music racism that it would rather insinuate that
all the inhabitants of the West Midlands are
living in the jazz centre of the universe instead of
reassuring us that its unique and deserved world
famous status of being the birthplace of Metal is
being celebrated and upheld Rio de Janeiro in
Brazil has a statue of Michael Jackson and all he
did was film a music video there to warrant that
(not too sure of the relevance here? Ed )
A few years ago I was genuinely relieved to hear
about the "Home of Metal" exhibitions saluting
the history and creation of metal in the West
Midlands this was devised by an organisation
called Capsule I assume that they ran into a
slight problem after realising that by getting the
local relevant metal scene parties involved that
it would mean them having to talk to heavy
metalers riff raff or independent music venues
which weren't controlled by council red tape and
politics I have unconfirmed sources who have
told me that they handled this by pretty much
ignoring the majority of folk who wanted to get
involved and decided to use the celebration for
local government to dictate what Metal was and
show almost zero knowledge and understanding
of the culture; this was best demonstrated in one
particular exhibition I witnessed in Wolves where
I saw a massive sign saying "Home of Metal
Come to our free workshop and learn about the
history of metal build your very own 's vinyl
clock" and next to that was a photo of a DJ spin
ning Call me a cynic but I saw more metal in an
episode of Songs Of Praise during Easter Sunday
Although the art of Metal and its birth in the
Midlands received recognition it was a bodged
opportunity to unite and document a lot of
people who worked hard for years to maintain
the area's musical reputation Tourism would
rocket (and would continue to do so) if all the
Greetings Ryan's Gig Guiders
Birmingham and the Black Country have
contributed so much to the British (and the
world's) rock music scene they can boast of being
the twin birthplaces of Metal and take pride in
their roles forging massive names like Toni
Iommi and Ozzy Osborne who gave us Black
Sabbath Other legends emerged from in and
around the area such as Robert Plant of Led
Zeppelin Glenn Hughes of Deep Purple Napalm
Death Judas Priest etc Birmingham's answer is
what? Organise the biggest international Blues
and Jazz festival it can and bullshit that it's a city
that's globally famous for blues and jazz; that's a
bit like New Orleans holding the largest ever
international disco event and pissing on it's
heritage
Birmingham is the second biggest UK City and
relies heavily on the business and tourism
generated from all the shitty little towns around
it (like where I live) Every time I watch ITV
Central News on TV or should I say the ITV
‘
What bollocks about Birmingham can we
fabricate and call newsworthy and ignore the rest
of the Midlands’
News I get the distinct
impression with its normal blend of passive
NICK
J TOWNSEND
Nick J Townsend is the frontman and
guitarist for British band Weak13
An experienced Underground
musician and music promoter
Supporter of original music
and of course writes his column
for you every month here in RGG
r
gg
since 1995
RGG August 2014 - p.6
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