There are already so many band movies out in the world, and given the popularity of music biopics, more are coming! We’ve had band movies about Queen, The Runaways, and The Doors just to name a few; we’re even getting a new Elvis movie soon. So, while we have plenty of rock band movies, we have to ask – where are the metal band movies?
Granted, we do have 2018’s Lords Of Chaos, but what else is there? There’s Metallica Through The Never – and while that is an interesting film – it isn’t a band biopic. In reality, we don’t have much for music biopic movies when it comes to metal.
While there are many bands that one could easily make a movie about, we thought about five bands we’d love to see represented in a feature film. This ranking is not in any particular order, just a fun musing of what metal acts should have a music biopic movie done about them.
How can you not have a film about the originators of metal? Having formed in Birmingham, England back in 1968, Black Sabbath would go on to become the foundation for heavy metal. The work of Tony Iommi, Bill Ward, Geezer Butler, and Ozzy Osbourne has not only inspired so many bands, but has forever changed the music landscape of the world. Black Sabbath is certainly a band who deserve a music biopic about themselves. To see these four kids go from rags to riches, to create some of the most important records in all of metal – it would be a captivating viewing of heavy metal history.
American heavy metal was forever changed thanks to Pantera. While the band’s glam metal material is fun and exciting, 1990’s Cowboys from Hell pushed Pantera into the greater metal limelight. Even to this day, Pantera is considered one of the heaviest bands in all of metal history. To this day, their records like Vulgar Display Of Power and Far Beyond Driven exude tremendous atmospheres of grit and ferocity. For a band who played so aggressively, who partied so hard, and who faced such a horrible tragedy in the shooting and death of the late Dimebag Darrell – how can we not have a Pantera movie to honor their legacy and all they’ve done for the genre?
Among the bands to emerge just before the new millennium, we think it’s fair to say that Slipknot are one of the biggest bands in modern metal. The original nine members of Slipknot have gone through absolute hell, and they’ve channeled all their pain and struggle into some of the most ferocious music ever made. Given the extremity of the band’s performances, their iconic masks, and the abrasive music they have birthed into the world, seeing the origin of Slipknot on the silver screen would be surreal. To experience the original nine growing up and making music in Des Moines, IA, having to brave challenges and see them first present their brand of musical brutality to the world – that sounds “sic” to us!
Similar in a way to Pantera, Metallica have become a pillar of heavy metal. Making their studio debut in 1983, the band took the metal world by storm. Since that initial release, they have only gotten bigger. Stadiums are devoted to their shows, fans roaring with excitement as they take to the stage. To re-experience the beginnings of that stardom would be awesome. To see these guys having fun and creating music at such a young age, partying in Los Angeles, to see them become superstars and eventually one of the Big 4 in thrash – that sounds like a marvelous experience perfect for a movie.
While Converge have an incredible history behind them and are an important band in metal, we’d like to pitch a different spin on a potential Converge movie. Instead of a full blown biopic, what if we got something that was more of an experimental movie about the band creating Jane Doe? The 2001 album is considered by many to be the band’s most popular work; it is a record that would go on to reshape the metalcore and hardcore genres. What if we got a psychological, arthouse-like exploration into the album? What if, as we’re seeing the band writing and perform music, as frontman Jacob Bannon is writing lyrics, we also get an additional visual story taking place? Something that captures the narrative of Jane Doe, that explores what Bannon is writing about. Offering two stories playing side by side – one based in reality and the other acting as an imaginative telling of the record – would be both psychedelic and heavy as hell.
What other metal bands do you think deserve a music biopic movie about their career?
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Words by: Michael Pementel
