Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal is a 2004 book by Ian Christe, documenting the history of heavy metal music and its origins.
The book argues that heavy metal began with Black Sabbath in 1970, eschewing the concept of 'proto-' heavy metal. As such, Christe devotes several chapters to documenting the band's history. He continues to chart the emergence of NWOBHM, practiced by Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, andthrash metal acts such as Metallica. His analysis extends to Slayer and their influence upongrindcore and death metal.
Brent Burton, writing for the Washington City Paper, deigned that "Like Nick Tosches' 1977 Country, Christe's Sound of the Beast takes a deep-focus view of music that most regard as one-dimensional—drawing attention to some of the rawest purveyors of each subgenre. However, unlike Tosches' writing, Christe's descriptions of the music he so clearly loves are often ungainly. On his beloved Sabbath: 'Above all else they had the best riffs, the huge guitar and bass lines that last a lifetime.' And on Metallica: 'Kill 'Em All might have been the first record fast enough that when fans played it to the point of skipping, a full chorus could be captured in a single revolution of the vinyl.' Christe also falters when he inexplicably attempts to beat metal's 'white music' rap without any ammo: Hard rockers Phil Lynott and Slash are among a mere handful of names enlisted for the cause.
Ian Christe (born 1970 in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland) is an author, disc jockey and publisher. He attended The Clarkson School's Bridging Year and Indiana University.
Christe is the author of the heavy metal history book Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal, published in English in 2003 and translated in eleven languages. A weekly radio show known as Bloody Roots was launched in 2004 based on the book, it on the Hard Attack/Liquid Metal station of Sirius XM Radio. Hosted by Christe, the show focuses on specific eras or styles of heavy metal, with Christe discussing them in-depth. He also hosted a brief daily spot on the Sirius Buzzsaw channel for several years. His first published work was in the IAN fanzine, and he started as a radio host at WEOS in Geneva, New York, at age 14.
As a freelance magazine writer, his articles appeared in Popular Mechanics, Spin, AP, Wired, Revolver, CMJ, Stance, Bananafish, Mother Jones, The Baffler, the Chicago Reader, Warp, Blender, Salon.com, Hotwired.com, Mass Appeal, the Utne Reader, I.D., and Guitar World. Christe has also made small television appearances on VH1 Classic, MTV2, VH1, and several metal-related documentaries.
His unusual metal band, Dark Noerd the Beholder, appears on the soundtrack to the cult film Gummo. Christe also recorded with thebluegrass band Grouse Mountain Skyride, the experimental drone metal band Kuboaa, and performed during 2000 and 2001 as singer with the Jacques Dutronc "couvert" band Les Opportunistes, one of the first bands of the early 2000s Brooklyn rock renaissance.
In 2007, Christe launched Bazillion Points Publishing to promote books by deserving like-minded authors.
On June 30, 2010 Bazillion Points Publishing released Touch and Go: The Complete Hardcore Punk Zine '79-'83" by Tesco Vee and Dave Stimson. The book chronicles the 22 issues of Touch and Go, the DIY hardcore punk fanzine. The zine was the pre-cursor to Touch and Go Records.
Publications
- Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal. by Ian Christe. ISBN 978-0-380-81127-4.
- Everybody Wants Some: The Van Halen Saga. by Ian Christe. ISBN 978-0-470-03910-6, Wiley & Sons.
- Marooned: The Next Generation of Desert Island Discs. ISBN 0306814854, Perseus Books.
- The Trouser Press Guide to 90s Rock. Edited by Ira Robbins.
- Voter Participation and the States. by Jamie Cooper and Ian Christe, Center for Policy Alternatives.
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