A History of Heavy Metal by Andrew O'Neill

A loud and thoroughly engrossing love-story. A History of Heavy Metal is a comprehensive, landmark analysis of an enormous area of music that has been too long without such a thing, and has the massive advantage of the funny being turned up to twelve.

One of the funniest musical commentators that you will ever read. Now, in his first book, he takes us on his own very personal and hilarious journey through the history of the music, the subculture, and the characters who shaped this most misunderstood genre of music.

The expansive pantheon of heavy metal musicians includes junkies, Satanists and murderers, born-again Christians and teetotallers, stadium-touring billionaires and toilet-circuit journeymen.Īward-winning comedian and life-long heavy metal obsessive Andrew O'Neill has performed his History of Heavy Metal comedy show to a huge range of audiences, from the teenage metalheads of Download festival to the broadsheet-reading theatre-goers of the Edinburgh Fringe. It is the story of a worldwide network of rabid fans escaping everyday mundanity through music, of cut-throat corporate arseholes ripping off those fans and the bands they worship to line their pockets. The history of heavy metal brings brings us extraordinary stories of larger-than-life characters living to excess, from the household names of Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy, Bruce Dickinson and Metallica (SIT DOWN, LARS!), to the brutal notoriety of the underground Norwegian black metal scene and the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal. 'As funny and preposterous as this mighty music deserve' - John Higgs 'A man on a righteous mission to persuade people to 'lay down your souls to the gods rock and roll'.' - The Sunday Times loud and thoroughly engrossing' - Alan Moore He is a self-described 'heterosexual transvestite' and has covered this topic in his BBC Radio 4 programme 'Pharmacist Baffler'.'One of the funniest musical commentators that you will ever read. Andrew O'Neill is a comedian, musician and writer residing in London who was nominated for several Adelaide Fringe Festival, Leicester Comedy Festival, Buxton Fringe festival and Chortle Award awards.Īs a musician he is the guitarist and background-singer for 'The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing', a band best described as Victorian-punk or steampunk-punk. He is a self-described 'heterosexual transvestite' and has covered this topic in his BBC Radio 4 programme 'Pharmacist Baffler'. As a musician he is the guitarist and background-singer for 'The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing', a band best described as Victorian-punk or steampunk-punk. Andrew O'Neill is a comedian, musician and writer residing in London who was nominated for several Adelaide Fringe Festival, Leicester Comedy Festival, Buxton Fringe festival and Chortle Award awards.

A History of Heavy Metal by Andrew O'Neill