For most of my life growing up, my brother and I shared a room. This was great for many reasons, but the most important was our ability to share resources, thus allowing us to have a killer poster collection. Rummaging through old pictures the other day I found the shot you see above. This picture was taken in the room that my brother and I shared back in 1991, and is a fair representation of where we were musically at the time. While the picture does not show the poster collection at its peak (barely its infancy really) it still shows what I was into then, mor or less. Before you judge me though, please give me a chance to explain some of the items you see on the wall. To give you an idea of where things stood back then, allow me to tell you the following about when this picture was taken, 1991:
- Beverly Hills 90210 was just starting its second season
- Slayer's Decade Of Aggression had not come out yet
- Metallica's Black Album was only about a month old
- Entombed had just released Clandestine
- Anthrax had just stopped wearing shorts
- The Soviet Union had just broken up
- Napalm Death had just released Harmony Corruption
- Pantera was still touring for Cowboys From Hell
- Morbid Angel had just released Blessed Are The Sick
- More than three people in the United States still knew who Arsenio Hall was
- Death's Human had just come out
Now that you have a better picture of where things stood back then, feel free to read on.
1. If you were as awesome as I was growing up, you probably had sweet posters of cars in your room. Although not as cool as the Lamborghini or Ferrari posters I had, this Porsche 911 one was still pretty rad.
2. By 1991, I knew Metallica was dying. The black album had just come out, stunk up the place, and yet I had trouble letting go. I thought Sad But True was an okay song...but disliked the whole thing right away. I hated Kirk's mustache, Lars rolling up the sleeves on his tshirts, and James' mullet. I also hated kids who I hated in school suddenly wearing Metallica shirts. It was around this time that I knowingly had a severe kneejerk reaction against popular metal bands in big labels. I took great pride in listening to faster, heavier music on smaller lables. I was young, and thus got a great kick out of naming bands no one had ever heard of. "Oh, you don't know about Dorsal Atlantica? Let me fill you in" I would say to random kids who could not have cared less. I believe that the reason for this huge poster hanging on the wall is that it was so rare that I could get my hands on a proper poster, rather than simple pages torn out of magazines. With Metallica's rise in stardom, came their rise in availability...suddenly kids like me were left to hang Metallica posters that they could get for free in record stores like Miami's then famed Y&T Records. That store was a godsend. You could go there, and easily walk out with crazy black metal 7"s, Morbid Angel demo tapes..it was great. I guess I was still trying to remember the Metallica I knew from years prior.
3. Slayer Live Undead poster, purchased from a street vendor in South America. All the small posters that my brother and I bought from this guy were laminated, as though you'd want to use them as placemats while you ate your breakfast.
4. Print ad for the Michigan Death Fest in 1990. The line-up for the fest was pretty rad and included Morbid Angel AND Morbid Saint, Sacrifice and Nuclear Death I think. If I remember correctly, two members of Morbid Saint can be seen wearing shirts for this fest on one of their records.
5. Ugh, another Metallica picture. Again, I remember listening to much more Entombed and Obituary back then...but I guess the Metallica pictures lingered on for a bit.
6. My cool Misfits shirt, which I made in Mr Delpino's art class. I also made the Morbid Angel shirt which I posted about before, and a D.R.I. shirt. Mr Delpino was a drunk. For some reason he would not allow us to screen with white ink of black shirts, so all the shirts had to be white.
7. Sepultura picture, probably from Metal Maniacs. How amazing did Beneath The Remains seem back then? Who knew that the Cavalera brothers would loose their damn mind, start wearing camo and have their brains taken over by nu-metal? Had you told me back then that Andreas would end up playing on tour with Scorpions, I would have challenged you to a fight...right then and there.
8. Another Slayer poster from the street vendor. This one is a stupid illustration of a skull which I have only seen in other semi-official Slayer items.
9. Jason Newsted, I really don't know why this was hanging on the wall. I don't mean to be apologetic, but my brother and I were seriously getting out of Metallica at that time...I don't get it. I guess we still wanted to hang on to the good memories...or perhaps my mom had warned us about damaging the drywall by ripping stuff off and on repeatedly. This, by the way, is possible. We were renting that apartment.
10. Nuclear Assault, not much to say here. How I slept in a room that had a picture of Dan Lilker's down syndrome face I'll never know.
11. Barney from Napalm Death. I remember this picture perfectly, because he was wearing a white t-shirt tucked into blue gym shorts. How metal. I remember Metal Maniacs making fun of him for his bleached hair back then.
12. Cliff Burton. Again, not much to say. Like so many other kids, I first checked out The Misfits because Cliff Burton always wore their shirts. I figured they had to be the most obscure, heaviest, fastest metal band. Imagine my surprise when I bought a Misfits tape and heard something that resembled Elvis over melodic-ish punk. I was outraged! It took me a little while to listen to it again, and start actually enjoying them.
13. Morgoth. Due to living in Florida, death metal was everywhere. Morgoth, Unleashed, Entombed, Dismember and all the local bands were all the rage. I remember loving Morgoth back then. Today, I don't think I could name a single Morgoth song, or that I could easily identify their music. Maybe I should brush up.
14. Danzig. Sweet picture of Glenn on a throne with the band surrounding him. How on earth did Chuck Biscuits stomach posing for these solemn pictures when he played for Descendents, Black Flag, and DOA?
15. Anthrax "Indians" postcard.
16. Anthrax poster, probably hanging there as a result of being a huge, legit poster that we got for free, more than likely from Y&T Records near the University of Miami campus. That store was nuts back then. Some dude named Mike ordered all the metal stuff for the store, and he also did a zine which they sold there. The selection of records was crazy, and they even had a demo tape section. Imagine going into a store, and having about thirty demos to choose from...all from tiny bands from the Ukraine, all for under four bucks. Today, it's meaningless to me..but back then, I was in heaven.
17. Picture of the dude from Believer. We liked Believer, but probably not enough to have their picture up. I don't fully get why it was up. Maybe we just liked the picture? Their second album that sounds just like Earth Crisis (or the other way around) had not come out yet. Just so everyone knows, yes...I know why the album sounds like Earth Crisis. I'm not an idiot.
17. Sorry, I screwed up the numbering and don't want to go back and fix it. This one is a picture of Phil from Sacred Reich. For my brother's birthday only months after this picture was taken, I bought him a Sacred Reich t-shirt. He wore it to school that day, and on his way back home was in a bad car accident. He got blood all over the new shirt.
19. Gary from Exodus, wearing awful Harley Davidson suspenders. How could we NOT have something up from the band that wrote Toxic Waltz? Come on now.
20. Again, I don't remember being too into Pantera by the time this picture was taken...but perhaps we just thought the picture of Phil getting the stupid sides of his head shaved was rad? I really loved Cowboys From Hell when it first came out, played it all the time. By the time this picture was taken though, I was jamming to lots of death metal and Pantera seemed weak to me. But back to that time in their history, the rise in popularity that Pantera had after Cowboys From Hell came out was really amazing. I never paid much attention to subsequent albums...but those two years were nuts. They went from putting out what was their first album, at least to most people, to playing arenas in no time. Impressive.
21. Perfect example of something hanging up just because it looked kinda cool, was better than a page out of a magazine, and was big. While we like the Gammacide LP (one of Wild Rags' finest) I'm pretty sure we just put up the poster because it was big and free, since it came with the record. It was around this time that we started to get more and more into smaller bands, and ordering demos through the mail. Perhaps Wild Rags was pushing us in that direction?
22. Flier for a band's demo, the name of the band was Sarcophagus. Based on the logo, I think they are this early black/death metal band. Not sure where the flier came from.
23. A picture I cut out of some magazine that featured two old people checking out some punk dude in a mowhawk. Your guess as to why we put this is up is as good as mine. I had records and tapes by Agnostic Front, Cro-Mags and The Exploited then, but I wouldn't really get into punk until later.
24. D.R.I. spread that actually came from RIP Magazine. The title of the article was "Mayhem In Mexico City" and was about a huge show they played there at some wrestling arena. The fact that I still remember this is weird. The pictures in that article were awesome, and I looked at them for hours upon hours.25. This is perhaps the only thing I'm unsure about. I believe it's Unleashed. Pretty sure it is. I liked them back then, but my brother was the one that was way, way into them.
26. Chuck Schuldiner. "Human" had just come out and it was one of my favorite albums. I didn't know this at the time, but Chuck lived in a storage space not far from where this picture was taken.
27. Metallica postcard featuring Pushead artwork for And Justice For All, and a picture from Garage Days.
28. Obituary. Weird picture because Trevor was playing a BC Rich Warlock.
29. Diamond Darrell. Sorry, I refuse to call him "Dimebag", that all started after I stopped liking them. I know I sound like a douche for saying that, but it's true. It's like if your friend Steve goes off to college, graduates and then you visit him at his new job. You walk in, and the receptionist says "Oh are you Stephen The Third's friend?" You'd be like "Who, do you mean Steve?"
30. Another damn Metallica poster?
31. The most recent Megadeth album was Rust In Piece. One part of me hated them because of their commercial appeal, but something in me also had to acknowledge the riff mania that was that album.
Your feedback is appreciated
So, what about our readers? What hung on your walls back in 1991? Are you older, and perhaps way more metal than I was? Were you not into metal then? Perhaps the most depressing possibility is that you were only like two years old then. Either way, let me know.
First, HA!
ReplyDeleteI definitely had that same picture of Barney on my wall.
ReplyDeletein 1991, it would have been posters ripped out of Nintendo Power. I wasn't even into metallica until late '94 :/
ReplyDeleteSuper Mario Bros. wall stickers and they were there for years.
ReplyDeletein about '91, when the biggest poster on the wall was a shot of Mustaine and Araya (Clash of The Titans plug), my grandmother came to stay and took over the room for a week - after she'd gone my mother casually mentioned:
ReplyDelete"Your grandmother thinks it's funny you have so many pictures of men on your walls..."
Needless to say, album artwork and brutal live shots started replacing the slick studios shoots quite quickly...
Back then I too had a picture of Glenn Danzig looming menacingly over me whilst I slept. In the picture he was shirtless and frankly in 1991 had bigger tits than I did. I spent far too much time neglecting my English coursework whilst pondering the question: Glen’s tattoo; surely it should read ‘WOLVES’ not ‘WOLFS’?
ReplyDeleteCut to Christmas just past and one of the last of the original metal gang says ‘Type O Negative, I’ve just downloaded their new album on my IPod and well Mr. Steele's let himself go…’ She directed me to Google images: Now Pete’s got evil moobs, no eye brows and beard usually favoured by cult leaders.
Oh I digress. Here’s a link to someone with a Danzig tattoo. For Shame.
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=35222052&albumID=198461&imageID=527701
what; i had almost exactly the same kind of room; only 5 years earlier and instead of a car poster i had a chopper poster; other than that it was all: slayer/megadeth/iron maiden and whatnot..great post
ReplyDeleteCirca 1989: The posters that came out of any issue of "Creem Presents Thrash Metal" I could get my hands on, a large cut out of the Sex Pistols name (my mom's least favorite)and a stark black & white photo of Bob Dylan playing harmonica with a lit cigarette in the neck brace thingy.
ReplyDeleteNote on the Dylan: I didn't have any baby boomers in my life telling me how great the 60's were and how everything sucked now ("now" of course meaning "after 1972") hence the entire history of rock music was open to my nerdy grasp...and I still mostly chose thrash metal.
Isn't that Megadeth poster the cover for "Peace Sells...But Who's Buying?"
Oops, I just re-read the phrasing of # 31. My bad!
ReplyDeleteSteve,
ReplyDeleteMy sister had a similar comment when I was like 5 years old. I had a Kiss poster in my room...and she said that boys were supposed to have posters of girls, not of guys. I was 5, but I somehow knew this was simply the first of many times that I would basically be called a "fag". In retrospect, I suppose there is certainly something homoerotic about things like Danzig....shirtless men, singing into a phallus, but I didn't get it. By the way, guys like Danzig certainly brought up nearly gay feelings in the most homophobic men. I mean, I liked the music, and just had a picture, but I had friends who had tons of huge huge posters of him.
Mike,
I love the fact that you remember that Barney picture as well. I think the t-shirt said something like "smash fascism" or something. You rule.
I wasnt even born in '91 but I have obituary and bloodcum posters on my wall(Im a loser).I also used to have a sweet black-and white 'Into the Pandemonium' era Tom.G Warrior-and coincidently suffered terrible insomnia.sure enough, as soon as I took it down I was sleeping like a baby safe in the knowledge that Jason Newsted's ugly older brother wasnt staring at me as I slumbered
ReplyDeleteWhat was the Believer/Earth Crisis link? I've never been into Earth Crisis and hadn't heard of Believer until I read about them on this site.
ReplyDeleteJon,
ReplyDeleteBeliever was a christian thrash band, fairly melodic and some would say progressive-ish. Unlike other christian bands, Believer was generally well respected in fairly legit metal circles. They may even still be around...but I'm clueless. Anyway, the guy from Believer (Kurt Bachman I believe) produced all the Believer records, and also produced Earth Crisis' Destroy The Machines. As a result, the guitar and drums sounds are almost identical. At times, it would seem like after Believer was done recording their second album, Earth Crisis just picked up their instruments and they kept the tape running. Perhaps Guav, who often posts replies, can give us more information.
The pictures, the stories behind them all - nearly EXACTLY like my room at that time. I'm 35. That is like a snapshot of my life. I also shared a room with my metalhead older brother. I had 4-5 of the same posters/pictures up including that Sepultura picture where Max had 10-day greasy hair over his face. I too had that Metallica poster - which was the promotional version from record store walls (where I scored mine). They later put that same poster out with a red outline around the hard to read black on black Metallica logo. The only thing missing from your collection that was in mine was a bunch of Faith No More stuff.
ReplyDeleteAnd why does your room bring back memories for me and the other readers? Metal is a brotherhood.
Kielbasage,
ReplyDeleteHa, I'm glad it brings back memories. I think you're exactly right about the Metallica poster. I was never really into Faith No More, although I checked them out early on because James had a Faith No More shirt on the back cover of the Garage Days EP.
On a semi-related note, someone told me that the original singer for Faith No More is a dish washer at a Holiday In in Cleveland.
"How I slept in a room that had a picture of Dan Lilker's down syndrome face I'll never know".
ReplyDeleteHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!
my walls sucked. suicidal, anthrax, i even had a 24-7 spyz poster! so ghey!!
i almost forgot...let Guav chime in, but im pretty sure one of the original members of earth crisis, was in believer also.
ReplyDeletesavage, that might be right also.
ReplyDelete24-7 Spys was featured a few times in Metal Maniacs, is that where your poster came from?
The mighty (and loquacious) Jim Winters logged time in both Earth Crisis and Believer and was likely responsible for a riff or three between the two entities.
ReplyDeleteThis looks more like my high school locker than my bedroom. My locker featured the trimmed up longboxes from the current metal CDs I wanted people to be intimidated by. I also had a picture of Jesus crossed out, inspired by a Glen Benton shirt, and a drawing of the New Kids On The Block in nooses with the caption "Hangin' Tough" which I ended up selling copies of for 5 bucks a piece.
ReplyDeleteMy bedroom, on the other hand, had a gigantic piece of roll paper taped to the walls where I drew the confusing college of things I was transitioning through at the time, including a Todd McFarlane style Spiderman, a Sam Keith style Wolverine, a Brian Bolland style Joker, Eddie from the Somewhere In Time cover, huge drawings of Metallica and Anthrax holding their gigantic logos like they were made out of stone or metal, my own barely-band's logo with the housefly we used as our mascot, and a few random drawings I was shy about because they were my own ideas which were top secret. Later on, I started filling in the spaces with much sicker metal logos before getting tired of living like a 12 year old and tearing it all down to put up pretentious Hokusai prints.
In 91 I still had Motley Crue posters galore. Metallica/Sepultura/Pantera/Slayer were starting to make their way on my wall. One of the coolest posters I remember was a DEATH Leprosy blacklight poster I got from the mall. that ruled. I too caught flack for having pictures of long haired dudes on my wall. My dad thought it was really weird but I didn't think anything of it.
ReplyDeleteEpic.
ReplyDeleteCan't remember all of the posters I had in 1991 (I was 12), but aside from the common bands of choice back then, I remember blowing up the drawings from UKJ's "As Ugly" booklet and gluing them to the wall, wallpaper-style. UKJ 4 life! I also remember fawning over the band pic on the back, which was also glued to the wall, imagining shooting the breeze with my buddies in the same fashion. I hated death metal, life was too fun for that shit.
Great post, the pictures could easily depict my bedroom around that time, you would have found more or less the same bands. "This was our collection in its infancy..." too true man, I remember running out of space on my walls, and starting to put posters on the ceiling as well. When my mom saw this, she asked me if I didn´t think that this was taking things a bit too far...of course I did´t think so. I really liked the facts you listed to get us back into that 1991 mindframe...yeah, I remember listening to the black album by Metallica and thinking that it sucked. I couldn´t understand how all these clueless morons liked it so much! However, like you, it took 2 years or so more before I banned all things Metallica from my room and vest.
ReplyDeleteI would definitely have envied you for that "Peace Sells" poster back then! Up to this day it is my favourite Megadeth cover and album.
PS: Dan Lilkers stupid face was made up for by Glenn Evans. For some reason I thought he was one of the coolest guys ever in my teenage years...
My walls, door, closet, probably my window were covered in posters. You name it they were all there...from RIP, Metal Maniacs, Creem, Kerrang, Metal Forces, Circus, Hit Parader, various Underground fanzines, flyers, but my prized possession...\m/...was the European Clash of the Titans subway poster. That thing was MASSIVE! And it was a black poster with flourescent orange graphics and type. Awesome.
ReplyDeleteScot,
ReplyDeleteThis took me back to the way all of our minds worked back then. Gold:
"a few random drawings I was shy about because they were my own ideas which were top secret."
My basement was like this back in the day. COVERED in posters. There were a lot of bad ones up there though. I think we just put whatever looked cooled up, even if we hadn't heard the band...
ReplyDeleteI always thought Metallica were a better cover band than when they did their own stuff. Garage Days is the best Metallica album in my opinion. I fucking love that Misfits shirt and this is @Darley, would it be cool for me to get a Misfits tattoo? I have been thinking about it for a while.
ReplyDeleteI was born in 1974 and got into Metal when I was about 13 through Kiss (Slayer in '88 though...). I find it difficult to remember but I think my bro and I were also sharing a room about 1991. It looked pretty similar to yours Lucho, but would have had many more Death Metal pics up from fanzines and shit.
I do remember we had that European Clash of the Titans poster up, also a bootleg Reign in Blood poster signed by Lombardo (the other cunts in slayer stayed on the bus and wouldn't come out and meet us.). When I got my own room I decked it out similarly, with firstly Death then Black Metal posters and flyers. I had a load of Burzum flyers up that are probably worth a mint now.
I had a complete turn about one day though and took everything down except for a fucking massive Forest of Equilibrium art work poster that I got from somewhere I don't remember.
I was talking to my housemate the other day (before you even mentioned this post...) about our rooms. We are both working away from the UK in accommodation provided by the company. I noticed she's put a load of pictures and postcards up in her room and she asked me why I hadn't done the same, to make a home away from home. I told her the only posters I have access to are from the recent editions of Terrorizer and I wasn't really comfortable with the idea of having men watch me sleep any more...
PS Luchos, when I saw your photo with the blurred out face it reminded me of the pictures of the Canadian Paedophile Christopher Paul Neil that were circulated around the world last year...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thaiphotoblogs.com/index.php?blog=5&title=christopher_paul_neil&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1
"Imagine my surprise when I bought a Misfits tape and heard something that resembled Elvis over melodic-ish punk. I was outraged!"
ReplyDeleteahaha. The same happened to me. I'm sure you are referring to "Legacy of Brutality".I remember I loved that album name and cover before buying it. I thought: "This shit has to be good", and bought it. I only knew one song by the Misfits at that point, Skulls, which is awesome, and I was expecting something like that. Anyway, when I heard that album, I was really disappointed. Especially with the last song, which sounds exactly like Elvis, and it doesn't even have traces of punk! Still, even though I was disappointed, I loved the songs "She" and "Halloween", and looked for more albums (now I like all the songs from that album but the last one, but it took me a while to enjoy it all). Fortunately, the next one I bought was "Walk among us" and loved it. Now, almost 20 years after that, I still like the misfits, though I don't listen to them a lot. My punk and hardcore enthusiasm died in the mid 90s with the raising of pop-punk, but my love for metal is still alive.
About posters, I had a lot from different magazines (RIP, Kerrang, Metal Hammer -all those sucked. They kept printing Tesla posters in 1991!-, and Madhouse -from Argentina-, which was good), but I never put them on the wall. I was (am?) too boring. I thought I was going to ruin the wall removing them after getting tired of looking at them.
i think a picture of my room in 1993-94 would be really impressive, lots of grindcore, gore grind stuff.
ReplyDeleteAlex, I completely agree with you about Metallica being a great cover band. I have to admit that I really like And Justice For All, but Garage Days is my favorite. To show you just far this goes, I even like covers like The Prince and (hold on to your hat, if you're wearing one) Stone Called Crazy. Yuk...I know, I'm nuts.
I agree Lucho, I fucking hate Queen so much that listening to them makes me want to pull my fucking eyes out and vomit in the sockets. But... Stone Cold Crazy done by James and the crew is excellent.
ReplyDeleteAlso I really like that cover of Megadeth's Mechanix that they did and renamed Four Horsemen...
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
I still got posters like these.
ReplyDeleteI have an autographed celtic frost montheist poster i am willing to sleep with it watching me since its 100% tom free.
I have some maiden and cliff burton posters, a full page picture of king diamond without makeup and with that moustache you hate. Got a van halen poster from guitar world.
Also I had a scott ian black 13 poster my friend got me from guitar center. It lasted me about 15 minutes until i neatly folded it and dropped it into the trash.
I do have a sweet classic morbid angel poster i got in the 3rd to last or so metal maniacs magazine that I've been waiting to put up. I also want a full size dio poster.
P.S. this concerns metal being Co-opted. My brother got a Diamond Clothing Supply Co shirt and it has the mercyful fate "9" album cover with a diamond in the center. They also have a number of the beast diamond shirt.
and of all things my brother goes into a Supreme store and theyre playing Holy Diver.
I think ironic hipsters are the reason Its hard to sleep with men on my walls, theyre all looking at me in despair.
Alex,
ReplyDeleteha ha...oh yes...that megadeth "cover". good stuff! I remember hearing that Megadeth song and going "uh...hmmm...wait, what's going on here". In the battle between those two songs though, Megadeth has the greatest lyrics ever! they are worthy of their own post:
Imagine you were at my station
And you brought your motor to me
Your a burner yeah a real motor car
Said you wanna get your order filled
Made me shiver when I put it in
Pumping just won't do ya know luckily for you
Whoever thought you'd be better
At turning a screw than me
I do it for my life
Made my drive shaft crank
Made my pistons bulge
I mean, I've heard of thinly veiled songs that have to do with sex...but Mustaine really is not very good at being subtle.
From 83'-88' Metallica were untouchable. There is no need to make excuses. I hate how people want rewrite their history and deny this fact.
ReplyDeleteAlex: Regarding getting a Misfits tattoo; my friend got his Fiend Skull done in 1992 and all these years later he still likes it and the Misfit’s seemed to have retained enough kudos to bare this out. It was a bit like this http://tattoo.about.com/b/2006/10/29/tat-of-the-week-misfits-skull.htm only with the wording.
ReplyDeleteMy advice would be to get the Misfit’s t-shirt you like and force yourself to wear it at every possible opportunity for the next 8weeks, if after that you still like it then it’s probably a good idea. In conclusion; yes it’s a cool idea but then again I guess it depends on where you plan to get it!
@Darley, I will take your advice on board and wear a Misfits t shirt at every given opportunity. It's my friends wedding in a couple of weeks and I'm the best man. He wants me to wear a Tux, fuck that! I think this will be an excellent time to try out your theory.
ReplyDeleteLucho, the song Mechanix was first on Metallica's No Life Til Leather Demo. Mustaine took it with him when he kicked them out of 'his' band. I agree with Phil, early Metallica rule. I have always said that and just today I was rocking out on with my shovel when Master of Puppets came on the radio...
Alex: Sounds like a plan to me; though it would be churlish not to also adopt a Doyle esque hairstyle for their big day.
ReplyDeleteDarley, brilliant idea. That would look amazing on the wedding photos. Nothing says 'I Love You' than a massive fringe...
ReplyDeleteAlex - easy there, I'll let a lot of things 'pass' on this blog, but dissing Queen...? Not on my watch.
ReplyDeleteIn 91 my walls may have been covered with Slayer, Megadeth, 'tallica (Hetfield, white destroyer, 'EET FUK' you all know it) Anthrax etc, but in 09 at 34 and with all the wealth and status that age brings, pride of place above my desk is a framed original poster from the 1980 film classic 'Flash Gordon', killer soundtrack by motherfuckin' Queen...
(Jesus, and I was worried that lifesize Mustaine and Araya posters were 'gay'...)
@Steve57 Queen? Are you fucking joking me? Alright I'll let it go on the Flash Gordon soundtrack, but the rest of their back catalogue makes me wanna go out and commit mass genocide. There is a guy at work who is obsessed with them. Every time there is a party he pulls his guitar out and starts playing Queen at me specifically. It's bad enough being at a party when someone is playing a guitar, but when they are doing it with Queen... Arghhhhhhhhhhhhh
ReplyDeleteLucho, Savage, and Carl:
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info. I love this site. I get entertained by the articles and educated in the comments! You're all awesome.
Fucking great period! I shared the room with my brother, too, He started listening to Maiden, Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and King Diamond, but I went one step ahead, listening to death metal and grindcore and finally playing in a band!
ReplyDeleteAround this time, our dad re-painted the walls, and forbidden us to attach posters, so I took huge plexiglass boards, attached posters behind them and leaned them against the wall!
Morgoth were great! "The eternal fall" and especially "Cursed" are underrated gems of early 90's death metal in the vein of early Death...
I remember seeing a lot of Jane's Addiction subway-sized posters of the "Nothing's Shocking" album cover around then, as well as Danzig, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Soundgarden. Oh, and Chuck Biscuits (ex-Circle Jerks too)was the first to leave Danzig IIRC for similiar reasons to what you propose.
ReplyDelete-anything from Metal Maniacs
ReplyDelete-anything from Rip (before they went soft in 93 or whatever)
-a Mike Muir jumbo poster from a 1990 issue of Thrash Magazine, featuring the Encyclopedia of Thrash Part I (never got to see Part II, but it introduced me to Deicide).
-an Iron Maiden fold out poster from their 1983 Piece of Mind Tour program...that I bought at their 1986 Somewhere in Time tour (first concert at age 8!) :)
hey Alex - as long as your down with the Flash Gordon ST, you're Good People.
ReplyDeleteQueen though, it's like Metallica, when they were good (Sheer Heart Attack w/Stone Cold, Brighton ROCK! etc), they're fucking gods, I forgive the shitty shit. Like a benevolent father y'dig?
back to posters on the bedroom wall, the only one I have left from those days rolled up in a tube in the back of a cupboard, is a pink Creaming Jesus tour poster... Leeds, '92, or something.... sweet.
mind you, fair point, the last place I worked I had to deal with plastic metal pricks who were 'obsessed' with AC/DC, damn near put me off that killer shit...
ReplyDeleteDamn, Lucho & D, there's a post for you guys:
'Killer Bands Ruined For Me Because Cunts I Knew Liked Them"
Queen was compulsory listening in our house so slagging them is akin to blasphemy. Creaming Jesus: I had a ‘Nailed up for Nothing’ t-shirt from back then.
ReplyDeleteI’ve thought about resurrecting the Misfit’s t-shirts but you see as many ‘kids’ wear them now as you do Ramones shirts. I’ve said it before but in the UK Goth such as it is had become the new chav.
Oh and I once saw a very very drunk man sing ‘bring your daughter to the slaughter’ at a karaoke and it was BRILLIANT.
The Paragraph in here about the Misfits was actually my reaction to Danzig... at the time I was outspending my paper route or grocery bagging job (hard to remember which) by a good 3 to 1, so when I finally came home with that first Danzig album with the sick gatefold cover of the skull I had seen on the chests of all the greatest metal lords in Rip and Metal Maniacs, my hands were practically shaking. I was fully prepared to have my face smashed right into my neck forever by punishing demon riffs... but it started off with some weird joke song that sounded like the Doors, so I kept picking up the needle and dropping it in different spots looking for even one second of properly distorted guitar or spine shredding vocals... but... I could find nothing.
ReplyDeleteThat was like a week's pay on my turntable just shitting all over my room.
Naturally I figured this was just some wild artistic departure as a backlash against the certain terror that the Misfits must have once created... so I eventually risked another month's pay on a Misfits tape and It was like the April Fools joke of ages.
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ReplyDeleteSubmitted for you approval, a photograph of myself in my sick ass habitat, circa 1992.
ReplyDeletehttp://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/81/l_bb353e77ba874e5f8971b778dac2d62c.jpg
As you can see, I have "Ride the Lightning" and "So Far, So Good, So What" Lp jackets hanging on my wall, as well as a "Somewhere in time" poster. This love of general interest metal balanced quite well with my love of underground brutality as evidenced by my rad Morbid Angel Altars T shirt. You'll also notice that there is a Benediction ad in the top left, and a "Blessed are the Sick" ad in the bottom left. You may also notice an alarming amount of Fantasy art and Dungeons and Dragons related wall decorations, including a photocopied players manual cover. Shame? Never heard of it.
Speaking of the almighty Earth Crisis, I heard many times growing up in Syracuse about some "Teenagers in their bedrooms" book that featured a very young Karl Buechner with a red flopped over mohawk X'd up in his bedroom. I know Guav or Buske must know about this, I'd love to see it. There are some rad photo's of Karl as peace punk type, complete with liberty spikes on the "Syracuse Punk reunion" myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/syracusepunkreunion
lucho,
ReplyDeleteyou're right, Stone Cold Crazy is a great cover that Metallica did. Now they seem to be decent at covering their old songs.
Also, I had the same Danzig poster you do but in the version I have they all have their shirts off. I guess I've got the R-rated version of your PG-13 poster. Not bragging, just saying. In fact, I still have the poster!
Great post!
Believer released a comeback album this year. Their first album in fifteen years.
ReplyDeleteI remember Metallica pictures being unavoidable back in the metal mags of the 80's despite the fact they refused to do music videos way back then.
My coolest poster was a Venom "Black Metal" poster from a show they did in Staten Island a million years ago. Underneath the venom logo, in smaller type, it said "with special guest Metallica" which made it even cooler IMO.
ReplyDeleteI knew this guy who was a big Accept fan. When "Balls To The Wall" came out, it contained a free poster which was a black & white shot of the band, shirtless, standing in front of a wind machine. After seeing that poster on his wall I retired all my metal and/or sports related posters & put up pictures of women instead.
Man, that is a whole lot of old school goodness.
ReplyDeleteAs one of the youngest MI visitors (born in late '87), I guess I'll shed some light as to what the current youth might have in their room, and give a rundown of what adorns my college dorm walls every semester:
-Metal Maniacs poster of Death (circa Individual) on one side and King Diamond on the other. Always a toss up as to which side I want showing.
-Necroticism and Heartwork mini-posters.
-Huge Agalloch promo poster for Ashes Against the Grain.
-A fucking photocopy of a Coroner ad circa No More Color. Basically enlarged album artwork. Got totally ripped off on eBay for this.
-Crumbsuckers mini-poster for Life of Dreams
-A bunch of cutouts/mini-posters for bands like Slowdive, My Bloody Valentine, Rush, the Cure, MF Doom, Wu-Tang Clan and others, because metal is hardly the only thing I listen to.
-Army of Darkness poster.
good stuff, brings back some funny memories. especially when you mention the very brief few years Pantera mania was on. I think it was the tattoos and shaved head. I grew up in florida but by this point was going to local grind shows and a few metal shows. Clash of the titans in lakeland was a pretty killer show tho. my poster days though wouldve been more circus and hit parader in the mid 80's. lots of posters of fried hair and bulges, maybe an ad or two for the guy who was trying to look like randy rhodes to get people to join the guitar institute.
ReplyDeleteHa yeah as another young metalhead I'd say the trend toward releasing cool art posters and screen prints and shit has made it easier to be the loser with metal posters all over your walls all the way through college- I guess the only men looking at me when I sleep are King Diamond (although he's looking up and off to the side and grimacing as if some kind of spooky ghost or bat were menacing him rather than where I sleep) and the overly-contrasty members of Destruktor on the Nuclear Storm LP insert. I've got a huge ratty Spencer's Gifts-style Anthrax flag in the living room with Judge Dredd, who has presided almost every gathering at my house for like 3 years. I guess I shoot for having other weird shit on my walls as well, which is good anti-pussy deflector. I definitely had trouble sleeping under the gaze of the Nahuatl demon mask I have when I first got it.
ReplyDeleteYou are all about some Dan Lilker.
ReplyDeleteLucho,
ReplyDeleteRegarding your post, the metal guy you refer to from Y&T Records in Miami is Paul Zimmerman. The zine he did was called Cerebral Holocaust! That brings back many memories of driving with a friend for over an hour to spend $150 at a pop and the most obscure stuff you could find like Earache releases on LP before they became domestic, the original Osmose Productions releases, etc! Good times when metal was fucking great unlike now, so much of this stuff has lost its coolness thanks to the internet! What took me years of buying zines and magazines to learn the history of some band whether Metallica in 85', Misfits in 86', Sepultura in 87', etc etc can now be absorbed in hours by typing a bands name in on yahoo! Fuck these kids of today, and when you take a step back you realise what geeks most metal dudes are, who will desperately hold on to their metal cred when all the bands suck!
Anyways, Paul was kind of clueless himself and jumped the trends, for example:
He once reviewed the pre-Emperor band Thou Shall Suffer's "Into The Woods Of Belial" demo and then put it on sale for $4.99! Well, on a whim in 1991 I bought it and loved it at the time!
2 years later when the Norwegian scene got all its exposure, I freaked out when I found out that TSS was Emperor and I had the tape!
Classic days, when you had to WRITE to a band, I still have all my old mail...
Anyways, I have lots of stuff I would love to sell, that I can't get shit for on ebay as of late!
-LEE
I'm mere 20 years old, so my "metal past" takes place only ~ eight years ago.. it was Marilyn Manson and Alice Cooper then that decorated my wall, as well as tour posters of Ten Years After, Canned Heat and Uriah Heep.
ReplyDeleteIt were Manson's unlike eyes, though, that watched over my sleep, and that hung there longest. ;)
Can't say I was two years old when starting with Metal, but my first concert was Alice Cooper at the age of 11, when I watched the good man behead himself! I still blame him for a lot of things..hehe
@Lee, the things you touch on have been discussed elsewhere by several of us on this before, so I'm not going to go over old ground, but if you are selling old Osmose LPs/CDs and the like, get in touch. I am a very serious collector. Get me a list and we can thrash out some numbers.
ReplyDeleteLee,
ReplyDeleteYes, Paul was his name....yes, yes. I bought a few of his boot videos, and through him got the address for Pat in Hellwitch from whom I bought lots of videos. My brother and I would drive to Y&T and on the way there stop at the record store next to Bird Bowl (on 72nd) and check out the metal shirts. the place was owned by two middle eastern guys, who ordered no metal music, but had rad shirts.
at the risk of sounding like an old fart, i'm amazed that people who were born in 1987 are reading this. i hope metal is treating you well. it has brought me lots of joy, but i also have many regrets in life that came about as a result of my involvement with music...oh well. i'll save that for another post. its crazy, because you guys having anthrax posters up is similar to when kids in my grade had The Doors posters up or something...i mean, kinda'. I wont dwell on that subject, i'm sure lots of people have probably mentioned that you're young already. and thats not a bad thing. have fun, enjoy it. be well.
in UK I had a wall covered in the front pages from Kerrang!, also posed in front of it!
ReplyDeleteBloodofChrisLee said it all...."when you take a step back you realise what geeks most metal dudes are, who will desperately hold on to their metal cred when all the bands suck!"
ReplyDeleteOf all the old school metal friends that I have, we share that common bond of "being there" during the insurgence of true metal in the 80s when everyone else was pussy-dancing to Katrina and the Waves and Wang Chung. Look, no matter if you had Motley Crue and Tesla posters, or Slayer and Unleashed posters, we all lived through it, that's why we can have a forum like this. And again to quote our boy BloodofChrisLee...we will desperately hold on to that credibility. No fans of any other form of music can hold a candle to true metal fans.
---Dave from Pittsburgh
In 1991 my room would have been wallpapered with disassembled issues of Thrasher, like even the letters sections. I think I also had some surfing pictures up, even though I grew up in the suburbs of Boston and don't think I have ever touched a surfboard to this day. I just thought it was cool because it was like skateboarding.
ReplyDeleteThe only big posters I remember were Suicidal Tendencies and Morrissey. I didn't really know who Morrissey was at the time, but I was 13 and they were giving them out at Good Vibrations or whatever. My friend Phil gave Moz's shirt Black Flag bars a while later, which opened the door for poor Morrissey to get increasingly savaged by magic markers.
Lucho,
ReplyDeletesorry for the late response. im not sure if youll even see this, but yes...im pretty sure that 24-7 spyz insert was from metal manics, but it might have been from guitar world or Rip. dude, lonn m friend is such a douche. he needs a post.
img src="http://b9.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/00231/92/16/231496129_l.jpg
ReplyDeleteI still rule ;)
Alex Sotheran!
ReplyDeleteThis is Chris Lee, if you are interested in some metal rarities, e-mail me at hesdeadlee69@gmail.com!
I have no other way to contact you!
Thanks, Chris
dunno if this will be seen, but I love checking out peoples old school photos of their room.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I'm 20 and here's my room as of today.
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=42891446&albumId=2531843
Don't have 1991, but heres 14 year old me in 1986...
ReplyDelete[IMG]http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w49/matty666rock/MattandhisCortguitarcirca1986.jpg[/IMG]
You guys ,
ReplyDeleteI'm amazed to see your post .
Ha ha ha.The last photo is looking so funny
ReplyDeleteNice Content
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