‘Louder Than Hell: The Definitive Oral History of Metal,” by veteran rock journalists Jon Wiederhorn and Katherine Turman, is a 700-page opus that traces music’s most raucous genre through 400 interviews with the likes of Ozzy Osbourne, Metallica and more. New York has long played a crucial role in the genre’s development. “A lot of music scenes, like Seattle’s grunge period, burn out after a couple of years,” says Turman, “but New York has always had a consistent stamp of uncompromising aggression. Every band out of New York has a hungry drive that’s born of the city.” This is their Metal New York.
1. Max’s Kansas City, formerly at 213 Park Avenue South
TURMAN: “Iggy Pop was known for parading around onstage shirtless. One of the earliest and most dangerous times this happened was at Max’s. Iggy broke a glass and cut himself in the chest. The band was like, ‘OK, he’s done this before. He’s dripped hot wax [on himself], he’s been so stoned he couldn’t stand up.’ So this was like, ‘Eh, whatever. Just Iggy being Iggy.’ But he had to have stitches.”
2. Roseland Ballroom, 239 W. 52nd St., at Eighth Avenue
TURMAN: “An A&R guy from Elektra named Michael Alago was interested in signing Metallica. A lot of [labels] were interested, so he had to resort to some sneaky tactics. The band played Roseland with Anthrax and Raven. Michael knew there were other A&R people there, so he bolted the backstage door shut and wound up being the only one backstage. He told them, ‘Look, I love you guys, and you have to come to my office tomorrow.’ They did, and he convinced them to sign with the label the next day.”
3. Magickal Childe, formerly at 35 W. 19th St., at Sixth Avenue
TURMAN: “This was one of New York’s oldest witchcraft centers. When they were recording [Osbourne’s] ‘Ozzmosis’ album, [band guitarist] Zakk Wylde bought a poster of Aleister Crowley there and hung it in the studio. Ozzy walks in and says, ‘Who is this poster of?’ Zakk looks at him in disbelief, [since “Mr. Crowley” was one of Osbourne’s most popular songs]. Ozzy’s getting annoyed, like, ‘Who the f - – k is this?’ And Zakk says, ‘You’ve been singing about him for 20 years!’ Ozzy responded, ‘Is that what that bald-headed c – – t looks like?’ ”
4. Le Parker Meridien Hotel, 119 W. 56th St, at Sixth Avenue
WIEDERHORN: “Back in the ’80s, [Judas Priest singer] Rob Halford was touted as the pinnacle of masculinity, a tough and tattooed biker dude. Metal kids had no clue he was gay. The record label really wanted Rob to be this masculine metal god. One time he was set up on a photo shoot with a Penthouse Pet on the roof of this hotel. She wore a skimpy bathing suit, Rob was in full-on leather bondage gear, and they were [positioned] very close to each other. The implications were enormous, and Rob resented the way he was portrayed.”
5. Corner of Sixth Street and Eighth Avenue
WIEDERHORN: “Gene says this is where he got the band’s first groupie. They were on the corner, watching people walk by and Paul saw this really tall girl walking down the street. They didn’t have their ‘game’ at that point, but Paul dared Gene to pick her up. So Gene walked up to her and just said everything he could — ‘I’m in a band, I’m working on a record, I’m gonna be famous,’ etc. He convinced her to come to the studio, and within an hour, she was in the sound booth [having sex with] two guys. That was Gene’s first revelation that, ‘Wow — this is rock ’n’ roll!’ ”
6. Webster Hall, 125 E. 11th St., at Third Avenue
WIEDERHORN: “There’d been a rivalry between Cro-Mags founding bassist Harley Flanagan, and the vocalist who joined [later], John Joseph. John [had recently] reformed the band, and Harley was less than pleased about it. So he went to check out the band at Webster Hall and allegedly slashed two members of the band as they were about to take the stage. The show was canceled, and the members were taken to Bellevue Hospital. One was treated for a bite mark and a cut to the face, the other for cuts to his arm and stomach.”
7. Electric Lady Studios, 52 W. Eighth St., at Sixth Avenue
WIEDERHORN: “Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley had no money when they started KISS, and they convinced a guy who worked at Electric Lady to record their demo. They would see people there like the Rolling Stones, John Lennon and Bob Dylan, and it was a place of decadence and debauchery. Paul was in the bathroom once and saw Stevie Wonder going to pee, and this girl was holding his [junk] while he took a leak.”
8. The Marquee, formerly at 21st Street and 10th Avenue
TURMAN: “Biohazard was playing, and these [hardcore] bands were like gangs. They had their sides. Guitarist Billy Graziadei said that some dudes ran up to one of their guys and stuck this huge Rambo hunting knife into his abdomen. They sliced him up the center and left him on the floor, saying ‘Payback, Motherf – – ker.’ Their dude was on the verge of death for weeks, but he lived.”
QUEENS
9. Bayside High School, 3224 Corporal Kennedy St., Bayside, Queens
WIEDERHORN: “Anthrax was one of the big four bands that really pioneered thrash metal. The band’s guitarist Scott Ian used to walk around Bayside High at lunch with a notebook. He’d go from person to person, metalhead or not, asking them who their favorite guitarist was, and he would keep little checkmarks, like, ‘Richie Blackmore was the greatest, no, Tony Iommi was the greatest.’ All these kids were like, ‘Dude. Get out of my face.’ It was the ultimate in geekdom.”
10. The Music Building, formerly at Union Hall Street and Archer Avenue, Jamaica, Queens
WIEDERHORN: “Bands weren’t allowed to live in [the rehearsal spaces at] the Music Building, but Metallica were put up there anyway. Interesting stories went down there, including the dismissal of Dave Mustaine from Metallica. Dave would get s – – tfaced, and he was a mean, obnoxious drunk. Scott Ian said he would take full garbage cans and dump them in front of the practice spaces of bands he didn’t like. That caused a lot of friction.”
BROOKLYN
11. L’Amour, formerly at 1545 63rd St., Brooklyn
WIEDERHORN: “What CBGB was to punk rock and hardcore in New York, L’Amour was to the kids in the suburbs of Brooklyn. When Carnivore — whose singer, Pete Steele, later sang for Type O Negative — played L’Amour, Pete used to throw out lamb’s heads during their show, because their friend’s father worked in a meat factory. By the time they made it into the audience, they were starting to smell. The owners banned that from happening, because it was revolting. So the next time Carnivore played there, Pete went to the microphone and said, ‘[The owners] said I can’t throw out meat at the show, so we’re gonna throw out 50 White Castle hamburgers.’”