Louder Than Hell: The Definitive Oral History of Metal: This book is jam packed with more than 250 interviews in a 25 year span from members (to name a few) of Megadeth, Metallica, Pantera, Korn, Van Halen, Limp Bizkit, Black Sabbath, Anthrax, Slayer, Iron Maiden, Spinal Tap, White Zombie, Slipknot, and Twisted Sister. It also has 48 pages of full-color photographs. The book contains an introduction by Scott Ian of Anthrax and an afterword by Rob Halford of Judas Priest.
The authors, Jon Wiederhorn and Katherine Turman, sure plunged into their lengthy lists of contacts to pull this together with never before heard stories and truths. The numerous musical performers interviewed offered their thoughts on their influences, touring, the music business and songwriting. Additionally, they talked about their frequently traumatic childhoods, fights with substance abuse and strange sexual endeavors. Industry insiders (managers, record label executives, relatives, companions, scenesters, groupies, writers and porn stars) give outside looks in. Iconic members of the genre offer their truths including: Ronnie James Dio, Ozzy Osbourne, Bruce Dickinson, Eddie Van Halen, Vince Neil, Tommy Lee, Lita Ford, Lars Ulrich, James Hetfield, Axl Rose, Slash, Corey Taylor, Dave Mustaine, Chuck Schuldiner, King Diamond, Dave Grohl, Trent Reznor, Kerry King, Philip Anselmo, Rob Zombie and more.
Alice Cooper heavily endorses the book, “If you love metal, great stories, and music history told by the people who made it, then Louder than Hell is a must-read. This is the book every metal fan should own,” and he also did promotional videos. Metalheads tend to embrace their favorite bands and follow them over the decades. This book has everything a metalhead needs to fill their rusty metal knowledge!
