Free Republic

Exactly 52 years after the release of Led Zeppelin’s fourth studio album—widely referred to as Led Zeppelin IV—the identity of the man gracing its cover has been revealed, The Guardian and The New York Times report. The cover artwork famously features an elderly man hinged at the waist, weighed down by a bale of long twigs strapped to his back. Now, a research fellow in South West England named Brian Edwards has discovered that the original source of the scene: a late Victorian era photograph of a Wiltshire thatcher named Lot Long. A visiting research fellow with the regional history...

Picture this: A bunch of unique-looking headbanging people listening to heavy music; entering a whirlpool of human collision in front of their favorite artist; raising their fists in the air; raising the devil’s horns \m/. What is that all about? Who are they? These are the metalheads. What is their psychology? We are going to look at the social psychology of heavy metal and rock music fans. In this article, I’ll review the scientific research done on their personality, their behavior, why they do what they do, what they get out it, etc. The effects of heavy metal music can...

"There was definitely a double-standard. ... We couldn't be doing the same things the guys did and get away with it," says the singer of one of the few female bands to infiltrate '80s hair-metal scene.In Penelope Spheeris’s notorious 1988 rockumentary The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years, KISS’s Paul Stanley is interviewed while lounging in bed with a bevy of lingerie-clad groupies; W.A.S.P.’s Chris Holmes chugs a bottle of vodka in a swimming pool; Odin’s Randy O canoodles in a hot tub with bikini girls; Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and Joe Perry brag about spending millions of...

Rock star Dee Snider is no longer featured at the SF Pride Parade & Celebration. Snider was going to perform at the June event in San Francisco but the plug has officially been pulled, according to KRON4. What was the Twisted Sister star’s crime? The musician agreed with KISS rock star Paul Stanley that kids who believe they’re transgender shouldn’t get gender reassignment surgeries. In response to a statement from Stanley, Snider tweeted Monday, “You know what? There was a time where I ‘felt pretty’ too. Glad my parents didn’t jump to any rash conclusions!” That tweet cost him his...

Florida Sen. Jason Brodeur (R-Lake Mary) wants bloggers who write about Gov. Ron DeSantis, Attorney General Ashley Moody, and other members of the Florida executive cabinet or legislature to register with the state or face fines.Brodeur’s proposal, Senate Bill 1316: Information Dissemination, would require any blogger writing about government officials to register with the Florida Office of Legislative Services or the Commission on Ethics. In the bill, Brodeur wrote that those who write “an article, a story, or a series of stories,” about “the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, a Cabinet officer, or any member of the Legislature,” and receives or...

When you play in a world-conquering, gazillion-selling band of Metallica's stature, you're bound to attract a few oddball fans over the course of your career. Still, the metal titans' most unexpected devotee is quite a doozy: Richard Ramirez, the '80s serial killer known as the Night Stalker. Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett said Ramirez — the serial killer, rapist and burglar who embarked on a Los Angeles crime spree from 1984-85 and was sentenced to death in 1989 — was incensed when he heard the band performing at San Quentin State Prison in 2003, where they filmed their "St. Anger" music...

Heavy metal, or just metal, is a strange genre in the sense that we don’t know exactly where it came from. Much like punk, the genre derived from a wide variety of influences that over time coalesced and merged together to create something new, with no definitive starting point. Some posit that Link Wray’s 1958 classic ‘Rumble’ was where it started to germinate, and others claim that it started with the psychedelic rock movement of the ’60s with bands like Iron Butterfly, Vanilla Fudge, 13th Floor Elevators and Coven and that their loose similarities were tied together under one concise...

<p>Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson has tested positive for COVID-19, despite being fully vaccinated.</p><p>Last week, Dickinson postponed the last two dates of his U.K. spoken-word tour after a member of his household tested positive for coronavirus. The rocker has since rescheduled those appearances for October.</p>

Poison drummer Rikki Rockett has tested positive for COVID-19 despite having previously been vaccinated against the virus. The rocker took to social media to share his experience with fans. "I have COVID,” Rockett matter-of-factly admitted in a video posted to YouTube. The drummer went on to explain how his son first came down with symptoms and tested positive for coronavirus. A few days later, Rocket began feeling unwell and also tested positive. "Guess what: I'm vaccinated,” the rocker further noted. “I'm fully vaccinated, and I've been vaccinated for months. I don't know if this is the delta variant, but every...

Trying to think of an animated movie from either late 60's or early 70's, R rated, something for some reason sounded like fantasia but definitely not Disney. Brain farts just can't recollect the name.

Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford is urging all metal fans to get vaccinated against the coronavirus. “Hi everyone. This is your metal god, Rob Halford of Judas Priest, sending you a massive shoutout of thanks to our metal community for doing the right thing by getting the life-saving vaccine that will eventually eradicate COVID-19 around the world,” the rocker began in his video message uploaded to Instagram. “One thing we’re proud about in metal is that we not only stand together united for our music, but also for each other,” the rocker declared, before reminding fans that vaccinations will likely...

Former President Donald Trump delivered his first major speech after leaving office, charting a path forward for the Republican Party and conservatives but suggesting that he might run in 2024.“I may even decide to beat them for the third time,” he said.Trump said the conservative movement he created “is far from being over” but did not declare that he would try to run against for president in 2024. “There’s never been a journey more successful,” he remarked, adding that conservatives “will be victorious and stronger and greater than ever before.”“The future of the Republican Party is as a party that...

Shut off your phone, ladies and gents. Power down the computer. That was the greatest thing you will see on the internet today.

One professional rocker has been continuing his social media crusade against Black Lives Matter and, despite his bandmates’ more liberal leanings, has refused to back off of his support for law enforcement. Metal and hard rock music outlet Loudwire reported on “System of a Down” drummer John Dolmayan’s brave pro-police support. The musician posted a photo of an NYPD uniform patch to his Instagram account on July 24 and captioned the social media post with pro-”Blue Lives” sentiment. He wrote, “Very proud to have received this gift and will always support the men and women who put their lives on...

The best Zep song, IMO

In a new interview with the Toronto Sun, THE WHO guitarist Pete Townshend said that fans shouldn't be surprised that the band's first new album in 13 years, "Who", bears little resemblance to THE WHO in terms of that classic ferocious rock sound. "It doesn't sound like THE WHO from those early heavy metal years," he explained. "We sort of invented heavy metal with [our first live album] 'Live At Leeds' [1970]. We were copied by so many bands, principally by LED ZEPPELIN — you know, heavy drums, heavy bass, heavy lead guitar and some of those bands, like Jimi...

Stan Kenton and his Orchestra recorded in London 6 February 1972 Chiapas Stan Kenton, Mike Van, Dennis Noday, Jay Saunders, Ray Brown, Joe Marcinkiewicz, Dick Shearer, Mike Jamieson, Fred Carter, Mike Wallace, Phil Herring, Quin Davis, Richard Torres, Kim Fritzel, Willie Maiden, Chuck Carter, Ramon Lopez, John Worster, John Von Ohlen

The Dayton, Ohio mass shooter was a member of a death metal band called ‘Menstrual Munchies’ and was pictured during one on-stage performance in an Antifa mask and a woman’s dress. As we reported earlier, the mainstream media is finally beginning to acknowledge that Connor Betts was a far-left extremist who expressed support for the anti-ICE terrorist, Antifa and the presidential candidacy of Elizabeth Warren, as well as retweeting numerous left-wing personalities and news outlets. Now Death Metal Underground’s Robert de Sandford reports that in a 2018 performance video posted to Facebook (since removed), “Betts dons a dress and a...

Dayton mass shooter Connor Betts was reportedly the lead singer of a misogynistic “pornogrind” metal band called Menstrual Munchies — which released songs about rape, murder, necrophilia and other gruesome acts against women. “I feel s–tty having let him be in the band, doing those lyrics,” said bandmate Jesse Creekbaum in an interview with VICE News. “It’s like, Jesus Christ, how much of this was like real life for him?” Betts, 24, slaughtered nine people on Sunday — including his own sister — with an AR-style rifle before being killed by police. He also managed to wound 27. “I know,...

WACKEN, Germany - Two senior citizens disappeared from their rural retirement home in northern Germany Friday and were later found with thousands of headbangers at a heavy metal music festival in Wacken, according to news reports. The nursing home alerted police when staff discovered the elderly men missing from their home, in Dithmarscher, according to German broadcaster Deutsche Wells. It turns out the men were located early Saturday morning about 25 miles away, near Hamburg, at Wacken Open Air, a four-day festival billed as the largest heavy metal gathering in the world. The men were found “disoriented and dazed” around...