Seb Hunter - Hell Bent for Leather - Confessions of a Heavy Metal Addict

Confessions of a Heavy Metal Addict

4th Estate

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published in Great Britain by Fourth Estate 2004

Copyright © Seb Hunter 2004

Seb Hunter asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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Source ISBN: 9780007161768

Ebook Edition © JUNE 2016 ISBN: 9780007381616

Version: 2016-07-19

From the reviews of Hell Bent for Leather :

‘Anyone who’s ever been too fond of music will recognise themselves in Hell Bent for Leather … Though it’s hilarious and downbeat, [Hunter] retains an honest love of the truth of rock. It’s a profound writer who can describe AC/DC and Slayer as sounding like a trolley falling down the stairs’

BILL BAILEY

‘Terrific … a thundering good read’

BRUCE DICKINSON

‘ Hell Bent for Leather is a book that could do for heavy metal what Fever Pitch did for Arsenal: make the terminally unfashionable hugely commercial … this funny, honest book is both a homage to his first great love, and a deconstruction of that most maligned of pop forms. You can enjoy it without having heard a single heavy metal track. For that alone, Seb, we salute you’

Observer

‘Rock failure was very, very good for Seb Hunter … his book is a gem; a wonderfully deadpan account of his childhood obsession with heavy metal, and his subsequent attempt to make a career of it. The story is memorable not only for Hunter’s mordant self-deprecation and hilarious recitation of heavy metal trivia (how many sub-genres of glam metal can you name?), but for the unexpectedly moving conclusion’

New York Times

‘Funny and genuinely touching … he relives the developments that shook the metal world to its stack-heeled foundations’

Guardian

‘Hunter relates with easy humour and perfect pacing a tragic, glorious youth, dominated by music … he has an assured touch, good timing, genuine love and knowledge of his subject, plus just the right amount of modesty required when you’re not famous and you’ve decided to write a book about yourself anyway. Terrific!’

Time Out

‘It’s easy to laugh at metallers and Hunter’s book makes it even easier … he describes the era with affection’

Independent on Sunday

‘Irreverent, funny, candid and branching off the beaten track to include all the other things that really matter, like love, life, death, dead-end jobs, alcohol, parents, girlfriends, mates’ girlfriends, and guitars with pointy headstocks. If that rings any kind of (ahem) Hells Bell with you, then you’ll love it’

Leicester Mercury

‘Funny yet tragic … anyone who believes music changes lives will find validation here’

City Life

‘A Fever Pitch for Heavy Metal fans … Simultaneously hilarious and strangely moving … identifies the very essence of why music is important to life. Magic’

Q magazine

‘Seb Hunter’s wickedly funny biography combines the madness of Ozzy and the incisive satire of Spinal Tap with an honest and contagious passion … a delightful chronicle of the highs and lows of glorious youth’

Glasgow Herald

‘A truly brave book … an entertaining guide to heavy rituals, with diagrams explaining the need for a 12-stringed axe’

Observer Music Monthly

‘ Hell Bent is more than a memoir: it’s a crash course in Metal’

Newsweek

‘Enthralling from start to finish … Hunter is never afraid to laugh at his former self and it is this factor more than any other which places Hell Bent … in the proud tradition of Giles Smith’s Lost in Music and John Aizlewood’s Love Is the Drug and makes it essential reading for any music fan, metal-obsessed or otherwise’

Liverpool Echo

‘Seb Hunter talks from a true fan’s perspective … A truly human examination of passion and music’

The List

‘Should strike a (power) chord with everyone who’s sold their soul to rock ’n’ roll … Hunter celebrates the joy of being lost in music’

Kerrang!, KKKK

‘Paints a vivid picture of the capital’s low-rent mid-80s muck ’n’ mascara scene’

Classic Rock

‘A Hornby for the Kerrang generation’

i-D magazine

‘Mixing his memories of small-town England with an encyclopedic knowledge of heavy metal, Hunter creates a book that, thanks to its combination of poignancy and hilarity, is as infectious as a well-crafted power ballad’

Publishers Weekly

‘You find yourself wanting to hug him one minute, and punch him the next’

Uncut

‘Like Nick Hornby, Hunter can’t separate pivotal points in his life from the songs he was listening to at the time. Read it and cringe – not in embarrassment, but in recognition’

Maxim

‘Brash, to the point, and earthy, this is an enjoyable disquisition on an adult-irritating strain of music that just won’t die. With advocates and chroniclers like Hunter, why should it?’

Booklist

For Fa

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Praise

Dedication

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

P.S. Ideas, interviews & features …

About the Author

Interview with Seb Hunter

Life at a Glance

About the Book

The Return of the Trash Can Junkies

More Music

Further Listening

Epilogue

Acknowledgements

About the Author

About the Publisher

I was in the pub with my friend Andrew and the conversation turned to ‘What specialist subject would you choose if you were to appear on Mastermind ?’ He came up with the very good point that in order to proceed to the later stages of the competition, you would need a store of different specialist subjects for each new round. But as the heats progressed, the standard of fellow competitor would rise, so not only did you have to prepare – we guessed – four rounds’ worth of different specialist subjects, but you probably needed to gamble your weakest in the early rounds and save your best one ’til last. We imagined the dreadfulness of early-round elimination on some hastily cribbed topic, with our fountains of knowledge waiting primed and unused. So assuming there actually are four rounds, including the final (and yes, we’re taking huge liberties with our levels of general knowledge here), Andrew chose: