Daniel Trilling reports on the recent evening symposium on heavy metal music, held at the New Art Gallery, Walsall…

“the West Midlands is rightly celebrating its place as the epicentre of a cultural movement that has swept the globe”

… and we might also mention that heavy metal’s fey brother, glam rock, had significant Birmingham / Black Country roots in Slade and Wizzard (Roy Wood) — giving London’s Bowie/Bolan/Roxy art-school glam a healthy infusion of working-class grit. The Sweet also toured the Midlands for years before glam success.