Metal confronts what we'd rather ignore. It celebrates what we often deny. It indulges in what we fear most. And that's why metal will always be a culture of outsiders.

May 12, 2012 9:46 AM

Metal: A Headbanger's Journey (SLYT)
posted by fearfulsymmetry (15 comments total)

I'll be back in an hour and a half, but I'm already loving this post, for I too am that fucking old
posted by Redhush at 10:00 AM on May 12, 2012 [4 favorites]

\m/

Also, the sequel, Global Metal is pretty great, too.
posted by jonmc at 10:18 AM on May 12, 2012 [3 favorites]

I'm deeply unsettled by the human-looking Rob Zombie.
posted by vanar sena at 10:29 AM on May 12, 2012 [2 favorites]

Woot for Canadian documentaries.
posted by Canageek at 10:31 AM on May 12, 2012 [1 favorite]

I think I saw this on Netflix about a year ago. It's earnest and awesome. Totally worth setting aside an hour if you're at all interested in rock, much less metal.
posted by joe lisboa at 10:37 AM on May 12, 2012

Plus I'm a sucker for documentarians getting to interview their childhood idols, so there's that.
posted by joe lisboa at 10:37 AM on May 12, 2012 [1 favorite]

This is such a good documentary! I saw it with a festival audience that was probably 10% metal fans and 90% non-fans, and it was a big hit with everyone. Sam Dunn (one of the directors) is an anthropologist by training and it really shows. I met him and Scot McFadyen because they came to present Metal at the festival and they were every bit as smart and jovial as you would expect from the film. Talented and nice guys to boot.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 10:43 AM on May 12, 2012 [2 favorites]

Loved it.
posted by humboldt32 at 11:56 AM on May 12, 2012

I'm fascinated by the subtitles. It's English language with English subtitles. I can understand clarifying slang or accents, but there are lots of places where someone clearly says something like: "You can actually do that." an the subtitle says " I can really do it." Why change something like that? Bizarre.
posted by Bort at 1:44 PM on May 12, 2012

I see, thanks item.

I did some googling on youtube cc. Looks like there might have been a cc or two provided in one of Finnish, French, Spanish. Then English and the others were done via youtubes "machine translation" feature. "If captions are available, but not in a language you prefer, you can try the machine translation feature." Or maybe some other machine translator. I just couldn't understand why a human translator would change things around so much. The answer is probably that it was an human that created the English cc.
posted by Bort at 2:37 PM on May 12, 2012

That 'Gaahl' from Gorgoroth at 1:16:30 is really something.

*Setting: a dark candlelit tavern*
Q: "What are the primary ideas that fuel Gorgoroth's music?"
*Gaahl strokes stem of his wine glass, silently staring at interviewer for several seconds.*
Gaahl: "Satan."
*Gaahl slowly raises glass to lips and drinks, staring at interviewer. He slowly lowers the glass to the table, stares intently for a while more as he swirls the wine in his glass*
Q: "What does Satan embody, or what does he represent?"
*swirls wine in glass again, maintaining his gaze*
Gaahl: "Freedom."
posted by Hither at 3:00 PM on May 12, 2012 [4 favorites]

This was great, thanks for the post!
posted by slimepuppy at 3:29 PM on May 12, 2012

I loved this, thanks for the post.

(Gaahl was creepy. Aw, Norwegian Black Metal guys. Maybe someday you'll have a Norwegian Glam Metal offshoot, and then you'll be a bit cheerier)
posted by deliquescent at 7:54 PM on May 12, 2012

Thanks so much for the link. Enjoyed immensely. Many truths within.
posted by erebora at 11:30 PM on May 12, 2012

For more Gaahl fun and games check out True Norwegian Black Metal (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) especially part five where Gaahl takes the film crew on a nice nature walk.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 2:22 PM on May 13, 2012