That Metal Show

Ok so this isn’t an album but there are a few things I want to say about this show. Now before I launch in I should make it clear that I really do like this show and I am so glad that metal finally has it’s own talk show. That said, this show is at many times somewhat of a disappointment. Clearly the show set out with the mindset that they wouldn’t follow the MTV pattern of just interviewing nu metal and metalcore bands. The only person from a nu metal band they’ve had was Corey Taylor of Slipknot. But that was only once, which is good. Most of the people being interviewed are from bands from the 80s. But that’s not the good news it sounds like. The show seems hell-bent on trotting out every member of every glam metal band of the 80s, most of which are now defunct or playing county fairs and monster truck rallies. The weird thing is that the show actually started off fairly strong with guests like Dave Mustaine of Megadeth, Ronnie James Dio, Zakk Wylde, Phil Anselmo, and Rob Halford. But they’ve also had people like Lita Ford, Peter Criss, and Dee Snider. It’s like all the hosts want to resurrect the 80s glam scene even though most of these people are now burnouts. I'm just glad they haven’t had Brett Michaels on yet. I think I’d commit suicide.

For a while I had been wondering “Aren’t we ever going to get any death metal bands? Where’s Vader? Where’s Cannibal Corpse, to a lesser extent?” And to be fair the show actually provided a good answer to my question. This is Vh1 Classic we are talking about. So the videos that they show are going to be classic. The hosts explained that the general rule of thumb is that they never interview a band that wouldn’t be shown on the music video programs. Anyone who has ever seen Vh1’s show Metal Mania knows that most of the bands are old glam bands, the very same you see interviewed on That Metal Show. In fact if you manage to catch a Metallica video, you’re pretty lucky. That’s about the heaviest band I’ve ever seen them play.

So while I want this show to be more metal than it is I can certainly understand where they are coming from. And all in all I'm just glad that we have a metal talk show. A lot of the stuff they do is stuff I really enjoy. Their lists that they make at the beginning of each show are usually pretty interesting and I generally agree with them to a degree. And Stump the Trunk, they metal quiz part of the show, is always intriguing. I’m still trying to come up with a question in case I ever make it on the show.