Get Thrashed: The Story of Thrash Metal/Global Metal/Heavy Metal in Baghdad

Emerging mostly in California, thrash developed in the hands of young metal musicians who loved the classic metal of Black Sabbath and Judas Priest, as well as the faster, punk-influenced sounds of newer British groups like Venom, Iron Maiden and Motörhead. The tribal aspects of rock subgenres in the early 1980s is brought out clearly in the description of the thrash metal uniform, which included long hair, rock shirts with three-quarter length sleeves, white sneakers, and cut-off leather jackets with patches and buttons deployed in very particular ways. [...]taken for granted are the vicious politics that existed between underground rock genres in the 1 980s and early 1 990s - an interesting phenomenon, insofar as the hatred between thrash fans, glam metal fans, hardcore punk fans, and a host of other subcultures raged for seemingly trivial reasons. "Where else can we find fun?" asks one Acrassicauda fan, "Nowhere!" The difficulties of working as a metal band in Baghdad are shown: gigs interrupted by rolling power outages, harassment by Iraqis for their metal attire and short goatees (all the members had short hair; long "metal" hair would make them targets for violence), their rehearsal space and much of their equipment was demolished in a mortar attack (fortunately, the band members were elsewhere at the time) .