THE NEW WAVE OF BRITISH HEAVY METAL: Heavy Metal’s Punk Era

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'eadbangers at the Bandwagon

The New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM), penned by Sounds journalist  Geoff (Deaf) Barton in 1977, is most noted for spawning two of the best and most popular metal bands, Iron Maiden and Def Leppard.

Along with Maiden and Leppard, NWOBHM also produced some of the best (if not well known) acts in metal history such as Saxon, Samson, Diamond Head, Raven, Angelwitch, Tygers of Pan Tang, Girlschool, Venom, Trespass, Vardis, Witchfinder General, the list could SERIOUSLY go on for days (check out nwobhm.info for a complete, if somewhat overwhelming, discography of the genre).

NWOBHM was punker than punk.

Oh, and it’s pronouced ner-wob-um, btw.

These bands started forming when punk exploded into British popular music. Hard rock was what your lame older brother listened to. So young bands with passion for Deep Purple, Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, ACDC, Motorhead etc were left with little to no chance of being signed to a label. Its legend now that a label offered Iron Maiden a deal if they would cut their hair and adopt a punk look.

Tough clearly opposed to punk in sound and vision, punk influenced these bands to adopt a more aggressive look and sound and inspired a DIY ethos. They started recording, producing and distributing their own records. The result became NWOBHM.

It all came together at DJ Neal Kay’s Heavy Metal Soundhouse. The Soundhouse was London’s first heavy rock discotech. Kay gave a forum for exposure to these new bands, spinning their self made 45’s for an audience and promoting shows throughout the city. The overwhelming popularity of the night (and upon the incessant request of Mr Kay), finally warranted national media coverage in Sounds magazine. It was Kay who adopted Barton’s term, New Wave of British Heavy Metal, as the identity of the scene.

The buzz was on and copy cat nights started popping up. Kay compiled charts based on requests from the crowd at the Soundhouse. These became the definitive Heavy Metal Charts that ran weekly in Sounds. Without his enthusiasm and persistence, the heavy metal genre may have never taken off. Check out the soundhouse website: hmsoundhouse.com

Barton went on to create Kerrang! magazine, the first publication dedicated to Heavy Metal.

On a personal note: it was learning about this club that got me collecting NWOBHM records. It even inspired me to throw my own party in tribute: Lady Starlight’s Heavy Metal Soundhouse…..

Needless to say, labels came around and metal bands were getting signed like mad. Only a few experienced national success, however, and only two, Maiden and Leppard had notable success in the States. Iron Maiden’s performance of their debut single ‘Running Free’ on Top of the Pops brought NWOBHM into the living rooms of every British household. They were the first band to perform live on the show since the Who. By 1980, metal was the most popular genre of rock around the world.

Yeah, there is a lot of crap to sort through to get to the gems of NWOBHM. But it’s significance is impossible to ignore. Lars Ulrich of Metallica has always been vocal about the importance of these bands (particularly relatively unknown Diamond Head) in the development of the band’s sound. He produced an excellent compilation, “The New Wave of British Heavy Metal, ’79 Revisited”, which i encourage everyone to check out as a good intro to the best of the NWOBHM.

Heavy Metal can be an intimidating genre to get into.  It has since fragmented into so many different sub-genres, death metal, black metal, thrash, progressive metal, sludge etc. It gets almost laughable, just read the wikipedia entry on heavy metal…whoa. The New Wave of British Heavy Metal is straight forward rock n roll. It still sounds fresh and exciting, with a rawness to it that great rock music has, or should have. Give it a listen and i think you will agree.

Lady Starlight’s NWOBHM Favorites

Coming soon: Lady Starlight interviews NWOBHM icon Thunderstick!

Tags: def leppard, heavy metal, iron maiden, nwobhm