In the Heart of Metal: Ozzy Osbourne Dies in 1982
- Thread starter Ace Venom
- Start date
Oh Yeah! Speakman is Hornhead. Which storyline are you using? for the mid-Nineties, I would have cast:
"Foggy" Nelson: Tom Hanks
The Owl: Kelsey Grammer
The Gladiator: Big Van Vader (The Wrestler)
Mr Hyde: Ron Perlman
Kingpin: King Kong Bundy
Bullseye: Daniel Day-Lewis
Elektra: Claduia Black
Stick: Burt Reynolds
Karen Page: Sandra Bullock
Nuke: Dolph Lundgren
Typhoid Mary: Torry Castellano
"Foggy" Nelson: Tom Hanks
The Owl: Kelsey Grammer
The Gladiator: Big Van Vader (The Wrestler)
Mr Hyde: Ron Perlman
Kingpin: King Kong Bundy
Bullseye: Daniel Day-Lewis
Elektra: Claduia Black
Stick: Burt Reynolds
Karen Page: Sandra Bullock
Nuke: Dolph Lundgren
Typhoid Mary: Torry Castellano
Good. Really, really good. With some more pervasive Metal, Italy could be pushed less towards the pop/dance derive that kind of buried every kind of quality music here. Rhapsody are there, Lacuna Coil are too - I'd say that's a beginning. Maybe some bands that remained thoroughly underground will manage some more screentime. It would be a woooonderful world.
The popularity of metal in this world hasn't necessarily stopped other music trends. Metal is providing a large influence on other forms of music though.
I'm sticking with Frank Miller's stuff. I am going with an origin story with characters such as Stick, Elektra, Kingpin, and Bullseye make appearances. I would prefer to save Born Again for a sequel.
What I wouldn't give to get some CDs and DVDs from this TL!
A Metal Golden Age that looks like it will lead to a still live and thriving metal scene in the present day, escaping its fate in OTL, that includes a mainstream Manowar, a still living Kurt Cobain and Brandon Lee, a Justice League movie and we have ourselves one of the best cases for transdimensional travel research I've ever seen!
A Metal Golden Age that looks like it will lead to a still live and thriving metal scene in the present day, escaping its fate in OTL, that includes a mainstream Manowar, a still living Kurt Cobain and Brandon Lee, a Justice League movie and we have ourselves one of the best cases for transdimensional travel research I've ever seen!
Chapter 14: Suicide Note
The Britpop Invasion was termed the “metal killer” in the press in 1995, though by 1996 it would be the death of a famous metal artist that helped bring attention back to heavy metal. Furthermore, power metal and death metal were achieving significant success in North America, rising alongside what would be termed the New Wave of American Heavy Metal.
38th Grammy Awards
Nominated for the Award for Best Heavy Metal Performance were Megadeth for Youthanasia, Metallica for Load, White Zombie for Astro Creep: 2000, Black Label Society for Black Label Society, Alice in Chains for Alice in Chains. Megadeth walked away with the award, but the ceremony is notable for the fact that Dave Mustaine thanked James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Cliff Burton, and Ron McGovney for continuing to give him inspiration. All were in attendance with their bands for the event and clapped for Megadeth. Rumors flew that the animosity from the Hetfield-Ulrich camp had disappeared, but Hetfield called the statement by Mustaine “cheap and dishonest.”
The Year in Metal
Despite the fact that alternative rock ruled the charts, Anthrax’s Stomp 442 debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200. The band debuted their single “Fueled” in January, coming a month and a half before the March release of the album. Copies of Stomp 442 flew off the shelves and the album was quickly certified platinum. The band experimented more with groove in their sound, but retained much of the trademark Anthrax sound. Dimebag Darrell of Pantera also made a guest appearance on the album for the tracks “King Size” and “Riding Shotgun,” laying down some lead guitar tracks alongside Anthrax lead guitarist Dan Spitz.
“We were always good listeners,” said Scott Ian in a 1996 interview with MTV. “Groove is only a natural progression of the thrash movement, so it’s not about hopping on a trend. It’s just continuing to grow as a band, but we still have our identity. If you listen to Pantera from the albums Power Metal to The Great Southern Trendkill, you can still tell you’re listening to Pantera. A lot of that is just the killer rhythm section they have with Rex (Ryan) and Vinnie (Paul) and Dimebag’s crazy playing.”
Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul stated they were flattered by Scott Ian’s comments. “Those guys are one tight unit,” said Vinnie. “Scott has one hell of a rhythm section behind him in Anthrax with Charlie (Benante) and Frank (Bello). He’s also one hell of a rhythm guitar player to keep up with those guys and make that Anthrax sound as heavy as it is.” Then Dimebag chimed, “And Dan’s (Spitz) got those great lead guitar chops. Then Joey Belladonna has one of the best voices in metal. We’re supposed to be talking about a new Pantera album and this turned into an Anthrax lovefest.”
Pantera’s new album The Great Southern Trendkill continued the band’s trend towards redefining their groove metal sound and was their heaviest album to date. Behind the scenes, there was a rift growing within the band. Unknown to the other members of the band, vocalist Phil Anselmo suffered with degenerative disc disease in his back due to abuse of his body during live shows. He also suffered with a heroin addiction, an addiction he turned to because he was unwilling to take time off to get needed surgery. He was also abusing painkillers and alcohol. Phil recorded his vocals in New Orleans apart from the rest of the band.
Phil’s problems became public when on July 13, 1996, he died of a heroin overdose at the Coca-Cola Starplex in Dallas, Texas after a show. For the other members of the band, it was the first they learned of Phil’s heroin addiction. The other members of the band also heavily abused alcohol, but Phil’s drug addiction was still a shock to them.
“When I thought about people with heroin addictions, I always thought about strung out junkies,” said Vinnie Paul in a 2003 interview. “I never thought of Phil Anselmo. I wish he had told us because we would have taken time off for him to get back surgery. He was our brother.”
Phil’s death brought massive outpouring of sympathy from the music community. Dave Mustaine stated, “I know what lies heroin tells you. It’s a vicious cycle that few can escape. Phil will be greatly missed.”
Pantera went on hiatus after Phil’s death, playing one last tribute show with Armored Saint frontman John Bush. Phil’s death also prompted interest in Pantera’s back catalog and the Down album, all of which saw increased sales.
Phil was not the only major death in the music world. Tupac Shakur was fatally shot in Las Vegas a few months aver Phil Anselmo’s overdose. Beatmaster V of Body Count died of leukemia, but his death received little attention in the mainstream press.
Metallica released the album Reload, their follow up to Load. In reality, the band recorded enough material for a double album. They instead opted to release the album in two parts rather than as a single album. Reload featured more of the band’s alternative metal direction, though many fans called Reload a stronger album than Load.
Black Sabbath returned with a new studio album called Forbidden. Though interest was there, it was not a strong seller like previous albums. The same was true for the album Purpendicular from Deep Purple. Rainbow released another album titled Shadow of the Moon, which featured more folk rock influences. Jeff Scott Soto was reportedly unhappy with the direction of the band, but stuck around during the band’s supporting tour for the album.
Some other major albums released in 1996 were The Dark Saga by Iced Earth, Evil Empire by Rage Against the Machines, Louder Than Hell by Manowar, Life is Peachy by Korn, Lessons in Violence by Exodus, Down on the Upside by Soundgarden, The Jester Race by In Flames, Slang by Def Leppard, Roots by Sepultura, Ænima by Tool, and Antichrist Superstar by Marilyn Manson.
Manowar was able to re-establish some of its prominence in North America with the release of Louder Than Hell, which they promoted heavily on the Clash of the Titans II tour. Organized by Scott Ian of Anthrax, Dave Mustaine of Megadeth, Lars Ulrich of Metallica, and Kerry King of Slayer, Clash of the Titans II was meant to be a large metal touring festival to answer for the lack of metal acts included in the Lollapalooza package. Some of the biggest names in heavy metal appeared on the tour, which toured with two stages.
On the main stage were Anthrax, Megadeth, Exodus, Manowar, and Rage Against the Machine. Taking the second stage were Metallica, Slayer, Marilyn Manson, Sepultura, and Nirvana. Heated moments between members of Megadeth and Metallica were reported during the tour, specifically between James Hetfield and Dave Mustaine. Lars later admitted involving Metallica in the tour was a mistake.
“From a business perspective, I was willing to work with Dave again to make this tour happen,” Lars recalled in a 1998 interview. “James was willing to sign on for the tour so long as Metallica and Megadeth didn’t perform on the same stage. Scott and Kerry were both interested in keeping the peace, but James doesn’t particularly get along well with Dave. I remember Dave tried to make the peace with James and James wasn’t having any of it. After a bitter argument between the two, it was obvious it wasn’t happening. Basically security had to keep us apart for the entire tour.”
“James was drinking a lot,” Dave said. “I had issues with sobriety in the past, so I know what those demons are like. Lars and I actually got along beautifully while we were organizing the tour and it felt like old times when we were planning to take on the world with our music. James is still my brother and I know I said all sorts of things about Kirk before Kirk died in that tragic accident, but I was also battling my own demons at the time. James has his own demons to work out.”
The reformed original Kiss lineup launched the Alive Worldwide Tour in early 1996 and would continue on through 1997. Though some critics panned the idea of the reunion, it was a major success in terms of ticket sales. Many arenas were sold out quickly. The band also stated they would record a new album at the conclusion of the tour, the first with the original lineup in nearly two decades.
Another reunion grabbed headlines in 1996. Sammy Hagar departed from Van Halen in 1996, claiming he quit the band. The rest of the band claimed Hagar was fired. The band was already working with David Lee Roth on new tracks for a compilation album prior to Hagar’s departure. On September 4, 1996, the band with David Lee Roth appeared at the 1996 MTV Music Video Awards to present an award. David Lee Roth remarked, “This is the first time we’ve been on stage together for more than a decade.” Rumors and excitement over a reunion with Roth were rampant and the band announced the official reunion with David Lee Roth a few days later. They announced a new studio album would be recorded before they launched a full-scale reunion tour.
Judas Priest emerged with its replacement for Rob Halford: Tim “Ripper” Owens. Owens once fronted a Judas Priest tribute band and was now the frontman for the group.
Entertainment News
In February 1996, Image Comics entered the superhero film craze with the release of Spawn starring Wesley Snipes as the title character. Released with an uncompromising R-rating, the film told the origin story of Spawn. It also starred Martin Sheen as Jason Wynn, Samuel L. Jackson as Chapel, John Leguizamo as The Violator, Harvey Keitel as Cogliostro, and veteran voice actor Frank Welker provided the voice for Malebolgia. The film received wide praise from fans for its faithfulness to the comics and the critics responded positively as well.
The little known band Iced Earth provided three songs for the soundtrack for Spawn. “Dark Saga,” “Violate,” and “I Died For You,” created buzz for their upcoming album The Dark Saga. In addition, the film greatly helped the band’s popularity.
Following the dark treatment from Image Comics, 20th Century Fox’s Daredevil hit the big screen in March. Starring Jeff Speakman in the title role, the film also had an R-rating. Drawing heavy inspiration from the work of Frank Miller, who also helped with the script, the film provided an origin story for Daredevil. Daredevil’s mentor Stick was played by veteran actor Mako. Elektra Natchios was played by actress Julia Ormond. Foggy Nelson was played by Woody Harrelson. The villains Kingpin and Bullseye were played by John Goodman and Stuart Townshend respectively.
Though lower in budget than the major Marvel films, Daredevil was a surprise hit. Drawing heavily from Frank Miller’s work in the early 1980’s, the story won the hardcore Dardevil fans as well as the casual movie goers. The film was dedicated to the memory of Charlie Sheen, who died of a drug overdose in early 1995.
“The film almost didn’t get made,” said Frank Miller. “Jeff Speakman was available after Sheen’s death and we were able to reshoot. We also had to recast Elektra, which turned out to work very well for us. My experience working on Daredevil was much more enjoyable than it was with RoboCop 2 and RoboCop 3.”
Superman: The Man of Steel hit the big screen on Mother’s Day weekend. Director Robert Zemeckis returned with Dean Cain as the titular character. The movie dove deeper into Kryptonian mythology. In the film, the pod containing Kara Zor-El aka Supergirl (Nicole Kidman) crashes to Earth. Superman is forced to prevent his cousin from causing destruction and he takes her under his wing. Meanwhile, the Kryptonian villain Jax-Ur (Ian McKellan) has taken an interest in Earth and emerges to challenge Superman for supremacy. He is aided by a Kryptonian artifact known as Eradicator (Laurence Fishburne), who seeks to turn Earth into a New Krypton. John Shea also returned as Lex Luthor, starring in a much larger role.
Jax-Ur also attempts to turn Kara Zor-El against her cousin. In the conflict of nature vs. nurture, Kara remembers the lessons of her parents and aids Superman in defeating Eradicator. Driven further into madness by his failure, Jax-Ur challenges the other Kryptonians in a titanic battle. With the help of Lex Luthor, Superman and Supergirl are able to drive Jax-Ur away from Earth. When queried on the issue of his assistance, Luthor said, “Today, you were the lesser of two evils.” The film ends foreshadowing the next Justice League film and has a shot of Superman and Supergirl flying in the sky.
Superman: The Man of Steel became the biggest hit of the summer season, setting the stage for a Supergirl spinoff and another Zemeckis led Superman film. It was the highest grossing film of the year, followed by The Two Towers and Independence Day. Sequels for Green Lantern and The Flash also did not quite live up to studio expectations. Green Lantern: Emerald Knight performed better at the box office than did Flash Reverse.
Marvel’s Thor was more of a low budget fare, but served as a lead-in to their Avengers film for 1997. Marvel Comics along with 20th Century Fox had other plans beyond Avengers in 1997. Spider-Man II with Brian Austin Green returning as the lead character was also slated for a 1997 release. Elizabeth Berkley was cast to play Mary Jane Watson, Peter Parker’s old friend and new love interest. Set to play the villain Doctor Octopus was Alfred Molina. In addition, they announced plans for an X-Men film at Comic-Con.
DC Comics and Warner Bros. were also busy preparing for 1997, where they were going to be going head to head with Marvel and 20th Century Fox. Johnny Depp was picked by Tim Burton to be the new Caped Crusader and despite studio concerns, they decided to go forward with the second Justice League film first rather than the next Batman film, which was pushed back to a 1998 release. Supergirl starring Nicole Kidman in the title role was also slated for 1997 release. Hellblazer was set for a 1997 release starring Daniel Day-Lewis as John Constantine. Day-Lewis stated at Comic Con that playing John Constantine allowed him to use his real accent in a film.
The end of the year also saw the release of The Two Towers in time for Christmas. The film received praise for special effects, the cast, and the portrayal of the epic Battle of Helms Deep. With the saga set to conclude with Return of the King in 1997, many insiders were predicting major awards for the film even before it debuted.
Political News
While Dan Quayle dropped out of the race for the Republican nomination for President of the United States in December 1995, the race for the nomination was still wide open going into the primaries. Bob Dole was still considered a strong front runner, but Colin Powell and Trent Lott were emerging as significant challengers for the nomination. The field for the Democratic nominee eventually narrowed to early front runner Al Gore, Indiana Governor Evan Bayh, and former New York Governor Mario Cuomo. While Dole was able to take the lead early in the primary season and earn the sitting President’s endorsement, Evan Bayh scored a significant upset in Iowa and rode that wave through the next round of primary states, overtaking Al Gore as front runner for the party. By June, both Dole and Bayh were considered the presumptive nominees for their parties.
Bob Dole selected Jack Kemp to be his running mate. Dole’s campaign was a promise to continue the progress under the Bush administration. He reminded voters that the Cold War ended under Republican watch, of Bush’s strides for brokering peace in the Middle East, and the improving economy as reasons for four more years of Republican rule. With the sitting President’s approval ratings sitting at a comfortable 59%, the election was considered Dole’s to lose.
Meanwhile, Evan Bayh emerged as a new superstar in the Democratic Party after becoming the presumptive nominee. A poll in early April had Bayh losing to Dole in November 57% to 43%, though Bayh was on the attack early, addressing the need for change in Washington, criticizing Bush’s economic policies, and attacking Dole and Kemp as Washington insiders. Bayh tapped Mario Cuomo to be his running mate after Al Gore declined the offer to once again be the Vice Presidential nominee. Bayh’s youthful energy and Cuomo’s political experience helped energize the base and close the gap in the opinion polls. By August 1, Bayh managed to significantly close the gap between Dole and himself to 53% to 47%.
Dole was able to receive a slight post-convention bump after the Republican Party pulled out all the stops at the 1996 Republican National Convention. Speakers at the convention included the sitting President George Bush, former President Gerald Ford, Nancy Reagan, Colin Powell, John Kasich, J.C. Watts, Kay Bailey Hutchinson, Vice President Dan Quayle, Jean Kirkpatrick, James Baker III, Robin Dole (Bob Dole’s daughter), keynote speaker Susan Molinari, Governor George Pataki (nominating Jack Kemp), and Senator John McCain (nominating Bob Dole). The message was loud and clear from Kemp and Dole, who promised four more years of prosperity under Republican administration. After the convention, opinion polls favored Dole 54% to 46%.
Staring at the need to make a push, the Democrats moved hell to have the best possible convention. Notable speakers at the convention included Senator Christopher Dodd, Senator Al Gore, actor Christopher Reeve, Senator John Kerry, Senator Ted Kennedy, keynote speaker Representative John F. Kennedy, Jr., Representative Dick Gephardt, Senator Tom Daschle, and Senator Russ Feingold. John F. Kennedy, Jr.’s speech was regarded as one of the best at the convention, raising his superstar profile even further. Christopher Dodd nominated Evan Bayh for President of the United States. Needing to hit a home run, Evan Bayh delivered what many considered to be not only the best speech of the convention, but the best speech of his career. It also resulted in a huge post-convention bump for the Democrats, but still saw Bayh behind Dole 52% to 48%.
In the end, Dole carried his advantage to a victory in the popular vote and a narrow victory in the Electoral College.
Major Bands formed in 1996
Arch Enemy
Control Denied
Decapitated
Disturbed
Evergrey
Lordi
Nightwish
Orgy
Sonata Arctica
The Haunted
Within Temptation
Major Albums from 1996
Acid Bath – Paegan Terrorism Tactics
Alice in Chains – Unplugged
Anthrax – Stomp 442
Arch Enemy – Black Earth
Behemoth – Grom
Black Sabbath – Forbidden
Bruce Dickinson – Skunkworks
Cannibal Corpse – Vile
Cradle of Filth – Vempire
Cradle of Filth – Dusk And Her Embrace
Cryptopsy – None So Vile
Deep Purple – Purpendicular
Def Leppard – Slag
Dimmu Borgir – Stormblast
Exodus - Lessons in Violence
Eyehategod – Dopesick
Forbidden – Green
Helloween – The Time Of The Oath
Hypocrisy – Abducted
In Flames – The Jester Race
Iced Earth – The Dark Saga
Katatonia – Brave Murder Day
Korn – Life is Peachy
Tony MacAlpine – Violent Machine
Manowar – Louder Than Hell
Marilyn Manson – Antichrist Superstar
Metallica – Reload
Ministry – Filth Pig
Motörhead – Overnight Sensation
Nevermore – The Politics of Ecstasy
Opeth – Morningrise
Rage Against the Machine – Evil Empire
Rainbow – Shadow of the Moon
Rotting Chrit – Triarchy of the Lost Lovers
Rush – Test for Echo
Sepultura – Roots
Sentenced – Down
Soundgarden – Down on the Upside
Slipknot – Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat.
Stratovarius – Episode
Theatre of Tragedy – Velvet Darkness They Fear
Tool – Ænima
Steve Vai – Fire Garden
Van Halen – Best of Volume I
Major Disbandments in 1996
Down
Pantera (on hiatus)
Prong
Trouble
Additions to previous sections of the timeline:
-The Back to the Future series continued as it did in OTL. However, in this timeline, Ronald Reagan makes a cameo appearance as the Mayor of Hill Valley in 1885 in Back to the Future Part III. It was to be his final acting credit. Ronald Reagan continued to make public appearances until his diagnosis with Alzheimer’s disease in 1994. Reagan’s decision to do the film was due in no small part to the mention of his name in the famous line “Ronald Reagan? The actor!”, when the 1955 Emmett Brown reacted to Marty McFly’s revelation that Reagan was President of the United States in 1985. In the second round of DVD releases for the trilogy in 2009, there was a special dedication to Ronald Reagan in the DVD extras for Back to the Future Part III, which included a rare interview President Reagan did in promotion of the film. These extras were included in the 25th anniversary Blu-ray releases.
-In 1995, the band Queen released its fifteenth studio album Made in Heaven, which featured vocals and piano parts recorded by Freddie Mercury before his death.
The Britpop Invasion was termed the “metal killer” in the press in 1995, though by 1996 it would be the death of a famous metal artist that helped bring attention back to heavy metal. Furthermore, power metal and death metal were achieving significant success in North America, rising alongside what would be termed the New Wave of American Heavy Metal.
38th Grammy Awards
Nominated for the Award for Best Heavy Metal Performance were Megadeth for Youthanasia, Metallica for Load, White Zombie for Astro Creep: 2000, Black Label Society for Black Label Society, Alice in Chains for Alice in Chains. Megadeth walked away with the award, but the ceremony is notable for the fact that Dave Mustaine thanked James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Cliff Burton, and Ron McGovney for continuing to give him inspiration. All were in attendance with their bands for the event and clapped for Megadeth. Rumors flew that the animosity from the Hetfield-Ulrich camp had disappeared, but Hetfield called the statement by Mustaine “cheap and dishonest.”
The Year in Metal
Despite the fact that alternative rock ruled the charts, Anthrax’s Stomp 442 debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200. The band debuted their single “Fueled” in January, coming a month and a half before the March release of the album. Copies of Stomp 442 flew off the shelves and the album was quickly certified platinum. The band experimented more with groove in their sound, but retained much of the trademark Anthrax sound. Dimebag Darrell of Pantera also made a guest appearance on the album for the tracks “King Size” and “Riding Shotgun,” laying down some lead guitar tracks alongside Anthrax lead guitarist Dan Spitz.
“We were always good listeners,” said Scott Ian in a 1996 interview with MTV. “Groove is only a natural progression of the thrash movement, so it’s not about hopping on a trend. It’s just continuing to grow as a band, but we still have our identity. If you listen to Pantera from the albums Power Metal to The Great Southern Trendkill, you can still tell you’re listening to Pantera. A lot of that is just the killer rhythm section they have with Rex (Ryan) and Vinnie (Paul) and Dimebag’s crazy playing.”
Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul stated they were flattered by Scott Ian’s comments. “Those guys are one tight unit,” said Vinnie. “Scott has one hell of a rhythm section behind him in Anthrax with Charlie (Benante) and Frank (Bello). He’s also one hell of a rhythm guitar player to keep up with those guys and make that Anthrax sound as heavy as it is.” Then Dimebag chimed, “And Dan’s (Spitz) got those great lead guitar chops. Then Joey Belladonna has one of the best voices in metal. We’re supposed to be talking about a new Pantera album and this turned into an Anthrax lovefest.”
Pantera’s new album The Great Southern Trendkill continued the band’s trend towards redefining their groove metal sound and was their heaviest album to date. Behind the scenes, there was a rift growing within the band. Unknown to the other members of the band, vocalist Phil Anselmo suffered with degenerative disc disease in his back due to abuse of his body during live shows. He also suffered with a heroin addiction, an addiction he turned to because he was unwilling to take time off to get needed surgery. He was also abusing painkillers and alcohol. Phil recorded his vocals in New Orleans apart from the rest of the band.
Phil’s problems became public when on July 13, 1996, he died of a heroin overdose at the Coca-Cola Starplex in Dallas, Texas after a show. For the other members of the band, it was the first they learned of Phil’s heroin addiction. The other members of the band also heavily abused alcohol, but Phil’s drug addiction was still a shock to them.
“When I thought about people with heroin addictions, I always thought about strung out junkies,” said Vinnie Paul in a 2003 interview. “I never thought of Phil Anselmo. I wish he had told us because we would have taken time off for him to get back surgery. He was our brother.”
Phil’s death brought massive outpouring of sympathy from the music community. Dave Mustaine stated, “I know what lies heroin tells you. It’s a vicious cycle that few can escape. Phil will be greatly missed.”
Pantera went on hiatus after Phil’s death, playing one last tribute show with Armored Saint frontman John Bush. Phil’s death also prompted interest in Pantera’s back catalog and the Down album, all of which saw increased sales.
Phil was not the only major death in the music world. Tupac Shakur was fatally shot in Las Vegas a few months aver Phil Anselmo’s overdose. Beatmaster V of Body Count died of leukemia, but his death received little attention in the mainstream press.
Metallica released the album Reload, their follow up to Load. In reality, the band recorded enough material for a double album. They instead opted to release the album in two parts rather than as a single album. Reload featured more of the band’s alternative metal direction, though many fans called Reload a stronger album than Load.
Black Sabbath returned with a new studio album called Forbidden. Though interest was there, it was not a strong seller like previous albums. The same was true for the album Purpendicular from Deep Purple. Rainbow released another album titled Shadow of the Moon, which featured more folk rock influences. Jeff Scott Soto was reportedly unhappy with the direction of the band, but stuck around during the band’s supporting tour for the album.
Some other major albums released in 1996 were The Dark Saga by Iced Earth, Evil Empire by Rage Against the Machines, Louder Than Hell by Manowar, Life is Peachy by Korn, Lessons in Violence by Exodus, Down on the Upside by Soundgarden, The Jester Race by In Flames, Slang by Def Leppard, Roots by Sepultura, Ænima by Tool, and Antichrist Superstar by Marilyn Manson.
Manowar was able to re-establish some of its prominence in North America with the release of Louder Than Hell, which they promoted heavily on the Clash of the Titans II tour. Organized by Scott Ian of Anthrax, Dave Mustaine of Megadeth, Lars Ulrich of Metallica, and Kerry King of Slayer, Clash of the Titans II was meant to be a large metal touring festival to answer for the lack of metal acts included in the Lollapalooza package. Some of the biggest names in heavy metal appeared on the tour, which toured with two stages.
On the main stage were Anthrax, Megadeth, Exodus, Manowar, and Rage Against the Machine. Taking the second stage were Metallica, Slayer, Marilyn Manson, Sepultura, and Nirvana. Heated moments between members of Megadeth and Metallica were reported during the tour, specifically between James Hetfield and Dave Mustaine. Lars later admitted involving Metallica in the tour was a mistake.
“From a business perspective, I was willing to work with Dave again to make this tour happen,” Lars recalled in a 1998 interview. “James was willing to sign on for the tour so long as Metallica and Megadeth didn’t perform on the same stage. Scott and Kerry were both interested in keeping the peace, but James doesn’t particularly get along well with Dave. I remember Dave tried to make the peace with James and James wasn’t having any of it. After a bitter argument between the two, it was obvious it wasn’t happening. Basically security had to keep us apart for the entire tour.”
“James was drinking a lot,” Dave said. “I had issues with sobriety in the past, so I know what those demons are like. Lars and I actually got along beautifully while we were organizing the tour and it felt like old times when we were planning to take on the world with our music. James is still my brother and I know I said all sorts of things about Kirk before Kirk died in that tragic accident, but I was also battling my own demons at the time. James has his own demons to work out.”
The reformed original Kiss lineup launched the Alive Worldwide Tour in early 1996 and would continue on through 1997. Though some critics panned the idea of the reunion, it was a major success in terms of ticket sales. Many arenas were sold out quickly. The band also stated they would record a new album at the conclusion of the tour, the first with the original lineup in nearly two decades.
Another reunion grabbed headlines in 1996. Sammy Hagar departed from Van Halen in 1996, claiming he quit the band. The rest of the band claimed Hagar was fired. The band was already working with David Lee Roth on new tracks for a compilation album prior to Hagar’s departure. On September 4, 1996, the band with David Lee Roth appeared at the 1996 MTV Music Video Awards to present an award. David Lee Roth remarked, “This is the first time we’ve been on stage together for more than a decade.” Rumors and excitement over a reunion with Roth were rampant and the band announced the official reunion with David Lee Roth a few days later. They announced a new studio album would be recorded before they launched a full-scale reunion tour.
Judas Priest emerged with its replacement for Rob Halford: Tim “Ripper” Owens. Owens once fronted a Judas Priest tribute band and was now the frontman for the group.
Entertainment News
In February 1996, Image Comics entered the superhero film craze with the release of Spawn starring Wesley Snipes as the title character. Released with an uncompromising R-rating, the film told the origin story of Spawn. It also starred Martin Sheen as Jason Wynn, Samuel L. Jackson as Chapel, John Leguizamo as The Violator, Harvey Keitel as Cogliostro, and veteran voice actor Frank Welker provided the voice for Malebolgia. The film received wide praise from fans for its faithfulness to the comics and the critics responded positively as well.
The little known band Iced Earth provided three songs for the soundtrack for Spawn. “Dark Saga,” “Violate,” and “I Died For You,” created buzz for their upcoming album The Dark Saga. In addition, the film greatly helped the band’s popularity.
Following the dark treatment from Image Comics, 20th Century Fox’s Daredevil hit the big screen in March. Starring Jeff Speakman in the title role, the film also had an R-rating. Drawing heavy inspiration from the work of Frank Miller, who also helped with the script, the film provided an origin story for Daredevil. Daredevil’s mentor Stick was played by veteran actor Mako. Elektra Natchios was played by actress Julia Ormond. Foggy Nelson was played by Woody Harrelson. The villains Kingpin and Bullseye were played by John Goodman and Stuart Townshend respectively.
Though lower in budget than the major Marvel films, Daredevil was a surprise hit. Drawing heavily from Frank Miller’s work in the early 1980’s, the story won the hardcore Dardevil fans as well as the casual movie goers. The film was dedicated to the memory of Charlie Sheen, who died of a drug overdose in early 1995.
“The film almost didn’t get made,” said Frank Miller. “Jeff Speakman was available after Sheen’s death and we were able to reshoot. We also had to recast Elektra, which turned out to work very well for us. My experience working on Daredevil was much more enjoyable than it was with RoboCop 2 and RoboCop 3.”
Superman: The Man of Steel hit the big screen on Mother’s Day weekend. Director Robert Zemeckis returned with Dean Cain as the titular character. The movie dove deeper into Kryptonian mythology. In the film, the pod containing Kara Zor-El aka Supergirl (Nicole Kidman) crashes to Earth. Superman is forced to prevent his cousin from causing destruction and he takes her under his wing. Meanwhile, the Kryptonian villain Jax-Ur (Ian McKellan) has taken an interest in Earth and emerges to challenge Superman for supremacy. He is aided by a Kryptonian artifact known as Eradicator (Laurence Fishburne), who seeks to turn Earth into a New Krypton. John Shea also returned as Lex Luthor, starring in a much larger role.
Jax-Ur also attempts to turn Kara Zor-El against her cousin. In the conflict of nature vs. nurture, Kara remembers the lessons of her parents and aids Superman in defeating Eradicator. Driven further into madness by his failure, Jax-Ur challenges the other Kryptonians in a titanic battle. With the help of Lex Luthor, Superman and Supergirl are able to drive Jax-Ur away from Earth. When queried on the issue of his assistance, Luthor said, “Today, you were the lesser of two evils.” The film ends foreshadowing the next Justice League film and has a shot of Superman and Supergirl flying in the sky.
Superman: The Man of Steel became the biggest hit of the summer season, setting the stage for a Supergirl spinoff and another Zemeckis led Superman film. It was the highest grossing film of the year, followed by The Two Towers and Independence Day. Sequels for Green Lantern and The Flash also did not quite live up to studio expectations. Green Lantern: Emerald Knight performed better at the box office than did Flash Reverse.
Marvel’s Thor was more of a low budget fare, but served as a lead-in to their Avengers film for 1997. Marvel Comics along with 20th Century Fox had other plans beyond Avengers in 1997. Spider-Man II with Brian Austin Green returning as the lead character was also slated for a 1997 release. Elizabeth Berkley was cast to play Mary Jane Watson, Peter Parker’s old friend and new love interest. Set to play the villain Doctor Octopus was Alfred Molina. In addition, they announced plans for an X-Men film at Comic-Con.
DC Comics and Warner Bros. were also busy preparing for 1997, where they were going to be going head to head with Marvel and 20th Century Fox. Johnny Depp was picked by Tim Burton to be the new Caped Crusader and despite studio concerns, they decided to go forward with the second Justice League film first rather than the next Batman film, which was pushed back to a 1998 release. Supergirl starring Nicole Kidman in the title role was also slated for 1997 release. Hellblazer was set for a 1997 release starring Daniel Day-Lewis as John Constantine. Day-Lewis stated at Comic Con that playing John Constantine allowed him to use his real accent in a film.
The end of the year also saw the release of The Two Towers in time for Christmas. The film received praise for special effects, the cast, and the portrayal of the epic Battle of Helms Deep. With the saga set to conclude with Return of the King in 1997, many insiders were predicting major awards for the film even before it debuted.
Political News
While Dan Quayle dropped out of the race for the Republican nomination for President of the United States in December 1995, the race for the nomination was still wide open going into the primaries. Bob Dole was still considered a strong front runner, but Colin Powell and Trent Lott were emerging as significant challengers for the nomination. The field for the Democratic nominee eventually narrowed to early front runner Al Gore, Indiana Governor Evan Bayh, and former New York Governor Mario Cuomo. While Dole was able to take the lead early in the primary season and earn the sitting President’s endorsement, Evan Bayh scored a significant upset in Iowa and rode that wave through the next round of primary states, overtaking Al Gore as front runner for the party. By June, both Dole and Bayh were considered the presumptive nominees for their parties.
Bob Dole selected Jack Kemp to be his running mate. Dole’s campaign was a promise to continue the progress under the Bush administration. He reminded voters that the Cold War ended under Republican watch, of Bush’s strides for brokering peace in the Middle East, and the improving economy as reasons for four more years of Republican rule. With the sitting President’s approval ratings sitting at a comfortable 59%, the election was considered Dole’s to lose.
Meanwhile, Evan Bayh emerged as a new superstar in the Democratic Party after becoming the presumptive nominee. A poll in early April had Bayh losing to Dole in November 57% to 43%, though Bayh was on the attack early, addressing the need for change in Washington, criticizing Bush’s economic policies, and attacking Dole and Kemp as Washington insiders. Bayh tapped Mario Cuomo to be his running mate after Al Gore declined the offer to once again be the Vice Presidential nominee. Bayh’s youthful energy and Cuomo’s political experience helped energize the base and close the gap in the opinion polls. By August 1, Bayh managed to significantly close the gap between Dole and himself to 53% to 47%.
Dole was able to receive a slight post-convention bump after the Republican Party pulled out all the stops at the 1996 Republican National Convention. Speakers at the convention included the sitting President George Bush, former President Gerald Ford, Nancy Reagan, Colin Powell, John Kasich, J.C. Watts, Kay Bailey Hutchinson, Vice President Dan Quayle, Jean Kirkpatrick, James Baker III, Robin Dole (Bob Dole’s daughter), keynote speaker Susan Molinari, Governor George Pataki (nominating Jack Kemp), and Senator John McCain (nominating Bob Dole). The message was loud and clear from Kemp and Dole, who promised four more years of prosperity under Republican administration. After the convention, opinion polls favored Dole 54% to 46%.
Staring at the need to make a push, the Democrats moved hell to have the best possible convention. Notable speakers at the convention included Senator Christopher Dodd, Senator Al Gore, actor Christopher Reeve, Senator John Kerry, Senator Ted Kennedy, keynote speaker Representative John F. Kennedy, Jr., Representative Dick Gephardt, Senator Tom Daschle, and Senator Russ Feingold. John F. Kennedy, Jr.’s speech was regarded as one of the best at the convention, raising his superstar profile even further. Christopher Dodd nominated Evan Bayh for President of the United States. Needing to hit a home run, Evan Bayh delivered what many considered to be not only the best speech of the convention, but the best speech of his career. It also resulted in a huge post-convention bump for the Democrats, but still saw Bayh behind Dole 52% to 48%.
In the end, Dole carried his advantage to a victory in the popular vote and a narrow victory in the Electoral College.
Major Bands formed in 1996
Arch Enemy
Control Denied
Decapitated
Disturbed
Evergrey
Lordi
Nightwish
Orgy
Sonata Arctica
The Haunted
Within Temptation
Major Albums from 1996
Acid Bath – Paegan Terrorism Tactics
Alice in Chains – Unplugged
Anthrax – Stomp 442
Arch Enemy – Black Earth
Behemoth – Grom
Black Sabbath – Forbidden
Bruce Dickinson – Skunkworks
Cannibal Corpse – Vile
Cradle of Filth – Vempire
Cradle of Filth – Dusk And Her Embrace
Cryptopsy – None So Vile
Deep Purple – Purpendicular
Def Leppard – Slag
Dimmu Borgir – Stormblast
Exodus - Lessons in Violence
Eyehategod – Dopesick
Forbidden – Green
Helloween – The Time Of The Oath
Hypocrisy – Abducted
In Flames – The Jester Race
Iced Earth – The Dark Saga
Katatonia – Brave Murder Day
Korn – Life is Peachy
Tony MacAlpine – Violent Machine
Manowar – Louder Than Hell
Marilyn Manson – Antichrist Superstar
Metallica – Reload
Ministry – Filth Pig
Motörhead – Overnight Sensation
Nevermore – The Politics of Ecstasy
Opeth – Morningrise
Rage Against the Machine – Evil Empire
Rainbow – Shadow of the Moon
Rotting Chrit – Triarchy of the Lost Lovers
Rush – Test for Echo
Sepultura – Roots
Sentenced – Down
Soundgarden – Down on the Upside
Slipknot – Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat.
Stratovarius – Episode
Theatre of Tragedy – Velvet Darkness They Fear
Tool – Ænima
Steve Vai – Fire Garden
Van Halen – Best of Volume I
Major Disbandments in 1996
Down
Pantera (on hiatus)
Prong
Trouble
Additions to previous sections of the timeline:
-The Back to the Future series continued as it did in OTL. However, in this timeline, Ronald Reagan makes a cameo appearance as the Mayor of Hill Valley in 1885 in Back to the Future Part III. It was to be his final acting credit. Ronald Reagan continued to make public appearances until his diagnosis with Alzheimer’s disease in 1994. Reagan’s decision to do the film was due in no small part to the mention of his name in the famous line “Ronald Reagan? The actor!”, when the 1955 Emmett Brown reacted to Marty McFly’s revelation that Reagan was President of the United States in 1985. In the second round of DVD releases for the trilogy in 2009, there was a special dedication to Ronald Reagan in the DVD extras for Back to the Future Part III, which included a rare interview President Reagan did in promotion of the film. These extras were included in the 25th anniversary Blu-ray releases.
-In 1995, the band Queen released its fifteenth studio album Made in Heaven, which featured vocals and piano parts recorded by Freddie Mercury before his death.
1996: Nightwish is formed. I foresee Tarja Turunen being fired sooner... in this timeline, metal is more popular, so Nightwish will be hopefully more popular, but with more popularity comes more money, and according to her former bandmates, in OTL she was fired from the band exactly because she turned into a fame and money obsessed c**t. Her solo albums still rock though, even if they're less "heavy" than Nightwish's usual material.
There are a few possibilities here.
This is entirely possible.
I admit that I haven't given that much thought, but I could include something about this in some timeline additions. I have a few.
Caspian
Banned
Has the increased popularity of heavy metal managed to make any successful careers out of bands that never made it historically? I was thinking about it while listening to some bands who failed after a demo, an EP, or maybe an album who could potentially have done much better in this world (Tyrant's Reign was the band that gave me the thought - they broke up after two demos and an EP).
It's been a while since I updated this. I originally wanted a longer update, but I'm going to post an update on upcoming acts and the alternative music scene in the next update.
Chapter 14: Glory to the Brave
The bigger metal bands carried the torch for the music during the briefly lived Britpop Invasion, but it was in the year 1997 that metal began striking back hard. New European bands alongside new American bands received enormous airplay on metal stations in North America. Some bands would eventually rise with even greater crossover appeal, but the stage was set for a new metal revolution with a dose of old school flair.
39th Grammy Awards
When Pantera was awarded the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance for their album The Great Southern Trendkill, Dimebag Darrell, Vinnie Paul, and Rex Brown each paid tribute to their deceased lead singer. Also nominated for the award were Anthrax for Stomp 442, Metallica for ReLoad, Manowar for Louder Than Hell, and Iced Earth for The Dark Saga.
The Year in Metal
Metal received further validation by the establishment with the induction of Black Sabbath and Deep Purple into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. Along with Led Zeppelin, they were part of the “big five of classic metal.” The Black Sabbath lineup of Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Ronnie James Dio, Vinnie Appice, and Geoff Nichols were inducted as well as Bill Ward and Ozzy Osbourne (posthumously) for their enormous contributions to the band. Ward appeared on stage with Black Sabbath for the first time in over a decade, sparking some rumors of a reunion with the estranged drummer. Ward would later dispel all rumors of a reunion himself.
Deep Purple’s induction was a contentious one. Though recognized primarily for the Mark II lineup, the band also insisted that Steve Morse be inducted with them. Blackmore was inducted with the band and surprised everyone, including his former band mates, by appearing at the induction ceremony. Other former members like David Coverdale, Glenn Hughes, Rod Evans, Nick Simper, and Tommy Bolin were not inducted with the rest of the band. Coverdale and Hughes both noted their exclusion with amusement.
“Certainly I’m happy for them,” David Coverdale said in an interview. “I still talk to Jon and he invited me to attend the induction ceremony. I’m not surprised I wasn’t inducted with the band, but it is amusing they lobbied hard to get Steve Morse in there even though Glenn Hughes and I had two gold albums with the band. Still, Morse is a good guy and I’m happy for him and the rest of the group.”
Led Zeppelin was also present at the induction ceremony, which permitted Cozy Powell to join the bands on stage for a jam. It was the first time in nearly two decades that Ronnie James Dio, Ritchie Blackmore, and Cozy Powell shared the stage together. They commemorated the occasion by playing “Man on the Silver Mountain,” which also featured former Rainbow and current Deep Purple member Roger Glover on bass and Black Sabbath keyboardist Geoff Nichols. The performance left the crowd chanting, “Rainbow! Rainbow!”
In January 1997, Queen performed in public only for the second time since the death of Freddy Mercury. They performed the song “The Show Must Go On” live with Elton John and the Berjart Ballet in Paris in a night where Freddie Mercury was remembered. Queen received a standing ovation from the audience. Elton John convinced the band to continue performing, which prompted a quiet search for a new vocalist. Brian May remembered collaborating with the disgruntled Rainbow lead vocalist Jeff Scott Soto and sold him to the rest of the band. John Deacon admitted he originally considered retiring, but opted not to do so when Soto reassured him that his job was not to replace Freddie Mercury. The new Queen lineup unveiled Jeff Scott Soto as the new Queen vocalist on MTV in February.
“I have to admit it’s an honor to stand here with this legendary band,” said Soto in the MTV interview. “We all miss Freddie and no one can replace him.”
Soto’s departure from Rainbow was a shock to Ritchie Blackmore, who claimed to be getting along well with Soto. “We had talked about recording another album soon,” said Blackmore. “The last one didn’t do so well.”
The exit of Jeff Scott Soto placed the band Rainbow in flux once again. Blackmore ultimately decided to end the band and begin a new group. “Rainbow has been through so many different incarnations and it has been difficult to keep it going,” stated Blackmore. “I can never rule out a return to Rainbow, but it is time to move on to the next stage of my career.” When asked about rejoining Deep Purple, Ritchie said, “Nothing has changed there. Steve is doing a good job there and I’m content with where I am in my career.”
Led Zeppelin emerged from its long recording hiatus to release a new album called Unledded. The interest in the band was strong, which permitted the album to sell well in the UK and the USA. The album was later certified gold. Other classic groups came out of the woodwork to release new albums. Van Halen released Van Halen III, their first album with David Lee Roth in over a decade. Judas Priest released Jugulator, their first album with new vocalist Tim “Ripper” Owens.
Megadeth released the album Cryptic Writings, which would be their final album with longtime drummer Nick Menza. Overkill released From the Underground and Below, the follow up to their 1996 release The Killing Kind. The timing was right to revive some interest in the band, though they were still not the successful band they once were. Testament released the album Demonic, which saw them experiment more with death metal. Black Label Society also returned with their second album Black Label Society II.
Metallica released a double album called Garage Inc., which included cover songs. The second disc included the rare The $5.98 E.P.: Garage Days Re-Revisted [1]. Included on the first side was the cover of the Metal Church song “Start the Fire.” Covering the song of his band mate was something James Hetfield insisted and he called Metal Church one of his favorite bands. Kurdt Vanderhoof originally did not want to record one of his old Metal Church songs, but he warmed the idea during the recording session. They also included two Diamond Head covers on the first side in addition to a cover of the Judas Priest song “Exciter.” Their cover of “Turn the Page” by Bob Segar turned out to be the biggest hit of the album. The first side also featured a cover of the song “Let It Loose” from Savage, which had originally been recorded on Ron McGovney’s garage demo, and a cover of the Iron Maiden song “Remember Tomorrow,” which James Hetfield and Ron McGovney had performed with their old band Leather Charm.
“It was nice to go back to our old influences and also give the fans a collection of other officially released cover songs that we’d recorded,” said James Hetfield in a Metallica interview with Eddie Trunk. “We were talking about releasing a boxed set with a bunch of old demos and b-side recordings, but we didn’t want to release anything without recording some new material. Then we just decided to cover some new songs and also some we hadn’t played in a while.”
“Lars would sometimes play ‘Merciless Onslaught’ during sound checks,” said Vanderhoof added in the same Metallica interview with Eddie Trunk. “I didn’t know how it would go over to record a version of a Metal Church song with them and I didn’t want to seem lame by covering my own song. It turned out great, so it’s on the album.”
Iced Earth capitalized on the success of The Dark Saga by releasing Days of Purgatory, which was composed of re-recordings of songs from their Enter the Realm EP and the albums Iced Earth and Night of the Stormrider. This was primarily done to showcase Matthew Barlow on vocals. The band launched a short tour in support of the album before they returned to the studio to record a new album. Prior to the release of The Dark Saga, longtime lead guitarist Randall Shawver was considering retirement. The success of the album convinced him to remain in the band.
Milwaukee Metal Fest featured a surprise special guest when S.O.D. played on stage for the first time in over ten years. Scott Ian and Charlie Benante were asked about a potential reunion of S.O.D. later. “We can’t rule it out,” said Ian. “There are a lot of people out there that never got to experience S.O.D. except from the album. We’re pretty busy with Anthrax and this is just a little break in the tour. Who knows what could happen in the future?”
News also emerged from the Pantera camp after MTV reported that Pantera performed under the name “Metal Magic” with original vocalist Terry Glaze in Dallas, Texas. Dimebag said they weren’t planning on doing a reunion with Terry, but they had the opportunity to get together and play some old classics again. “We’re obviously not the same band we were when we released Projects in the Jungle. We’ve come a long way since then,” Abbott commented.
Guns N’ Roses finally emerged from their long recording hiatus. The release of Chinese Democracy was the first with the revamped GNR lineup consisting of Axl Rose, Dizzy Reed, Gilby Clarke, Tracii Guns, Duff McKagan, and Matt Sorum. The album quickly went platinum, but the sustainable success of the album was not comparable to their previous works. Insiders also did not believe this incarnation of the band would last very long.
Many of the older acts would begin passing the torch to the newer North American and European acts. Bands like HammerFall and Nightwish released their debut albums to much fanfare in Europe, but they also received attention thanks to college radio stations and the internet. The title track to HammerFall’s Glory to the Brave enjoyed regular rotation on American college radio stations. Nightwish received some airplay as well, but they were slow to take off in the United States. Another European band named Rhapsody released Legendary Tales, which helped popularize symphonic metal. Finland’s Children of Bodom released their debut album Something Wild, which became popular on college radio. The German band Edguy released its first professionally recorded album Kingdom of Madness.
Machine Head released its second album The More Things Change. The song “Ten Ton Hammer” received heavy rotation on MTV.
It wasn’t just new European bands, but a few more established acts were infiltrating American college radio as well as modern rock and metal stations. Stratovarius released the album Visions, which featured the minor hits “Black Diamond” and “The Kiss of Judas.” Dimmu Borgir’s Enthrone Darkness Triumphant was a breakthrough album for the band. The single “The Mourning Palace” did not get regular airplay on mainstream rock or metal stations, but did get some rotation on MTV’s Headbangers Ball and on college radio stations. Their success allowed them to tour the United States with Megadeth, which drove Enthrone Darkness Triumphant to gold certification in the United States.
Other bands found themselves on the way out. Soundgarden, Acid Bath, Jane’s Addiction, and X Japan all disbanded.
Year in Entertainment
Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment was facing a predicament as Marvel Studios with 20th Century Fox continued to roll forward. Marvel announced they were going to move forward with X-Men and Fantastic Four projects, giving them more potential for blockbuster team up films than just their Avengers line. Fortunately for DC Entertainment, past and future projects gave them the opportunity to move forward with a Teen Titans project. The introduction of Supergirl in Superman: The Man of Steel and the planned introduction of Robin in Batman and Robin ultimately would be seen as the separation of the Justice League and Titans projects.
But moving the Justice League projects forward was ultimately seen as problematic. They were forced to replace Michael Keaton as Batman and monetary negotiations with Brad Pitt over Aquaman made recasting necessary for both characters. While Johnny Depp was set to debut as the Caped Crusader, recasting Aquaman was more difficult that DC Entertainment imagined. The other Justice League characters outside Martian Manhunter had their own film series as part of the Justice League line and though a separate Aquaman line was planned, DC Entertainment opted to go with a cheaper Green Arrow project.
This was what estranged Brad Pitt from DC Entertainment and pushed him to audition for the role of Scott Summers aka Cyclops in the upcoming X-Men film. Edward Norton was cast as the new Aquaman after DC Entertainment finally decided to pursue a separate Aquaman project. Other problems were emerging for the other cast members. While Dean Cain seemed satisfied to continue to play Superman in another Superman film and a third Justice League film, Catherine Zeta Jones was growing more interested in moving on from the character. She was committed to a third Wonder Woman film, but she was noncommittal over a third Justice League film.
“Type casting was a big concern to me,” recalled Zeta Jones. “While I thought it was important to portray strong female role models for girls, I could do that without making a career out of being Wonder Woman or some other action hero.”
When Justice League II: Doom hit the big screen on Mother’s Day weekend, it still performed extremely successfully for a blockbuster film with a gigantic ensemble cast. Certainly it would seem like all was well when Justice League II: Doom dominated the box office dollars, earning more money than 20th Century Fox’s Avengers even on the 4th of July weekend. Both films earned more than Shadow Dawn from Lucasfilm and New Line Cinema’s The Two Towers. Justice League II had what would later be termed the “WTF? ending” when Nekron was shown in a small cameo appearance after the end credits [2].
20th Century Fox’s Avengers gave a very strong showing and only took in slightly less in the box office. The film was loosely based on The Infinity Gauntlet and thus heavily featured the Marvel Comics villain Thanos (played by James Earl Jones). Years later, Captain America actor Thomas Jane said, “We had to go with something big at the time. The guys at DC started with Darkseid, so going with Thanos seemed to be the best idea. I thought ours was better than the Justice League film that came out the same year as our first Avengers film.” This sentiment often holds up among comic book film fans in the present day, who criticize Justice League II for being a bloated film with too many villains.
“It certainly wasn’t seen that way at the time,” said Superman actor Dean Cain in the DVD extras for Justice League II in a panel discussion on the various superhero franchises of the mid- and late-1990’s. “Ours was the first film where Lex Luthor was properly portrayed as he was in the comics and most critics said our film was balanced."
Nevertheless, both Justice League III and Avengers II were green lit. Internet forums of the day were abuzz with discussions of Nekron being in the next Justice League film and who would be the next villain in the upcoming Avengers film a few years down the road. Daredevil writer Kevin Smith felt that both franchises simply went for big villains too soon.
“So they use Darkseid in Justice League at DC and Marvel was forced to use Thanos in Avengers,” Smith recalled in the documentary Superhero Blockbusters. “These were great movies, but I do think many fans would have liked to have seen Darkseid saved for Superman and use The Infinity Gauntlet storyline elsewhere. Nekron’s potential as a villain wasn’t truly realized until Geoff Johns took over Green Lantern many years later.”
The other blockbusters generated respectable box office returns. Spider-Man II was ultimately more successful than Supergirl and Hellblazer, but reviews for the second attempt at a Supergirl film were ultimately more positive than the 1980’s attempt. Spider-Man II introduced the character of Mary Jane Watson played by Rose McGowan. With Nicole Kidman reprising the title role, Supergirl’s origins were explained in greater detail. They also took a big risk by pitting her against Vandal Savage (played by Gary Oldman), one of the lesser known DC Comics villains. The Hellblazer is loosely based on the “Dangerous Habits” storyline by Garth Innis [3].
Notes:
[1]
Alternate Disc 1 Track Listing for Garage Inc.:
Track 1: Free Speech for the Dumb (Discharge cover)
Track 2: It’s Electric (Diamond Head cover)
Track 3: Sabbra Cadabra (Black Sabbath cover)
Track 4: Turn the Page (Bog Seger cover)
Track 5: Die, Die My Darling (Misfits cover)
Track 6: Sucking My Love (Diamond Head cover)
Track 7: Mercyful Fate Medley
Track 8: Exciter (Judas Priest cover)
Track 9: Whiskey in the Jar (Thin Lizzy cover)
Track 10: Let It Loose (Savage cover)
Track 11: Remember Tomorrow (Iron Maiden cover)
Track 12: Start the Fire (Metal Church cover)
[2]
I needed a big villain here, but don’t expect Black Lanterns here because wouldn’t be around until the next century in the Blackest Night storyline.
[3]
I know the OTL 2005 film Constantine was based on “Dangerous Habits” as well, but I felt it was a strong starting point since it was the beginning of Garth Innis’ run on the series.
Chapter 14: Glory to the Brave
The bigger metal bands carried the torch for the music during the briefly lived Britpop Invasion, but it was in the year 1997 that metal began striking back hard. New European bands alongside new American bands received enormous airplay on metal stations in North America. Some bands would eventually rise with even greater crossover appeal, but the stage was set for a new metal revolution with a dose of old school flair.
39th Grammy Awards
When Pantera was awarded the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance for their album The Great Southern Trendkill, Dimebag Darrell, Vinnie Paul, and Rex Brown each paid tribute to their deceased lead singer. Also nominated for the award were Anthrax for Stomp 442, Metallica for ReLoad, Manowar for Louder Than Hell, and Iced Earth for The Dark Saga.
The Year in Metal
Metal received further validation by the establishment with the induction of Black Sabbath and Deep Purple into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. Along with Led Zeppelin, they were part of the “big five of classic metal.” The Black Sabbath lineup of Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Ronnie James Dio, Vinnie Appice, and Geoff Nichols were inducted as well as Bill Ward and Ozzy Osbourne (posthumously) for their enormous contributions to the band. Ward appeared on stage with Black Sabbath for the first time in over a decade, sparking some rumors of a reunion with the estranged drummer. Ward would later dispel all rumors of a reunion himself.
Deep Purple’s induction was a contentious one. Though recognized primarily for the Mark II lineup, the band also insisted that Steve Morse be inducted with them. Blackmore was inducted with the band and surprised everyone, including his former band mates, by appearing at the induction ceremony. Other former members like David Coverdale, Glenn Hughes, Rod Evans, Nick Simper, and Tommy Bolin were not inducted with the rest of the band. Coverdale and Hughes both noted their exclusion with amusement.
“Certainly I’m happy for them,” David Coverdale said in an interview. “I still talk to Jon and he invited me to attend the induction ceremony. I’m not surprised I wasn’t inducted with the band, but it is amusing they lobbied hard to get Steve Morse in there even though Glenn Hughes and I had two gold albums with the band. Still, Morse is a good guy and I’m happy for him and the rest of the group.”
Led Zeppelin was also present at the induction ceremony, which permitted Cozy Powell to join the bands on stage for a jam. It was the first time in nearly two decades that Ronnie James Dio, Ritchie Blackmore, and Cozy Powell shared the stage together. They commemorated the occasion by playing “Man on the Silver Mountain,” which also featured former Rainbow and current Deep Purple member Roger Glover on bass and Black Sabbath keyboardist Geoff Nichols. The performance left the crowd chanting, “Rainbow! Rainbow!”
In January 1997, Queen performed in public only for the second time since the death of Freddy Mercury. They performed the song “The Show Must Go On” live with Elton John and the Berjart Ballet in Paris in a night where Freddie Mercury was remembered. Queen received a standing ovation from the audience. Elton John convinced the band to continue performing, which prompted a quiet search for a new vocalist. Brian May remembered collaborating with the disgruntled Rainbow lead vocalist Jeff Scott Soto and sold him to the rest of the band. John Deacon admitted he originally considered retiring, but opted not to do so when Soto reassured him that his job was not to replace Freddie Mercury. The new Queen lineup unveiled Jeff Scott Soto as the new Queen vocalist on MTV in February.
“I have to admit it’s an honor to stand here with this legendary band,” said Soto in the MTV interview. “We all miss Freddie and no one can replace him.”
Soto’s departure from Rainbow was a shock to Ritchie Blackmore, who claimed to be getting along well with Soto. “We had talked about recording another album soon,” said Blackmore. “The last one didn’t do so well.”
The exit of Jeff Scott Soto placed the band Rainbow in flux once again. Blackmore ultimately decided to end the band and begin a new group. “Rainbow has been through so many different incarnations and it has been difficult to keep it going,” stated Blackmore. “I can never rule out a return to Rainbow, but it is time to move on to the next stage of my career.” When asked about rejoining Deep Purple, Ritchie said, “Nothing has changed there. Steve is doing a good job there and I’m content with where I am in my career.”
Led Zeppelin emerged from its long recording hiatus to release a new album called Unledded. The interest in the band was strong, which permitted the album to sell well in the UK and the USA. The album was later certified gold. Other classic groups came out of the woodwork to release new albums. Van Halen released Van Halen III, their first album with David Lee Roth in over a decade. Judas Priest released Jugulator, their first album with new vocalist Tim “Ripper” Owens.
Megadeth released the album Cryptic Writings, which would be their final album with longtime drummer Nick Menza. Overkill released From the Underground and Below, the follow up to their 1996 release The Killing Kind. The timing was right to revive some interest in the band, though they were still not the successful band they once were. Testament released the album Demonic, which saw them experiment more with death metal. Black Label Society also returned with their second album Black Label Society II.
Metallica released a double album called Garage Inc., which included cover songs. The second disc included the rare The $5.98 E.P.: Garage Days Re-Revisted [1]. Included on the first side was the cover of the Metal Church song “Start the Fire.” Covering the song of his band mate was something James Hetfield insisted and he called Metal Church one of his favorite bands. Kurdt Vanderhoof originally did not want to record one of his old Metal Church songs, but he warmed the idea during the recording session. They also included two Diamond Head covers on the first side in addition to a cover of the Judas Priest song “Exciter.” Their cover of “Turn the Page” by Bob Segar turned out to be the biggest hit of the album. The first side also featured a cover of the song “Let It Loose” from Savage, which had originally been recorded on Ron McGovney’s garage demo, and a cover of the Iron Maiden song “Remember Tomorrow,” which James Hetfield and Ron McGovney had performed with their old band Leather Charm.
“It was nice to go back to our old influences and also give the fans a collection of other officially released cover songs that we’d recorded,” said James Hetfield in a Metallica interview with Eddie Trunk. “We were talking about releasing a boxed set with a bunch of old demos and b-side recordings, but we didn’t want to release anything without recording some new material. Then we just decided to cover some new songs and also some we hadn’t played in a while.”
“Lars would sometimes play ‘Merciless Onslaught’ during sound checks,” said Vanderhoof added in the same Metallica interview with Eddie Trunk. “I didn’t know how it would go over to record a version of a Metal Church song with them and I didn’t want to seem lame by covering my own song. It turned out great, so it’s on the album.”
Iced Earth capitalized on the success of The Dark Saga by releasing Days of Purgatory, which was composed of re-recordings of songs from their Enter the Realm EP and the albums Iced Earth and Night of the Stormrider. This was primarily done to showcase Matthew Barlow on vocals. The band launched a short tour in support of the album before they returned to the studio to record a new album. Prior to the release of The Dark Saga, longtime lead guitarist Randall Shawver was considering retirement. The success of the album convinced him to remain in the band.
Milwaukee Metal Fest featured a surprise special guest when S.O.D. played on stage for the first time in over ten years. Scott Ian and Charlie Benante were asked about a potential reunion of S.O.D. later. “We can’t rule it out,” said Ian. “There are a lot of people out there that never got to experience S.O.D. except from the album. We’re pretty busy with Anthrax and this is just a little break in the tour. Who knows what could happen in the future?”
News also emerged from the Pantera camp after MTV reported that Pantera performed under the name “Metal Magic” with original vocalist Terry Glaze in Dallas, Texas. Dimebag said they weren’t planning on doing a reunion with Terry, but they had the opportunity to get together and play some old classics again. “We’re obviously not the same band we were when we released Projects in the Jungle. We’ve come a long way since then,” Abbott commented.
Guns N’ Roses finally emerged from their long recording hiatus. The release of Chinese Democracy was the first with the revamped GNR lineup consisting of Axl Rose, Dizzy Reed, Gilby Clarke, Tracii Guns, Duff McKagan, and Matt Sorum. The album quickly went platinum, but the sustainable success of the album was not comparable to their previous works. Insiders also did not believe this incarnation of the band would last very long.
Many of the older acts would begin passing the torch to the newer North American and European acts. Bands like HammerFall and Nightwish released their debut albums to much fanfare in Europe, but they also received attention thanks to college radio stations and the internet. The title track to HammerFall’s Glory to the Brave enjoyed regular rotation on American college radio stations. Nightwish received some airplay as well, but they were slow to take off in the United States. Another European band named Rhapsody released Legendary Tales, which helped popularize symphonic metal. Finland’s Children of Bodom released their debut album Something Wild, which became popular on college radio. The German band Edguy released its first professionally recorded album Kingdom of Madness.
Machine Head released its second album The More Things Change. The song “Ten Ton Hammer” received heavy rotation on MTV.
It wasn’t just new European bands, but a few more established acts were infiltrating American college radio as well as modern rock and metal stations. Stratovarius released the album Visions, which featured the minor hits “Black Diamond” and “The Kiss of Judas.” Dimmu Borgir’s Enthrone Darkness Triumphant was a breakthrough album for the band. The single “The Mourning Palace” did not get regular airplay on mainstream rock or metal stations, but did get some rotation on MTV’s Headbangers Ball and on college radio stations. Their success allowed them to tour the United States with Megadeth, which drove Enthrone Darkness Triumphant to gold certification in the United States.
Other bands found themselves on the way out. Soundgarden, Acid Bath, Jane’s Addiction, and X Japan all disbanded.
Year in Entertainment
Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment was facing a predicament as Marvel Studios with 20th Century Fox continued to roll forward. Marvel announced they were going to move forward with X-Men and Fantastic Four projects, giving them more potential for blockbuster team up films than just their Avengers line. Fortunately for DC Entertainment, past and future projects gave them the opportunity to move forward with a Teen Titans project. The introduction of Supergirl in Superman: The Man of Steel and the planned introduction of Robin in Batman and Robin ultimately would be seen as the separation of the Justice League and Titans projects.
But moving the Justice League projects forward was ultimately seen as problematic. They were forced to replace Michael Keaton as Batman and monetary negotiations with Brad Pitt over Aquaman made recasting necessary for both characters. While Johnny Depp was set to debut as the Caped Crusader, recasting Aquaman was more difficult that DC Entertainment imagined. The other Justice League characters outside Martian Manhunter had their own film series as part of the Justice League line and though a separate Aquaman line was planned, DC Entertainment opted to go with a cheaper Green Arrow project.
This was what estranged Brad Pitt from DC Entertainment and pushed him to audition for the role of Scott Summers aka Cyclops in the upcoming X-Men film. Edward Norton was cast as the new Aquaman after DC Entertainment finally decided to pursue a separate Aquaman project. Other problems were emerging for the other cast members. While Dean Cain seemed satisfied to continue to play Superman in another Superman film and a third Justice League film, Catherine Zeta Jones was growing more interested in moving on from the character. She was committed to a third Wonder Woman film, but she was noncommittal over a third Justice League film.
“Type casting was a big concern to me,” recalled Zeta Jones. “While I thought it was important to portray strong female role models for girls, I could do that without making a career out of being Wonder Woman or some other action hero.”
When Justice League II: Doom hit the big screen on Mother’s Day weekend, it still performed extremely successfully for a blockbuster film with a gigantic ensemble cast. Certainly it would seem like all was well when Justice League II: Doom dominated the box office dollars, earning more money than 20th Century Fox’s Avengers even on the 4th of July weekend. Both films earned more than Shadow Dawn from Lucasfilm and New Line Cinema’s The Two Towers. Justice League II had what would later be termed the “WTF? ending” when Nekron was shown in a small cameo appearance after the end credits [2].
20th Century Fox’s Avengers gave a very strong showing and only took in slightly less in the box office. The film was loosely based on The Infinity Gauntlet and thus heavily featured the Marvel Comics villain Thanos (played by James Earl Jones). Years later, Captain America actor Thomas Jane said, “We had to go with something big at the time. The guys at DC started with Darkseid, so going with Thanos seemed to be the best idea. I thought ours was better than the Justice League film that came out the same year as our first Avengers film.” This sentiment often holds up among comic book film fans in the present day, who criticize Justice League II for being a bloated film with too many villains.
“It certainly wasn’t seen that way at the time,” said Superman actor Dean Cain in the DVD extras for Justice League II in a panel discussion on the various superhero franchises of the mid- and late-1990’s. “Ours was the first film where Lex Luthor was properly portrayed as he was in the comics and most critics said our film was balanced."
Nevertheless, both Justice League III and Avengers II were green lit. Internet forums of the day were abuzz with discussions of Nekron being in the next Justice League film and who would be the next villain in the upcoming Avengers film a few years down the road. Daredevil writer Kevin Smith felt that both franchises simply went for big villains too soon.
“So they use Darkseid in Justice League at DC and Marvel was forced to use Thanos in Avengers,” Smith recalled in the documentary Superhero Blockbusters. “These were great movies, but I do think many fans would have liked to have seen Darkseid saved for Superman and use The Infinity Gauntlet storyline elsewhere. Nekron’s potential as a villain wasn’t truly realized until Geoff Johns took over Green Lantern many years later.”
The other blockbusters generated respectable box office returns. Spider-Man II was ultimately more successful than Supergirl and Hellblazer, but reviews for the second attempt at a Supergirl film were ultimately more positive than the 1980’s attempt. Spider-Man II introduced the character of Mary Jane Watson played by Rose McGowan. With Nicole Kidman reprising the title role, Supergirl’s origins were explained in greater detail. They also took a big risk by pitting her against Vandal Savage (played by Gary Oldman), one of the lesser known DC Comics villains. The Hellblazer is loosely based on the “Dangerous Habits” storyline by Garth Innis [3].
Notes:
[1]
Alternate Disc 1 Track Listing for Garage Inc.:
Track 1: Free Speech for the Dumb (Discharge cover)
Track 2: It’s Electric (Diamond Head cover)
Track 3: Sabbra Cadabra (Black Sabbath cover)
Track 4: Turn the Page (Bog Seger cover)
Track 5: Die, Die My Darling (Misfits cover)
Track 6: Sucking My Love (Diamond Head cover)
Track 7: Mercyful Fate Medley
Track 8: Exciter (Judas Priest cover)
Track 9: Whiskey in the Jar (Thin Lizzy cover)
Track 10: Let It Loose (Savage cover)
Track 11: Remember Tomorrow (Iron Maiden cover)
Track 12: Start the Fire (Metal Church cover)
[2]
I needed a big villain here, but don’t expect Black Lanterns here because wouldn’t be around until the next century in the Blackest Night storyline.
[3]
I know the OTL 2005 film Constantine was based on “Dangerous Habits” as well, but I felt it was a strong starting point since it was the beginning of Garth Innis’ run on the series.
I'm so happy that this has been revived. It's a great ALT timeline about something that I thoroughly enjoy. Metal Music.
Hell yes! I was hoping for an update!!!
This inspired me to write something similar... but that's under wraps for now.
Can't wait for the next update
This inspired me to write something similar... but that's under wraps for now.
Can't wait for the next update
Oh yeah, how does the fact that Sarah Michelle Gellar is a big star affect the casting of Buffy The Vampire Slayer? Will another actress take her place?
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Question about the butterflies
The part that Kurt Cobain didn't kill himself I find to be a little usual. He had a stomach condition that made it painful to eat. That was the reason he killed himself not Courtney Love. Also no love for G.W.A.R.?
The part that Kurt Cobain didn't kill himself I find to be a little usual. He had a stomach condition that made it painful to eat. That was the reason he killed himself not Courtney Love. Also no love for G.W.A.R.?