Generation X will never forget the 80’s. It was a time of dual income families, single parent households and children of divorce. Generation Xers today are described as being independent and resourceful, mostly likely coming from our latchkey childhoods.
The 1980s were a different time for us, the preceding Baby boomer generation looked down on our habits with disdain. It was a time of black leather MC Jackets, dungaree jeans with the knees torn out (we made our own), black motorcycle boots, long hair, and smoking weed and Marlboro “Reds” in the smoking area at high school.
We stood outside 7-11’s for half the night until we could get someone to buy us beer, then the fun began. All summer long we partied every night in places nicknamed, “Cow Hill,” and the “Corn Fields,” (Ironic because there were neither cows nor corn there).
Hanging Out
We hung out behind bowling alleys, haunted food courts at malls, swam in local quarries, drank too much and climbed the sides of dams. We pooled our money and bought the latest Slayer album then put it in the display model at “Service Merchandise” and moshed in the aisle until the manager kicked us out.
It wasn’t an easy time to be a metal head, it was a time filled with social, economic, and political conservatism. We loved the music before pop culture made it ok for everyone. At school kids called you a “burn out” for liking Metallica.
We called ourselves Metal heads, Headbangers and Thrashers. Our music evolved in multiple directions and was loved by teenagers around the world. Thrash bands like Slayer, Metallica, Megadeth and Sepultura reigned supreme in our world.
PMRC and Rebellion
The PMRC (The Parents Music Resource Center) convinced our parents we were devil worshippers if we liked heavy metal music. Teachers thought we were “Bad Kids,” businesses wouldn’t hire us because they thought we were criminals. We didn’t care though because the music appealed to our rebellious natures, hanging with our friends, partying, and the music was all that mattered to us. Bands like Metallica wrote songs like “Master of Puppets, and Sanitarium” that spoke to us about our lives. The connection we had to the music was palpable.
The heavy metal wars between the music industry and the Parents Music Resource Center (P.M.R.C founded in May 1985) was a surreal moment in time. It was my generation’s “McCarthy trials.” It was a time of music megastores like Tower Records, Record World and Record town.
For 1980s metal heads these stores were some of the few places where we could find our music. Bands like Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Twisted Sister were considered taboo and were never played on public radio except if you stayed up until midnight one night a week to watch “Headbangers Ball” on MTV or if your local music station had a similar program on late at night.
There was a mass hysteria around the music, it was a witch hunt, artists such as Dee Snyder of Twisted Sister and Ozzy Osbourne were being called into testify at congressional hearings about their music. It all seems so surreal years later as an adult looking back on the time.
Before MTV, Heavy metal bands had very few outlets to showcase their music. There weren’t any social media giants like Instagram, X or Facebook to promote their music on. They did it the hard way by touring nonstop and word of mouth.
Metal Grammy
The first Band to ever win a Grammy for Heavy Metal was Jethro Tull on February 22,1989 beating Metallica (if you can believe it). In the 20+ years that ensued a variety of hard rock/metal bands have garnered Grammy recognition like Slayer, Slipknot, Metallica, Motorhead and Korn.
Metallica broke new ground for the genre in 1988 when they performed their hit song “One” from their fourth album, And Justice for All, signally the Bay area thrash pioneers had finally arrived. They performed at the 31st Grammy Awards and then won Best Metal Performance, the following year.
Listening to heavy metal music seems mild by today’s standards, I assure you it wasn’t always that way. The other day I was riding in an elevator when a group of Gen Z’ers got on and as the door closed, I realized “Nothing Else Matters,” by Metallica the “elevator version” started to play through the speaker above out heads.
I held my head back and laughed heartily. The doors opened and the youngsters got off making funny faces at me as I forked my fingers at them. The doors closed and I thought boy, times have changed.
Born To Be Wild
I along with many others from my generation take great pride in the staying power of our music, we may be older now but we are still out there rocking it and supporting our area music scenes. Gen X was born to be wild, and we still are.
