'Heavy Metal Britannia' BBC Special Available For Viewing
March 20, 2010BLACK SABBATH's Tony Iommi, JUDAS PRIEST's Rob Halford and Glenn Tipton, IRON MAIDEN's Bruce Dickinson, DEEP PURPLE's Ian Gillan and Jon Lord, MOTÖRHEAD's Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister, DIAMOND HEAD's Brian Tatler and the EDGAR BROUGHTON BAND's Edgar Broughton are among the musicians who were interviewed for "Heavy Metal Britannia", a new documentary which premiered on U.K.'s BBC Four channel on March 5.
Voiced by Nigel Planer, "Heavy Metal Britannia" traces the emergence of the genre in Britain in the late Sixties and Seventies.
Watch the special in three parts below.
Metal began life in the mid-Sixties underground rock scene — a fledging style spearheaded by the likes of JUDAS PRIEST, BLACK SABBATH, DEEP PURPLE and LED ZEPPELIN.
This early metal was dominated by paranoia and darkness, albeit often tongue-in-cheek. The players were male, mostly working-class — a uniquely Seventies British style — spawning their own long-haired, headbanging audience with their own dress codes and world view.
While this generation still defines classic British metal, it was nearly overtaken by British punk in the late Seventies. Then back came a new generation such as IRON MAIDEN, DEF LEPPARD and SAXON, dubbed "The New Wave of British Metal" by the press.
As the Eighties dawned, the best of these two metal generations were ready for the long haul — to make their genre the key force in music it remains today.
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