Whoa. Nostalgia. Back when I was a young metalhead, in the long ago days of the late eighties/early nineties, every Tuesday night I would listen to the one radio show that actually played metal, Vara’s Vuurwerk, presented by Dutch singer and media personality Henk Westbroek, with occasional guest presenting by the network’s big boss Marcel van Dam. Hearing that jingle for the first time in years brings back memories, especially of the programme’s annual Top Fifty Metal Songs, broadcast over Christmas and chosen by the listeners. The 1990 edition especially, extended to 65 songs because that was the network’s 65th anniversary year, molded a lot of my tastes in metal. Now, thanks to some enterprising soul, a selection of Vuurwerk programmes, mostly from 1987 but with excerpts from that 1990 list, are available on Grooveshark.
‘Eavy Metal
The Holy Thrash Trinity
Sepultura:
Slayer:
And of course, the masters, Anthrax:
Girlschool
Have some N.W.O.B.H.M. courtesy of Girlschool:
That was thirtytwo years ago but they’re still going strong, though sadly without lead guitarist and singer Kelly Johnson, who died of spinal cancer in 2007. Here they’re performing live at Wacken:
Finally, here’s their crossover with Motorhead:
Proof positive it’s Ozzy’s world
No surprises for the true metal fans here, with Scandinavia having the highest density of metal bands per population. Those long, dark, polar nights are ideal for getting some proper headbanging going.
(Source.)
Battle Hymn
Just heard S. won’t be out of hospital tomorrow, as they want to keep her a few days longer to make sure she’s allright, which is … a bit annoying … It put me in the mood for a bit of schlock metal to get rid of some of my frustration — what better than Manowar’s Battle Hymn? The video shows all past and present members of the band rehearsing for their German tour back in 2007 iirc. Naff as fuck, but I’ve always liked this song, first hearing it at the same time as I discovered David Gemmel’s equally shock fantasy novels, especially Legend and Waylander, which it fit perfectly with.
2018: updated with a different live video because some fucker had to get the original video removed from Youtube.