Anvil: The Story of Anvil

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Some really good word-of-mouth PR surrounding this movie. It's a documentary about an 80s hair band that was an unmitigated disaster. Anybody seen any of the early screenings?

Anvil! The Story of Anvil

[JonInMiddleGA]

Haven't had one anyone near me unfortunately but I was glad to see that they just finished laying down three tracks for Rock Band.

I did hear someone make a pretty good point the other day though, concerning the praise in the film from folks like Metallica & Anthrax. If you really thought these guys were so good, so talented, so deserving of a break then why didn't you take 'em out on tour with you at any point in the last two decades? Makes the praise ring just a tad hollow.

[Flasch186]

slash said it best.

[Ksyrup]

The praise rings hollow because this band sucked. The after-the-fact comments from people in the industry is ridiculous and, although probably not intentional, seems to be more due to the circumstances of the band and this movie than anything else. But they've done a great job marketing it as "the real Spinal Tap" and I'm interested to see it at some point. Metal documentaries never disappoint. It also doesn't hurt that, coincidentally, one of the guys in the band is really named Robb Reiner.

But they were a mediocre band virtually indistinguishable from hundreds of other 80s metal bands, who happened to really like each other and stick together all these years. Nice story, crappy band.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

But they were a mediocre band virtually indistinguishable from hundreds of other 80s metal bands, who happened to really like each other and stick together all these years.

Therein lies part of the hook for me, or at least part of what makes me hope they get about 30 minutes of fame out of this. Even as a very average band from the era, I'd still take them over 95% of the bands working in the past 20 years.

Plus, there weren't very many of the 80s metal bands that actually stuck together all these years, that alone makes them stand out. Hell, a lot of the successful ones can't stand the sight of each other even when there's money involved.

[chinaski]

Looks awesome, been looking forward to this for a while.

[Ksyrup]

The story angle is great; the music, not so much. I'd rather see better bands highlighted from the same era who got bypassed by certain metal-era glory than a mediocre band that everyone suddenly remembers as being great and "can't miss." But the band being together so long and the Spinal Tap angle are stuff movies are made of...I guess. I'm sure it will be good. Maybe I'm just a little ticked because I could probably name 2 dozen better bands from the same time period that would get the same "who's that?" response that Anvil does. But good for them finally cashing in so many years later.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Maybe I'm just a little ticked because I could probably name 2 dozen better bands from the same time period that would get the same "who's that?" response that Anvil does.

But how many of those are still together? And have been together consistently through those 20 years?

I mean, just off the top of my head (since I heard them on the radio Friday night), Steelheart's vocalist alone blows away what Anvil can do ... but they went something like 15 years between albums & weren't gigging together the whole time.

[Ksyrup]

But that's just their story element of it. I'm talking about actual good bands with their own stories. They might be different, but no less compelling. I guess the bottom line for me is, staying together for 25+ years is nice and all, but at the end of the day, they were just another metal band that wasn't all that great at what they did. They are getting publicity now for their story, not the music - which is fine, but not all that deserving, IMO.

I don't have too far to look to find one that fits - King's X. They've been together in one form or another since the early 80s, never broke up, are still together today, and have a ton of interesting backstories (apart from the never made it big but still together angle - the Christian rock thing, Doug's sexuality, the ton of praise they get from other musicians, etc.). Or how about Death Angel - all-Filipino thrash band made up of 4 cousins/brothers (plus the singer), first album came out when they were all 16 or under, they were actually profiled in People magazine, released 3 great albums, had a Metallica-like bus accident, part of the band stayed together under different names, now they are back together and released 2 new albums. The stories are out there.

This story is nice, but not that unique. But there are other stories out there, and the bands are better. I guess that's what I'm saying.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

They are getting publicity now for their story, not the music - which is fine, but not all that deserving, IMO.

Their story is more marketable ... and more importantly it had a hard to beat "in" with the filmmaker (ex-roadie) that neither of those examples had.

Raise your hand if you think this movie ever gets made without that connection.
Yeah, me neither.

[Ksyrup]

Marketable as the "real life Spinal Tap," I guess. Which I hope doesn't mean they go out of their way to stereotype metal bands to fit the preconception brought about by that movie.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Marketable as the "real life Spinal Tap," I guess. Which I hope doesn't mean they go out of their way to stereotype metal bands to fit the preconception brought about by that movie.

The opinion on that seems to be almost universal, that the similarities that occur are a tribute to the accuracy of Spinal Tap rather than any attempt to have Anvil mirror the older movie. I can't recall ever hearing anyone in the business say anything about Tap without vouching for how realistic the absurdities were.