Bang Your Head – The Rise and Fall of Heavy Metal – Review

Bang Your Head: The Rise and Fall of Heavy Metal, David Konow, Three Rivers Press, 2002.

I’ve always been fascinated by both music and history, and a book about the history of a particular music is like killing two birds with one stone. I have read a few books on the history of heavy metal and Bang Your Head is the least edifying. Of course it was a fun read, but all Rock n Roll books are fun to read. The only thing that made me buy this book is the fact that I have yet to find a book on the rise and fall of the Cock Rock scene in the 80s, and this book, while not as comprehensive and comprehensive as I had hoped, does contain some murky information on fashion, the world craze of the ’80s, that helped launch MTV into a profitable and profitable broadcast.

Tall hairs and cans of hairspray, fishnet and spandex, groupies and backstage passes and the unforgettable Power Ballads and yes, the bands. Bands like Motley Crue, Guns N Roses, Quiet Riot and Poison took the world by storm. It hit the shores of Malaysia and before you know it, Search, Wings, Lefthanded and May, to name a few, became the little ambassadors of the Sunset Strip.

The book is 496 pages thick and the cover shows the most boring book cover I’ve ever seen. Being a person who normally judges a book by its cover (literally), it would have been better if the publisher chose to coat the cover in black and print the title somewhere on the white medium, they would have bought the book right there. . The cover was a kind of cut and paste montage, with xerox quality coloring that I think is meant to go after the old school fanzine feel.

The narration was light; gave a good bird’s eye view of the cock rock scene in the early 80’s; Nonetheless, the book was a fun read, but it could have been better. In addition to the lack of depth, the book was also short on photos. You don’t write a book about Rock N Roll, you describe the glorious view of the legendary Sunset Strip, illustrate hundreds of crazy bands, and you only have a couple of photos!