A very entertaining watch. In fact I watched it twice. The BBC are never shy of repeating things, so I expect it will be doing the rounds for quite a while..

The documetary did miss out a few key bands, notably Def Leppard, who were one of the biggest NWOBHMB, and they only skirted around Motorhead, which I thought was odd. I've always considered Motorhead a rock 'n' roll band, rather than HM, but seeing as they are generally regarded as HM, I was surprised by their lack of coverage. Diamond Head, on the other hand, seemed to get loads of coverage. They have been on tour recently with Europe, apparently, so maybe their record label has been pushing them..

The Maiden concert film was brilliant. I lost interest in Maiden many years back, but started taking an interest again, about two years ago, when my friends son started getting into them. I started to replace my old vinyl albums with CD's. It was great to see this band still at the top; playing to huge crowds who clearly adored them. Folk of all ages singing along and generally loving it. Maiden were the first metal band I ever got into, back in about 82, and watching them now, they're still fresh and youthful, and still put on a blinding show.

Edited by Blacksword - March 09 2010 at 07:14

Yes, very entertaining watch indeed. Learned a bit more history (or refreshed it really) and the individual comments from those rock/metal legends were amusing.

Yet another top notch music doc from BBC4 to follow the Folk and Prog Britannia efforts. Lord, Gillan, Iommi, Butler, Ward and Halford were all excellent value. It was actually very moving to hear Bill Ward talk about playing War Pigs in front of disabled Vietnam vets.

My only moan - another use of the Lazy Meaningless Cliche which these programmes seem unable to resist. This time it was along the lines of "While Prog Rockers were busy singing about wizards and elves, Metal preferred to look to the Dark Side. " Obviously they've never heard of King Crimson, VDGG or ELP.

Syzygy wrote: Very enjoyable - and a timely reminder of how innovative those early Sabbath albums were.

Some great archive footage of a very young Sabbath, too; as always, Iommi came across as a very well balanced guy, especially condidering his quote re Vol.IV: "we spent more than the recording budget on cocaine, and the recording budget was £80,000"

Re the Maiden footage, I think this was culled from the 'Tour 666' film & showed them as a hugely entertaining & talented band, also Nicko McBrain - what a character... they're playing Knebworth this year, so I'm thinking a few beers & listen from the comfort of my garden