Kerrang! Feature on Transformers: The Movie and Heavy Metal
Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2018 11:03 amIt's not often that we see the corollary sides to the Transformers fandom, such as those who appreciate usually understated elements of the media or the toys - like packaging art collectors or, as this piece is about, fans of the music that accompanies the media - though plenty is usually said for the creators of said supplements.
Courtesy of Mike Diver at Kerrang! magazine, we have a feature piece that goes through the 1986 Transformers: The Movie from its soundtrack, not only with the likes of Stan Bush, Lion and NRG, but also its context at the time, the bands that formed the galaxy around the names featured, and more! Take a look at a snippet below, read the full piece here, and join the conversation in the Energon Pub.
Courtesy of Mike Diver at Kerrang! magazine, we have a feature piece that goes through the 1986 Transformers: The Movie from its soundtrack, not only with the likes of Stan Bush, Lion and NRG, but also its context at the time, the bands that formed the galaxy around the names featured, and more! Take a look at a snippet below, read the full piece here, and join the conversation in the Energon Pub.
As a primary school-aged kid in the mid-1980s, music wasn’t massively on my radar what with the competition from cartoons on television, BMX-ing, video games and action toys.
But while Transformers on television recycled the same few tunes, the movie – for which producers Sunbow and Marvel (yes, that Marvel – for a while, Transformers and Spider-Man shared a universe) pushed the budget to many times the TV norm – recruited a number of North American metal bands to complement an original, synth-heavy score from Staying Alive composer Vince DiCola. And didn’t they make an impression.
The movie begins with a sequence of epic destruction. Somewhere out in the depths of space, a colossal, planet-sized robot (by the name of Unicron, a character that quite literally resurfaced in 2017’s Transformers: The Last Knight) devours another planet, and pretty much all of its (also robotic) population. Then comes the title sequence – but not with the theme tune we’ve become accustomed to, as cool as it was. Instead, Los Angeles rockers Lion come crashing in, and these young ears were immediately electrified.
Nice read!