Impact During the 1980’s, heavy metal blossomed
into a number of unique musical styles and sounds.
Their fast-paced rhythms, guitar solos, and provoca-
tive lyrics proved to be powerful alternatives to the
decade’s pop music. Heavy metal influenced music,
culture, and fashion of the 1980’s and beyond.
Further Reading
Christe, Ian.Sound of the Beast: The Complete Head-
banging Histor y of Heavy Metal. New York: Harper-
Collins, 2004. Valuable charts and insightful com-
ments make this an exhaustive and accessible
account of 1980’s heavy metal.
Konow, David.Bang Your Head: The Rise and Fall of
Heavy Metal. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2002.
Numerous interviews give this overview of 1980’s
heavy metal a first-person perspective.
Popoff, Martin.The Eighties.Vol.2inThe Collector’s
Guide to Heavy Metal. Toronto: Collector’s Guide,
- Reviews hundreds of 1980’s heavy metal al-
bums, with commentary and cross-references.
Strong, Martin C.The Great Metal Discography. Edin-
burgh: Canongate Books, 1998. The most de-
tailed listing of band histories, recordings, and
chart positions for heavy metal groups.
Walser, Robert.Running with the Devil: Power, Gender,
and Madness in Heavy Metal Music. Hanover, N.H.:
Wesleyan University Press, 1993. Scholarly study of
heavy metal’s appeal, significance, and meaning.
Weinstein, Deena.Heavy Metal: The Music and Its Cul-
ture. Rev. ed. New York: DaCapo Press, 2000. So-
phisticated analysis of heavy metal culture, fo-
cused on the fans, musicians, lyrics, and myths.
Aaron D. Purcell
See also Androgyny; Guns n’ Roses; Mötley Crüe;
MTV; Mullet; Music; Music videos; Night Stalker
case; Osbourne, Ozzy; Pop music;This Is Spin ̈al Tap;
Van Halen.
Heidi Chronicles, The
Identification Award-winning play
Author Wendy Wasserstein (1950-2006)
Date Produced in 1988
Wendy Wasserstein’s award-winning and best-known play
explores women of the baby-boom generation, the women’s
movement in the 1980’s, and how many women’s views of
success differ from those of many men.
The Heidi Chroniclesfollows the life of Heidi Holland
from her promising 1960’s high school days to her
experiences with the consciousness-raising women’s
groups of the 1970’s to her life as a single woman try-
ing to have it all in the 1980’s. Throughout, Heidi’s
understanding of and search for equality and femi-
nist ideals are tested. Well-educated yet unsure how
to make herself happy, Heidi has a no-commitment
affair with magazine editor Scoop Rosenbaum while
leaning heavily on her best friend, gay pediatrician
Peter Patrone. Getting older and feeling alone, she
decides to adopt a baby and attempt single parenting,
hoping it will bring her the fulfillment and compan-
ionship for which she longs.
The most telling discussion of Heidi’s views on
feminist principles—often taken to be those of Was-
serstein as well—occurs toward the latter part of the
play in a speech Heidi gives discussing both her work
as an art historian and her view of her own life. Heidi
became an independent woman, as the feminist
movement of the 1960’s and 1970’s encouraged, but458 Heidi Chronicles, The The Eighties in America
Playwright Wendy Wasserstein.(Courtesy, Dartmouth College)