Metal: A Headbanger's Journey (2005)

User Rating:

8.1/10   

Directors:

Sam Dunn
Scot McFadyen

Writers:

Sam Dunn (writer)
Scot McFadyen (writer)

Release Date:

21 June 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary | Music

Plot:

Sam Dunn is a 30-year old anthropologist who wrote his graduate thesis on the plight of Guatemalan refugees...

Plot Keywords:

Metal | Heavy Metal | Censorship | Conservative Morals | Rock Festival

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Chris Adler	...	Himself
Tom Araya	...	Himself
Gavin Baddeley	...	Himself
Blasphemer	...	Himself
Randy Blythe	...	Himself
Alice Cooper	...	Himself
Pamela Des Barres	...	Herself
Bruce Dickinson	...	Himself
Ronnie James Dio	...	Himself
Malcolm Dome	...	Himself
Sam Dunn	...	Himself
Robert Ezrin	...	Himself
George Fisher	...	Himself
Gaahl	...	Himself
Donna Gaines	...	Herself
Al Gore	...	Himself (archive footage)
Tipper Gore	...	Herself (archive footage)
Angela Gossow	...	Herself
Ernest F. Hollings	...	Himself (archive footage)
Ihsahn	...	Himself
Tony Iommi	...	Himself
Joey Jordison	...	Himself
John Kay	...	Himself
Kerry King	...	Himself
Chuck Klosterman	...	Himself
Mercedes Lander	...	Herself
Morgan Lander	...	Herself
Geddy Lee	...	Himself
Lemmy	...	Himself
Tom Morello	...	Himself
Necrobutcher	...	Himself
Vince Neil	...	Himself
Doro Pesch	...	Herself
Samoth	...	Himself
James 'Munky' Shaffer	...	Himself
Brian Slagel	...	Himself
Dee Snider	...	Himself
Corey Taylor	...	Himself
Eddie Trunk	...	Himself
Robert Walser	...	Himself
Alex Webster	...	Himself
Rob Zombie	...	Himself

MPAA:

Rated R for language, violent images, some nudity and sexual content.

Runtime:

USA:96 min | Canada:96 min (Toronto International Film Festival) | Canada:96 min | Australia:98 min

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Canada:18A | Australia:M | USA:R | Finland:K-11 | Netherlands:12 | Singapore:M18 | Brazil:14

Filming Locations:

Canada

Company:

Banger Productions

Trivia:

The 21 year sentence in Norway is called "life sentence", so the life sentence in Norway is 21 years.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Dunn also mentions the "Filthy 15", a list of artists with lyrics considered obscene in one of a number of ways. Sam mentions that, of the 15, 8 are metal bands- he has miscounted. Upon reviewing the list, Danish black metal band Mercyful Fate make the list but bump the count to 9 bands. They are also not highlighted like the other metal bands sharing spots on the list.

Quotes:

Rob Zombie: Nobody wants to be the weird kid, you just end up being the weird kid. You don't know how you ended up getting there.

Movie Connections:

References This Is Spinal Tap (1984)

Soundtrack:

Run To The Hills

Entertaining fan's-eye view of Heavy Metal history

Like many music documentaries, A Headbanger's Journey is caught in two minds: should it provide an overview of its chosen subject for those without the knowledge, or does it delve deeper, assuming its audience already have a firm understanding of the music and its origins? Naturally, it attempts both, and it does manage this balance to a satisfactory degree.

Maybe that's just because it's such an entertaining film. The titular headbanger, Sam Dunn, is a lifelong metalhead and an anthropologist by education, and he makes a likable companion in our journey through the metal underground, meeting some of the biggest stars of the genre, and tracing its roots from the 16th Century through to its beginnings in popular music in late-60s blues rock and proto-metal.

However, the origins of the music are dealt with only briefly. Interviews with progenitors such as Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath and various musicologists help to illuminate the influences behind the music itself, and while a separate documentary could easily be made to explore metal's origins alone, it was a good decision to limit the discussion for the benefit of those of us who've been through it many times before, and not to overcomplicate it for those new to the "who was the first heavy metal band?" debate. The performance footage, featuring bands such as Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and especially Blue Cheer, is good enough to merit the experienced metalhead watching this segment without skipping to the next chapter on the DVD.

The film really begins to pick up the pace once Dunn begins to delve into the metal lifestyle, examining the various reasons for the music's appeal to, most particularly, disaffected teenage boys. While nothing is suggested that hasn't been written and discussed a thousand times before, Dunn's travels around the US and Europe to speak to various metal fans and icons is extremely entertaining. One of the highlights is his trip to the Wacken Open Air festival, the biggest metal festival in Europe, held in Germany. We're dropped right into the middle of an ocean of metal fans, and with the handle-held camera worming its way through the crowds, you get a great feel for the festival, with so much studded black leather, hearty BBQ food, alcohol and noisy black metal destruction that the experience seems totally intoxicating. The highlight of the segment has to come from Dunn's interview with whatever's left of Mayhem these days, drunk out of their chipped skulls and as surly as you'd expect from a band whose former members are either dead or in jail. Dunn looks genuinely relieved to be away from them when the interview ends. Hilarious.

Dunn isn't going to shy away from the more controversial aspects of heavy metal, though, and his attempts to confront the ceaseless accusations against metal bands of being a corrupting influence on the Youth of America are handled with conviction. Of course, Dee Snider of Twisted Sister, metal's spokesperson at Tipper Gore's PMRC witch trials, is once again called forth to recount the day he fought for the artistic freedom of musicians everywhere. As usual, he's a good-natured and humorous interviewee.

After he's done hobnobbing in New York with Mr Snider, Dunn eventually gets his hands dirty, tackling the violent imagery of underground death metal lyrics and album art, as well as the masculinity, sexism and homoeroticism of the metal environment, but most memorably, the church burnings and Satanism related to Norway's notorious extreme black metal scene. From the moment he sets foot in Norway, he has (literally and figuratively) set foot in a completely foreign country. His hard-partying, cathartic but good-natured US metaller is like an alien in a scene where ideology and reputation is taken very seriously indeed. While Slayer's Kerry King and Tom Araya talk eloquently about exposing the hypocrisy of Christianity and the US media through their music and lyrics, Dunn's interviews with members of Norwegian bands such as Satyricon and Emperor speak with open hatred for Judeo-Christian beliefs and support for the church burnings carried about by Mayhem's Varg Vikernes in the early 1990s. The audience I was with couldn't sustain their laughter at the images of these bands when their Satanic/Nietzschean ideals and criminal intent were revealed. It took a gag by Alice Cooper, of all people, to lighten the mood again in the cinema. Dunn dismisses the Norwegian scene as a manifestation of tensions prevalent in wider Norwegian culture, and he makes a good point, but it's clear that it can't be swept under the rug so that he can continue to proclaim heavy metal as harmless (although anyone familiar with Varg will tell you that he's an exceptional case, and a genuinely dangerous human being).

Overall, Dunn's documentary doesn't really make for anything revelatory to anyone already familiar with metal, but it touches upon most of the key areas, features some fabulously entertaining music and interviews, and is better than anything MTV ever produced on the subject. Dunn's love of the music and culture shines through, and his enthusiasm is enough to make the film engaging for anyone with an interest in heavy metal (although Tipper Gore may want to see if there's anything else playing).