METAL KEPT GOING

Half a century on from the birth of heavy metal, heavy music faced challenges unlike anything before. Well, the planet faced challenges that changed life as we knew it; first it was rescheduled/cancelled gigs, then festivals and eventually even venues and bars were on the chopping block, including London’s very own rock’n’roll mecca, Crobar (which has since launched a crowdfunding campaign to give it a new lease of life). But the music world pushed back – hard.

The ‘We Make Events’, ‘Let The Music Play’ and ‘Save Our Venues’ campaigns established some crucial visibility for the arts industry (which supplied £5.8 billion to the economy in 2019). They highlighted how the mass shutdown had effectively put more than 200,000 jobs at risk, putting pressure on the government to provide support – something that ultimately came in the form of a sweeping grant to at least keep the lights on