[socalwingfan]

Eddie Trunk's Essential Hard Rock and Heavy Metal is an outstanding book. I discovered a couple of new bands (to me) UFO, Montrose after reading this book.

Eddie Trunk holds a special place in metal fan's and musician's hearts. So much so in fact, that for his 25th anniversary in radio, Judas Priest played an invitation-only party for him at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York. In fact, Rob Halford even wrote the Foreword to his new book, Eddie Trunk's Essential Hard Rock and Heavy Metal. While there are tons of these types of collections on the market these days, Eddie brings something different to the task. Rather than simply offering short biographical sketches of the major bands in the genre, as most do, Trunk adds his personal reflections about the groups. It makes a big difference. Most fans know the basics about groups like Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, but reading stories of Eddie's personal encounters with the artists adds a whole new dimension. This type of writing could have easily degenerated into name-dropping and star####ing, but he does not come off that way. As a fan, his reactions mirror that of what any of his listeners would probably feel. It is a fine line to straddle, but Trunk makes it work.