DENIM AND LEATHER: The Rise and Fall of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal

This book arrived in great condition. It’s a fun read for fans of Heavy Metal!

Unless NWOBHM is literally all you breathe, eat and sustain you, unless the particular initial period of this particular movement of this particular kind of music is all that matters to you, you do not need this book.Chapters are basically back-to-back quotes from interviews of people that were part of the movement (with some huge exceptions : Steve Harris, Bruce Dickinson above all). So it basically goes from “yes it all began with that one gig in 1979” and the next guy saying “that one gig in 1979 was where it all began” and then another guy saying “1979 was the year where it all began, with that gig at that one place”. Repeat this for 10x people over 5-6 pages and you got a chapter.VERY boring for anyone who is not super dedicated to this.

I was 16 going on 17 at the start of the NWOBHM and remember reading the Geoff Barton penned and Alan Lewis headlined article that christened the NWOBHM.This is like those Channel 5 talking head shows where sundry celebs recount their experience of first eating a Wispa or riding a Space Hopper and is all the better for it, as you get first hand accounts from members of a number of NWOBHM bands - Saxon, Diamond Head, Tygers, Venom, Girlschool, Def Leppard (who have thought that would happen?), Raven, Angel Witch, Witchfynde, Handsome Beasts, Witchfinder General, Samson, as well as some of the 'old guard' who were still relevant and important - e.g. the chapter on the first (and vying against 1984, the best) Monsters of Rock.No it doesnt splinter off into the multitude of bands who were around (a quick look at Malc Macmillan's Encyclopedia of NWOBHM or Martin Popoff's Smokin Valves sows how many of those there were/are) but concentrates on most of the key players, even getting Joe Elliot and Rick Savage to provide reminiscences where they have more often than not totally distanced themselves from the NWOBHM, giving us an idea of why they did that and why Def Leppard are probably mainly responsible for the decline of the NWOBHM.Unfortunately, as they didnt want to be involved, the only references to Iron Maiden are from ex members Paul Dianno and Dennis Stratton, DJ Neal kay and Dave Lights who did their lights (natch).I never liked and still dont like Venom, however their chapter was very illuminating.It was also interesting to hear about what his collegaues thought of Geoff Barton and their opinion of his likes and dislikes, however unfortunately Barton didnt get involved.The fact checks and corrections are fun to see, although you can sort of forgive some of them due to the time and everything else that has passed since.I also liked the way Michael Hann wrote in the vernacular of the interviewee - you can just feel Steve Dawson's Yorkshire twang.

I really enjoyed this fantastically researched and entertaining romp through the golden years of the second coming of British metal.It's told as an oral history, with only a few explanations in the chapter headings and footnotes. Particularly entertaining are the parts where certain opinions and recollections are fact-checked (usually when uttered by Paul Dianno or one of Venom).Some of it you will have heard before if you have even a passing interest in the genre, but there's plenty here to enjoy, which captures the sights, the sounds and er, the smells, of that four year period.The only thing I would observe is that, for me, there was too much about the importance of Venom, who try as I might, I just don't get, and not enough about some of the more obscure NWOBHM acts who maybe only released one single or EP. So there's nothing about the likes of Battleaxe, Mythra, Bitches Sin, Snatch-Back or Saracen more's the pity. Maybe there's another book to be written...Anyway, highly recommended. Oh, and great to see some long overdue love for TV on the radio, Tommy Vance, the music vendor, who let's not forget was the only person really playing this stuff on national radio and supporting it (I'm not talking about the odd isolated play by John Peel). Good to see Tommy being recognised in print (for the second time, modesty forbids me mentioning the other book....still available on Amzazon...)

Michael Hann has never made a secret of his love for NWOBHM, which is why he is surely the best man for the job. Sufficiently distanced (as a chief music writer for The Guardian) to be objective, but also filled with the enthusiasm of a genuine fan, he had gathered a treasure trove of interviews from most of the scenes main players and many of the minor ones. As a genuine working class youth movement, NWOBHM has never been accorded any respect by the generally middle class arbiters of cool, but as the progenitor of some of the most influential and enduring bands of the last 40 years it has probably influenced the face of popular music as much as any post punk scene.What I especially like about this book is it's relentless good humour and the sense that this was generally an excuse for young men (although not exclusively) to grab some kind of identity, have a laugh and celebrate a common love for loud, fast music without any pretentions beyond dressing up in latex demon costumes and blowing the entire gig fee on dry ice. Everyone involved seems to have had a great time, and some of the tales are genuinely hilarious, especially considering most of the participants are clearly in on the joke. That's not to say that this is some kind of winking ode to guilty pleasures - there are those of us who love this music and are not ashamed to admit it.If I want that true sound of 1980, you can keep yer Joy Division and the like - stick on some Diamond Head, and wonder if their career could have improved without being managed by the singer's mam.Michael Hann deserves a pat on the back and a lifetime supply of Spandex trousers. 5 stars!

The new wave of British heavy metal (commonly abbreviated as NWOBHM), pronounced “Nuh-wobbum” was a creation by a music newspaper at the time, Sounds. Following, punk in 1977, which had been pounced upon by its competitor, the New Musical Express (NME). The newspaper needed a movement, like punk, that it could hang its hat on and it found it. Not with the rock music of the past, Deep Purple, Yes, Genesis, Jethro Tull, Led Zeppelin, which punk had rebelled against. The 20-minute drum solo and 20-minute guitar solo had been killed off by the 3-minute punk song. But what grew out of the ashes was this new generation of rock musician, it was harder, faster and it was grew out of the British pubs and clubs. In other words, like punk you didn’t need to be a trained musician to play this rock, in fact this harder and faster sound was called “metal”.“Denim and Leather – The rise and fall of the new wave of British Heavy metal”. Is an audio history of this time, taken from interviews from the people that were there, the journalists, the band members and the people that mattered. If you were there, as I was, it’s a nostalgic look back on music you grew up with, if you were not there, it is part of musical history, especially rock and metal musical history. After all it was from NWOBHM that Iron Maiden, Saxon, Def Leppard grew from.

Really looked forward to this book, but ended up disappointed.Many of the key players are under represented or not represented at all so you get one sided views from managers and promoters etc.The archive interview format is disjointed at best and TBH large sections that really drag on such us the part about Rainbow really needed to be cut to get some of the lesser known bands in.It was an interesting read but I didn’t really come away knowing anything more about NWOBHM or the individual bands.I would compare it to the lengthy articles you sometimes get in classic rock mags covering certain periods or genres.So in summary, a good idea, poorly edited and executed, a fairly good light read but don’t expect a concise history or involvement from the bigger names such as Maiden.