Metal Evolution

Tracing the origins of metal is a phantasmagoric odyssey that traverses cities and countries, oceans and continents. For Sam Dunn, the start of this heavy metal pilgrimage will take him from Memphis, Tennnesee's Sun Studios, birthplace of Metal's indisputable progenitor, rock 'n' roll, to across the Atlantic, where he'll zero in on the dawn of Metal's central ingredient, the power chord, through The Kinks' formative smash, "You Really Got Me.". The earliest sounds of Metal will be revealed — the guitar innovators of fuzz and distortion — who played them and how these sounds were generated, while fresh and candid conversations about the meaning behind the aggression and brotherhood of metal with icons such as Rob Halford, Alice Cooper, Bruce Dickinson, Lemmy, Sebastien Bach and guitar heroes Slash, Tom Morello, Kirk Hammett and, in one of his final interviews, the late, legendary Hubert Sumlin, will enlighten us every step of the way. 2012 Metal Evolution Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved. Distributed exclusively in Canada by Entertainment One. All Rights Reserved.

Metal morning in America begins with the clank of cars and guitars and the burning of draft cards, Detroit Rock City being home to the likes of Ted Nugent & The Amboy Dukes, Iggy & The Stooges and the explosive MC5. But before that, it was the innovations of California surf guitar legend Dick Dale and the raucous garage rockers that sowed the seeds for darker, heavier music reflected in the apocalyptic sounds of Steppenwolf's "Born to Be Wild" and the furiously loud Blue Cheer. But weirdly, the picture suddenly brightens, lifting the nation toward a golden period of stadium-sized, radio-friendly metal, represented by the inspired and inspiring trinity of Kiss, Alice Cooper and "America's greatest rock 'n' roll band," Aerosmith. Once Van Halen, with ruthless efficiently but also with flair, accumulates the advantages of all of the above, the stage is set for what will become a full decade's worth of dominance for the uniquely party hardy metal of America. 2012 Metal Evolution Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved. Distributed exclusively in Canada by Entertainment One. All Rights Reserved.

Pouncing on the power of heavy metal, the United Kingdom wasn't about to cede the rock 'n' roll dominance that nation held over America since the insanity of the Beatles and the subsequent British invasion. Guitar heroes of the British blues boom like Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck gave way to the masterful giants Led Zeppelin. Meanwhile, Black Sabbath, not unlike the Detroit bands, offered an apocalyptic, doom-laden response to the bleak industrial environment of Birmingham. Further south, swinging London was producing the sophistication of Deep Purple. Add to the mix the next generation of glam rockers like Sweet and Slade, plus Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow and the emergence of Judas Priest, and Britain's rich legacy of hard rock would be assured. 2012 Metal Evolution Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved. Distributed exclusively in Canada by Entertainment One. All Rights Reserved.

The New Wave of British Heavy Metal marks no less than the establishment of hard rock's very first heavy metal army. Loud 'n' proud of it, this jean-jacketed legion of headbanging air guitarists snarled back at punk, expressed impatience with prog, and purposefully declared a banishment of ballads. Previously undefined and even a bit shameful, heavy metal was now boldly out of the closet, Iron Maiden, Motörhead, Saxon, Def Leppard, Raven and the Tygers Of Pan Tang seething out of the gates with fast, technical, uncompromising metal music, building a fanatical, energized movement that would lead to — as we will demonstrate in Episode 5 — the establishment of a hard rock scene in Los Angeles built on similar devotional principles. The result would be a fulcrum shift to ten years of metal glory for America, with glam, thrash and everything in-between emerging out of California, thanks to the power and the glory of the NWOBHM and the obsessive fan culture it fostered. 2012 Metal Evolution Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved. Distributed exclusively in Canada by Entertainment One. All Rights Reserved.

There is no descendant of Metal that is as universally lampooned as "glam." But why? In Episode 5 of METAL EVOLUTION, the white lace curtain is drawn back on glam metal. We'll visit L.A.'s storied Sunset Strip to revisit the impact of Van Halen and Mötley Crüe on the city's emerging club scene. We'll explore the reasons behind the present-day perception that glam was, despite its massive popularity in the 1980s, a false and hollow music form that represented a betrayal of the very spirit and ethos of Metal. Purveyors of glam from Poison, Ratt, Warrant and Quiet Riot will divulge their side of the story, revealing the attitudes, influences and decisions which guided them during those heady days of rampant excess. Contemporary thrash musicians will discuss the reasons behind the vilification of glam—the notion that glam reduced Metal to caricature, drawing on a shallow combination of pop cliché and sophomoric sexual pandering for its inspiration. We'll also explore the symbiotic relationship between MTV and glam metal, as well as the enormous pressure artists faced from the music industry to adapt or be jettisoned, speaking candidly to the ones who failed and those who've succeeded, who continue to play to audiences hungry for Aqua-net and spandex nostalgia. Finally, we'll track the truth and the myths behind the idea that glam's ignominious decline paved the way for Metal's next big stepchild, Grunge. 2012 Metal Evolution Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved. Distributed exclusively in Canada by Entertainment One. All Rights Reserved.

How could metal go so horribly wrong? These were the bitter thoughts of scruffy outsiders Lars Ulrich, Dave Mustaine, Gary Holt and Jeff Hanneman, cursing as the glorious clang of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal echoed across America, only to die in LA. Ratt, Dokken, Quiet Riot - where was the power? Where was the fire in the belly? From this crucible of embarrassment, a virulent strain of metal called thrash was born, the likes of Metallica, Testament, Exodus and Death Angel wreaking vengeance on hook and melody through a rhythmic discipline executed at breakneck tempos topped by harshly-barked vocals laying bare the horrors of nuclear holocaust and other fun forms of death. 2012 Metal Evolution Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved. Distributed exclusively in Canada by Entertainment One. All Rights Reserved.

On April 5, 1994, Kurt Cobain pressed a shotgun to his head and pulled the trigger extinguishing the life of one of rock's most enigmatic but tortured geniuses and symbolically ending the storybook reign of Grunge. In Episode 7 of METAL EVOLUTION, Sam explores grunge, a.k.a. the Seattle Sound, from a decidedly fresher approach, inspiring two fundamental questions: "Why did grunge polarize the Metal community?" and "What happened to heavy music post-grunge?" Before exploring grunge's meteoric rise, replacing the MTV face of Metal that was glam with self-examination in a flannel façade deemed antithetical to the ethos of Metal, we'll get straight answers from members of Mudhoney and The Melvins about how much metal was in the Seattle sound. We'll also ask the leaders of grunge such as Soundgarden and Alice in Chains why they once publicly shunned their Metal roots, preferring to advance the dubious notion that their music was an offspring of the American punk movement and then, for the first time ever, hear them "come out of the closet," and own up to the enormous debt — technically, viscerally and aesthetically — they owe to Metal giants like Led Zeppelin, Blue Öyster Cult and Black Sabbath. We'll then examine the post-grunge phenomenon that lead to the blockbuster-selling heaviness of Creed and Nickelback. In Episode 7, the history of grunge will be rewritten. 2012 Metal Evolution Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved. Distributed exclusively in Canada by Entertainment One. All Rights Reserved.

On a sweltering summer day back in 1999 at the Woodstock Festival, as Limp Bizkit launched into their hit "Break Stuff," fans literally did just that, dismantling the stage, setting fires and mindlessly attacking each other, and in doing so, creating, arguably, Metal's most absurd and embarrassing moment, marking the beginning of the end for the genre's most vilified stepchild, "nu metal." In Episode 8 of METAL EVOLUTION, Sam Dunn chronicles the rise and fall of nu metal; starting with its ancestry, Sam considers the impact of pivotal artists like Rage Against The Machine, Faith No More and Pantera and their fiery amalgam of hard, heavy distorted rock and post-Prince funk. 2012 Metal Evolution Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved. Distributed exclusively in Canada by Entertainment One. All Rights Reserved.

In September of 1969, at a rock 'n' roll festival in Toronto, Canada, a live chicken made an unscheduled appearance during an Alice Cooper set. The unfortunate creature was reportedly torn limb from limb, the blood drained from its carcass, and the remains scattered throughout the front rows of the stadium, giving birth to one of the most extraordinary descendants of Heavy Metal: 'shock rock.' In Episode 9 of METAL EVOLUTION, two central questions are raised: "Historically, where did the urge to shock an audience come from?" and "What are the antecedents of shock in rock music?" Starting with the ringmaster of mayhem himself, Alice Cooper, an artist who drew heavily on such diverse influences as Expressionist horror film and circus sideshows, we'll revisit a world of guillotines and gallows, electrocutions and sorcery with its roots in the shock tactics of rock 'n' rollers like Screaming Jay Hawkins and Arthur Brown. 2012 Metal Evolution Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved. Distributed exclusively in Canada by Entertainment One. All Rights Reserved.

On the beer-drenched, muddy fields of Bad Arolsen, Germany, Sam Dunn is surrounded by legions of filth covered, barbarian headbangers, all boiling with the rage of Thor, and drawn, without a hint of irony, to The Magic Circle, a mammoth three-day power metal festival, hosted by Manowar, on the banks of the mighty Rhine. In the tenth episode of METAL EVOLUTION, Sam investigates Heavy Metal's most enduring sub-genre, power metal, and asks the questions: "Why is power metal so huge in Europe?," "What are its roots?" and "Why does it still prosper today?" Klaus Meine of Scorpions helps Sam zero in on power metal's remarkable connection to the youth of 1960s and '70s Germany, kids overwhelmed by an invasion of other cultures due to post-war reconstruction; kids who yearned for a type of music that was distinctly their own. 2012 Metal Evolution Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved. Distributed exclusively in Canada by Entertainment One. All Rights Reserved.

Many rock academics have proclaimed that the truly progressive musicianship of the last 20 years has been found right here in the world of heavy metal, rather than obvious locales such as jazz, fusion or progressive rock. It stands to reason then, that much of this jaw-dropping virtuosity occurs within what's known as progressive metal, a genre that takes root with the likes of Rush in the '70s, Queensryche and Fates Warning in the '80s, and Dream Theater in the '90s. Since then, the genre has exploded with creativity, spawning mindbending, genre-defying acts such as Tool, Mastodon, Coheed And Cambria, Meshuggah and Opeth. Episode 11 looks at the extreme musicianship of these bands, as well as their often extreme literary prowess and conceptual strength, the end result being a rich level of respect and attention such challenging acts have brought upon the world of heavy metal, from a critical community usually dismissive of the form. 2012 Metal Evolution Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved. Distributed exclusively in Canada by Entertainment One. All Rights Reserved.