SEX! CENSORS! CULTS! WHEN METAL HIT THE HEADLINES

HONEST NEWS. WILD OPINIONS. HEAVY METAL

Metal happily exists outside the mainstream, with only a few big acts getting sizeable attention outside the rock press (we’re looking at you, Metallica and Iron Maiden). Sadly, it’s only when tragedy hits, someone does something absolutely loathsome, or the media misunderstands our subculture that heavy music makes headlines. From government officials losing their rag over lyrics to legal shitstorms, here’s when metal captured the world’s attention, often for the wrong reasons.

ALICE COOPER SHOCKS THE UK

Decades before becoming the born again, golf-loving grandfather of rock, the general public found Alice Cooper genuinely scary. Prominent anti-fun campaigner Mary Whitehouse was so terrified, she complained about his 1972 airing on . As Alice subsequently pointed out, this inadvertently propelled the song to No.1 in the charts. Fifteen years later, it was Cooper’s graphic horror-inspired stage show that was the target of Labour politician David Blunkett. Of course, that didn’t do Alice’s career any harm either and he’s been merrily having his head lopped off on these shores ever since.