8. Venom - The Band Who Invented Two Genres
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHmzFVDjVnM They couldn't sing, they couldn't really play their instruments but most impressively they couldn't give a flying fudge-pop either! The unholy racket which spewed forth from their records was almost unlistenable but there was something thrillingly unique about a band who defied convention and embraced imagery and an attitude flawlessly designed to appal the moral majority. Venom didn't care if you hated them, in fact they positively encouraged it. Via the most uncompromisingly nihilistic music the world had ever heard their influence was cataclysmic. They christened a sub-genre (Black Metal), fathered another (Thrash Metal) and managed to inspire thousands of bands to give that 'music' thing a go even if they lacked the talent generally perceived necessary to succeed. In retrospect, their early work on 1981's Welcome To Hell and 1982's Black Metal may sound ridiculously cliched and contrived, and surprisingly harmless to modern ears, but on release this was trailblazing music which informed the direction extreme metal would take for the next ten years and beyond. Without Venom, the likes of Hellhammer, Celtic Frost, Slayer and Mayhem would never have sen the light of day and extreme metal may never have been born but most importantly without Venom we wouldn't have Thrash Metal and Black Metal; perish the thought!
Christopher Jennings
Contributor
I love Heavy Metal, and generally anything that involves a guitar and loud noises, so I figured it was about time I put all the useless information in my head to good use and start writing a few things. Most of the time I'll be writing nonsense but occasionally I may surprise myself and appear half-way knowledgable.....but you can be the judge of that. Thanks for your fleeting attention!
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Christopher