How Stupid Were Metalheads Back In the Eighties
 

This question is mostly for the oldies who were actually there to see this time period. Alright, so we've all seen the kind of be-mulleted dunderheads that inspired Beavis and Butthead in documentaries like Heavy Metal Parking Lot. The kind that just make you cringe, knowing that their intellectual mediocrity has been preserved on film for all of mankind to deride. But these days those types seem to mostly populate the Juggalo movement, or maybe the deathcore scene. Metalheads just seem to be nerds more than anything else now. So, with whatever dynamic that existed back then seemingly gone I've never really known just how true the stereotypes were, and in what proportions. Would the vast majority of a crowd at a Slayer show in the mid to late eighties have been made up of morons? Fifty/fifty? Would I have been embarrassed to be seen with these people?

The worst part was the mid decade, even though Reign In Blood came out in '86 bands like Slauighter, Cinderella, Britney Fox, Great White, White Lion, Dokken, they were the mainstay of that scene and I stayed as far away as I could. The really good metal like Slayer was kinda lost on me until that hair stuff was dead and gone

I guess when metal peaked popularity-wise you could see a fair proportion of morons but the core metal-heads were probably always disenfranchised nerds. If I was walking down an eighties street with metal-heads on one side and skin-heads on the other I know which side of the street I would walk on.

It's simple. Some of us weren't, some were. Unfortunately, movies like 'Heavy Metal Parking Lot' and 'The Decline Of Western Civilization Pt. 2' reiterate the stereotype that we were nothing but a bunch of lunkheads. I absolutely CRINGE when I see scenes from those films. In short order: there is just as much room in my music library for Cinderella and Poison as there is for Slayer and Testament. I prefer to call it HARD ROCK! :hphones:

At least they had long hair then. Metal has always it's fair share of stupid bands, fans, imagery and crap albums. It will probably always be the most derided of genres whatever decade we are in but oddly enough it is one of the few genres with an amazing amount of longevity, innovation and loyalty. Many many bands have come and gone in the last 30 years in other genres but do they pack out arenas and festivals? do they balls.

It could be argued that the mulleted dunderheads of the 80's have been replaced by the short haired multi tattoo wielding whiny bitches of today. Hipsters will always be there.

The only idiot metal heads I was aware of back in the eighty's were Beavis and Butthead.

I don't remember any nerds at Slayer shows. I remember fire pits and bloody faces. I remember people getting knocked the **** out. The type of guys at Slayer shows looked more like Bikers then Metal Heads. The difference being those guys that would kick you in the face, would pick you back up and say are you alright and then knock your ass over again. I would say they lacked brain power from a i'm high on meth and i'm gonna dive off this balcony type more then a i can't divide 30 x 2 mentality. I remember watching Tom Araya at Redlands and watching guys spit loogies on him over and over and over until his face was a ****ing spitball, but that was just pure love man. LOL Metalheads were pretty hard in So-Cal back then. I think you are referring to the hair metal scene, that was filled with prissy bitches and women. That **** was gone the moment Slayer came back to town. They started out in a lockout warehouse playing when I was 15 in Orange Ca. I went and got my nose busted and one of my teeth knocked out first night. I went the very next night so yeah I was a moron.

I encountered some biker lookin' crazy motherfuckers too at a Judas Priest concert in Cleveland Ohio back in the 80s as well Fred.

Nothing like the nerd type, if you know what I mean.

It was the same for Metallica shows back then. Before the scene took off it was pretty hectic to hit metal shows. Thats why most people got high at the shows because they were worried they were gonna ****ing die that night. I mean that sincerely too, it was no joke. The most brutal show i've ever been to was Suicidal, but Metal shows were no joke and there were very few nerds to be found. Being a kid though the intimidation factor was a little high when a guy 6'6 320 comes rolling by with a haymaker.

Legend Valley is an outdoor concert venue located in Thornville Ohio a couple miles from Buckeye Lake. Its notorious for fighting, shootings, stabbing, etc.
I actually knew a guy that stabbed another one 22 or 23 times at the concert in Legend Valley decades ago, I haven't seen him since, I think he's been in prison all this time for murder.
I didn't really know him very well anyway, just knew him from school.

It's amazing sometimes when you realize how dangerous it was at concerts back in the day. Especially when considering all the different drugs and alcohol involved.

I saw Motorhead at Fenders Ballroom and saw a guy shatter both of his legs diving off a wall of speakers down onto the cement.I saw the same stunt at RKL literally a month after that happened. Not only was it dangerous due to weapons, the crazed mentality of the fan bases was so rabid that people were injuring themselves. Shows sure have changed a lot.

6'6" 240pd dudes wearing their sleeveless colors pumped up on meth, cocaine, and Judas Priest.
Ready to knock someone out right where they stand.

I'm glad I was always smart enough to stay clear out of the way of those kind of people that's why I'm still alive today.

That's really even crazier those guys your talking about Fred. Oh... those guys shattering their legs and bodies like that. That must've been a sight to see... goddammit man.

I think as a kid at those shows it was more just me being afraid of those people rather then them looking for trouble. Intimidation goes a long way sometimes. It was horrendous man watching people break bones. I think in total I saw double digits in broken bones at shows. Wrists, ankles, legs and noses were highly prevalent. The funny thing is most of the people with broken bones would still rock out and had a smile on their face. Man I miss the 80's. So yeah badasses/bikers/hessians>>>>>> Nerds at metal shows.

i just need to not come here when drinking

So true. I think many normal kids who had good families in the 80s discovered true fear of physical abuse at metal shows. Punk shows were also violent but usually not as evil.

So what, did the Beavis and Butthead types show up when thrash got popular off Headbanger's Ball around the late eighties or something? And what were your people? You guys obviously weren't the scary bikers.

From what I hear in this thread, I wouldn't have wanted to be a metal and punk fan in the 80's, at least when it comes to visiting concerts.

Define stupid.

Not going to lie, I love Def Leppard.

You were aware of a 90s TV show before it existed? That's pretty impressive!

Huh, never really cared that much about them. I would've swore they existed during the 80s/MTV. My bad...

Nope I was the lanky guy with dreads in high school. I think people feared i stunk a little so they usually let me pass in general. I was into the whole uk scene but I was one of those crossover types that loved metal from the beginning. The big difference between now and then is, people were so indignant when it came to the scenes that you had to choose your sides in a sense. I literally carried a knife to every show I went to.

I gotta say I'm feeling kind of ambivalent towards the whole modern metal fan world. I'd have no place with a bunch of scary bikers, and would be far too terrified to get in a pit with them, and the antics I'm hearing seem like they would make me feel like kind of an odd man out pussy, but all of that just makes a modern metal show seem Disney-fied. I can relate to your average metal fan these days, metal/deathcore kids aside, but going to a show just doesn't have any real edge. Sure I can get in the pit, and it's always fun don't get me wrong, but it feels like a carnival ride. You pay for a ticket, you go in, you have some safe quasi-rebellion, and then you brag to your friends about how badass you are just because you got a bloody nose. And I kind of feel disappointed by the fan reactions too. I heard stories of crazy metal fans tearing out seats, completely trashing venues, and suspending themselves from balconies to form an inverted cross and yell "SLAYER!!!" long before I ever went to see a show, and when I finally get there it's mostly a bunch of people standing there and cheering like normal people. I almost feel like I'm trying too hard when I give myself a neck cramp that lasts for days from headbanging. I'd just like, at least once, to feel scared of a show, rather than just entertained by the band on stage. I get the feeling that if the mood of the scenes were so wildly different from then and now, that the decrease in energy and craziness at a modern show would also have a negative effect on the energy the band puts out too. I mean are Slayer gonna feel like wild animals on stage if they're not surrounded by people who are turning into wild animals themselves just from listening to their music?

Unless I'm making too much of what you guys are putting out there.

Oh, and about the spitting on Tom Araya thing Fred mentioned. I thought that was just supposed to be a punk thing. Spitting in general, not just on Tom Araya.

Dudes face looked like a glazed donut. It was very much a punk rock thing. Of all the thrash bands of the 80's Slayer was always the most punk rock leaning so it makes sense. I think people pay so much to go to shows now that they don't want to get kicked out. And also I think the drug element has ceased a bit with regard to the large amount of meth users at shows. Speed was king back then, so everyone being hopped up on the nose candy made for a bunch of psychos in a crowd. I'm sure there are some bands in smaller venues that still get crowds that mosh, but it will never be like it was then. At Redlands for the South Of Heaven tour there were fire pits shooting twenty feet high. Just say no to drugs kids.

I was always the one in the tie dye flower color t-shirt having drug-induced premonitions about the next coming of Beavis and Butthead, Kurt Cobain, and the arrival of grunge in the nineties. :p:

There's different crowds of people at shows. In general security has tightened because of the dangerous past of live music... all genres of live music... but there's still your aggressive wackos and your front of the stagers and your sitting at the bar-ists.

Some people go just for the feel of live music, some people go because they idolize the playing, some go for the wild time or to get laid. As it always has been, as it always will be.

Personally... I'm the chick in front who literally never stops headbanging or smacking the beat of the drum onto the stage while shockwaves of metal ravage my bones. And I ****in love it.

Wow, this thread is one of the most informative threads I've seen on this forum. Thanks for sharing everyone-who-is-considerably-older-than-me. I appreciate you all sharing your (somewhat terrifying) stories.





GTFO with that weak sauce. Don't get me wrong, Pour Some Sugar On Me has a pretty legendary drum beat and guitar riff, but as soon as this part rolls around..

I care **** all about the rest of the song. I'll take my metal black (heh heh, that was actually a good joke. Get it, it's like coffee heh heh.)

http://images.sodahead.com/polls/000..._6_xlarge.jpeg

That song is lame and way overrated. I'm into stuff like Hysteria and Love Bites, now that is a cool song. I don't care if it makes me lame tbh. :p:

I know you love abbreviations so I'm sure you will say smh soon enough.

Lol. :thumb: