METAL

In the beginning...Burroughs, William S. NOVAEXPRESS. New York: GrovePress, Inc., 1964. First edition.Octavo. Original orange clothbinding, with black titles. A finecopy in a fine dust jacket.In the beginning, an elite groupof chaos warriors led by OderusUrungus ravaged the galaxywith a boundless hatred for allthings alive. But they became toopowerful, and too defiant, and fortheir cosmic crimes were banishedto the most insignificantplanet in the universe: Earth,where they fornicated with apes,thus creating the human race.Fast forward several millionyears and the phrase “heavymetal” comes into use as a technicalterm in chemistry, metallurgy,and discussions of pollution.Then, in 1964 Americannovelist William S. Burroughs(1914-97) appropriates the termin his novel Nova Express, introducingcharacters as “The HeavyMetal Kid” and the “HeavyMetal People of Uranus.” Atsome point, the notion that theterm first appeared in his seminalnovel Naked Lunch (1959)enters into rock journalism, acompletely erroneous claim thatis still widely perpetuated. Andyes, that was a GWAR reference.ROLLING STONE: Vol. 1, No. 10 – May 11, 1968. San Francisco:Straight Arrow Publishers, Inc., 1968. A single tabloid issue (11 ¼” x17”), offset printed on recto and verso, and folded at the center. Mildtoning, with some light soiling to the rear panel; else very good orbetter.The first documented use of “heavy metal” to describe a type of rockmusic appears in this issue of Rolling Stone. In his review of thealbum A Long Time Comin’ by Electric Flag, Barry Gifford writes,“Nobody who’s been listening to Mike Bloomfield – either talking orplaying – in the last few years could have expected this. This is thenew soul music, the synthesis of white blues and heavy metal rock.”One month later, the American band Steppenwolf would become thefirst to use the term in a song lyric, although not as a description ofa musical style, in their biker anthem “Born to Be Wild”.[Led Zeppelin] LeCompte, Juli and Hugh Jones (Editors).PROXIMITY: A Led Zeppelin Newspaper. Issaquah and Seattle:Proximity, 1980-83. Nine tabloid issues (11 3/8” x 17 ½”), offsetprinted on recto and verso. A significant, early run of Proximity,comprising the first two years of publication. Proximity was one ofthe earliest Led Zeppelin fanzines, with the first issue being publishedduring the final year the band was still together, just priorto drummer John Bonham’s death and their subsequent break-up.Light toning, with a single fold at the center of each newspaper, asissued; else fine. Quite scarce; OCLC shows no holdings for early issuesof Proximity, with a single institutional holding for later issuesdating from the mid-1990s on.As difficult as it is todefine heavy metal,it’s harder still tosingle out the band thatstarted it all. And whileit’s tough to arguewith Black Sabbath’sclaim to the title, ifany band could itwould be Led Zeppelin.Formed out of thecollapse of Britishblues rock outfit theYardbirds, Zeppelin combined thevisceral power and intensity of hard rockwith the finesse and delicacy of British folk music. Their first fouralbums sounded the death knell for the psychedelic era, redefiningrock music in the 1970s and for all time. Musically, their influenceon heavy metal is unparalleled. Like Nirvana drummer Dave Grohlsaid, “Heavy metal would not exist without Led Zeppelin, and if itdid, it would suck.”Cooper, Alice with StevenGaines. ME, ALICE: The Autobiographyof Alice Cooper.Numerous textual photographs.New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons,1976. First edition. Octavo. Originalwhite cloth binding, with redand blue titles. A fine copy in alightly rubbed dust jacket withsome very light fading along theextremities.The first book by the Godfather ofShock Rock (followed by 2007’sAlice Cooper, Golf Monster), andwhat is presumed to be the firstmemoir published by a heavymetal icon. Cooper, who was bornVincent Damon Furnier in 1948,shares memories of growing upthe son of a lay preacher in the Bickertonite Church and discussesthe influences and experiences that culminated in the developmentof his grandly theatrical onstage persona. With his mesmerizinglive performances of the early to mid-1970s, which drewequally on horror films and vaudeville and included everythingfrom guillotines to electric chairs, boa constrictors to baby dolls,Cooper “drove a stake through the heart of the love generation,”elevating the stagecraft and showmanship of not only heavy metal,but all of rock ‘n’ roll. Without Alice Cooper, there would be noKing Diamond, no Marilyn Manson, not even a Lady Gaga.[Cooper, Alice] ALICE COOPER: The Nightmare Returns Tour1986-87. Original medium red t-shirt, silkscreened on recto andverso. Signed and dated (“87”) by Alice Cooper on the front, justbelow the right shoulder. Clean, bright, and unworn.After retiring from the music industry following the release of thealbum DaDa (1983), Cooper reemerged with Constrictor (1986),his sixteenth studio album and his first to feature the bass playingof Kip Winger, who would laterrise to fame with his own band,Winger. The tour that followedwas one of the most successfulof the late ‘80s, reestablishingAlice Cooper not only as thetheatrical rock act of note butalso as a cultural icon, a legacyfurther cemented by his famouscameo in the film Wayne’s World(1992).BLACK SABBATH WORLD TOUR ‘76~77 - OFFICIAL PRO-GRAMME. Designed and illustrated by Richard Evans, withnumerous color photographs as well. [London]: Brockum International,1976. Original pictorial paper wrappers (11 ½” x 11 ¾”),bound with staples. Faint evidence of moisture, with a small pricelabel to the rear panel and some general minor shelfwear.By the mid ‘70s, drug use was so rampant within Black Sabbaththat one wonders whether any one of them remembers the recordingof Technical Ecstasy (1976), their seventh studio album. Howelse does one explain the band’s decision to abandon its signaturedoom and darkness in favor of keyboards and synthesizers?Ozzy’s increasingly erratic behavior is partially to blame for thisuneven effort. The lead singer, who was admitted to an asylumfollowing the recording of Technical Ecstasy, quit Black Sabbathfor a time following the subsequent world tour, which was merely aprelude to his permanent firing from the band in 1979. Filled withsubtle allusions to the growing internal tensions within the band,this program inadvertently captures Black Sabbath coming apartat the seams.[Black Sabbath] Osbourne, Ozzy with Chris Ayres. I AM OZZY. Numerous textual photographs, including many in color. New Yorkand Boston: Grand Central Publishing, 2009. First edition. Signed by Ozzy on the half-title, accompanied by a photograph from the booksigning. Octavo. A fine copy in a fine dust jacket.The Prince of (Fucking) Darkness’ memoir of his long and colorful career, from his humble beginnings in Birmingham to his days frontingBlack Sabbath and rise as a successful solo artist and reality television star (The Osbournes garnered the highest ratings in MTVhistory). Osbourne’s vocals, which are more akin to a siren than a human voice, would prove nearly as influential as guitarist TonyIommi’s use of tritones, trills, slides, down picking, palm muting, and power chords in the development of the heavy metalstyle, and so to would his larger than life antics, which include everything from biting the head off a bat during a concertperformance to an arrest for drunkenly urinating on the Alamo in Texas. That Ozzy (b.1948) has emerged as the metal’s mostrecognizable figure speaks to the genre’s reverence for its lineage and its long-overlooked sense of humor.6 3