Cum on Feel the Noize (2017)

Cum on Feel the Noize: Directed by Jörg Sonntag. With DJ Ashba, Mick Box, Joakim Brodén, Biff Byford. Exclusive, long-lost live material from rock’s most iconic bands u0026artists, as well as all-new original interviews with the living legends themselves: This film is your access-all-areas backstage pass to Heavy Metal and Hard Rock history.

“Clips that didnu0026#39;t cost the producers much and the absolute lamest voice-over imaginable, with vast numbers of basic ideas not discussed and bands not even shown, barely cited: all of this made this lifelong metal lover recoil in embarrassment…unless the producers just wanted to make money off that horde of gullible metal fan base that will watch anything u0026quot;aboutu0026quot; metal.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOr: this could have been aimed at people who donu0026#39;t listen to metal, but want to understand something about it. In that sense, itu0026#39;s a sociological document.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe editing was atrocious: meandering, with very little idea of what the film wants to say about how u0026quot;rock became metal.u0026quot; At the end, they say itu0026#39;s become evermore diverse through the years (true!), and it celebrates that diversity while also being a music about individuality, personal freedom and loyalty to a genre thatu0026#39;s always been marginalized.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIf youu0026#39;re a hardcore metal head, itu0026#39;s been a long, long, long time since you heard your favorite bands on the same radio that everyone else listens to. This is but one sense in which metal is a substitute for traditional religion among many of its followers. One must seek their favorite bands now. Sabbath/Zep/Purple have long been relegated to u0026quot;classic rocku0026quot;, which says painfully too much, I wonu0026#39;t even go into it here. This last idea – about metal as religion that provides community and a sense of the transcendent – is addressed for about 20 seconds…u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThat metalu0026#39;s themes and lyrics address that which society has always repressed? This gets touched upon, but only lightly before moving on. Quite superficial!u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI could easily make a list of 25-30 ideas about the music that could have been addressed in a deeper way and made this film much more interesting, but thatu0026#39;s not what this film is about: itu0026#39;s about producing CONTENT about metal that only takes up 90 minutes. This film reminds me of the joke about the guy who took a speed reading course, with the final exam being about War and Peace, which he read in 15 minutes and declared, u0026quot;Itu0026#39;s about Russia.u0026quot;u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThere was a short segment about Michael Schenker, one of my all-time favorite guitarists. Heu0026#39;s speaking in German about a part of his career that is known to anybody who if a fan of his…but what is the context for someone who wants to know more about how u0026quot;rock became metalu0026quot;? There is no context.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis documentary casts such a wide net itu0026#39;s almost absurd. Iu0026#39;m still waiting for a well-made doc on how guitarists were always the primary movers and makers and shakers of the music, with interviews both with the great guitarists and those writers – some academics who are exceedingly articulate, knowledgable and thoughtful about the music – also weighing in. In this as-yet-unmade doc, thereu0026#39;s a POV and the possibility of some great rhetoric and ideas about virtuosity, theatricality, genre, and gender.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSuffice to say, this ainu0026#39;t it. Come On Feel The Noize is for the couch-potato metalhead consumer who will watch anything having to do with metal, or for people who know nothing about it, but want to feel, after 90 minutes, like they now understand something about it. To save time, read the Wikipedia page on u0026quot;heavy metal.u0026quot;”