About the Book
Now the basis for the new podcast “Back Stage: The Devil in Metal” from Diversion Podcasts & iHeartRadio, get in line for Raising Hell
From the author of the celebrated classic Louder Than Hell comes an oral history of the badass Heavy Metal lifestyle—the debauchery, demolition, and headbanging dedication—featuring metalhead musicians from Black Sabbath and Judas Priest to Twisted Sister and Quiet Riot to Disturbed, Megadeth, Throwdown and more.
In his song “You Can’t Kill Rock and Roll” Ozzy Osbourne sings, “Rock and roll is my religion and my law.” This is the mantra of the metal legends who populate Raising Hell—artists from Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Slipknot, Slayer, and Lamb of God to Twisted Sister, Quiet Riot, Disturbed, Megadeth, and many more! It’s also the guiding principle for underground voices like Misery Index, Gorgoroth, Municipal Waste, and Throwdown.
Through the decades, the metal scene has been populated by colorful individuals who have thwarted convention and lived by their own rules. For many, vice has been virtue, and the opportunity to record albums and tour has been an invitation to push boundaries and blow the lid off a Pandora’s box of riotous experiences: thievery, vandalism, hedonism, the occult, stage mishaps, mosh pit atrocities, and general insanity.
To the figures in this book, metal is a means of banding together to stick a big middle finger to a society that had already decided they didn’t belong. Whether they were oddballs who didn’t fit in or angry kids from troubled backgrounds, metal gave them a sense of identity.
Drawing from 150-plus first-hand interviews with vocalists, guitarists, bassists, keyboardists, and drummers, music journalist Jon Wiederhorn offers this collection of wild shenanigans from metal’s heaviest and most iconic acts—the parties, the tours, the mosh pits, the rage, the joy, the sex, the drugs . . . the heavy metal life!
Horns up!
About the Author :
Jon Wiederhorn is the author of Louder Than Hell: The Definitive Oral History of Metal (with Katherine Turman) and the co-author of My Riot: Agnostic Front, Grit, Guts & Glory (with Roger Miret), Ministry: The Lost Gospels According to Al Jourgensen (with Al Jourgensen) and I'm the Man: The Story of That Guy from Anthrax (with Scott Ian). He has written for Rolling Stone, SPIN, MTV, Guitar World, and Revolver, among others. He lives in Montclair, New Jersey.
Review :
“Throw back the backstage metal curtain and dig into the pit of larger-than-life rock ‘n’ roll escapades! Raising Hell does just that with tales from the chaotic, erotic, psychotic mania . . . revealed here in all its glory!”
—Rob Halford, Judas Priest
“So you ever wanted to know what goes on behind the scenes, what made us who we are, what inspires us? Maybe you want to hear what we don’t tell our significant others, you know, the dark secrets we touring musicians keep from home? John Wiederhorn collected so many great stories from all of your favorite rockers, I know my stories but reading about what everyone else went through is mind-blowing! Enjoy our lives!”
—Billy Graziadei, founding member of Biohazard, Powerflo, and BillyBio
“Raising Hell is a Bible of Heavy Metal Debauchery! Not only did it bring back tons of crazy, fun touring memories for me, but it also made me laugh my ass off reading about the antics of my fellow metal heads! For anyone who’s ever defecated where they shouldn’t have, just to make their friends laugh, this book is for you! Hell, this book is for everyone! It rules!”
—Richard Christy, Charred Walls of the Damned, ex-Death, ex-Iced Earth
"With Raising Hell, Jon Wiederhorn opens a treasure chest of outrageous, unflinching metal anecdotes that range from hysterical to terrifying to just plain disgusting. Each chapter is a new level of insanity!"
—Scott Ian, Anthrax, S.O.D., The Damned Things
“The book takes a broad perspective of bands that are not solely metal but are musically extreme comrades in arms…Its colorful descriptions of mayhem serve as an astute cultural study.”
––Publishers Weekly
"While I've got a bunch of totally metal tales, I'm just one f*ckin' dude… In Raising Hell, Jon Wiederhorn captures the energy, excitement, and lunacy of metal culture, not just from thrash musicians, but also from a wide variety of artists in other genres, including classic metal, melodic metal, death metal, and even those crazy church-burning f*cks that play black metal."
—from the Foreword by Gary Holt, Exodus and Slayer
“Raising Hell is, without a doubt, the most in-depth look into the lives of professional metal heads. Unlike a rock biography, this oral history gives you an accurate understanding of what actually happens behind the curtain. No other writer has covered this genre more than Jon, and this book is a gift to all who have devoted their soul to the gods of metal.”
—Ben Weinman, The Dillinger Escape Plan
"Raising Hell tells stories of debauchery, wild shenanigans, and mishaps from the musicians themselves, using their own words to describe the unpredictability and chaos that follows rockers on the road."
—Consequence of Sound
"Within its 400-plus pages are outrageous tales of debauchery—beyond chapters dedicated to sex and drugs, dozens of artists confessed wild puke stories, recalled grotesque and painful injuries sustained on tour, [and] admitted to breaking the law."
—Loudwire
"Metal was never really meant to get on with the law. Here, some of our world’s biggest names open up on the times they’ve fallen foul of the police, or just been straight-up naughty...These tales of drunkenness, pissing, mistaken kidnapping and, um, rotten meat prove metallers will always remain true outlaws."
—Metal Hammer
“Delivers the kind of debauchery one would expect from that kind of title...Includes many different facets that encompasses the life of a touring musician, including the hilarious and embarrassing shit many of them experienced on the way up and even during their glory days...[If you] unapologetically love hard rock and heavy metal during its sleaziest era(s), Raising Hell should sit nicely in your book collection alongside Hammer of the Gods and The Dirt.”
—No Echo
“Offers the audience a peek into the debaucherous, hair-raising world of some of the most prestigious names in metal. There are a bunch of gnarly anecdotes shared in the book, some of the most gruesome come in the form of musicians describing the most hectic injuries they’ve acquired on stage.”
—Tone Deaf
“[Wiederhorn] is bringing to life some of the wildest stories of heavy metal musicians straight from their own mouths.”
—Alternative Press
“...[E]asy to dip into at any point….the entries will all entertain….Metal devotees will devour, casual fans will enjoy browsing, but all music lovers will have a blast.”
—Library Journal
“One of hard rock's most prolific journalist opens his notebooks and memory banks for an oral history of stage snafus, transportation travails, drug misadventures and much more. It will rock your world.”
—Oakland Press
Praise for the author’s previous book, Louder Than Hell
“Whether you’re the sort of man who knows everything from who first threw the Devil Horns to the correct pronunciation of Yngwie Malmsteen, there is something fascinating to learn from Louder Than Hell . . . Shed[s] new light on the making of Satan’s Music.” —Esquire
“Presents the collective memory of heavy metal through the ages and eras in the voices of the men who lived it . . . It’s an aficionado’s delight.” –New York Daily News
“Louder than Hell is a love letter to the misunderstood genre of heavy metal music, written by trusted companions who had a front row seat on the devil’s rollercoaster. The definitive chronological testimony by the people who were there, including some who are no longer with us.” —Mark McGrath, Sugar Ray and co-host Extra
“A great read and an instant classic.” —The Onion's A.V. Club
“This is the best oral history I’ve read since Please Kill Me. Louder than Hell is the first book that really delivers the brutal truth —Matt Pinfield
“Two devil horns up!” —USA Today
“A compelling, first-person account of a seemingly unstoppable force . . .the book reads like an extended, uncensored, shockingly satisfying episode of VH1’s Behind the Music.” —Washington Post
“An amazingly comprehensive book on all eras and genres of hard rock and heavy metal. The stories and attention to detail make it an instant must for anyone who ever was or is a fan.” —Eddie Trunk, DJ and host of That Metal Show on VH1 Classic
“Often hilarious, occasionally, ‘God, I wish I hadn’t read that!’, sometimes profound, sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes infuriating . . . no one holds back on any subject. . . you come away from this book with a crystal-clear vision of this world.” —Huffington Post
“The author's inclusiveness gives this examination a weight that is just as heavy as the music.” —Publishers Weekly
