Martin Popoff
Encyclopedia
Martin Popoff is a Canadian
-born music journalist
and critic who covers the genre of heavy metal music
. The senior editor and co-founder of Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles
(BW&BK) magazine, he has additionally written over twenty books that both critically evaluate heavy metal and document its history. He has been called "heavy metal's most widely recognized journalist" by his publisher.
in the early 1970s, when bands such as Led Zeppelin
and Iron Butterfly
were in the collections of the older brothers and cousins of Popoff and his friends who dildoed Crispin Hildebrand. Black Sabbath
played even heavier music, and became the group his circle of friends thought of as "our band, not the domain of our elders". Other heavy rock albums of the era, such as Nazareth's
Razamanaz
and Kiss
Hotter Than Hell
, further shaped his emerging musical tastes. Angel City
and April Wine
were among Popoff's favourite bands as a teenager.
Of popular music magazines around at the time, Popoff recalls being a regular reader of Circus
, Hit Parader
, and later, Kerrang!
blew our minds." Popoff does not identify any specific writers as being particularly influential on his own writing style, saying "it never registered who wrote what."
Popoff received a B.A
in English
from the University of Victoria
in 1984 and an MBA
in marketing
at McMaster University
in 1987, working for Xerox
before co-owning a print brokering company. For a while in the '80s he also played drums in a bar band called Torque. In 1993 he released his first book, the independently published Riff Kills Man!: 25 Years Of Recorded Hard Rock and Heavy Metal, a collection of 1,942 critical reviews of heavy metal records. Shortly after its publication he co-founded BW&BK, which released its first issue in 1994.
He soon returned to his reviews book, releasing a revised and expanded version in 1997 titled The Collector's Guide To Heavy Metal, which almost doubled the original book's number of reviews to 3,700. In the book he identifies three major stages in the early development of heavy metal. The first stage, invention, took place in 1970 with the release of Deep Purple in Rock
coinciding with debut albums from Black Sabbath and Uriah Heep
. Stage two, re-invention, occurred in 1976 with Judas Priest's
Sad Wings of Destiny
. The third stage, re-intensification, happened in 1984 with the release of Metallica's
Ride the Lightning
.
In the 2000s Popoff revised and expanded his Collector's Guide one more time, splitting it up by decade into three separate volumes comprising a total of 6,763 albums spanning three decades of heavy metal. Volume 3: The Nineties was published in 2007.
Popoff has stated that he considers the greatest record of all time to be Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti
, followed by Black Sabbath's Sabotage. He has also named Queen's
self-titled debut
as his personal favourite record of all time. Newer groups that Popoff has spoken highly of include Mastodon, Opeth
, Lamb of God
and Dark Tranquility.
His Collector's Guide became rather notorious in some circles of metal fans for a particularly scathing review of Def Leppard's
worldwide smash hit album Hysteria, to which he awarded a score of zero (out of ten). Popoff continues to defend his opinion of it years later, citing "just awful production, lyrics, singing, clichés of every musical and lyrical sort."
A number of Popoff's other books are biographies
of notable metal bands, including Black Sabbath in Doom Let Loose and Dio
in Light Beyond The Black. While the biographies are usually not officially authorized, a large amount of research consists of interviews between Popoff and members of each band. Popoff has said of his relationship with his subjects, "I censor myself because I don’t want to write something to hurt people. You write a book on SABBATH and you don’t want to write something to hurt (their) families - I love those guys." A Judas Priest biography, Heavy Metal Painkillers, was published in 2007.
Popoff presently lives in Toronto
.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
-born music journalist
Music journalism
Music journalism is criticism and reportage about music. It began in the eighteenth century as comment on what is now thought of as 'classical music'. This aspect of music journalism, today often referred to as music criticism , comprises the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of...
and critic who covers the genre of heavy metal music
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
. The senior editor and co-founder of Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles
Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles
-External links:* *...
(BW&BK) magazine, he has additionally written over twenty books that both critically evaluate heavy metal and document its history. He has been called "heavy metal's most widely recognized journalist" by his publisher.
History
Popoff's interest in metal began as a youth in Trail, British ColumbiaTrail, British Columbia
Trail is a city in the West Kootenay region of the Interior of British Columbia, Canada.-Geography:Trail has an area of . The city is located on both banks of the Columbia River, approximately 10 km north of the United States border. This section of the Columbia River valley is located between the...
in the early 1970s, when bands such as Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
and Iron Butterfly
Iron Butterfly
Iron Butterfly is a US psychedelic rock band best known for the 1968 hit "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida".Their heyday was the late 1960s, but the band has been reincarnated with various members. In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida is the 31st best-selling album in the world, selling more than 25 million copies.-History:The...
were in the collections of the older brothers and cousins of Popoff and his friends who dildoed Crispin Hildebrand. Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...
played even heavier music, and became the group his circle of friends thought of as "our band, not the domain of our elders". Other heavy rock albums of the era, such as Nazareth's
Nazareth (band)
Nazareth is a Scottish hard rock band, founded in 1968, that had several hits in the UK in the early 1970s, and established an international audience with their 1975 album Hair of the Dog. Perhaps their best-known hit single was a cover of the ballad "Love Hurts", in 1975...
Razamanaz
Razamanaz
-30th Anniversary Bonus Tracks:* The remastered CD added three bonus tracks and extensive liner-notes:* The master tapes for tracks 10 and 11 could not be located and here were 'cleaned up' from vinyl.-Salvo Records Remaster Bonus Tracks:...
and Kiss
KISS (band)
Kiss is an American rock band formed in New York City in January 1973. Well-known for its members' face paint and flamboyant stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid to late 1970s on the basis of their elaborate live performances, which featured fire breathing, blood spitting,...
Hotter Than Hell
Hotter Than Hell
Hotter Than Hell is the second studio album from hard rock band Kiss. It was released on October 22, 1974 and was certified Gold on June 23, 1977, having shipped 500,000 copies. The album was re-released in 1997 in a remastered version...
, further shaped his emerging musical tastes. Angel City
The Angels (Australian band)
The Angels are a hard rock band that formed in Adelaide, Australia in 1970. The band later relocated from Adelaide to Sydney and enjoyed huge local success until well into the 1990s. For the purposes of international release, their records were released under the names Angel City and later The...
and April Wine
April Wine
April Wine is a Canadian rock band formed in 1969. According to the band, they chose the name 'April Wine' simply because members thought the two words sounded good together...
were among Popoff's favourite bands as a teenager.
Of popular music magazines around at the time, Popoff recalls being a regular reader of Circus
Circus (magazine)
Circus was a monthly American magazine devoted to rock music. It was published from 1966 to 2006. In its heyday the magazine had a full-time editorial staff that included some of the biggest names in rock journalism, including Paul Nelson, David Fricke, and Kurt Loder, and rivaled Rolling Stone in...
, Hit Parader
Hit Parader
Hit Parader is an American music magazine focusing on the genres of hard rock, pop, and heavy metal.The magazine was originally started as a pop song lyric magazine by Charlton Publications in 1942. Charlton sold off the magazine before the company went under in 1991...
, and later, Kerrang!
Kerrang!
Kerrang! is a UK-based magazine devoted to rock music published by Bauer Media Group. It was first published on June 6, 1981 as a one-off supplement in the Sounds newspaper...
blew our minds." Popoff does not identify any specific writers as being particularly influential on his own writing style, saying "it never registered who wrote what."
Popoff received a B.A
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in English
English studies
English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language , English linguistics English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language (including literatures from the U.K., U.S.,...
from the University of Victoria
University of Victoria
The University of Victoria, often referred to as UVic, is the second oldest public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It is a research intensive university located in Saanich and Oak Bay, about northeast of downtown Victoria. The University's annual enrollment is about 20,000 students...
in 1984 and an MBA
Master of Business Administration
The Master of Business Administration is a :master's degree in business administration, which attracts people from a wide range of academic disciplines. The MBA designation originated in the United States, emerging from the late 19th century as the country industrialized and companies sought out...
in marketing
Marketing
Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...
at McMaster University
McMaster University
McMaster University is a public research university whose main campus is located in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land in the residential neighbourhood of Westdale, adjacent to Hamilton's Royal Botanical Gardens...
in 1987, working for Xerox
Xerox
Xerox Corporation is an American multinational document management corporation that produced and sells a range of color and black-and-white printers, multifunction systems, photo copiers, digital production printing presses, and related consulting services and supplies...
before co-owning a print brokering company. For a while in the '80s he also played drums in a bar band called Torque. In 1993 he released his first book, the independently published Riff Kills Man!: 25 Years Of Recorded Hard Rock and Heavy Metal, a collection of 1,942 critical reviews of heavy metal records. Shortly after its publication he co-founded BW&BK, which released its first issue in 1994.
He soon returned to his reviews book, releasing a revised and expanded version in 1997 titled The Collector's Guide To Heavy Metal, which almost doubled the original book's number of reviews to 3,700. In the book he identifies three major stages in the early development of heavy metal. The first stage, invention, took place in 1970 with the release of Deep Purple in Rock
Deep Purple in Rock
Deep Purple in Rock is an album by English rock band Deep Purple, released in June 1970. It was their fourth studio album and the first with the classic Mk II lineup. Rod Evans and Nick Simper had been fired in June 1969 and were replaced by Ian Gillan and Roger Glover, respectively...
coinciding with debut albums from Black Sabbath and Uriah Heep
Uriah Heep (band)
Uriah Heep are an English rock band formed in London in 1969 and regarded as a seminal classic hard rock act of the 1970s. Uriah Heep's progressive/art rock/heavy metal fusion's distinctive features have always been massive keyboards sound, strong vocal harmonies and David Byron's operatic vocals...
. Stage two, re-invention, occurred in 1976 with Judas Priest's
Judas Priest
Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band from Birmingham, England, formed in 1969. The current line-up consists of lead vocalist Rob Halford, guitarists Glenn Tipton and Richie Faulkner, bassist Ian Hill, and drummer Scott Travis. The band has gone through several drummers over the years,...
Sad Wings of Destiny
Sad Wings of Destiny
-CD Track listing:The 1995 CD reissue by Repertoire Records had track 3 labeled as "Dream Deceiver" rather than "Dreamer Deceiver", this was later changed back to its original title on the 1998 release by Snapper Music. None of the reissues of Sad Wings of Destiny are endorsed by Judas Priest. -...
. The third stage, re-intensification, happened in 1984 with the release of Metallica's
Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1981 when James Hetfield responded to an advertisement that drummer Lars Ulrich had posted in a local newspaper. The current line-up features long-time lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo ...
Ride the Lightning
Ride the Lightning
Ride the Lightning is the second studio album by the American heavy metal band Metallica. It was released on July 27, 1984 through the independent record label Megaforce Records. The album was certified gold by the RIAA on November 5, 1987 and was most recently certified 5x platinum on June 9, 2003...
.
In the 2000s Popoff revised and expanded his Collector's Guide one more time, splitting it up by decade into three separate volumes comprising a total of 6,763 albums spanning three decades of heavy metal. Volume 3: The Nineties was published in 2007.
Popoff has stated that he considers the greatest record of all time to be Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti
Physical Graffiti
Physical Graffiti is the sixth studio album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released on 24 February 1975 as a double album. Recording sessions for the album were initially disrupted when bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones considered leaving the band...
, followed by Black Sabbath's Sabotage. He has also named Queen's
Queen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
self-titled debut
Queen (album)
Queen is the eponymous debut album by British rock group Queen, released in July 1973. It was recorded at Trident Studios and De Lane Lea Music Centre, London, with production by Roy Thomas Baker , John Anthony and Queen....
as his personal favourite record of all time. Newer groups that Popoff has spoken highly of include Mastodon, Opeth
Opeth
Opeth is a Swedish heavy metal band from Stockholm, formed in 1990. Though the group has been through several personnel changes, singer, guitarist, and songwriter Mikael Åkerfeldt has remained Opeth's driving force throughout the years...
, Lamb of God
Lamb of God (band)
Lamb of God is an American heavy metal band from Richmond, Virginia. Formed in 1994, the group consists of vocalist Randy Blythe, guitarists Mark Morton and Willie Adler, bassist John Campbell, and drummer Chris Adler...
and Dark Tranquility.
His Collector's Guide became rather notorious in some circles of metal fans for a particularly scathing review of Def Leppard's
Def Leppard
Def Leppard are an English rock band formed in 1977 in Sheffield as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement. Since 1992, the band have consisted of Joe Elliott , Rick Savage , Rick Allen , Phil Collen , and Vivian Campbell...
worldwide smash hit album Hysteria, to which he awarded a score of zero (out of ten). Popoff continues to defend his opinion of it years later, citing "just awful production, lyrics, singing, clichés of every musical and lyrical sort."
A number of Popoff's other books are biographies
Biography
A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...
of notable metal bands, including Black Sabbath in Doom Let Loose and Dio
Dio (band)
Dio was an American heavy metal band from Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Formed in 1982 and led by vocalist Ronnie James Dio, after he left Black Sabbath with intentions to form a new band with fellow former Black Sabbath member, drummer Vinny Appice. Naming the band Dio made sense from a commercial...
in Light Beyond The Black. While the biographies are usually not officially authorized, a large amount of research consists of interviews between Popoff and members of each band. Popoff has said of his relationship with his subjects, "I censor myself because I don’t want to write something to hurt people. You write a book on SABBATH and you don’t want to write something to hurt (their) families - I love those guys." A Judas Priest biography, Heavy Metal Painkillers, was published in 2007.
Popoff presently lives in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
.
Collector's Guide series
- 20th Century Rock and Roll: Heavy Metal. Burlington: Collector's Guide PublishingCollector's Guide PublishingCollector's Guide Publishing is a Canadian publisher based in Burlington, Ontario, Canada.The company's first publication was Robert Godwin's Illustrated Collector's Guide to Led Zeppelin released in 1987. Owner Godwin also founded the independent record label Griffin Music in 1989...
. 2000. ISBN 1-89-652247-5. - Southern Rock Review. Burlington: Collector's Guide PublishingCollector's Guide PublishingCollector's Guide Publishing is a Canadian publisher based in Burlington, Ontario, Canada.The company's first publication was Robert Godwin's Illustrated Collector's Guide to Led Zeppelin released in 1987. Owner Godwin also founded the independent record label Griffin Music in 1989...
. 2001. ISBN 1-89-652273-4. - The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal - Volume 1: The Seventies. Burlington: Collector's Guide PublishingCollector's Guide PublishingCollector's Guide Publishing is a Canadian publisher based in Burlington, Ontario, Canada.The company's first publication was Robert Godwin's Illustrated Collector's Guide to Led Zeppelin released in 1987. Owner Godwin also founded the independent record label Griffin Music in 1989...
. 2003. ISBN 1-89-495902-7. - The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal - Volume 2: The Eighties. Burlington: Collector's Guide PublishingCollector's Guide PublishingCollector's Guide Publishing is a Canadian publisher based in Burlington, Ontario, Canada.The company's first publication was Robert Godwin's Illustrated Collector's Guide to Led Zeppelin released in 1987. Owner Godwin also founded the independent record label Griffin Music in 1989...
. 2005. ISBN 1-89-495931-0. - The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal - Volume 3: The Nineties. Burlington: Collector's Guide PublishingCollector's Guide PublishingCollector's Guide Publishing is a Canadian publisher based in Burlington, Ontario, Canada.The company's first publication was Robert Godwin's Illustrated Collector's Guide to Led Zeppelin released in 1987. Owner Godwin also founded the independent record label Griffin Music in 1989...
. 2007. ISBN 1-89-495962-0. - The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal - Volume 4: the 00s (with David Perri). Burlington: Collector's Guide PublishingCollector's Guide PublishingCollector's Guide Publishing is a Canadian publisher based in Burlington, Ontario, Canada.The company's first publication was Robert Godwin's Illustrated Collector's Guide to Led Zeppelin released in 1987. Owner Godwin also founded the independent record label Griffin Music in 1989...
. 2011. ISBN 1-92-659220-4.
Ye Olde Metal series
- Ye Olde Metal: 1968 to 1972. Power Chord Press. 2007. ISBN 0-96-977072-3.
- Ye Olde Metal: 1973 to 1975. Power Chord Press. 2007. ISBN 0-96-977073-1.
- Ye Olde Metal: 1976. Power Chord Press. 2008. ISBN 0-96-977074-X.
- Ye Olde Metal: 1977. Power Chord Press. 2008. ISBN 0-96-977075-8.
- Ye Olde Metal: 1978. Power Chord Press. 2009. ISBN 0-96-977076-6.
Rock biographies
- Contents Under Pressure: 30 Years of Rush at Home and Away. Toronto: ECW PressECW PressECW Press is a North American small press book publisher located in Toronto, Ontario. It was founded by Jack David and Robert Lecker in 1974 as a Canadian literary magazine named Essays on Canadian Writing. Five years later, ECW published its first books - trade and scholarly titles...
. 2004. ISBN 1-55-022678-9. - UFO: Shoot Out the Lights. Los Angeles: Metal Blade RecordsMetal Blade RecordsMetal Blade Records is a record label which was founded by Brian Slagel in 1982. The U.S. corporate office for Metal Blade is located in Agoura Hills, California. It also has offices in Arizona, Germany, Japan, Canada, and the UK. The label is distributed in the U.S. by Sony BMG Music...
. 2005. ISBN 0-97-528072-4. - Rainbow: English Castle Magic. Los Angeles: Metal Blade RecordsMetal Blade RecordsMetal Blade Records is a record label which was founded by Brian Slagel in 1982. The U.S. corporate office for Metal Blade is located in Agoura Hills, California. It also has offices in Arizona, Germany, Japan, Canada, and the UK. The label is distributed in the U.S. by Sony BMG Music...
. 2005. ISBN B-00-13FZP6-U. - Dio: Light Beyond the Black. Los Angeles: Metal Blade RecordsMetal Blade RecordsMetal Blade Records is a record label which was founded by Brian Slagel in 1982. The U.S. corporate office for Metal Blade is located in Agoura Hills, California. It also has offices in Arizona, Germany, Japan, Canada, and the UK. The label is distributed in the U.S. by Sony BMG Music...
. 2006. ISBN 0-97-528074-0. - Black Sabbath: Doom Let Loose - An Illustrated History. Toronto: ECW PressECW PressECW Press is a North American small press book publisher located in Toronto, Ontario. It was founded by Jack David and Robert Lecker in 1974 as a Canadian literary magazine named Essays on Canadian Writing. Five years later, ECW published its first books - trade and scholarly titles...
. 2006. ISBN 1-55-022731-9. - Judas Priest: Heavy Metal Painkillers - An Illustrated History. Toronto: ECW PressECW PressECW Press is a North American small press book publisher located in Toronto, Ontario. It was founded by Jack David and Robert Lecker in 1974 as a Canadian literary magazine named Essays on Canadian Writing. Five years later, ECW published its first books - trade and scholarly titles...
. 2007. ISBN 1-55-022784-X. - Gettin' Tighter: Deep Purple '68-76. Power Chord Press. 2008. ISBN 0-98-110571-8.
- Blue Oyster Cult: Secrets Revealed!. Power Chord Press. 2009. ISBN 0-97-528070-8.
- A Castle Full of Rascals: Deep Purple '83-'09. Power Chord Press. 2009. ISBN 0-98-110572-6.
Miscellaneous
- Goldmine Heavy Metal Price Guide. Iola: Krause PublicationsKrause PublicationsKrause Publications is a publisher of leisure-time & enthusiast magazines and books. Best known for its Standard Catalog of World Coins, a series of numismatic catalogs commonly referred to as Krause-Mishler catalogues or simply Krause catalogues. They provide information, pricing, and...
. 2000. ISBN 0-87-341811-5. - The Top 500 Heavy Metal Albums of All Time. Toronto: ECW PressECW PressECW Press is a North American small press book publisher located in Toronto, Ontario. It was founded by Jack David and Robert Lecker in 1974 as a Canadian literary magazine named Essays on Canadian Writing. Five years later, ECW published its first books - trade and scholarly titles...
. 2004. ISBN 1-55-022600-2. - The New Wave Of Heavy Metal Singles. Scrap Metal Records. 2005. ISBN 0-97-621330-3.
- Run for Cover: The Art of Derek Riggs. Aardvark Publishing. 2006. ISBN 1-42-760538-6.
- All Access: The Art and History of the Backstage Pass. Los Angeles: Cleopatra Records. 2009. ISBN 0-96-361937-3.
- Worlds Away: Voivod and the Art of Michel Langevin. Spider Press. 2009. ISBN 1-42-763788-1.
External links
- martinpopoff.com - official website