Can I Pod With Madness - Kerrang, Metal Hammer and Rock in the 80s

Because we’re a 90s bitch, we’re checking out Kerrang from October ‘91. Extreme - are NOT on the cover but Nuno Bettencourt is. Don’t relax, girls, he looks pretty much the same now. Guns N’ Roses are going through some right shenanigans at the moment, Izzy’s about to leave and they’ve just put out Get in the Ring so if *that* doesn’t silence their critics I don’t know what will! We follow up our...

Rock ‘n’ Roll Slut! It’s a Maiden Month at Kerrang, in which Steve Harris gets low key insulted on the cover, but the mag is talking up Seventh Son of a Seventh Son like nobody’s business, so that’s all right. Prog metal puffery, and some ludicrous statements by Bruce Dickinson aside, we’ve got a Kommunicae from Nikki Sixx, Rush on tour, Judas Priest’s brush with Hollywood, and an introduction to...

Tales of Terror! If you LOVE Can I Pod With Madness but hate all the Kerrang stuff, have I got the podcast for you. Yes we don't get to the magazine this week, so, y'know, it's one of *those*.  Fresh off a deep dive into the Shudder portfolio we've got some reviews (of the “trying to remember what happened in this one” variety) which leads us into true life tales of mystery and terror. Or at least...

Watering can news! When we're not giving you the excruciating details about our garden, we're looking at Kerrang 619 from October 1996. It's the most downery, cancelled motherfuckers filled issue we've had yet BUT we're still keeping it light! Helloween almost get Deep Kutz status AND we realise Coachella is probably not as good as Donnington ‘88. Korn are our cover stars but never mind that, ther...

Nobody Reads in That Band, Dude! Here’s another BONUS POD (Or if you’re not a Patreon - a PREVIEW of a BONUS POD) and we’re returning to Metal Hammer 256, from May 2014. Fear not though, we’re not touching on modern music (from 12 years ago)  - most of this issue is centred around a celebration of 1984, and our guides are Steel Panther, so you know, you can imagine what *that’s* gonna be like. Mot...

SIXTY NINE, DUDES! Yes it’s the pod you’ve all been waiting for, although the promised raunch content is pretty limited. There’s some BIG NEWS buried away somewhere in here and it has to be said we don’t talk about the magazine very much  - there is some stuff about a psych rock classic from 1968, though. We introduce The PWM Megaplaylist - and resign ourselves to the fact that we’re unlikely to b...

Adventures in Remote Recording! In a special side episode, I'm temporarily leaving behind the world of 80s (and 90s) hard rock and exploring the distant galaxy of late 60s psychedelia. To do this I've roped in my old college buddy, so if you ever felt the world needed another podcast where two middle aged men reminisce about music that was made before they were born, look no further.  As a very fl...

As “promised” very early on in the history of this podcast, we've had a look at the BBC Arts programme Arena's Heavy Metal documentary, from April 1989. Mick Wall and Jon Hotten of Kerrang were NOT IMPRESSED with the programme, and neither were any of the people that wrote in about it. Featured are Ozzy and Geezer, Bruce Dickinson going for the presenting gig, Ax Rose at his most Ax Rose, David “L...

It's 1988 once again and our cover star is Robert Plant, looking to regain his crown as THE prime hard rock frontman  (it says here). To be honest he's just back with a new album that's a bit more Zeppelin than his definitely not Zeppelin no sir! recorded output from the early 80s. Most of this is about their famously disastrous Live Aid performance, but there's a bit of slagging off David Coverda...

We’re looking at Kerrang from Aug ‘86, so as usual there’s news of another forthcoming Alice Cooper album, and Iron Maiden have a single out (one of their best although we are arguing about that one). Elsewhere we delve into the world of Madam X, and our main feature this week finds Run DMC colliding with Aerosmith, for one of the most bulletproof stone cold classics of the 80s. That’s not a hot t...

Kerrang 233, Apr 89 Come with us as we take a fun nostalgic trawl through the minutiae of the late 80s rock scene, in order to distract from the continuing awfulness of the modern world. Our topic today is Kerrang from April 1989. What were you up to? Black Sabbath (actually just Tony Iommi) is on the cover and we have yet another New Alice Cooper Album nugget. We’ve missed the birthday of Ray Phi...

It's the Nineties again, and two veteran swordmasters return to the field of battle. Yes, violin bows at the ready, Coverdale Page have embraced their destiny to team up for an album of uh... hoary old blues rock. Meanwhile shock news, Bruce Dickinson has left Iron Maiden, and ‘Arry and the lads are “surprised, to say the least”. I think we all would have been surprised if, as Kerrang suggest, his...

We're back for another year of metal memories and deep digressions - taking a look this week at Kerrang, Nov 87. Great White are on the cover but we're far more concerned with this Wolfsbane interview. This leads us to discussing Home Star Runner, whether Wolfsbane does actually repel werewolves and we learn what constitutes "Scram Metal" Apart from that we've got our Christmas Roundup, ASMR spect...

Here's a preview of our second Patreon exclusive Pod.  Our Christmas BONUS pod calls for something unprecedented so we’re unveiling our amazing CHRISTMAS QUIZ which hasn’t got a name, but needs to be heard to be believed. We watched Krampus and have OPINIONS - and we also reveal our YouTube Wrapped (like Spotify Wrapped but from a company that’s slightly less despicable). Our feature presentation...

Shittin Myself Waiting for Santa Merry Christmas, FOR REALS THIS TIME. When we're not roasting your favourite Christmas movies, we’re delving into a *very* festive Kerrang from 1985. Lemmy, Venom's Cronos and those lads from Ratt are all getting into the spirit, while the mag does its bit for women's lib by getting the top female rock stars of the day together for a photoshoot. And then referring...

Sexy Snowball Fight Christmas is rapidly approaching so we're discussing a modern festive Cinematic classic, which you've probably not seen but consider this your recommendation to watch Poinsettias For Christmas- particularly if you're really fucking into Poinsettias.  In November 1988 we have a news report of an imminent album release from Mötley Crüe- which turns out to be a reality warping mys...

It's September 1992 and Faith No More's Mike Patton is on the cover regurgitating *something*. Bryan Adams has a single out that we've completely forgotten, but we're still fans of all of his Mel C collaborations. Axl Rose is picking up industry awards left right and centre, but does that mean he's calmed down a bit? We'll find out! Bon Jovi have a “controversial” new single out, but we’re more in...

A Very Merry Christmas from everyone at PWM Towers. We’re celebrating by lobbing up as much tinsel as humanly possible, rewatching one of our favourite cold themed horror movies and perusing Q number 46 from July  1990.  The venerable mag does a Where Are They Now on Jilted John, which leads us to remember John Shuttleworth’s appearance on Vic and Bob’s All Nighter from Xmas 1993. Some bloke write...

How much for Prince’s shoes? It’s the Spooky/Christmas season so we’re discussing Trick or Treat related anxiety, dressing as Lindsey Buckingham for Halloween, and which of the CIPWM corporation is of no use when it comes to wrapping presents.  We go through a couple of our Christmas movie favourites  - no change there, then - and review some of our recent TV watches (Andor! Mayfair Witches! The E...

Here's a preview of our first Patreon exclusive Pod.  An attempt to cover Metal Hammer's KISS Fan Mag stays mostly off track as we lurch into an AMAZING Bret Michaels Based Quiz, literally sing the praises of Poison, take an uncomfortably deep dive into the work of Michael Bolton, and offer our hot new recommendation - or, if you will, Rockommendation for 2025: Vixen. Also, for some reason, a revi...

We’re back to finish off Kerrang 258, even though we did all the good bits last time. The old reliable maniacs in the letters page and personal ads come through for us, once again so don’t worry about that! There’s MORE Jim Steinman discourse, because that dude can’t be limited to one podcast. We do a DEEP KUTZ that we’ve already done, review some horror movies, and bring back TV KRYMEZ!   Video F...

It's September so we're talking Christmas TV ads OBVIOUSLY. Meanwhile, in 1989 it's also September and Kerrang have an interview with Jim Steinman. Have a guess whether you think he's a fan of Dire Straits or the Police Academy franchise. There's a certain amount of shade thrown at Mitch Pileggi but that's down to our antipathy for Skinner from the X-Files,  and not his appearance in the extremely...

We're back with our heads in Metal Hammer this week- it's 1988 - Ozzy is on tour, King Diamond is robbing graves and Van Halen is utterly indecipherable.  When we're not reading about a respectable heavy metal mum (37 - so she'd be 74 now, hello if you're listening ma'am), we spiral into the rabbit hole of all rabbit holes, Rotherham's very own Jive Bunny. If that wasn't enough of an irrelevant ta...

Caught Up In The Rapture of Me! We’re jumping forward two years to find Kerrang well and truly established, hitting its 50th issue and smushing a cake onto Ian Gillan’s head. The celebrated Child In Time screamer currently finds himself NOT in the ranks of the mighty Purps, but somehow inexplicably in the doom laden court of another seminal 70s metal combo. Who could that be? Stonehenge based shen...

Join us as we look back on fifty glorious years of podcasting, in our ass-blasting, spectacular Anniversary Blowout!! We're teleporting all the way back to June ‘81 to check out a little magazine called Kerrang, The Sounds Heavy Metal Special (and The Empire Strikes Back Monthly issue 146). We look at some of the lesser known NWOBHMers (hello Handsome Beasts!), and check out the OFFICIAL 100 Great...