Hell Bent for Leather: Confessions of a Heavy Metal Addict

This book is a more than the author's own story of discovering metal as a pre-teen and his struggles of playing in local metal bands. There is also plenty of entertaining commentary on aspects of 80s metal, highlighting some of the more talented bands and musicians along with how "Spinal Tappish" some of the others were. His writing is both humorous and at times self-deprecating, willing to laugh at himself as well as the occasional absurdity of the over-the-top presentation that many metal bands of the time exhibited. Any metal fan that grew up during the 80s or is familiar with that era will love this book, especially if he/she has experience playing in a garage band

It's hard to write one of these sorts of heavy metal confessional books for a few reasons. One is that anyone who was listening to INXS and U2 back in the day will care little about your opinions of the best Saxon album or the most authoritative Anthrax lineup. The other is that people who were into this sort of music will endlessly disagree with you about what year was the most awesome Monsters of Rock, so you might alienate them with your opinion. Nevertheless, Seb Hunter lays it all out for us here: his early addiction to AC/DC, his later worship of Iron Maiden and Hanoi Rocks, and his attempts to pick up a guitar and slam out the three chords needed for a good garage band.Like Klosterman's oft-compared _Fargo Rock City_, I didn't entirely agree with some of Hunter's judgements and statements. (Motorhead's _1916_ a concept album?) Maybe my background in Midwest America was different than his in England, but we both worshipped many of the same groups, so the common ground made this worthwhile. I also experimented with very amateur attempts to put together the next Metallica with bad instruments and worse musicians on a Sears tape recorder, so I applaud his ability to tell his story. This is good writing and a great bunch of episodes, although all came to a closing a bit sooner than I wanted it to. Overall, a good book if you've got a leather jacket in the back of the closet and still remember the pre-Nirvana days with fondness.

I am currently half way through Seb's tale on Heavy Metal baby steps and enjoying every single page. It is amazing how the love for this sometimes controversal sometimes predictable musical genre can bring people together regardless their origins, age or sub-genre of choice.I grew up here in Brazil and was a teenager in the 80's, but reading Seb's account on how he got hooked up in metal in Britain feels like I am reading my own life story.Everyone who once worshiped Angus Young and Lemmy Kilminster will feel tremendous empathy for this book, and regardless of the turns one might have made in life (you may now be a respectable lawyer or a brain surgeon), if once you wore that ragged black t-shirt, long greasy hair and played air guitar in front of your mirror, after reading this book you'll feel metal pumping in your veins again. You might as weel go and buy all those Anthrax albums you sold years ago.

It’s flat out funny to read Seb’s journey (descent?) into early 80’s metal fandom and eventual jumping into metal culture. His story is interesting and worth rereading too.

Hilarious and sometimes poignant.

According to the "customers who bought this book also bought" feature on Amazon, the people who bought Hell Bent for Leather: Confessions of a Heavy Metal Addict frequently purchased leather pants immediately afterward. I must assume this is because, as the title states, heavy metal really is addictive.During the height of hair metal's popularity I lived less than an hour from the Troubadour and the Rainbow, but I was too darn punk rock to go. After reading Seb Hunter's hysterically funny ode to heavy metal, I can't help but feel like I missed out on something. Not necessarily something I would have enjoyed at the time, but something just the same.Had Hell Bent for Leather been written a couple of decades earlier, I might have learned to appreciate the subtle nuances of metal before I was too old to bang my head. This book is a love letter to a pyramid spike riddled genre that will make you swoon over metal right along with Mr. Hunter. I never got the impression that Seb was condescending toward metal music or its fans while I was reading this book. He was just poking good-natured fun at how seriously he took both metal and himself at the time, the same way other people do about Beatlemania, disco dance moves, liberty spikes, and countless other things from other eras that we remember fondly enough that we can now appreciate their absurdities.To the contrary, this book is the main reason I am now laughing with metal rather than at it. I never thought I would say this, but I love Iron Maiden. My husband and children can now attend Slayer concerts without the fear of having to listen to me complaining about the cost of tickets. Whether you are into metal or not, if you are a person who ever went through a stage where you defined yourself through the music you listened to, you will relate, and you will laugh.If you weren't around during the glam metal heyday, Hell Bent for Leather will make you wish you were, only perhaps with less Aqua Net.

Was looking forward to this read but disappointed, how can you talk about Donnington & not have been there! He slates some of the bands, I have been at 86 & 87 and can say W.A.S.P. were good Def Leppard were not so good! The writer doesn't know thrash metal that is obvious, slags Anthrax, talks about thrash shouting with no melody?? He need's to listen more to genres of music if he's going to comment! It wasn't all bad but hey it's only rock n roll

I thoroughly enjoyed this book - but as other reviewers have pointed out, if Heavy Metal was his specialist subject on Mastermind, he would have struggled to get past the first round. My personal irritation is his statement that Motorhead's wonderful No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith was recorded at Hammersmith Odeon, which it wasn't. Even my mum (and bear in mind I'm 40) knows that it was recorded at Newcastle and Leeds and that they never even played Hammersmith on the tour that the album was recorded on. And Motorhead's 1916 was not a concept album about the First World War - admittedly it had a few tracks about war, but probably less than half.So Heavy Metal pedants should approach this book with caution, but I still liked it enough to give it four stars.His piece on bands doing solos is spot on though.

Good item. Highly recommend seller. A+. Delighted!

GREAT BOOK, DIP IN DIP OUT VERY FUNNY. MADE ME LAUGH WHILE WAITING TO GO INTO THEATRE FOR SURGERY. I REMEMBER IT ALL LIKE YESTERDAY.

IF YOU LIKE HEAVY METAL OR NOT-THIS IS STILL AN INTERESTING INSIGHT TO THAT WORLD, A FUNNY,& THOUGHFULL LOOK AT THE METAL WORLD THRU SEB'S WORLD.BUY IT NOW & BE CONVERTED!!