Denim and Leather: The Rise and Fall of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal

I blasted through this in just a couple of days. well written (written? compiled? edited?), humorous, and shot through with a gold mine of stories and anecdotes from the people who were they and played key parts in this important slice of british music history. if you've ever sewn a band patch onto your denim jacket or hurt your neck muscles headbanging down the local metal club night, this needs to be on your bookshelf. (or your kindle if you're not a luddite. ;) )

I was 16 going on 17 at the start of the NWOBHM and remember reading the Geoff Barton penned and Alan Lewis headlined article that christened the NWOBHM.This is like those Channel 5 talking head shows where sundry celebs recount their experience of first eating a Wispa or riding a Space Hopper and is all the better for it, as you get first hand accounts from members of a number of NWOBHM bands - Saxon, Diamond Head, Tygers, Venom, Girlschool, Def Leppard (who have thought that would happen?), Raven, Angel Witch, Witchfynde, Handsome Beasts, Witchfinder General, Samson, as well as some of the 'old guard' who were still relevant and important - e.g. the chapter on the first (and vying against 1984, the best) Monsters of Rock.No it doesnt splinter off into the multitude of bands who were around (a quick look at Malc Macmillan's Encyclopedia of NWOBHM or Martin Popoff's Smokin Valves sows how many of those there were/are) but concentrates on most of the key players, even getting Joe Elliot and Rick Savage to provide reminiscences where they have more often than not totally distanced themselves from the NWOBHM, giving us an idea of why they did that and why Def Leppard are probably mainly responsible for the decline of the NWOBHM.Unfortunately, as they didnt want to be involved, the only references to Iron Maiden are from ex members Paul Dianno and Dennis Stratton, DJ Neal kay and Dave Lights who did their lights (natch).I never liked and still dont like Venom, however their chapter was very illuminating.It was also interesting to hear about what his collegaues thought of Geoff Barton and their opinion of his likes and dislikes, however unfortunately Barton didnt get involved.The fact checks and corrections are fun to see, although you can sort of forgive some of them due to the time and everything else that has passed since.I also liked the way Michael Hann wrote in the vernacular of the interviewee - you can just feel Steve Dawson's Yorkshire twang.

Michael Hann has never made a secret of his love for NWOBHM, which is why he is surely the best man for the job. Sufficiently distanced (as a chief music writer for The Guardian) to be objective, but also filled with the enthusiasm of a genuine fan, he had gathered a treasure trove of interviews from most of the scenes main players and many of the minor ones. As a genuine working class youth movement, NWOBHM has never been accorded any respect by the generally middle class arbiters of cool, but as the progenitor of some of the most influential and enduring bands of the last 40 years it has probably influenced the face of popular music as much as any post punk scene.What I especially like about this book is it's relentless good humour and the sense that this was generally an excuse for young men (although not exclusively) to grab some kind of identity, have a laugh and celebrate a common love for loud, fast music without any pretentions beyond dressing up in latex demon costumes and blowing the entire gig fee on dry ice. Everyone involved seems to have had a great time, and some of the tales are genuinely hilarious, especially considering most of the participants are clearly in on the joke. That's not to say that this is some kind of winking ode to guilty pleasures - there are those of us who love this music and are not ashamed to admit it.If I want that true sound of 1980, you can keep yer Joy Division and the like - stick on some Diamond Head, and wonder if their career could have improved without being managed by the singer's mam.Michael Hann deserves a pat on the back and a lifetime supply of Spandex trousers. 5 stars!

The new wave of British heavy metal (commonly abbreviated as NWOBHM), pronounced “Nuh-wobbum” was a creation by a music newspaper at the time, Sounds. Following, punk in 1977, which had been pounced upon by its competitor, the New Musical Express (NME). The newspaper needed a movement, like punk, that it could hang its hat on and it found it. Not with the rock music of the past, Deep Purple, Yes, Genesis, Jethro Tull, Led Zeppelin, which punk had rebelled against. The 20-minute drum solo and 20-minute guitar solo had been killed off by the 3-minute punk song. But what grew out of the ashes was this new generation of rock musician, it was harder, faster and it was grew out of the British pubs and clubs. In other words, like punk you didn’t need to be a trained musician to play this rock, in fact this harder and faster sound was called “metal”.“Denim and Leather – The rise and fall of the new wave of British Heavy metal”. Is an audio history of this time, taken from interviews from the people that were there, the journalists, the band members and the people that mattered. If you were there, as I was, it’s a nostalgic look back on music you grew up with, if you were not there, it is part of musical history, especially rock and metal musical history. After all it was from NWOBHM that Iron Maiden, Saxon, Def Leppard grew from.