Wheels of Steel: The Explosive Early Years of the NWOBHM

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Below is the back cover blurb, for this study that feels like my favourite recent book Who Invented Heavy Metal? but basically covering a period one metal generation later. And like my recent book, Swords and Tequila: Riot’s Classic First Decade, I’m not only holding on price but lowering them a good 10% across the board. But still, remember, I am signing, packing these up and mailing from Canada. Orders will be signed from me to you, so please specify if it’s a present for someone else. Glad to sign as a present for your favorite denim and leather NWOBHM-jamming metal buddy. Ah yes, the heroic, glory-rich daze of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal! The year was 1979, and a brash new breed of heavy metal-maker was busy shoveling dirt over the death of punk, while simultaneous mourning the waning energies—or outright demises—of hard rock’s earlier heroes, namely Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and Uriah Heep. In Wheels of Steel: The Explosive Early Years of the NWOBHM, Martin Popoff charts the long ramp-up to this detonation of headbanging mania through the late ‘70s, arriving at the penultimate first years of this flash phenomenon, namely 1979 and 1980. Utilizing his celebrated oral history method—rich with detailed chronological entries to frame the story—Popoff blasts through all of the reasons the NWOBHM had to happen, and then drops down on all the singles, albums, live events and conceptual trends studding those remarkable two years, an era that essentially marks a coming-out party for heavy metal. Come join Martin, along with dozens of his old school headbanging buddies, as they together tell the tale of this ersatz genre’s birth and mischievous, defiant adolescence—heavy metal would forever be transformed, and Wheels of Steel celebrates plainly and yet powerfully, all the reasons why. Introduction 1970 – 1975 – “It’s almost like the white man’s blues, heavy metal.” 1976 – “We’re like, we like heavy. Where’s the heavy?” 1977 – “That’s why Maiden’s crowd was almost like a football crowd.” 1978 – “All the original frontrunners had gone asleep.” 1979 – “This kind of music is absolute.” 1980 – “Black Sabbath’s done all right; let’s find another new Black Sabbath.” Text Credits Design and Photography Credits About the Author Martin Popoff – A Complete Bibliography Smokin’ Valves: A Headbanger’s Guide To 900 NWOBHM Records