Disclaimer: The more I learn about metal music and culture, the less I think I know. It's far more broad and stylistically diverse than I imagined. I realize my opinions may be highly controversial.
A friend in a local band suggested this movie as a source of information about metal music and culture.
Movie Review: Anvil: The Story of Anvil
The Netflix sleeve contains this text:
"Formed by two 14-year-olds in the 1970s, Canadian heavy metal band Anvil influenced the great acts that followed, such as Anthrax and Metallica. This documentary joins Anvil's now middle-aged founders as they recover from a disastrous tour of Europe. Hoping to end their youthful dreams and careers on a high note, Robb Reiner, Steve "Lips" Kudlow and the band set out to record their 13th album, 'This is Thirteen.'"
This was a fantastic documentary film. It was very well done. The story is compelling, weepy and thick with metal history. It was challenging to watch at times because it would be hilarious as parody (think Spinal Tap), but the people and events are real. At one point, I was laughing so hard that I ruptured a minor blood vessel in my eye. However, Robb and Lips are likable guys, and I couldn't help but root for them.
Sometimes I enjoy music more if I don't see the band. I'm not sure if listening first would have helped me enjoy Anvil's music. Historical footage shows young Lips on stage in a silly-looking bondage outfit, assaulting his guitar with something like this (NSFW). That image, the fan drinking beer through his nose, and such lyrics as "Out in the shcoolyard/Little peaches play/Rubbing their beaves/Got a lot to say..." weave into a product so painfully adolescent and lacking in substance that I find Anvil's music difficult to like. The ridiculous sexual stuff is laughable, but Lips appears to take his art very seriously. The music itself (IMO) is mediocre, and I can't un-see the young band on public access TV in the scene which made my eye bleed.
In 1984, Anvil, Scorpions, Whitesnake, and Bon Jovi played the Super Rock Festival in Japan. Everyone except Anvil went on to become wealthy and famous. Anvil wants to finally, finally achieve their dreams. No one seems to know why their music never took off and brought them the fame they believe they deserve. I suspect that it's because their music simply isn't good enough to appeal to large masses of people.
Still, according to Malcom Dome Anvil's album, Metal on Metal, was absolutely pivotal to metal music in North America. Such metal experts and historians as Lars Ulrich, Scott Ian, Slash, Tommy Araya, and Lemmy, seem to have a lot of praise and respect for Anvil. Although you'll never find Anvil on my iPod, these guys are obviously far more qualified than I am to assess the quality of Anvil's music.
There's a great interview with Lars Ulrich of Metallica in the DVD Bonus Features. In trying to discern the reason that Anvil didn't achieve commercial success, he speculates that many factors outside the band itself contributed to their decline. Things like bad management, or bad business deals, or bad venues can all contribute to a band's death by a thousand cuts.
Culturally, Anvil seems not to have participated in the same way as bands who went on to achieve success. Lars mentions that Anvil was not present in the early metal clique comprised of now-famous metal figures. They were apparently engaged in excessive debauchery elsewhere. All the up-and-coming metal bands in the mid 1980s knew the same promoters in New Jersey and New York, and the band members knew each other were fans of each other's music. It was a small somewhat underground community, yet Lars has never met Lips or Robb. Although they were in the same geographic area at the same time and shared many industry contacts, Anvil was never around "...hanging out drinking together, fucking together..." with Metallica and the rest.
Lemmy of Motorhead says that you have to be in the right place at the right time for success. Lemmy's assessment sounds like he's writing Anvil's decline off to bad luck, but I wonder what Anvil missed by not participating in the communal bonding rites of early North American metal culture.
TIP:
Enter the amount, and click "Tip" to submit!
Nikki Stern
Greg Correll
Amanda Gulledge
marytkelly
Indiana_Joe
Lainey
Salon.com
Comments