiction of black metal, which many fans of the genre saw as being one-sided and biased during a screening documented in the film. In the special features to the DVD of the film, Dunn attempted a restitution to the concerns of the black metal fans by including an additional featurette.