Metal as anything

Cult documentary chronicles heavy metal parking party

Long hair, denim jeans, muscle cars, loud rock music and lots of opinionated American teenagers. These are the essential ingredients of the film Heavy Metal Parking Lot, which has become a cult classic among the music fraternity.

This year sees the 25th anniversary of the cult underground documentary, which chronicles a tailgating party in a car park before a Judas Priest concert. The ‘tailgating’ portrayed is not the act of trying to drive into a lot bumper-to-bumper to avoid paying to stay. Instead it is is having a picnic from the boot of a car.

The tailgating ritual is common at American stadiums before rock concerts and sports games. The first such party is thought to have taken place before the inaugural Rutgers vs Princeton football game in 1869 — fans grilled and ate sausages at the tail end of their horse-drawn carriages.

Jeff Krulik and John Heyn filmed the Judas Priest fans arriving  at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland on 31 May 1986 with the aim of showing it on public access television. Highlights include Zebra Man, a loud-mouthed young man, clad in striped spandex, who launches an anti-Punk tirade: “Heavy metal rules, punk rock sucks. Madonna can go to hell.”

The content was so raw and profane that it was never broadcast on TV, but copies ended up being rented on VHS tapes in plain white covers.

By the early 1990s, bootleg VHS copies had made Heavy Metal Parking Lot an cult-classic. It was a favourite on the tour buses of bands like Nirvana and actor Ed Norton had it on-set while filming Fight Club. In 2004, Heyn and Krulik revived the idea for a short-lived TV series.

With an anniversary DVD out and a series of US cinema screenings planned, the 1986 original is now reaching a wider audience.

Heyn says: “American youth feel complete when they’re with their cars in a parking lot. The lot brings a large number of people into a public space but, nonetheless, creates an intimate setting where they can be themselves.

It acts as a focal point or vortex. All roads lead to the parking lot. And for these heavy metal fans it’s like the centre of the universe, a mecca. Right in the middle of this large expanse of asphalt sits a giant concert arena, a place of worship for their Metal Gods.” Remember that the next time you visit the O2 Arena or NEC!

www.heavymetalparkinglot.com