(Drivebycuriosity) - I am a connoisseur of Heavy Metal and enjoyed quite a lot of heavy bands either solo or at Psycho Las Vegas, Desert Fest, Fire in the Mountains, Chicago Open Air and more festivals. When JR Moores´ book "Electric Wizards: A Tapestry of Heavy Music, 1968 to the Present" appeared on my radar, I had to purchase it ( amazon). The title gives the impression that the author wrote about the history of Heavy Metal.
It turned out that the title is misleading, Moores has a very peculiar understanding of what is "heavy", which I explain in this post.
Surprisingly Moores begins with a chapter about Beatles`song "Helter Skelter" from 1968. He calls this piece "heavy" and claims all over his book that this piece started Heavy Metal. Really?
"Helter Skelter" is loud, fast & violent, but certainly not heavy. Guitars and vocals are rather high pitched, the bass underwhelming. Apparently the author is too young to know Rolling Stones`"19th Nervous Breakdown" from 1966. The piece has already massively downtuned riffs. It is known for Bill Wyman's so-called "dive-bombing" bass line at the end ( wikipedia). And "My Generation" by The Who is even more massive and turns into a Heavy Metal riot. The early Stones & Who pieces were much closer to Heavy Metal than any Beatles song.
Why does Moores ignore the classics? The final act of Mozart`s Don Giovanni, the "Commendatore Scene" ( youtube), is much heavier than most of the bands mentioned by Moores. This is also true for Mozart`s`"Requiem", Bach`s "Toccata and Fugue in D minor for Organ", Wagner`s "Götterdämmerung", Strauss´ "Ein Heldenleben", Beethoven´s symphonies and the compositions by Sibelius, Grieg and many others.
Eventually on page 29 Moores arrives at Heavy Metal and introduces Black Sabbath, the godfathers of the genre. On about 10 pages he analyzes their epochal
album "Paranoid", later recordings and their
"employment of downtuned guitars" and "angular riffs". Right! But he also mentions Bruce Springsteen and the Vietnam War in this chapter. What is their relation with Heavy Metal?
Then follow around 120 pages about different genres & bands, including country rockers Grateful Dead, Frank Zappa, psychedelic bands like Doors & Jefferson Airplane, the Japanese avant-garde group Les Rallizes Dénudes, German Krautrock (Amon Düül, Can, Kraftwerk etc.), jazz composer Sun Ra, punk bands like the Clash & Sex Pistols. There are also chapters about Caribbean Rastafaris and Reggae bands plus about 12 pages about Funkadelic and other American disco bands! Where is the heaviness?
The reader has to wait till page 165 where Moores eventually portraits the Melvins, an influential eclectic band which mixes drone and other heavy metal elements with punk and classic rock.
Finally on pages 232-268 follow more Heavy Metal bands: Sleep, Earth, Sunn O))) & Electric Wizard plus Stoner bands like Kyuss & Queens of the Stone Age.
Missing The Mark
"Electric Wizards" is disappointing. The author missed the mark by far. Even though Moores shamelessly borrowed the title from the English doom metal band "Electric Wizard", the book is not about Heavy Metal. Just about 60 pages from around 330 are about Heavy Metal bands, less than 20%. The Select Discography at the end of the book - including Fugazi, PJ Harvey, The Kingsmen, Sly & the Family Stone, Bruce Springsteen, REM, Muddy Waters, Butthole Surfers - confirms this.
How could he overlook the ubiquitous Scandinavian Heavy Metal scene, influenced by the sheer eternal dark Nordic winters and the compositions of Sibelius & Grieg? How could he ignore influential bands like Yob, Cough or Wolves in the Throne Room?
Apparently philistine Moores dismisses the classical composers and most of the Heavy Metal bands for political reasons. He cares more about the political attitude of the bands than their music, bands who "expoused socialist and humanist causes with some anarchism".
The book turns out as a political pamphlet about "depressed and disillusioned council workers, anxiety-ridden joggers, racist attacks on scapegoated minorities, fallout from insufficient flood defenses, amazon warehouse workers" etc. etc. No wonder that the book ends with complaints about the political situation in the UK and the US. What is Heavy Metal? Moores doesn`t care.
PS: On top of this post I put an image from "Sleep" performing @ Psycho Las Vegas 2017 ( driveby).
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